My husband asked me today what my most recent blog post was about. He’s a regular lurker, I mean reader, but hasn’t kept pace the past few days. Dog in the road, I told him. He nodded. He would enjoy hunting down the dog’s owner, preferably with a pack of, well, dogs, and telling her in gruesome detail what her collie would look like should it be hit by a garbage truck. I added that in the comments I’d mentioned the hard truth we’ve told our kids about driving: if you’re ever faced with the awful choice between hitting a person and hitting a dog, then… sorry, dog.
He clapped his hands to his head. “I can’t believe you wrote that.”
But it’s what we’ve told them, I said.
“The animal people are going to come after you. Remember the roo?”
Oh, crud, the roo. When my friend Caroline Carver wrote a scene in her novel Blood Junction in which a sick baby kangaroo is killed by the bad guys, she got hate mail. Serious hate mail, of the you’re-evil, go-crawl-under-a-rock-and-die variety. And that was for fictitiously harming an imaginary animal. I’d gone and told all of cyberspace that I was willing to let real-life animals buy the farm if need be.
“I’ll have to buy you a Kevlar vest,” he said. “Christ, I’ll have to buy you Kevlar pajamas.”
Kevlar’s not my bag, baby. I laughed. But fifteen minutes later I found him with the camera, a dog bone, and our Lab. “You’d better prove that you love animals,” he said. And so I’m posting the photo he took of Duke, to let the world know that I’m not Cruella de Ville.
5 responses so far ↓
Patti // January 15, 2007 at 7:03 pm |
Duke is a fine figure of a Lab! He seems to be doing the “set eyes on stun” look reserved for food, owners who have neglected the all-important w-a-l-k, and squirrels.
As for the cruel truth about making choices while driving, that’s exactly what my driving instructor said 25 years ago. He then went on to tell us about a time when he had to do it–the tears in his eyes impressed even a roomful of teenagers. That’s about all I remember from driver ed, except for a voice in my right ear repeating, “the brake, Patricia, the brake!”
Kevlar pajamas…hmmmm…trim them with expensive lace and I see Jax.
And finally, as you are so often reminded: Ollie.
Snart // January 15, 2007 at 8:01 pm |
Tough life lesson! Hit a cat once on the freeway. Never forget the look in its eyes. But I’m alive and so is my passenger. I’d walk on hot coals to save an animal, but won’t sacrifice a human life to do so. Hard lesson, but it keeps things in perspective.
Had a dog hit me once, ran out of the dark, smashed the side of the car, and kept running. Figured it was payback for the cat.
spyscribbler // January 15, 2007 at 9:44 pm |
LOLOL … I was appalled when one of JA Konrath’s characters dropped off a dog to be gassed at a shelter. A bad guy, too.
I don’t know why. (He’s a fine writer, though! Buy his stuff!)
They’ve done studies. Did you know that in movies with war scenes, we humans aren’t much affected emotionally by the death of a human? If they stick a dog or animal in there, we evidently are more emotionally involved and worried about the situation.
What does that say about us humans? Crazy, huh?
susan // January 15, 2007 at 10:19 pm |
So, Meg, you’ve written the odd scene where humans get it hard and bad and painful. Any hate mail ensue?
While Duke’s picture is charming, I wonder if it’s enough to protect your reputation as a lover of furry creatures if you’re not in it too, with him giving you wet doggie kisses.
Meg // January 16, 2007 at 4:39 pm |
No hate mail re: human suffering. But see Patti’s comment above re: puppy suffering. I know I’ll never be let off the hook for Ollie.
And Patti, you were wise to spell w-a-l-k. You too must suspect that dogs can read at least one word.
So for my next photo shoot I need lace, Kevlar, and wet doggie kisses. I’m having second thoughts about posting pictures.