Nightmare at Gabriel Park

Zoom, zoom, zoom, there he goes!  I need to put the leash on him before it gets too dark.  Oh my cute bugaboo.  I love him so much!  I hear the clasp snap around his neck and we head out of the fenced in dog park.  It’s pretty much deserted, so we need to get through those woods, back to the car.

Such a beautiful evening.  I can feel it getting cooler so I decided to stop and put his cute little white jacket on that I gave him for Christmas.  Oh, how he loves it!  Lucky, adamantly runs up ahead as the leash extends to the six feet allotted.

A cute little path, winding, that becomes overshadowed with trees in a small valley.  We come to the middle of the valley and it’s really starting to get dark so we are hustling when I sense a presence up ahead.  Lucky just wants to go toward them as fast as possible.  I can see a short squatty lady with shoulder length, red hair, holding a leash with her back toward us to the left of the trees.  Nothing threatening in the clearing, it seems.

I see something in front of her and once I get a better look, in an instance I see a very large Staffordshire bull running full speed towards us.  My heart jumps and Lucky is fully extended.  As I’m pulling and rheeling in the leash, I can hear the lady yelling to grab my dog.  I get to Lucky, and as I bend down to pick him up, the pit is already nose to nose.  He doesn’t seem aggressive so I let him sniff.  Meanwhile, the lady is just standing there where she was, not budging.  

Suddenly, the pit bull has his jaws fully extended and is attempting to eat my 11 pound terrier chihuahua mix Lucky!  I’m screaming and writhing with fear.  As I have my hands in his mouth, trying to keep his jaw from locking, Lucky is screaming.  I’m at odds with the fact that this lady won’t get her dog!  She still, just stood there.  Everything is in slow motion now and ironically, moving really fast.  The pit did a fast head jerk and I rolled on the ground, still wrestling with this huge dog.  He looked at me in the face with those predatory eyes in a challenge and before I could get Lucky in my arms safely, he grabbed my baby again.  Onward-ho for another tussle.  This bitch is afraid of her own dog!  I didn’t want to hurt her dog, so I pleaded.  He listened to me and dropped Lucky.  I swooped him up into my arms. 

As I walked by her sobbing pathetic self, I exclaimed that she was coming with me!  She sounded like Edith Bunker from All In The Family for crying out loud!  I started feeling myself going into shock and I had to get Lucky to the vet.  I just started walking as fast as I could to my car praying that God would help me.  All of a sudden, in an instant, a lady appeared and helped me walk to the car.  She helped me get him in the sternal upright position as he was gurgling each breath.  As I got in the car, she told me her name.  Her name is my name, Kari.  I proposed she drive because I was so shaken.  She said, no, I have to take care of my own babies; you can do it!

I gently placed Lucky on the seat and rolled the window down so he could breath fresh air.  I think he could tell how upset I was because he walked over to the window, pointed his nose at the open and drew in a breath.

Ok, so now I need to drive.  I’m totally lost.  I drive up to a pickup at the light, roll my window down further and asked this guy where to take my dog.  Luckily, he’s nice and I followed him.  As I drove, I looked at Lucky and he would look at me and I knew there was a chance!  Finally, at the vet, they started operating.  

I paced in the lobby and drank some water.  Oh, that’s the guy who brought me here.  Walking in with his wippet puppy, he handed me a piece of paper and told me if I needed help with the bill, just to let him know.  I was so greatful!  I ran outside and grabbed a wreath that my friend made and handed it to him.  We said our goodbyes.

As I’m standing in the lobby, the doctor comes out and explains that he has crushed ribs, a pneumothorax (punctured lung) and no blood for transfusion.  The outcome was looking dim.  She said his ribs were crushed so much that he would be in a lot of pain. It was hard for the kings women to put humpty back together again. She invited me to be present and say our last goodbye.

I followed her into the operating room and as they began the process of euthanasia, he looked up at me.  His eyes got so big and as she pushed the fluids through, his spirit flew out of his body right through me and zoomed around the room.  The room got brighter and everyone dropped everything and looked around in amazement. I gestured, did you see that? In awe, the two assistants brows went up and their body language was jerky and nervous. I knew I wasn’t crazy.

The drive home and pulling myself out of the car, my steps felt heavy.  Everything was dark.  I turned on the TV and there was a guy, dressed up like a black and white dog.  Lucky had the same exact color and markings.  In shock, I sat there realizing that this was God now, talking to me through the TV.

It was Yugio.  Yugio was playing chess with the devil in this episode.  One of Yugio’s chess players was this guy dressed in a dog costume and the devil knocked him off like a pawn.  There was mail on the table so I opened a mysterious letter from Beijing. It was an invitation to learn shiatsu and tuina. Well, wouldn’t that be nice, if I was rich!

As I sat on my couch, I pulled out that piece of paper.  A notepad from a local church, I noticed.  Oh yeah, the guy who helped me get to the vet.  His name was Eddie Kreugar.