Disclaimer; perhaps before reading this, you might want to read this:http://kevolutiontheory.blogspot.com/2009/01/heroes.html And yes, you would be correct to say that most great writers never write sequels. And while that may be true-there was never Catcher in the Rye 2: Electric Bugaloo, I am not that ‘great writer’. Yet. So maybe consider this an occasional series-like Harry Potter or Chicken Soup.
Being chronically unemployed, I pass my days doing one of three things. 1) Looking for jobs. 2) Crashing the local VFW where I pretend to be a vet in order to drink quarter beers. 3) Walking the dog. You can guess which activity usually wins out. Today, #3 wins out. So I put the lead on Bauer, and out we traipse to a nice fall day.
I have my iPod on-Bauer’s iPod battery is home getting charged-and we walk to the top of the street and start our walk. Now this is a pretty busy street here in Theoryville. We’re on the sidewalk on the right side of the road. Ironically enough, we’re right across the street from the aforementioned VFW. From my left I hear a panicked, “Hey! Come back here! Stop! Come back!” I look to my left. Running down from the top of the hill is a Jack Russell terrier. Clearly, he is running to see Bauer.
Shit, this is not good. This is a major street, and there is almost always traffic on it. Deep down I feel some immediate responsibility as the Jack is running because he (for the sake of the story, we will assume it is a he and he is in fact named Jack, as most JR terriers seem to be.) sees Bauer across the street. Not that it would be ‘my fault’ in any way, but just the common bond dog owners have. I quick check both directions, and miraculously no traffic is coming.
We go out in the middle of the street. I want to take every chance to at least grab Jack at the earliest possible chance and get him-and us-out of the street. For those of you who don’t know, Jacks are known for being fast, elusive and have almost squirrel like reflexes. In fact, the original plan in Rocky was to have him chase a Jack, but that plan was abandoned for later use in my next BS Facts klog.
We get to Jack, and he has a collar on. His owner is still running down the hill to him. Bau and Jack sniff around a bit as I get ready to make an attempt. They keep nosing around each other, but Bau always seems to be between me and Jack. I wait to make a snag, knowing it will surely be seconds before we all get run over by some dickwad who was too busy texting to see us in the middle of the damn street. At least Bauer is keeping Jack close to us so he won’t dart off anywhere else.
The owner makes it to the street and grabs Jack up. We quickly get out of the street. Clearly, the owner was worried and relieved at the same time. I was just glad that nothing happened to Jack or us. She was very appreciative to us as she held Jack in her arms. I sat Bauer, fervently petting him, and telling him what a brave boy he was. And maybe it’s just the dog owner in me. Or maybe it’s just the human in me. I looked into Bauer’s brown eyes. I could see it. I could tell it, as I was showering him with praise. The look told me-
“What did I do?”
Ok, so obviously Bau didn’t know I risked our lives to help another dog. Had he even had known, he might not have approved of such a thing. But I’m proud of him nonetheless. It may not seem like that big of a deal to you, but it is to me, and just you wait to hear how much I embellish the story when my wife comes home. “Honey, you should have seen it. This poor dog-I think he was blind, too-comes barreling down the hill into the street. I see a 2 ton semi bearing down on him. I think the driver was texting. Me and Bauer run out into the street just as a telephone pole starts to fall in the dog’s direction…”
Bauer got a few ‘bonus blocks’ in on the way back. When we got back, I gave him a big ol’ treat that he promptly devoured faster than any dog should be capable of. Right now, my little hero is happily sleeping on the floor next to me as I am on the couch relaying the event. There will be no news coverage of this event. No “And the big story at 4 is hero man and dog save the life of another dog.” Instead, the lead story will no doubt be something negative and depressing, probably with many fatalities. But just know, everyday you are among heroes; you just might not know it.
Now how do I put this shit on my resume?
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