Shield The Chihuahua At All Costs

Dramas can crystallize on the streets of Sacramento in a heartbeat, and vanish just as fast.

This evening, in the 7:30 p.m. gloaming of a typical Sacramento evening, I was driving north on Franklin Blvd. Approaching approximately Donner Way, I suddenly saw a man running in circles in the middle of the street. He was desperately chasing and trying to catch a loose white Chihuahua. For some reason, the Chihuahua wasn't obeying his commands. I quickly slowed as the man quickly dove to the east side of the street, out of the traveled way, in order to save his own life.

Coming quickly from the other direction was a white sedan. Quickly assessing the situation, I could see two things:

• The southbound driver was moving rapidly and probably couldn't even see the Chihuahua in the poor lighting;
• Standing stock-still in the southbound lane, the Chihuahua was doomed.

So, I made a snap decision. Still moving northwards, I steered my car across the centerline of the street and aimed my car directly at the fast-approaching white sedan.

Suddenly faced with an imminent head-on collision, the approaching driver abruptly stopped.

We stayed stopped for a few seconds. The dog handler prudently remained on the east side of the street. Confused but alert, the Chihuahua drifted west down the side street, and out of the southbound lane. Cars were quickly approaching, so I resumed driving north: the other driver resumed driving south. At this point, it was better to just keep moving.

Hopefully it all worked out OK. I can only imagine what sort of lecture the Chihuahua had to listen to this evening.