Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Puppy

Friday afternoon I took a walk during my work break. On my way back to the office, I waited for the signal to turn to green and when it did, I first looked to my left to the car that was eager to turn right into the crosswalk, even though I had the right away. I caught his eye and began to walk. As he passed, his foot was clearly pressed hard to the accelerator—body language—from his irritation and his impatience directed toward and out of his car.

I was annoyed. It seems that I also have a tendency to take humans communicating through their cars personally. I made it to the other side of the crosswalk, onto the sidewalk, when I saw a man and his dog. The dog was a grown puppy. He reminded me of my childhood dog whom I loved dearly. He was my pal. This puppy was a lighter golden color. When I set my eyes on the puppy, all traces of my annoyance faded away. Forgotten. A large smile covered my face as I continued to watch the puppy walk with his floppy legs and happy gait. He was a couple of paces behind his owner. Walking and walking, happy and adorably clumsy, then the puppy lifted a leg and peed right there—in the middle of the sidewalk. I was about seven feet behind. I didn’t laugh, but I continued smiling. The man saw me. He tried to pull gently on the puppy’s leash. It was no use. He then said to the puppy, “really? Here. Really?”

“Is he a retriever?” I asked, slowing down, as I was about to pass. He answered that yes he was. “He is absolutely adorable,” I said.

“Thank you. I really appreciate that,” he said, holding the leash as the puppy finished his business. As I walked by, the puppy gave me a quick hello with his snout. I walked ahead appreciative to see such a happy puppy with not a care in the world. I walked back to work with a lighter step.

6 comments:

ZACL said...

Animals can be highly therapeutic for us.

Rebb said...

I agree, ZACL. I always enjoy visiting a home with a friendly pet.

keiko amano said...

Rebb,

Please be careful crossing a street even if you have right of way.

On the way back from my daughter's wedding in Cambria and a night in Morro Bay, my son's family and I stopped at Santa Barbara, and I picked up a free magazine and started to read. The article I read with interest was about a woman who looked left and right and crossed the street. The car came and hit her. She saw a car coming on left but it was quite far, so she began walking. This became important case. The argument is that she did see the car, but she judged it was far and she has right of way, and she did not look left again to see how fast the driver was coming. We cannot assume. I think the case is still in court. It was a good article, and I had my daughter in law read it in the car. Rebb, I know you are law-abiding citizen and yes, pedestrians have right of way on crosswalks, but people in California are overly used to their rights in my opinion. Drivers in Japan are impatient, and Japanese pedestrians are much more protective.

I think there are more matters changing around us not only in California but all over the world. Japanese are suing more in Japan. ha! It's interesting how we all assume things, and we need to be aware of a lot of things, so laws are changing. It's always something.

Rebb said...

Keiko, Thank you very much for your concern and for sharing about the article. I will be even more careful now. It's scary that we have so much to be cautious about when walking or riding our bikes. There was a fairly recent incident about a family riding their bikes on the sidewalk. A young driver lost control and killed the whole family. Such a tragedy. I'm not sure if they settled on a sentence yet.

p.s. nice to see you! : )

keiko amano said...

I'm always behind in reading. It's a part of my personality by now.

Rebb said...

I know what you mean, Keiko. I get behind too.

Speaking of getting behind. Now I understand what you go through with your Meetups. I remember you and I talking about how when you quit and my memory is fuzzy. But, it starts to take up time. My writing group is through Meetup and I had thought about stopping, but then another group member quit, so I decided I would go one more month and see if it was still working for the group and me. There is so much reading and commenting on top of other reading I like to do and my class. Anyway, I felt like quitting, but I haven’t yet. We’ll see.