miles of abbie

This is posted for MatadorU, a travel writing program that I am taking. The assignment was to write a brief story that mixes the current day, written in present tense, and a day or event that happened in your life.

***Note:  I have updated this post to reflect the feedback left in my comments***

6 a.m. already? As if the alarm wasn’t enough, Daisy made sure that I knew it was time to wake up with her perfectly timed tongue assaults. Every time I started to nod off again, she’d be there to lick my face, reminding me to get up. Mumbling to myself about how much I hate getting up in the dark, I stumble into the kitchen only to be blinded by the fluorescent lights. Two bowls of cereal later, I’m putting on my makeup, getting dressed, and getting out the door.

I have quite a bit of time to think during my 30 minute drive to work, usually zoning out and then all of a sudden, I’m turning left and into my elementary school parking lot. I teach preschool Special Ed., so my day wouldn’t be complete without something totally random happening. Today Robert throws up and when I call his mom she asked if she needed to come pick him up. Your son is puking all over the nurse’s office, so yes, Robert’s mom, you do need to come pick him up. Thank you.

After school, I go next door to talk to Alexa, another preschool teacher, and find out that not only is she moving and having a yard sale, but has a brand new Belgian waffle maker and a very nice strainer that are looking for a new home. Coincidentally, Eric and I could really use a nice strainer, and who can say no to a Belgian waffle maker? This conversation occurred just days after I bought pumpkin pancake and waffle mix from Trader Joe’s. It was obviously meant to be.

Since money is tight this month, the dogs are only going to be able to go to doggie day care once a week, which means I’m going to have to step up my dog owner responsibilities and take them for more walks, starting today! I grab their black leashes, get the dogs ready, and we are out the door in no time.

We take the usual route down Broadway and stop at the first intersection. The dogs sit and I have them wait. On command, we jog across the road and when I go to switch their black leashes into my other hand, I accidentally drop Sadie’s leash. She turns her jog into a sprint and takes off down the sidewalk. I start chasing her while screaming her name and that’s when the flashback happens. Four years ago we moved to California with a dog named Chilli. We were at the beach, she was off leash playing with our friends’ dog, got scared, and took off. I chased her down the sidewalk, and she just kept running and running. Chilli ran into an intersection and got hit by a car. She didn’t make it, despite getting her to an emergency vet within 10 minutes. I was devastated to say the least, and it was potentially about to happen again.

It takes every bit of control I have to stop my legs from running to do what I have read in every dog training book ever – stop chasing her. So I stop and squat down. The second I stop, she turns around to look at me. I call her name and after a slight pause Sadie comes trotting back to me like nothing had happened. I shakily tell her “good girl” and from that moment on held both leashes with a white knuckle grip. After I regained my composure, I call Eric. “We need to get Sadie a different colored leash”.