Thursday Night News

Walking up the street tonight, I encountered a woman walking her dog. They turned out to be Danette and her pug Tootsie Roll. I snapped a photo of the dog, and I told her if she would hold her pug up I would take a picture of them for my blog. She said, “Oh no … my hair … it’s a mess.” So the photo is just Tootsie Roll.

As we talked, Tootsie Roll wandered into an adjacent yard. When that happened, an elderly man approached us and said to Danette, “I don’t appreciate that. I don’t want dogs doing their business in my yard.”

“Oh, she didn’t go,” Danette told him.

“You don’t know that,” the man said. The yes-she-did-no-she-didn’t volleyball was tossed back and forth a few more times. Finally I injected my own opinion. “Look at the shape of that dog,” I said. “It’s plain to see this dog has never pooped.” That brought a chuckle from the man, and I decided it was a good time to resume my walk.

Then I ran into Zoe (from the previous night). She had exciting news. I don’t think she will mind if I share it – even if she wanted to keep it secret, that won’t be possible for much longer.

“I just found out I’m pregnant!” she exclaimed. “Isn’t that exciting!”  She seemed thrilled. I think it was something she had wanted badly. Zoe ran off, I’m guessing to deliver the news to a friend, and I resumed my walk.

A little while later as I passed by the park, I saw a woman playing fetch with her dog. She would throw a red rubber ball and the dog, a pit bull, would take off like a rocket after that ball and bring it back to her. So I went over and talked with her a while. Her name was Shawnna and her dog’s name was Savior -- because the dog saved her sanity after a messy divorce. I offered to take a picture of her with her dog, but she said “Oh no … my hair … it’s a mess.” We talked for a long time while I threw the ball for Savior to fetch. She’s from West Virginia by way of North Carolina. She was supposed to have wed her fiance last week but couldn’t get off work, so the ceremony was rescheduled. Now she just wants to go to a JP. “I’ve had the big ceremony and so has he.”  She said she and Savior were at the park almost every evening. It was nice talking with her – another friendly person in the ‘hood. It was dark when we both left for home in opposite directions.