A Little Story About a Dog Named Freeway (guess what this is about...one guess, go ahead)
At first blush this morning was uneventful. Fed my cat, fed me, fed the animals next door who I am petsitting. Yawn.
Bored, I hopped in my car and drove to Starbucks.
Lost in thought as I flew down the extremely busy freeway, I was jolted by a sight...
A dog. Frightened, tongue wagging, jogging along the shoulder towards me.
(Not him but looked much like this, to give you a visual)
He was just a flash as things are when you are hurtling at 65 mph. I looked in my rear view mirror oh-so-cautiously, horrified that I would see something unspeakable. If you've seen a dog get hit by a car (like I unfortunately have) it's something that stays with you.
But what do you do. Pull over? No. I'm now hundreds of feet away from him and gaining quickly. Not to mention how many times have we heard of good sams getting run over trying to help animals on the freeway. A LOT. This option doesn't sound DPS-approved.
So I continued on. The dog started to seem like a hallucination. Because he is outside my realm of reality. I can't see him in my mirror anymore through the sea of cars. Out of sight, out of mind....
There is one option....
Someone else will call and help him. There are a ton of people out here. Nothing I can do." Shake my head, sip my coffee, drive off into the sunset and live happily ever after.
Except, no. This option is horrible. What if EVERYONE had the exact same thought. Someone else will help. Someone else VS. Doing Something. I've already proclaimed 2014 to be the year of doing. SO DO SOMETHING.
I briefly pulled over on the shoulder to make call DPS when I realized how stupidly dangerous this was. Even on the shoulder, my tiny car rattled hard as the cars whizzed by. It was unpleasant, even scary. I can't imagine how scared the dog was.
So I pulled off the freeway and tried, most unsuccessfully, to reach someone at DPS. Nothing but vm's. Does anyone actually work at DPS? So, yes, my commitment is wavering...The dog was jogging in the opposite direction, I have no idea where he is or if he was okay...did he dart into traffic?
Nearly 10 minutes on and there is a temptation to hang up and go on with my life.
Into the sunset...
Nope, I was in now. I was going to see this to the end. Out of desperation, I called non-emergency police. I love these people so much (not really). They answer the phone with such barely contained disdain.
How they would like to answer the phone:
"Okay, you stupid little member of the public, what in the hell did you do now?"
Instead, they are stuck with this:
Her: Non-emergency.
Me, confused: "Umm, okay hi. I'm on the freeway and there is a dog running on the shoulder...
Her, abrupt: Hold on.
With that she transferred me to DPS. Ah, so people do work there! It was here that I got a surprise. The sweetest operator. I mean, ridiculously so. Professional yet oozing warmth.
Yes, ma'am, we've received several calls and an officer is trying to catch him right now."
Talking to her sorta felt like getting a little pat on the back. Pleased, I hung up and I turned the car around to go home. I was now driving in the opposite direction on the same freeway..what would I see? I was anxious.
When I come upon the scene, I discovered that the entire freeway completely shut down by DPS. Cars were backed up for at least a mile as officers tried to catch the dog. I couldn't see the dog (thank God?) but I prayed he was still running loose, for now, and not injured.
The dog. My dog now. Because that's what happens when you connect yourself to other beings. It's not just a dog running down the freeway...it's someone's lost pet, it's a scared stray.
He's my dog today. And he's the dog to all the other people who called.
That's what doing something does.
Connects you to the world.
An hour on and I'm still trying to find out what happened to him...for now, I blog. And sip my coffee while my cat lounges lazily in the sun.
She's one happy, overfed cat.
I smile at her but my mind is still with that skinny stray on the freeway.
Bored, I hopped in my car and drove to Starbucks.
Lost in thought as I flew down the extremely busy freeway, I was jolted by a sight...
A dog. Frightened, tongue wagging, jogging along the shoulder towards me.
(Not him but looked much like this, to give you a visual)
He was just a flash as things are when you are hurtling at 65 mph. I looked in my rear view mirror oh-so-cautiously, horrified that I would see something unspeakable. If you've seen a dog get hit by a car (like I unfortunately have) it's something that stays with you.
But what do you do. Pull over? No. I'm now hundreds of feet away from him and gaining quickly. Not to mention how many times have we heard of good sams getting run over trying to help animals on the freeway. A LOT. This option doesn't sound DPS-approved.
So I continued on. The dog started to seem like a hallucination. Because he is outside my realm of reality. I can't see him in my mirror anymore through the sea of cars. Out of sight, out of mind....
There is one option....
Someone else will call and help him. There are a ton of people out here. Nothing I can do." Shake my head, sip my coffee, drive off into the sunset and live happily ever after.
Except, no. This option is horrible. What if EVERYONE had the exact same thought. Someone else will help. Someone else VS. Doing Something. I've already proclaimed 2014 to be the year of doing. SO DO SOMETHING.
I briefly pulled over on the shoulder to make call DPS when I realized how stupidly dangerous this was. Even on the shoulder, my tiny car rattled hard as the cars whizzed by. It was unpleasant, even scary. I can't imagine how scared the dog was.
So I pulled off the freeway and tried, most unsuccessfully, to reach someone at DPS. Nothing but vm's. Does anyone actually work at DPS? So, yes, my commitment is wavering...The dog was jogging in the opposite direction, I have no idea where he is or if he was okay...did he dart into traffic?
Nearly 10 minutes on and there is a temptation to hang up and go on with my life.
Into the sunset...
Nope, I was in now. I was going to see this to the end. Out of desperation, I called non-emergency police. I love these people so much (not really). They answer the phone with such barely contained disdain.
How they would like to answer the phone:
"Okay, you stupid little member of the public, what in the hell did you do now?"
Instead, they are stuck with this:
Her: Non-emergency.
Me, confused: "Umm, okay hi. I'm on the freeway and there is a dog running on the shoulder...
Her, abrupt: Hold on.
With that she transferred me to DPS. Ah, so people do work there! It was here that I got a surprise. The sweetest operator. I mean, ridiculously so. Professional yet oozing warmth.
Yes, ma'am, we've received several calls and an officer is trying to catch him right now."
Talking to her sorta felt like getting a little pat on the back. Pleased, I hung up and I turned the car around to go home. I was now driving in the opposite direction on the same freeway..what would I see? I was anxious.
When I come upon the scene, I discovered that the entire freeway completely shut down by DPS. Cars were backed up for at least a mile as officers tried to catch the dog. I couldn't see the dog (thank God?) but I prayed he was still running loose, for now, and not injured.
The dog. My dog now. Because that's what happens when you connect yourself to other beings. It's not just a dog running down the freeway...it's someone's lost pet, it's a scared stray.
He's my dog today. And he's the dog to all the other people who called.
That's what doing something does.
Connects you to the world.
An hour on and I'm still trying to find out what happened to him...for now, I blog. And sip my coffee while my cat lounges lazily in the sun.
She's one happy, overfed cat.
I smile at her but my mind is still with that skinny stray on the freeway.