Lola My Salvation

Hey Monica,

Hope you are enjoying your trip while the kids and I await your return. I just couldn’t wait to tell you though: I never seen Lola move so fast. She took off in a fit of fury attacking like crazy.

But let me start at the beginning. It was Sunday morning about time for Bible belt morning meetings. The November leaves were brown and still falling, crunching under foot and the sun was a bath of warmth. Acorns have fallen and been turned into golden grits from people on foot. It gives the morning air a sort of nutty aroma. A nice combination with the cookie smells coming from over at the Nabisco cookie factory.

We set out meandering through Sylvan Hills with the neighborhood dogs going off like car alarms in Midtown on Saturday night. Around every corner there was another one. Of course these fenced dogs and dogs behind doors and windows are of no interest. Harry keeps sniffing and spraying and Lola keeps strutting. There is this one dog, kinda heavy and old, who tries to muster some excitement from behind his fence over on Woodburne Avenue and for a minute Lola looked at him like she was going to stop and engage walking toward him. The old dog was tripped with excitement but then as suddenly as Lola seem to consider the idea she changed her direction like—naa don’t think so. A girl can change her mind. The old dog just stood there quietly, remembering when, praying —maybe next time.

It was when we came upon that squirrel at such close range, that Lola snapped. She was off the hook in a split second and diving down the hill. Leaves were flying through the air as she went through someone’s yard and disappeared behind the bushes. Frantic now I looked for her collar in one direction, Harry was pulling me in another direction and I prayed that this family was already at morning service as I called Lola, but not too loud as to attract attention. Meanwhile Harry is still pulling in the other direction. He had found a bush and something was really smelling. His broken crooked tail was straight up in the air like he had just found a female in heat.