Volcano Karabeth Is About to Erupt

This has not been a good day. A certain dog and child have just about sent me over the brink and I'm about to spew forth fire and brimstone. My blog might not be deemed lovely after this as any lemons that come my way might be used to pelt someone in lieu of making lemonade. You can recall my awards if you must. {Sob}

I cannot think of a more terrifying sound than hearing a dog attack followed closely by my son yelling. Forget the panic I felt last month at the mall when my wallet went missing. That's not even close to what I felt when I could hear the above happening outside my window.

Everyone knows from my last post that Pepper is no angel, unless you count fallen ones, but she was not the dog who caused the adrenalin to begin flowing today. She is actually the hero of this story. The Bear had taken her out for her "constitutional" which consists of walking her back and forth on her leash in the front yard until she finds the blades of grass that she wishes to bless. The ritual was interrupted by two of the neighbor's dogs who decided that Pepper and the Bear should not be allowed to grace the neighborhood with their presence.

The younger of the two attacked Pepper. A fight ensued with my son hanging on to his dog for dear life and shouting at the top of his lungs. Pepper fought valiantly even with the Bear dragging her toward the front door. By the time I arrived the fighting was taking place on my doorstep. I felt like the angels who pulled Lot in the door when the men from Sodom were harassing him. The Bear and I pulled Pepper (who had gained the upper paw by that time) inside the house and I kicked the other dog to keep it from coming in with us. The other, older dog wisely just stood there watching to see who would win. Then it ran off with the unholy terror close behind.

I called the owner's phone number and reached the man of the house. Our conversation did not go well at first. He insisted his dogs were inside. Oh yeah? You might want to check that. The last I saw them they were running down the street after a person out for a brisk walk and that walk was getting brisker by the second. And of course the usual, "My dogs would never attack anybody or anything." Well, I know the Bear was not making anything up because I'm the one who interrupted the fight. And you better be glad that it was only my dog that your dog got his teeth on and not my son. The owner did apologize once he realized that I was very angry. After all, our usual policy had been to take their dogs back home when we've seen them loose like the Bible admonished the Israelites about returning neighbors' livestock. Our neighbor knew this, I think, because a few times this same dog broke its chain and we shut it in our kennel until the owners came home.

Later I dropped the Bear off for basketball practice and since I was still a bit overwhelmed by previous events I decided not to go into the gym to chat with other mothers. I had brought a book and wanted to be alone so I went to Panera Bread to sit quietly, snack, and read.

The first few minutes were peaceful. I was in a booth and other people were sitting nearby with their laptops, books, and newspapers, pretty much doing what I was doing. Suddenly a little rubber ball came bouncing onto my table, took off in another direction, then shot back over to me and came to a stop next to my feet after bouncing against the bottom of my table a few times. It was retrieved by a 3 year old monster little boy who never even looked at me as he climbed under my table and feet.

Okay, I didn't know the boy was a monster at the time. That didn't become apparent for at least a few more seconds which was when he and his mother sat down in the booth right behind me facing another lady. The boy began kicking the back of my seat angrily and continued until his mother let him out of the booth. He then ran around the whole restaurant yelling and chasing the ball. The first 10 minutes or so he ran a circular path around the ordering area to the seating one stopping only long enough to yell, "Hey Momma!" at the top of his lungs from two booths away from her.

Mom would answer, "Hello, Precious!" and the game would continue. Once that game lost its luster he wandered to the front of the restaurant to pester the business men with laptops conducting meetings with other men with laptops. On those occasions she'd retrieve the child after he'd been gone about 5 minutes but she'd never say a word of apology to anyone. She just took it for granted that everyone in the building was helping her keep her son inside. That's the part that really worried me. I wondered how long it would be before that ball went out the door when retreating individuals left the establishment and the kid would naturally follow.

I waited long enough to see her retrieve him one more time before I left. I decided that fighting the long lines at Kroger's on a night before a heavy snow is predicted has to be more relaxing than sitting there being terrorized by an unruly toddler and his mother.

And it was.