Chased by Dogs

Had gone for a walk downtown this morning to get out of this quiet apt and out of my head. Parked my truck by the hardware store and wandered along 4Th Ave. A lot of the shops have closed and the ones that are still here are barely hanging on. There's this obnoxious coffee house across from the park that seems to believe the only way to enjoy coffee is with lite jazz and far too much useless information about where the coffee comes from. I try to avoid it but there's not much else open early in the morning. I sipped the iced coffee and walked toward the city hall area and the giant oak trees that surround it. There's a bench I like to sit at and just watch people.

Being able to just sit and relax is one of the things you miss when you're on mission. We spent plenty of time just watching the crowds as they milled past our post or approached out checkpoint. However, you were always on alert, no relaxing as you watched for suspicious actions, packages or bodies. You tried to pass the time muttering insults or making cracks about the people you saw but you never lost the edge. For the longest time I would sit like that after I got home, always on the edge of the bench and poised to run. Always watching for that hajji that wanted to get to mecca even though I was far from the sandpit.

So, I'm sitting there and all of a sudden two mangy looking dogs come out of the bushes behind me, moving so quiet I didn't even hear them until one of them tried to jump over the back of the bench. I didn't make it, but I jumped up and threw my coffee at it. Well, the other one didn't like that much and started barking like mad at me. Funny thing is that I had faced down gun-wielding madmen and pissed off Mom's but I was now frozen at the sight of the two snarling dogs. I managed to back around the bench and both dogs were watching me intently. I knew better to turn my back, so I backed away slowly but the dogs were having none of it. They started toward me so I moved back faster and bumped into a tree. The smaller one jumped at me and, I'm sorry to say, I ran.

Ran across the lawn in front of the courthouse, past the lawyers heading to court, past the secretaries, past a couple of other early morning runners but the dogs didn't let up. I turned down an alley that would get me back to where my truck was parked and I had four dogs after me. Their barking echoed off the walls making it sound a lot worse than it probably was. I fumbled for my keys and when I entered the lot by the hardware store, I had the door key out and ready. Even now, writing this, my hands are shaking. I got in and slammed the door and there were six dogs of varying sizes snapping and snarling at my truck. One stood in the bed, looking at me through the back window. I could hear their claws scraping along the metal as they leaped up at my closed windows.

Took about an twenty minutes for them to give up. I looked up and they were all walking back down the alley with their tails between their legs and I swear I saw a man in dark suit standing on the fire escape of one of the buildings. I started the truck and started to roll forward but he stepped away, back into the shadows.

I got home and poured myself a big glass of JD at 9:30 am. Now it's dark and I'm waiting for Lewis to get back onto town tomorrow to see what he thinks. Nobody else is reading this shit so I don't know if writing any of this is helping me out. Still get the damn headaches.

-Soldier Z