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It's him!!!
Off the Wall
July 17, 2008
Usually on my wife's day off, it has become the
custom that we drive up to Indiana and spend the day with her
mother or sister and family taking care of whatever needs arise.
July 3, 2008 was one of those days.
We left our residence around 1:30 p.m. and headed
toward our destination. A couple blocks down the road, I mentioned
to my wife, Teri, that I had forgotten to purchase the Latrobe
Bulletin, and asked if we could stop so that I buy the latest
edition. So, she motored to the publishing company, I jumped
out, hastened inside, dropped my $.35 in the dish, grabbed a
newspaper and got back in the car, and we were on our way.
Soon thereafter, we found ourselves traveling on
Industrial Boulevard eventually arriving at St. Route 217. We
then ventured on to Derry, as usual. As we made the sharp left
hand turn it didn't take long to ascend up the bridge that extended
over the railroad tracks below. We glanced briefly at the demolition
of the building on the left and commented about the progress
being made.
No sooner did we get to the bottom of the hill did
we notice something out of the ordinary. Just before Teri made
a right hand turn toward Blairsville did we observe a small dark
brown dog with a pug nose running in a confused manner onto St.
Rt. 217 and then across the road into a neighbor's yard.
"Quickly," Teri yelled, "Get out
the classified section in the paper and see if anyone lost a
dog. It looks too nice to be a stray, and I think it's lost!"
So I did as told, and sure enough, under the "Lost"
category was a dog matching its description to a tee "A
Boston Terrier Pug. Black w/brindle, white chest, male, answers
to Mokey." So the wife turned around the car and we
went looking for it. At first we couldn't find it anywhere. Then
out of the corner of my eye I shouted, "It's him. There
he is running up the sidewalk on the bridge."
We headed up along the pavement and caught up with
the animal. When my wife stopped her car, she put on her blinkers.
I called the dog to come to the car. At first it looked at me
unsure what to do. But quickly it decided to respond to our call.
Mokey first went out into the street and wanted
to get in on Teri's side. When it figured that wouldn't work,
he came around to my door. Now, I know I shouldn't have done
it, but I picked up the animal and put it in the back seat of
our car. I could sense it was really a loveable dog, so I chanced
it.
I could hear someone yell from ten cars back, "Hey,
he's taking that dog," as if that was supposed to scare
me.
Anyway, the wife drove down to Rite Aid where we
parked, and I called the owner using my cell phone. A man answered
and I explained the story and that I had his dog. He put his
daughter on the line. To say that she was overwhelmed with happiness
was an understatement. The ironic thing was that she was shopping
in Latrobe, and she and the dog lived in Derry. I was told they
would be right over.
While waiting for the pair to arrive, we figured
the dog must be thirsty, so my wife came up with the ingenious
idea of giving it some water which she put in a cup-like bottle
holder that was to the left of her gear shift. Mokey licked it
dry.
Before long, a woman in a van pulled up beside our
vehicle and jumped out with the biggest smile on her face. I
opened the door and the woman took the dog in her arms and gave
it lots of hugs calling it by name expressing her gratitude all
the while.
We later learned that Mokey belonged to her mother
who had just moved to Derry from Ohio and recently became hospitalized.
It had chewed its collar off three days previous and escaped.
The woman had put the ad in the paper the day we found him.
I praise God for putting us in the right place at
the right time. He may have gotten injured or killed on that
busy thruway if we hadn't of come along when we did.
Paul J. Volkmann
July 4, 2008
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