An Accident Waiting to Happen

As I came around the curve of the road I saw a van pulled over to the side with its flashers on. In the same instant I noticed a small black Toto-like dog in the on-coming lane. The dog was looking confused, glancing around, taking a step forward then a step back. I assumed the dog was lost and the people in the van had been looking for him. I stopped the car in my lane expecting the van door to open and the dog to run in front of me.

As soon as I stopped the dog came toward my car. I waited. The van took off. The cars were now lining up behind me. I put on my flashers and hopped out-still in the middle of my lane. The cars started to go around me on the berm. The dog had tags. I bent down to read them. There was a name and local phone number. The rabies tag, however, was from a city 3 hours away. Yikes.

The dog tried to jump into my car; I reached down the boosted him up. He knew all about cars and had obviously been in one many times. I got back in and pulled off to the side of the road. I looked in my rear-view and saw a large truck had been protecting my back.

Traffic was now flowing steadily in both directions. I waved as the truck went by. I called the number on the tag. A man answered the phone.

“Hello.”

“I think I have your dog.”

“Gus?” “You have…Gus? “ The voice sounded perplexed.

“Honey where is Gus?” There came a mumble through the phone that sounded like porch.

“Where are you?”

I looked around. “I am across the street from Lundgren’s Landscaping.”

“That’s me.” The voice continued, “I’ll be right down.”

I waited in the car, petting the dog and talking to him. Finally a wiry man in grass-stained jeans came down the long drive. Gus saw him and started to wag not only his tail, but his whole back end. I shouted across the street.

“He knows you.”

Traffic was heavy in both directions. The man waited to cross. I watched the traffic in my mirrors. Many minutes passed. Finally there was a break in the traffic and the man approached the car. I opened the door. Gus leapt into the man’s arms.

“Wow,” the man said, “there is a lot of traffic.”

“Your dog was in the middle of the road.” “He could have been hit.”

“Thank you, thank you, how can I thank you?”

He walked back across the street with Gus licking his face.

The moral here is: Please, watch your dog, I don’t want to have to call you.