“Something to Chew On” Charlie Bear with LAA #16

I dashed out the door, raced down the driveway, and made a quick left. Oh, man—freedom! My feet shredded the concrete. I’ll bet if you clocked me, I’d have been going twenty miles an hour. My ears flapped high on top of my head. I did look back, once, but then kept going.

FEMALE PEEP: “Charlie Bear. Come back here.”

I didn’t listen. She raced after me. I saw a wall coming up. Darn it, I was in a cul-de-sac. I made a u-turn, crossed the street and flew up the sidewalk on that side.

FEMALE PEEP: “Come here, Charlie, come here.”

At this point I can see she’s frantic. It rained that morning and the streets were wet. She had on little footie socks (the kind I love to play with when they’re not on her feet), and they were soaking wet. Still, she ran after me. I raced toward her, tail held high, and at the last second darted around her outstretched arms. Now I was back at the opening to the dead-end street and at the cross street that often held traffic. The kind of traffic where you could see a big ‘ole truck go screaming by or a teenager who thinks they’re a race car driver barreling down like he’s late for some important date.

FEMALE PEEP: “Charlie Bear, NO! Not into the street.”

I didn’t look both ways, but I bet she did. What I saw instead was a pretty lady standing just outside her front door directly across that busy street. I heard my peep say, “Call him to you, please.” And that nice lady put her arms out wide and said, “Come here, Charlie Bear, come here.” Well, you can’t turn down some lovin’, so I ran right up to her. She grabbed me, of course, but at that point I didn’t mind. Then female peep caught up.

FEMALE PEEP: “Thank you so much. Thank God no cars were coming.”

She hugged me tight to her chest and walked me home, both our hearts beating wildly. When she set me down inside the foyer, I scrambled off to the kitchen for a drink of water. I heard her say to some of her friends who were visiting (that open door was how I snuck out), that she promised not to let that happen again and that it scared her. Well, it scared me too a little bit. I promised myself not to do that again because it was here, in this nice, warm home, that I felt safe and protected.

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NOTE: If you want to catch up with what happened in LBA (Life Before Adoption), you can look under “Charlie Chat” on the right. All the posts are there, and these new ones about LAA (Life After Adoption) will be there too. Watch for more of Something to Chew On by me, Charlie Bear, in the weeks ahead.

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