Neighbors Helping Neighbors

MICROPOLITAN DIARY

Dear Diary,

This morning, heading down to the waterfront with Joey in the car, I saw Melissa Auf der Maur standing in front of her house with a dog. I knew she didn't have a dog, so when I saw that the dog was not on a leash, I stopped. She told me she thought the dog was lost, but he was wearing a collar with an ID tag. It became our goal to get close enough to read the tag and reunite the dog with his people. 

Melissa confessed inexperience and some uneasiness with dogs, so I parked the car, leaving my dog inside, and took up the pursuit. I called to the dog, in the way that brings Joey running to me at the dog park, but to no avail. The dog stopped and looked at me but then turned and continued walking down Allen Street.

At one point, he crossed the street to where Mark Lacoy was getting out of his car. He showed interest in Mark, and Mark was willing to help. We tried to lure him closer with a bit of Mark's breakfast, but the dog snatched the offering and walked away. Mark then took up the pursuit, while I went back to retrieve my car and Joey and then catch up with the action. 

It was decided we needed a leash, so I took Joey's leash, which totally confused my poor, patient dog, who was ready for his morning walk. When the dog we were pursuing made a right turn in front of the Half Moon, Mark, leash in hand, cut behind buildings and caught up with him at the corner of Front and Partition. When I arrived on the scene, Mark had the dog on the leash.

It seems the dog wasn't happy about a stranger snapping a leash to his collar and yelped in protest, which brought Bob Mechling out of his yard onto Partition Street to see what was going on. He identified the dog as Sawyer and explained that Sawyer often took himself on little unaccompanied walks around the neighborhood. He then went to tell Sawyer's humans that their dog and his "rescuers" were at the back gate.

When Sawyer's human opened the gate to let Sawyer in, he seemed neither relieved to see his dog nor grateful to the helpful neighbors who had delivered him back home. In fact, he seemed singularly annoyed. This little story should probably have been called: "Neighbors Helping Neighbors . . . Whether They Like It or Not."   

"Micropolitan Diary" is Gossips' homage to and blatant imitation of "Metropolitan Diary" in the New York Times. The term micropolitan was coined (by Gossips) because Hudson is a metropolis in microcosm.
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