Walking Ms. Julia

WALKING Ms. JULIA

And they called it puppy love

I watched Ms. Julia from my living room window taking her afternoon walk. Rain or shine, umbrella or not you could always count on Ms. Julia taking her walk. But lately, my neighbors including myself, noticed that she had stopped speaking, or even waving, to us as she continued on her way. Ms. Julia plodded on with head and shoulders drooping and her eyes steadfastly watching the slits in the sidewalk that divided the gray concrete squares. Every day she had noticeably and progressively begun to walk like a preoccupied zombie.

There was a time when Ms. Julia walked with a light heart, she was always busy visiting with all of the neighbors on her path. She loved to cook and to trade recipes. There was a bounce in her step as she infected us all with her special kind of joy.

“What do you think is wrong with Mrs. Julia,” I called to my wife Renee who was in the kitchen fixing us an afternoon snack. I loved it when she added those cooked oysters in a can. She would serve them up with cocktail sauce and crisp tea-house crackers.

“I don’t really know,” she answered, as she laid my pre-lunch crackers, cooked oysters out of the can, and a drink, on the small table next to my favorite chair. When I asked about her change, she would not talk about it. Our neighbors and I are getting overly concerned about her. She is getting up in age, it must be a depression of some kind. They say that depression, especially in older people can lead to adverse consequences even, oh my God, even death!”

We had moved into this retirement community about two years ago. It was as terrific as we had imagined. They even allowed dogs, a luxury we had denied ourselves all those years caught up in the business world trying to earn a living and preparing to retire.

Then we met Abba, a miniature dachshund. Her father was a black and tan Doxie and her mother a deep red one. Her four brothers split colors two black and tans and two of them red.

Abba was the only female, the runt, and Piebald colored, which is white, with brown, and black markings. She has a black spot on her rump and one on her side, freckled-faced, with both long evenly matched ears which are tri-colored white, brown, and black, each color is crisp and bright. For my wife and me, it was love at first sight.

When Abba was about four months old, she had amassed a weight of only eight pounds. We decided to give her the run of the front yard. I purchased a light twenty-foot lead and staked her out by the mulberry bushes. She learned very quickly how to chase geckos with her tiny legs, and it soon became her favorite pastime.

As I looked out of the window to check on Abba, I saw Ms. Julia leaning over scratching her on the belly. Abba jumped, squirmed, and feverishly licked, Ms. Julia’s hand.

I cannot explain why, but instinctively, I grabbed Abba’s walking lead and rushed out into the yard.

“Would you like to take Abba for her walk Ms. Julia,” I asked? I was surprised at myself. That was not something I would normally ask any of my neighbors to do.

“If you are sure you wouldn’t mind,” she pleasantly answered.

I handed Ms. Julia the lead and off they went. Needless to say, at least once or twice a week since that first encounter a smiling, happy, normal, Ms. Julia has returned to my home asking to take Abba for her walk. Of course, little Abba soon commanded the front position on their walks. So now I watch Abba as she takes Ms. Julia for her afternoon walk. I watch and the whole neighborhood watches Ms. Julia be herself again.

Abba gave all of the love; her eight little pounds had to give to Ms. Julia. I learned a lesson from her that afternoon…

When all else fails “SHOW A LITTLE PUPPY LOVE.”

Ta ta, Ladd