The Carrot

Augie and I (Steve) were watching Bolt, a Disney movie about a dog who gets lost from his owner. I was playing with Ellie and all of a sudden Augie stars sobbing so loud it was like screaming, and he runs up the stairs. My first thought was that he had bitten his tongue. I went after him, thinking maybe he was going upstairs because he had peed in his pants, but he went straight into his bedroom and plopped down face first on his bed. I said, "What's wrong Augie? DId you get hurt?"

"It's too sad."

"What was too sad?"

"He didn't take the carrot."

Bolt, when he realizes that his owner doesn't love him anymore, drops his treasured carrot squeak toy on the ground and leaves. There's sad music and a static shot of the carrot as Bolt walks away in the distance. And it destroyed Augie like I've never seen before. I reassured him that it would have a happy ending and we finished it. But when I was rewinding and he saw the carrot shot again, he buried his face in the couch to avoid it.

And just now, as I was typing this, the music in the closing credits made him start crying again.