Jasper Goes For A Stroll

A couple of mornings ago, I was sitting at my computer jotting down some thoughts and I heard my daughter, Rachel, crying, “Daaaaaadd!!!”  The tone of her voice communicated to me that this was not a call to “come-here-I-want-to-show-you-something-neat”, rather this was a call to “come-here-something-is-wrong”.

I got up and went outside and Rachel, looking very distressed, told me, “Jasper got out of the yard, he’s gone.”

Sure enough, the gate was open and the yard contained no dog.  Well, actually, that’s not true.  Jake, Jasper’s overnight buddy, was there.  Jake doesn’t run off, even if the gate is open, he is content to stay in the yard and do Pilates like a normal doggy.  So, as I stood outside looking to and fro for Jasper, Jake sat staring up at me with a look on his face that said, “I don’t know why he does this, I try to tell him but he won’t listen to me.”  And then Jake adjusted his work-out tights and assumed another pose.

Rachel and I jumped in the van and began driving around the neighborhood looking for Jasper or for signs of Jasper’s presence, like frightened angry squirrels.  But we couldn’t find him.  (I spent 15 minutes looking for him in Dunkin Donuts.  He wasn’t in there, either, but a chocolate donut always takes the edge off of any crisis situation.)

Suddenly, I saw Nadia driving our other car.  She pulled along side me and said, “Is your phone on?”

I checked and said, “Oh, it’s on mute.  Sorry.”  So, I turned it on and drove away.

When Nadia called me, she said, “I got a call from someone.”  Nadia gave me the address of the caller.  Fortunately, Jasper’s tags have our phone number.  “The woman who has Jasper called and said to come and pick him up,” Nadia added.

I drove to the address and found the woman standing by her door, smiling, and I saw Jasper on her porch enjoying a cup of coffee and a crumpet. 

(Okay, the truth is, I don’t even know what a “crumpet” is, but it just seemed like the right thing for Jasper to be eating out on the lady’s porch.)

I said, “I’m terribly sorry for inconveniencing you.  I apologize for this trouble.”

She graciously said, “Oh, for goodness, it’s no trouble at all.  I just wanted to make sure he didn’t get hit by a car.”

I said, “Well, thank you very much for watching out for him and for calling us.”

Jasper and I got in the van and drove home.  On the way, I said to him, “What’s wrong with you?  Why do you go running around the neighborhood when the gate is open?  That’s not a nice thing to do.”

He just looked out the window and pretended not to hear me.

When we got home, I tried again, “Are you going to stay in the yard from now on?  Don’t you realize that you can get hurt?  Don’t you see that it upsets us?”

He continued drinking from the toilet and giving me the silent treatment.

I don’t know what to tell you.  It seems that Jasper has a rebellious wandering streak.

But later that night, I found a card on my pillow.  When I opened it, I saw some very rudimentary writing that said, “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to scare you guys.”  And it was signed with a paw print.

It warmed my heart.  And I feel good about it.  So, I hate to bring this up.  Really.  I don’t like to come across as such a cynical person, I want to think the best of others and I want to be trusting, but…well…you see…the thing is…I think it might have been Jake’s paw print.

Oh sure, he looks very innocent and very

sincere in this picture.