It has been a few posts since I included gratuitous pictures of my Bonneville posing around town, and today, alas alack, is another one of those. It happened that we have been living through another Easter weekend and it seems for some this festivity is best enjoyed with one's family, which in the Keys often means making a journey, thus orphaning one's pets. So all is not lost for those like my wife and I who are on the holy day sidelines; we got to enjoy the company of Lula Mae for a long weekend.
I am one of those people that gets along quite nicely thank you with almost any dog, unless it is one of those sad creatures driven mad by neglect or imprisonment in solitary confinement in a yard or worse on a chain. My last dog died a couple of years ago and I'm not quite over it..yet, which is perhaps one reason I have yet to write an essay about Emma Goldman and Eugene Debs (and Debs died of cancer six long years ago already). My motorcycle had to stay put at home which was the down side of Lula Mae's visit but we did get to take a few splendid walks:
Lula Mae is an urban dog, used to wandering the sidewalks of the metropolis, but my idea of a walk is to find the path less traveled and then give it a good work out. Any dog that lives with me gets used to riding in the car and being poured out at one of any locations that strike my fancy. Lula Mae has no facility with water either and the sucking and gurgling sounds of the tide's ebb and flow at the submarine pens caused her some consternation:
Lula Mae grew up in rather insalubrious circumstances in Marathon and even had a litter of puppies before she was rescued from her dungeon. These days she lives the good life but from some dim recess of her memory she has retained a powerful loathing for other dogs. She's the reverse of my own phobias, as it were. And when taking her for a walk one needs to be cautious if other dogs are in the offing because she can pull like a train. While she has been known to overpower my wife, with me she pulls just for fun (Lula Mae, not my wife):
But in order not to spend too much time worrying about chance encounters I like to wander alone with her comfortably running back and forth off leash tiring herself out. That and some tug of war earns me a few quiet hours at home before the next bout.
That was the fun part of dog sitting, getting to enjoy the company of dog for a little while, long enough to be reminded of the pleasure and the obligation of dog ownership. The less fun part is a temporary return to driving everywhere in air conditioned comfort (it's been hot and sticky around here all weekend) with NPR on the radio and windshield wipers to fend off the occasional downpour. The thing is I have been bored senseless, more senseless than usual, trundling around in the back of a long line of cars, everywhere I go. I am reminded why many people who drive do it so badly- its deathly boring.
I try to make it interesting, I try to stay alert and involved but other vehicles clog my sight lines and passing, even with a 3.5 liter v-six is fraught with all sorts of unpleasant possibilities when one is trapped in a cage. In town I find myself forced to lump along with no sense of adventure, no desire to take the long way there, no pleasure at taking longer to get there. I joined the lines of glazed eyes and glazed brains that bump across the bridges and causeways of the Keys. Of course I had a bright eyed and bushy tailed Lula Mae sitting up in the back wondering where the walk was going to be.
I'm not yet ready to be looking after a dog full time, I know it and I'm resigned to it for the time being. One day I'll put a fence around my house, stick a sidecar on the Bonneville ( like Ara and Spirit) and throw my dog and my walker in the hack. But for now, when I have to drive a cage I look out the window and struggle to stay alert, while not envying those around me carefree and irresponsible on their freedom machines:
All good things come to an end and Lula Mae is back home, after one final exhausting walk and tug-of-war and tomorrow I will be commuting properly, on the Bonneville once again, envying no one, riding for the fun of it. And yes, I will be missing Lula Mae just a little bit.
