BUS STORY # 152 (Frank’s Bus Story # 1)

One recent afternoon, one of the regulars has a story he tells me on the ride home. He and his partner were out walking with their dogs. It was a cool, early summer’s evening, and a fine time for a walk.

They were in the vicinity of Lomas and Tramway when they saw a pickup truck pull out of the Circle K at the northeast quadrant of the intersection. A woman was driving the truck, and a German Shepherd was riding in the open bed. The Shepherd spotted the walkers, bolted out of the back of the truck, and went straight for them. 

I’m halfway expecting to hear how the Shepherd got hit by oncoming traffic, but instead, I hear how it went straight for his partner’s dog.

“She’s a terrible fighter,” he tells me. 

His partner tried picking her up and shielding her. 

Frank* had separated himself as much as possible from the attack. His dog is a Dachshund which he knew would be no match at all for the Shepherd. I imagined him grabbing the Dachshund, and saw a German Shepherd frankfurter wrapped in a co-rider bun. 

In the midst of all this mayhem, he says he heard a terrible squeal of brakes and looked up just in time to see a white minivan do a roll, after which a convertible crashed into a pole. That seems to have taken the fight out of everybody, the German Shepherd included. 

He says he has no idea if anyone was hurt – the cops and ambulances and fire trucks were there very quickly, and he understands he was overwhelmed by all the events and was in what I would call a mild state of shock. 

His account leaves me a little unclear on exactly where the vehicles were, or what the relationship between the two was. I’m pretty sure the minivan must have been hurtling up or down Tramway to get a roll going. I’m wondering if the dogfight distracted one of the drivers and caused the crash. 

Frank tells me he spotted the driver of the truck standing on the side of the road a good bit away from them. He says he was angry at first that she would have just stood there while her dog was attacking them. But then he thought she was probably apprehensive about approaching two men and their smaller dogs who’d just been attacked by her unsecured German Shepherd. 

Back home, his partner’s clothes were somewhat chewed, and he had some abrasions, but no real skin punctures either of them could make out. Later, they googled the local news looking for a story about the crash. Nothing. And that, he tells me, is his story about a nice relaxing walk after work one cool summer evening. 

I can’t help reflecting on all the ways pets enrich our lives, and when I get home, I refresh the hummingbird feeder.

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 *Real name changed.

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The photo above features last year’s Poetry On The Bus second place winner in the youth category. The poem is Tumble Weed Flats, by Gerardo Ramos. Click on photo to enlarge.

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Thanks to MG in Irving, Texas, for this week's feature story: This Week In Laguna Niguel, California.