A Silly Snoopy Story

Here is what happened. I probably have never wished so strongly before that I had a video camera in my brain.

I was at the park, alone, throwing the ball for the snoopy. He loves getting that damn ball thrown! He runs so fast both ways. So stoked to fetch, so stoked to bring it back for his treat. He has to sit quietly and drop the ball before he gets his treat. He was doing a great job. It was cold and blustery out, but we were persevering. So, on one of my throws, I threw the ball a bit too far and it went into this sort of trough filled with dead leaves that runs along the edge of the playground. Franklin leaped into the trough and started searching under the leaves for his ball. After awhile, he found it, which surprised me. He snapped it up in his jaws along with a mouthful of leaves, and started racing back towards me.

However! Once he started running, a GIGANTIC LEAF–probably a foot across, once of those enormous canadian-flag leaves, all yellow and golden–that was caught in his mouth flipped up and plastered itself over his entire face. Covering both his eyes! So there was my snoopy, suddenly veering off course and careening wildly around the park, like he was a car whose driver had just had a heart attack. He couldn’t see, but kept running! WHY DIDN’T HE STOP RUNNING??? I was laughing so hard I couldn’t call to him. He went way past me and out into the other section of the park, zig-zagging and kind of doing this odd leaping-gait with stiff front legs. Still going so fast. Like “WHOAAAAAAAAA!”

I finally got my breath and started yelling “Franklin! Drop it! DROP IT!!!!” trying to help him, but when that dog’s got a tennis ball in his mouth the only thing that’ll make him drop it is a treat waved under his nose. So finally–after a truly unbelievable amount of time had passed, during which I had time to think like ten different times “surely he’ll stop soon” and then he didn’t–he stopped and just sort of stood there in confusion. And I ran over to him and peeled the leaf off his face and consoled him.

I looked around, hoping so much that a stranger had been walking through the park and had witnessed it, so I could share this amazing moment with a human, but there was no one. Not even the old man was with me!!! Anyone who had seen it would have keeled over from laughing.

I shall cherish the memory until my dying day

A bigger dummy was never born