The farm dog, Arly, totally knew.
They could keep going on about him barking at every new stranger until the family came over and showed they were cool with the new person all they wanted. Danny had been shown to be cool and the dog still barked.
He'd been here a few days. Enough to see the dog greet the milk man with a wag of a tail and not a care in the world as it continued on with whatever it'd been doing. Not a bark everytime. Not like with Danny.
Maybe it did that with the milk man too at first.
Less barks and less volume each time, so, it was possible it was just how Arly was as a dog. That eventually it'd be cool with Danny. Yeah, Danny could see that. And be glad there was almost always a member of the family around to show Arly he was cool. But.
The animal totally knew.
Danny shoveled as much of the mashed potatoes in his mouth as possible. Good way not to be expected to answer. Or have much of a response. He kept his eyes firmly on his plate.
And hoped no one in the family asked him directly, past all their baffled amusement, of how the hell their farm dog wound up stuck on the roof of the barn.
Yeah.
Almost always a member of the family around.
Not today.
Danny panicked.
Just a little.
Simply going intangible when the dog went for a snap at him would have done the trick.
Sticking the dog on the roof worked too, but, well.
Idiot.
At least the dad walking out of the barn to head over to feed the calves hadn't spotted Danny up there.
And they were all enjoying this bit of weirdness and hilarity to brighten up the usual routine, so, all good?
Ugh.
Danny scowled at his plate.
Put the dog on the roof.
Someone at the table made a joke about asking Arly where he was, followed up by a barking noise.
Catching the eye and grin of the eldest daughter, Danny lost it, cracking into uncontrollable laughter that left him in tears.
Later, he realized that'd been the first time he'd smiled or laughed since the accident, immediately feeling horrible.