As I approached 24th Street I thought I heard barking - familiar barking - so I stopped. It was Jasper! He plopped himself in front of the car, placed his two front feet on the car's front bumper and tried peering with big baleful eyes past the headlights and through the windshield in order to make eye contact with me. What could I possibly be thinking? Was I going somewhere without him?
I opened my car's door to encourage Jasper to jump inside, but he refused. He turned around and using a kind of canine semaphore of the sort Lassie used to employ on television, led me back home, to safety, and to where he thought I properly belonged.
I had to make sure to lock Jasper inside the house in order to finally make the savory trip to Jim Boys. I gave him a bit of enchilada too, since he protects me from Taco Tuesday, and squirrels, and belligerent cats, and any number of other dangers too.