This week I experienced the expression ....literally.
I never considered myself to be a 'dog person', and I will explain this in another blog perhaps. Not to say though that I don't like dogs, but more often than not... they don't like me. Is it the 'dogs can smell fear' syndrome? Maybe. Over the years I can count on one hand the dogs that got my attention and wiggled their way into my heart. Very few made it there.
On my way home on Tuesday of this week, I was zipping along the road listening to Beyonce's "Halo" and most likely singing along out of tune. It is that time of the year; a nice sunny evening and the song evoked happy memories of a year ago when my son and his wife were married. My blissful memories were soon to be shattered. Along the side of the road that I was traveling, a car was facing toward me on the wrong side of the road. It was stopped at a mailbox, but the mere fact that it was on 'my' side of the road left me cautious and I started to slow down trying to anticipate what it would do...cut in front of me...or heaven forbid continue down the road toward me ...on my side of the road. Just as I approached and began to go around this vehicle, out of a driveway on my left, I see a little white blur in my peripheral vision. Before I had any chance to react, I heard an ear crashing 'thump'. Looking out my rear-view mirror, I saw what I was hoping not to be true! The 'little white blur' was now lying on the road. I pulled over and immediately started crying..."Oh no...Oh no!" Another car behind me had already stopped, and a lady was bending over a little dog. By the time I reversed my car and returned to that fateful spot, she had already scooped it up into her arms and was holding it tenderly against her body.
I will never forget that scene. It was a little white 'terrier type' puppy. He was dead. The lady holding him looked at me and understood how distraught I was. She immediately started consoling me stating that she had witnessed everything...it wasn't my fault...the dog came out of nowhere. Not to be consoled, I kept repeating over and over through my tears..."I am SO SORRY....I am SO SORRY!" She said..."It is okay, it is not my dog."
Together, we decided to return the puppy to the house from whence it came. Crossing the road and negotiating our way to the house, just when we thought it was bad enough it got worse! A little boy around the age of 6 or 7 came running out to meet us. He asked repeatedy if the puppy was dead. Neither of us wanted to be the one to break that kind of news. We asked him to get his Mom or Dad. It seemed to take forever. Finally, a young woman holding a 6-month old baby appeared at the door. Good God!! She didn't seem upset, but rather was trying to console me...I was a mess! She repeated over and over..."It is not your fault. We should have had the dog tied. He made a habit of running out when cars were stopped at the lane way."
Maybe the mysterious car that was stopped at the mailbox? The same car that promptly took off as soon as the dog was hit? Who knows. Nothing could take away the pain in my chest or make the situation any different.
The lady who stopped her car behind me, and the same lady who held that little puppy until we wrapped it in a blanket, was an angel. I thanked her for stopping. I thanked her for taking the puppy off the road, because truthfully, I don't think I could have done that. I am not that brave. I thanked her again for being there, and sharing this dreadful experience with me. She removed her sunglasses, and I looked into her kind eyes. We introduced each other and we shook hands. We parted ways once we reached our cars. I didn't notice what direction she eventually took, I couldn't see through my tears.
How I drove home that night, I will never know.
I may not be a 'dog person', but that little white puppy tore my heart strings to shreds that evening. I cannot imagine how I would have felt if it had been 'my' dog. Shudder to think.
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