Tailing the tail.

I’ve been looking for a good place to buy meat. Something with some options, like Bison, or Organic Beef. Things you don’t find too readily in Preble County. I heard of a good one over in Englewood. Barley’s Butcher Shop.

I drove over early today, to check it out. It was good.  A nice place, clean and well kept.  The meat all looked great.  We’ll see how it tastes.   But as I was leaving the shop and putting my bags in the car, I noticed one of the butchers with a dog. They were standing, facing one another, at the front of the shop.

The dog had some sort of note in his mouth, and a $20 bill. The butcher went inside the store, and came out with a brown paper bag. The dog took it in his mouth and started to walk off.

My curiosity got the best of me. I locked my car and decided to follow the dog. It had a collar, but if nothing else, I wanted to make sure it was safe. We got to the very busy Route 40 and I started to panic a little. But that dog. It sat at the crosswalk and waited for a green light. Then he looked both ways and trotted across the road to the RTA bus-stop.

I’m telling you this dog was really something! It looked like he was reading the timetable taped on the outside of the bus stop. Honest to goodness.  Or maybe he was just sniffing, I don’t know.  But then he went over and sat on the bench. When a bus arrived, he walked around to the front and looked at the number. And then, he boarded the bus. I fumbled for some money and got on board. This was just too much! I kind of raised my eyebrows to the bus driver and motioned with my head. But the drive just acted like it was another day, another dollar.  So I took a seat toward the back.

We rode all the way out to past Route 49. As we were moving along, the dog just sat in his row and looked out the window. Like, all nonchalant. When we got to Talmadge Road, the dog stood up on his back paws and pushed the “stop” bell. He got up and off we went again.

There was a little bit of a plat right there. The dog ran up to a big blue house and dropped his bag on the step. Then he doubled back down the front walk and took a really big run toward the house. He ran and threw himself — Whap! — right up against the door.

He did this again and again. There was absolutely no movement in the house.

Then, that dog! He jumped up on a little sidewall, walked around the garden, and started beating his head against a window. Then he jumped back off the wall and went and sat in front of the door.

A big guy opened the door, and he started cursing and shouting at the dog. I couldn’t stand it. This dog was incredible. So, I yelled at the guy. “What in heaven’s name are you doing? This dog’s a genius! How in the world can you yell at him like that?“ The guy at the front door shook his head, and hollered back. “Genius, my ass……… It’s the second time this week he’s forgotten his keys!”

 

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“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”
― Bertrand Russell

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“It’s like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.”
― Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia

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“We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.”
― H.L. Mencken, Minority Report

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