Monday, April 9, 2018

Edges of Paradise


After dinner yesterday the dog looked a bit bored, so I said the magic word “car!” and off we girls went to return library books.
The first book just wouldn’t go in, likely because it was a big picture book I’d checked out for grandson Eli’s visit, but then I realized the after-hours book drop was filled to the brim.

 I put the books back in the car and Mamie and I went for a stroll around the empty parking lot to enjoy the tropical summer winter evening. Halfway down I looked across and saw a man and a largish dog on the opposite side. The dog was off his leash and I became uncomfortably aware of the smallness of my dog, the distance to the car, and the isolation of where we were.

The dog, a dalmation/pointer, froze as it saw Mamie. I walked away to a further point – farther from the man, but also farther from my car.

“Sit!” The dog sat and the man walked toward us.

“He’s very submissive,” the man said reassuringly. The dog still was three times Mamie’s size.

 Still wishing the dog was on a leash, I said, “You do seem to have good control over him.”

 The man pointed out an orange collar, which must have been some sort of radio-controlled device. The dogs snuffled warily at each other and that was that.

The dog bounded off looking for squirrels to point at, and the balding, pot-bellied 60ish man and I chatted about our dogs as I walked toward my car.

Threat dissolved.

I said I hadn’t chosen the most interesting place for a walk, all asphalt and scrubby bushes.

“Oh, it’s kind of nice over there,” and he gestured to a grassy area just visible past some trees.  “But then, that’s where the homeless camp is.”




11 comments:

  1. Glad there was no altercation with the large dog. At least you girls got out and you created a good post out of it. :-)

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  2. Never safe from anything it seems. I am sorry for that. But I am sure the guilt of approaching poverty is also a danger to our minds.

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  3. there are lots of big dogs around here most behind a fence of on a chain and Minnie, as we walk by, is the bravest toughest barkingest dog kicking the grass back. I just laugh and tell her 'one bite, Minnie, that's all it would take is one bite and you'd be goners. of course if the big dog is not restrained she's trying to climb up me.

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  4. That's kind of a mic drop at the end. :)

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  5. You surely are peeling back the secrets of your new neighborhood. But, the post is the story of our basic humanity. It probably would play out the same time after time.

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  6. Despite the collar I find myself wishing that people would keep their dogs on leads.
    And love that the library is being used so well that the return slots are full.
    I am glad that the 'homeless camp' is in a pretty area. Too often they seem to be condemned to the asphalt jungle.

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  7. Well, maybe this guy is homeless!

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  8. Most people with dogs are reasonably nice:)

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  9. for a couple of seconds I was scared for you and Mamie, then I kept reading. whew!

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  10. Yikes! Was it a shock collar or something? Poor dog! (But at least well-behaved!)

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    Replies
    1. I know. I don't care how many times I'm told they don't hurt the dog, they still creep me out.

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