The Search
There was an early morning chill in the air as I got on the entrance ramp to Interstate 275 on my way to work. Right as I got into my lane I saw a dog, a small dog, right in the middle of the interstate. It was just standing there, not moving, like a stuffed animal. The other cars were swerving to miss the loaf of bread sized bundle of fur. I pulled over and ran to gather her up under my arm like a shaggy football. Back then I was plenty young and spry. The earth has cooled considerably since then and my sprite days are not with me so much any more. When we got into my truck I could tell right away that the Pekingese was very old and completely blind. I waved my hand toward her eyes real fast and there was no reaction at all, not even a blink. I drove on to work at Busch Gardens.

I knew that our new veterinarian had recently made a set rule that no dogs would be allowed on property. Given that most of the zoo attendants had dogs and periodically would bring them onto the property with them in their trucks, Dr. Olsen had said that this would have to stop. He actually was right, I suppose. But I looked at this little lost dog's face. What else could I do? 7:00, work starting time, was upon me. There had to be an exception here. Wrong. I was ordered to take the dog off of the premises immediately. So I asked for a vacation day and got an upside down apple box lid from the zoo kitchen for the pooch and we left. I drove around the area of Sligh Avenue and the entrance to the interstate for a couple of hours where I had found her but with no luck at all. The only time she didn't seem afraid was when I held her close to my leg and talked to her while I was driving. She couldn't see at all and didn't know what was going on. My guess was that she had gotten away from her family without them knowing and blindly wandered up the entrance ramp to the interstate and that's where I found her. What was I going to do? So we went home and took a nap. I guess I had a new, old, blind, sweet dog which is not the outcome I was hoping for.

That afternoon I went searching again. There was an Eastern convenience store and gas station not too far from the entrance ramp. I went there and asked the man behind the counter if he knew anything but he didn't. Then there was a woman with an unfortunate hairdo who couldn't help either. I saw a man outside pumping gas in his car so I started outside to ask him. He hung up the hose and got in his car to leave. No, he got out again. He came in the store and asked the store man for a pack of gum. It was Spearmint. I asked him if he knew anyone who had lost a dog. He said "No." but when I described her he said " Wait a minute. There was a family that was staying at the El Rancho Motel for a couple of days that had a dog like that. I think they were visiting family or something in the neighborhood." I knew where the El Rancho Motel was so we went there as fast as we could. The dog and I, not the guy with the gum.

The manager of the motel said the people had checked out that morning to go back to Ohio. I showed her the dog and she said "Yes, that's their dog. It slipped out the back door without anybody noticing. Their ten year old boy was devastated." She said that they had been looking everywhere for her. Oh, and she said that they had left their phone number with her in case she heard anything at all about the dog. "I had it right here on the desk. I wrote it on the back of a blank receipt." Even as I watched her rummaging around through all the paperwork on her desk, I was excited. Finally, she called out to her husband and asked him if he had seen the phone number. He said "I wrote a receipt this morning to one of the other guests that was checking out and I noticed there was a number scribbled on the back. I'm sorry. It's gone."

The woman said "I think they said they were going to go by and see their sister's family before they left. They live somewhere close by." I put the dog in the truck again and started driving up and down the streets. I had gotten out of the truck to start going door to door. I had pretty much given up all hope. As I was standing on the edge of the road by my truck I looked up just in time to see a station wagon with suitcases all piled up on top, tied with ropes, drive past right in front of me. In the back seat on the passenger side was a boy about ten years old with red swollen eyes just staring blankly out of the window. I yelled as loud as I could because their windows were up "DID YOU LOSE A DOG? !!!" They drove on past...about thirty feet and their brake lights came on. They backed up and rolled down their windows. They were on their way to Ohio right then. When I brought the dog out of my truck the boy ran to her and hugged her right out of my arms and yelled "Mitzy!" I remember her name well because when I was growing up in my old neighborhood on Ellicott Street my friend Norman had a little Boston Terrier named Mitzy that I loved a lot. That was one of the best days I ever had, especially the last ten minutes.

Lynn Ash