When the Bite Bit Back

When the Bite Bit Back

By LuAnn Williamson

           The haze of wood smoke lingered over the slowly darkening, twilight air. Exotic aromas permeated the air. The weekend of the Bite of Seattle was almost always sunny and warm. It was as if the entire collective consciousness of the entire city, no, the whole region could create favorable conditions for the food festival.

           Mary scanned the crowd with an increasing feeling close to despair. There was no way to pick out two teenaged girls from the tens of thousands of people who gathered in the City Center to sample foods from the stands and food trucks that were set up throughout the 74 acres of the park. 

           With the free admission, free concerts of well-known local bands and the opportunity to buy exotic foods, as well as classic favorites, like many types of hamburgers, this was the most popular festival in the region. The memory of the rich, decadent chocolate fondue she’d just sampled lingered.

           Mary reached down to pet the dog at her side. Ranger was friendly and well behaved and had enjoyed the giant party, meeting and greeting the entire spectrum of people from all walks of life.  With the Golden Retriever friendliness, he had been popular.  But even he, a young dog, was beginning to slow down and walk as if his feet were hurting. She’d given him a quarter of an aspirin a few minutes ago, along with the last of the bottled water. She matched his sigh as she flopped down on the grass

           She watched the beginning of the sunset dusting the high fluffy clouds a pale pink and contemplated her problem. Ranger sighed and flopped himself into the grass, his tongue lolling out. She wondered if she had made the mistake of bringing her daughter, Dana and her friend, Rory to festival in the first place. She knew that failing to designate a meeting place or places was the biggest mistake of all. She’d walked past the lost children tent several times, hoping she could meet the miscreants. The girlish giggle was the last thing she heard as they disappeared into the crowd. She was fairly certain that they’d planned to ditch boring old Mom. Mary had no idea how much money Rory had, but she’d given Dana fifty dollars just before they left home, rather than having to ask for money each time they’d want to get something. She’d told her daughter that she could keep any money left over but she doubted she’d have much left. Not when there were booths with all kinds of jewelry at all price ranges, hand painted scarves and tie dyed clothing to tempt anyone.

The music that had been so wonderful during the day was becoming a cacophony. The crowds were getting wearing on her nerves and she was maxed out on excitement. Her head was starting to ache. She started to look in her purse for some aspirin.  Then she realized she’d given the last of the water to the dog. She didn’t want to go and spend three dollars for a bottle of water when she could buy the same thing at the grocery store for less than a dollar on sale. She remembered that she had an entire case of bottled water in the car that she’d forgotten to take inside after her last shopping trip.

The car, the idea flashed into her mind like a sudden brain storm. They’d need to go to the car eventually, if they wanted to ride home. Of course they had enough money and knew the bus system well enough to make their way home on their own.

Mary strapped on the sandals she’d taken off in order to massage her aching feet. “Come on Ranger,” she encouraged with her voice. He seemed a bit revived from his rest but still hadn’t gotten his enthusiasm back. Slowly, they made their way back to the commercial garage several blocks away. It was the only one they could find with available parking.

Seldom had the older sedan she owned seemed a more welcome sanctuary. She unlocked the door and motioned for the dog to jump inside. She shut the door, despite the wounded look the dog gave her, and moved to open the trunk. There were twelve bottles of sweet, fresh water. She’d worry about getting into the house at a later time with the carton ripped open.

She poured some water into the bowl for her dog. The water was warm but not hot. But it still quenched her thirst and allowed her swallow the pain reliever. She glanced toward the dog in the back seat. He’d curled himself in ball the best he could and was already dozing off.

Carefully, so as not to disturb Ranger, she lowered her seat back. She shot him a jealous look since he’d claimed the back seat and she didn’t have the heart to make him move so she could stretch out fully. She grabbed her sweater out of her backpack, rolling it into a makeshift pillow. Even in the summer, it often got cool enough for a sweater after the sun went down. Finally, she locked the doors, put her feet up on the console between the front seats and lay back, trying to rest. She used the sweater as a pillow but knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

When she heard voices, she’d lift her head up in hope. After another hour, she managed to doze off. What woke her was the sound of the rapid beating of her dog’s long, fluffy tail against the back of the seat.

“She is here!” It was Rory’s voice. “She was sleeping.” Mary though Rory’s voice sounded smug. Stiffly, Mary yawned, stretched. “She’s so cute, when she’s asleep.” That was her daughter’s best friend, smart aleck but usually very funny. But with sore feet and aching muscles, she couldn’t find anything funny about it at the moment.

Mary unlocked the door, and Rory climbed into the front seat. Mary spotted Dana coming up the ramp, trying to look cool and not out of breath.

“I got shot gun,” Rory crowed. No doubt this time, she looked smug.

“I’d rather sit with Ranger,” Dana teased. “He’s better company than you.” She pretended to sound repulsed at the idea of sitting with her friend. Ranger laid his head on her leg and promptly went back to sleep.

Although she’d drifted off to sleep thinking of all the things she could do to punish the wandering girls, at that moment, all Mary wanted to go was go home. A hot bath, maybe a cold drink and hours and hours of blissful sleep and she knew she’d feel better. She would deal with the girls later.

With a sigh of relief, she started the car.

Author’s note: This is a true story. Only the names have been changed. If you’re wondering why we didn’t just use our cell phones to call each other, this was a long time ago. Cell phones didn’t exist back then.