Frightened Chihuahua

Heading to the dentist this morning, and worrying that I was beginning to get late, I opened the front door to get the newspaper. To my surprise, there was a small female chihuahua on the bricks bordering the many steep steps leading up to my front porch from the street. She was frightened; she had her tail between her legs, and had evidently chosen my front porch because it was so peaceful and placid.

I called out gently, "ooh, puppy," and started approaching. She growled, then instantly leaped in the air, flying over the first set of steps like Superman, then landed *splat* on the concrete! She leaped again, flying over the second set of steps, landing again *splat* on the sidewalk; then a third time, over the third set of steps, landing again *splat* on the street! Then, instead of running directly across the street, she turned and ran a block west down Second Avenue, then across busy, three-lane 21st Street, irrespective of the traffic light there, or the cars, and vanished in the distant haze.

I pursued, but I was way too slow. Two workers from DMV, out on their coffee-break constitutional, had seen the chihuahua fly past them in the opposite direction. They commiserated with my bewilderment over this odd turn of events. How touchy the dog was; how strange! As might be expected, I was a few minutes late to the dentist.....