Tuesday, October 4, 2011

twilight zone, take two.

(in case you're wondering, i live there.)

mondays are the worst days for me. i've decided that, no matter what, i am a jerk-face zombie that wants nothing to do with work, people, or menial administrative tasks on a monday. the upside to figuring this out is that i can warn people what to expect; the downside is that they still want all their silly things done, and i'm still grumpy by the end of the day. 

monday was yesterday, so to combat the grumpiness, i decided to do something with myself after work. specifically, go home, make enchiladas and frog-eye salad (for he who had an equally bad day), read up for small group tonight, then take my dog for a run at dusk and contemplate all my reading. really, it was an ingenious plan for serenity.

until the twilight zone struck. again. 

so all goes as planned: i prep enchiladas, get frog-eye salad all ready and chilling in the fridge, and set out to run. jola-pants and her jaunty lil handkerchief (she got her hair did friday, and they sported her up with a blueberry facial and a red bandana around her neck. a.dor.able!) and i walked out of the backyard and into the alley, where i could hear some obscene yelling. i looked to the right and see an older (early 50s) woman and her younger counterpart (19 or 20) walking down the aisle, turning at yelling horrible things at people behind them. i disregarded the alley shenanigans, and started jogging down the block, turning left to start up the hill. just another day in the life of colfax living. 

about one block later, jo and i encountered a big, black dog, with the cutest puppy eyes i'd ever seen, and no tag. because my dogs have gotten out so many times, and been saved at least that many, i feel compelled in my heart to help stray dogs. although it was not in my plan (read, i was not happy to be helping but knew it was the right thing to do), i corralled the dog to run with me and jo back down the street where we had just come from. this pup didn't have a leash, and he was playing with jola, running with us, and then away from us. the biggest trick was keeping him out of traffic and in line with our general direction.

then disaster struck. 

as we neared the intersection to my street, the two obscenity-flinging women emerged from the alley, yelling at no one i could see. they spotted me, and started yelling for me to 'control my f'n dog or i'm gonna come over there and whomp yo' ....'. you get the picture. i calmly say, 'it's not my dog, this one on the leash is mine. this one is lost.'  the older woman responds so belligerently, it knocked my senses right out of my head. 'i don't give an f whose dog that is, you get that f'n black-ass dog out of my f'n way...' 

i tried to ignore her constant stream of f bombs and threats of violence, instead  paying attention to the dog, who was now running in and out of late-rush hour traffic, horns honking and lights flashing, all the while trying to keep jola close and out of the street. the dog stopped to sniff something in the middle of the road (literally straddling the lane divider) and a (large), shirtless man in an SUV slowed down- i yelled that i was just trying to help this poor dog, and he pulled over in front of a house. jola and i ran across the street (more so to help the dog, but also to avoid scary, yelly lady), and the man got out of his car, wearing nothing but shorts (not even shoes!) and started walking to the back of a house. the dog followed suit, and i asked him if that was his dog. i would bet all my money that he said no, but he kept walking, the dog kept following, and then they were out of sight. 

i had no time to figure out what to think of this, because the old, yelly lady was still at it, across the street, yelling to me the rudest, most horrible words and threats i'd ever heard, and her young side kick was snapping her fingers and wagging her head at me. 

and then, i lost it. their constant soundtrack of obscenities while i was obviously trying to do something for this dog just crawled under my skin and irritated me, past the point of rational thinking. i let a few horrible words fly out of my own mouth, because at this point i was not only a little scared, but a lot pissed off. i had been trying to help this dog, who went who-knows-where with a who-knows-what kind of man, and then this lady was yelling all up and down the street, over cars and traffic, at me for having a black dog and being a white girl. i asked her (not so politely, i shamefully admit) to stop yelling at me and to go away. she told me to mind my own business (also not so politely), and i, again, lost it. 'you have been yelling your business all up and down the alley for two blocks for everyone to hear! it's not your business anymore, it's now everyone's! shut! UP!' i yelled. i stupidly thought that would end it, but that (of course) spurred her on, and the tirade continued. 

i was ashamed at how much this woman was so quickly getting under my skin, so i started our run back up, running away from her. my blood was boiling at this point, i was so mad and my adrenaline was pumping and my stomach was all shakey and i could still hear this woman just yelling, literally yelling at me until i was too far away to hear her. 

so much for my serene run at dusk with my pup. i spent the next three and a half miles trying to calm my body and my mind down, praying and trying to channel good thoughts towards the whole cast of players i had just encountered. it took a lot of work, but finally, about 3.25 miles in (essentially right back at the block where this started), i could start to see straight again. i can only hope that the stray dog found his home, and this woman went home to someone, to somewhere that loved her and made her feel better about her life because she obviously had a worse monday than i did.  

and tonight, i'm going to try the run again. this time, though, a little earlier... hopefully before the crazies come out. 

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