Monday Moment #103: a writing prompt for your work-in-progress

(If you’ve already read this then skip past all the italicized blah-di-blah and start writing.) Monday Moments are writing prompts for your work-in-progress. They are questions that come from my experiences and are my favorite way to find out more about my characters. I find I learn a lot. Some of it I use. Some of it I don’t. But I always, always get to know my characters better just by answering the question. I hope you do too.)

Saturdays mean watching our girlies play basketball. I look forward to each and every weekend. But this weekend, during one of the games, I was completely distracted and missed most of it. BOO!

I snuck away to the restroom when my kiddo wasn't in the game, and as I made my way back to the court, a little dog ran in from outside, onto the court. It was just like a scene from a kid's TV show or movie. The pup was shooed back outside, but because I was making my way by the door I could see that dog really wanted back in the gym, back onto the court.

I decided I should poke my head out and see if I could see any signs of an owner. I didn't want the dog running around loose. But I saw no one. I checked its tags and it had many, including a recovery tag with a number and ID in case the dog was lost. I was pretty sure he was exactly that. Lost.

The rest of the game I spent with my hand wrapped around a dog collar, on hold with the recovery company as they tried to reach the owner. The pup's name was Harry. He was sure a cute little guy (he reminded us of Harry the Dirty Dog, but brown) and all that he wanted to do was play ball with those girls.

I spent almost the entire game attempting to watch it from the door. A custodian finally got me a jump rope to put around Harry's collar so I could hang onto him more easily. Needless to say, I missed a lot of the game, including a basket made my girlie. *sigh*

The recovery company had still not reached the owner by the time the game ended so Harry headed home with us (Luna, our pup, was not happy). And now I know why that little dog wanted on the court so badly. He loves basketballs. That little pup could push around a basketball as well as some World Cup Soccer players.

The happy ending? Harry's owner came and picked him up, grateful we had found him. She had been in the same area and left a window down then returned to her car to find it missing her pup. Clearly nothing was keeping Harry from making his way to the sounds of fun spilling from the gym.

What unexpected distraction has made your character miss something important to them?