Yogi

I made a new acquaintance today. Nope, not at church (though I did meet a nice girl named Rochelle). I decided to go for a walk after church since the weather was beautiful - cloudy and a little gray with just a slight wind. It was cold enough for a jacket, so perfect for walking.

I had just left my home when a cute, but dirty, puppy started nipping playfully at my feet. I gently chided it and told it to go home. Of course, being still a puppy, he chose to ignore my words and instead walked gleefully along with me, his tail wagging a hundred wags a second. I'm not good at recognizing breeds, so I'm not going to hazard a guess as to what kind of a dog he was, probably a mix. He had a collar and tag, so I knew he had a home somewhere. I kind of hoped he'd tire of me and head home soon. No such luck. Maybe walking with a puppy would be fun, so I "let" him walk with me. Afterall, he was incredibly adorable.

He became decidedly less adorable the first time a vehicle passed us and he went chasing after it. His nose came within seconds of being squashed, he stuck it so close to the front tire of the big SUV. My heart stopped, I swore and ordered the dog to come back RIGHT NOW! I realized the SUV driver probably thought I'm a horrible pet owner - no leash! - but how could I tell them that I was just an innocent bystander horrified at the thisclose death of a dog I didn't own?

After several more heart-stopping moments where the dog showed its absolute lack of willpower when it came to passing vehicles, I decided we needed to get off the busy street. I turned on to a street that would normally be fairly slow, but no such luck this time; church was just letting out and families were heading home. I prayed to find a clean-looking leash abandoned on the sidewalk, wondering if I could use my iPod as a leash in the meantime. I turned on to another street that was decidedly less busy - thank heavens! - though it would cut my walk quite short. At this point, exercising and enjoying the weather was forgotten. I was a woman on a mission - get home without the dog dying while I stood trying not to watch.

A thought occured to me, maybe the owners lived close to me and I could just stop by their house and give their dog back. I called the dog to me and it bounded into my arms. I tried to get a good look at its tag while avoiding kisses to my lips, chin, cheeks, and fingers. I discovered my new friend's name was Yogi - now I knew what name to curse when I was trying to avoid its bloodshed - and saw two phone numbers. I tried both and no one answered. Curses!

Since Yogi had behaved reasonably well while I was petting him, I started having him come to me everytime a car came by. He'd be so preoccupied with giving my fingers kisses that he'd ignore the car. This only worked half the time, though; the other half he'd abandon my fingers and would attack the passing enemy. I knew the cars' owners were yelling Take care of your !#$%& dog! I wanted to yell back He's not mine! but what was the point?

I was never so happy to be home! My mom had left the garage door open and Yogi had sprinted inside to smell everything. I shooed him out and shut the door. Then, while Yogi was smelling our two aspens, I sneaked inside. I watched from the front window when he looked up and realized I wasn't there. It almost broke my silly little heart when he looked all over for me. He ran to the garage door, nope, I wasn't there. He ran to the front door and barked. I didn't answer. He ran all over the front lawn, then moved to the back yard. He started to howl. Curses! At that point, I fled to my room.

I haven't looked to see if he's still there. I don't want to know. I'm such a baby sometimes.