I stood on my front lawn watching our greyhound Zeus doing 40mph down the street hauling our aluminium pink, green, and purple striped lawn chair behind him. And for a second, I just had to admire the comic beauty of the scene. A greyhound at full speed is something to see. Like watching destiny fulfilled, purpose accomplished, raison d'être in motion. The moment was tainted though, because I felt pretty certain I was never going to see him again.
Our greyhound, adopted from the track at 2 years old, was probably yanked from competition the first race he ran. He just isn't that into chasing things, especially not a fake bunny attached to a rail. But set a relentless, near weightless, swinging, scraping, lawn chair after him and boy, he could have been a winner!
When I had finally wrangled all three kids in the car Zeus was long gone. Eve was hollering because when I scooped her up I had already entered panic mode and the toy she was holding slammed into her face. She got no sympathy from me, though, I was imagining Zeus a mangled mess on the road. Eli was loudly pestering me to open his mini-bag of Doritos before I got him buckled. "Eli," I said, "this is kind of an emergency!" But that just got him going on about calling the firemen and bringing the fire trucks. I shushed him as only a stressed-out Mom can but of course I had to go into a detailed explanation of the kinds of things we can and can not call the firemen for, before he was satisfied. I suppose this may have been an important distraction from my excellent imagination coming up with an assortment of horrific ending to this escapade. Isaac, meanwhile, was a perfect angel. I think he must have been quite entertained, himself.
Well, I don't know if the Jehovah Witnesses can save souls but I do owe them the life of my dog. A car full of missionaries out spreading the Word warned me which way he went and then ended up tracking him down and bringing him in. It turns out, he ran out of gas in somebody's yard only a couple of streets away. He's got the endurance of a lap dog after all.
Needless to say I won't be tying Zeus up to a lawn chair ever again. Or maybe I'll just make it a heavier one...
Notice Zeus, sneaky dog that he is, always manages to get some body part onto the baby's blanket, even if it is just a nose and a toe. It's just so comfy!
5 comments:
Boy was this a fun filled day for you. I am glad that you were able to find him safe. I can understand that kind of stress. I have had to get all of my kids in the car before to chase our doG before as well. Glad all if well!
I love Zeus! Whenever Todd and I talk about getting a dog, I always talk about Zeus.
Anne,I love the post about Zues. I love your writing. You just draw me in. Oh man, little Isaac's seizure. How scary? Any side effects or reasons why that happens?
Eli, what a cute kid. You writing about how he doesn't need you and is already out the door. You make me want to cry. I love you Anne!
That is AWESOME!! I would have loved to see him hauling down the street! Maybe I will soon.... pretty please.
Cute babus!
Hilarious. And our pup pulls the coffee table like its nothing at all, so I put two 25 pound weights on it. Hmm...still goes anywhere he wants. Fifty pounds isn't challenging at all. Good luck with a heavier lawn chair, I fairly warned you. lol. And rabbits? Maybe they should use cats. Just joking.
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