accidental hero/pet detective.

talk about being the right person, at the right place, at the right time... i was walking to yoga this evening, musing about my warrior poses and my forward lunge and, as usual, absentmindedly checking out passing dogs on the street. yes, this is what i do. if you know me, you know. anyways, to my absolute delight, i came across a rather chubby french bulldog waddling, as it were, behind a little old lady. "odd," i thought, "there's no leash." even odder was that the little old lady was not paying the dog any mind. not looking to see if the unleashed bundle of joy was following close behind. not stopping to wait for the tiny dog to catch up. these subtle details could only be picked up by someone who has spent some time observing dogs and dog owners. anyways, the whole scene rubbed me the wrong way and i took casual note of it. good thing, too, because two steps later i came across a leash, attached to a pole, with no dog on the other end.

luckily, i have been studying the critical reasoning portion of the gmat exam, and i astutely put two and two together: empty leash, unleashed dog, ergo runaway dog! i quickly lept into action, signalling to the person sitting outside the restaurant closest to the pole: "is that your dog?" at the same time i stealthily approached the wandering frenchie who was enjoying her stolen moments of freedom. by the way, a purebred french bulldog can run someone upwards of $3000. i know this because i used to pretend i was going to buy one. anyways, the dog, like any dog, immediately thought we were playing a game of tag, and began to dart around the sidewalk. using my keen knowledge of dog behavior, i dropped to my knees, clapped my hands together and yelped, in my best high-pitched voice that i reserve for animals and small children, "come here, you, come here!" she totally bought it and approached me, at which point, her owner was able to come up from behind me, swoop in and clutch her to his chest. it was an excellent manuveur, made even more triumphant by the owner's declaration: "how did you get her to come to you? she never goes to anybody!" to which i responded, "oh, i just have a way... you know?" only then did i realize that the dog's owner was absolutely adorable, and that the cosmos had placed me, a lover of french bulldogs, on that particular sidewalk at the exact moment that his $3000 frenchie was cavorting through the upper west side. if milan kundera were writing my biography, the pigeons of fortuity would have pooped on my shoulders at that moment. (this is new york, and not prague, after all).

alas, my yoga class has a no-lateness policy. i know. sorry to let everyone down on that one. sigh. maybe next time.