Snatched from the jaws of a killer

I am sitting down to write this, and my heart is pounding. Mostly with outrage (cause, you know, it's ME we're talking about, and I take indignant outrage to a new level).

This morning is a beautiful morning.
The sun is shining.
The chimes are gently swinging in the breeze.

Lucy wanted to walk to school, which I always think is a great idea.

I asked if we could bring Boston, and she said .....yes.....(reluctantly).

So we snapped on goofy Boston's lead, and off we went down our little street towards the church at the end of the road, where I would deliver my Catholic schoolgirl with golden braids and swinging lunchbox.

As we walked, she chattered away about anything and everything, Boston trotted ahead stopping to sniff yards and send a quick "Heyhowareya" bark to our neighborhood dogs.

I should stop here and say this:
This is a doggy neighborhood on a doggy island.

We have dogs on the neighboring ranches working the land, and dogs riding in cars, and dogs running in wild packs in the gulches, and you know, dogs on surfboards. No really.

So we are pretty comfortable around other dogs, with our dog, but it hasn't always been so. Until we adopted Boston, the kids were terrified of dogs - Max for good reason, and Lucy because Max was - which was a good enough reason for her. Max had been bitten by a friend's dog, while the friend was actually holding the dog and encouraging Max to pet him.

Yeah, I know. It DID suck, trust me.

Ok, back to the story. So we were enjoying this lovely morning walk and suddenly, literally out of nowhere, these two dogs exploded around a corner and headed straight for us, barking and snarling and leaping. One of them ran directly in front of an oncoming car which braked and avoided running him over (thankyoujesus that would have REALLY sucked). The other bee-lined for Boston with ears back and teeth bared. Boston was still on his leash, mid-"Heyhowareya" greeting, and seemed confused by the aggression.

I froze. I didn't want to run, because I was afraid they would chase us. I didn't want to stand still, because they were getting closer and the growling and snarling and leaping was escalating. Mostly though, I was PISSED and I was waiting for the owner to come over and get her dogs under control. The dogs were pretty small, and though I knew it would suck to get bitten, I also knew that I would be able to at least kick them and slow them down. I looked around, to assess my surroundings. Big garbage can, car in street, lunchbox, leash. That's IT ???? That's all I got ?

F to the UCK people. I was screwed. And did I mention, barefoot. (sigh)

At this point Boston was lying on the ground, submissive. He is smarter then I give him credit for - but do not discount the fact that he is also an enormous pussy. Lucy was screaming - but not crying, I realized. She was just as indignant as I was.

And the owner of the dogs ? Was somewhere in her yard. I heard her call them once, but she sure as hell didn't come out. She never left her driveway, and stayed about 100 feet away, just.....watching.

Lady, this is not fucking ANIMAL PLANET.

Both dogs were now about a foot away from us, snarling and barking and growling and advancing. I had to do something. But What ? I had a child in one hand and a leash in the other and I wasn't letting go of either one. A neighbor headed our way. The car that almost hit the other dog had stopped and the driver and passenger were sitting in the car watching it all go down. While I didn't want to force them to get involved, I could have used a car horn or something at that moment. I looked at them, and the panic may have translated. One of the guys got out of the car. As he walked towards me, I yelled down the driveway at the owner, who was still in her yard "What the hell is your problem ? COME GET THEM. That one almost got run over !"

She shouted something back but I don't know (or care, honestly) what she said. I had been loud enough to startle the dogs, and now I turned my back, and walked away....Boston skipping alongside me, Lucy clutching my hand and muttering under her breath about "Dose BAD DOGS mama".

And as we rounded the corner, I realized that we had turned a corner figuratively as well. If that episode had gone down a yeah ago, Lucy would have been hysterical. Now ? She was just annoyed. Which will serve her well in her future endeavors as her mother's daughter.