Around this time of month in
September, my dog, Amelia, passed away. I spent a lot of time crying and
condoling myself with Disney themed tissues and chocolate which I would follow
up with more crying and chocolate. I was like someone out of Midol commercial,
only with less man-fueled rage.
I
eventually graduated into stage II of my grieving phase, which involved contemplating
adopting a new dog. This was followed by guilt and the same crying-Disney
tissue-chocolate cycle described above. To no one’s surprise I came to the
conclusion that it would not be a good time to adopt a pet.
Fast
forward to November. It’s a normal night in the Kuma-gun. I have just picked up
my friend, Bear Hat, and we are on our way to a pre-election night Chili dinner.
Things are abnormally going according to plan. I pick up Bear Hat on time and
we are on the right road to our friend’s house. Both of these things are very
out of character for me.
I
was telling Bear Hat about how, since I ruled out getting a new dog, I was
contemplating adopting a cat. I was on the part of my speech about how I wasn’t
sure what that would mean for my tatami when a giant ball of fuzz darted in
front of my car. I slammed on my brakes and swerved. It was a dog.
Bear
Hat and I stared at each other and used our good friend speak:
“So
uh….”
“…
that was a dog…”
“yeah….should
we…”
“yeah
I think so….”
“…ok…”
Just
like that I found myself illegally parked in front of a ramen shop. Bear Hat
jumped out of my car and was running into the dark before I even had my
seatbelt unbuckled. I paused, waited for a second, and decided to chase her.
“Bear
hat? ….Dog?”
I called out as I ran down the unevenly paved,
unlit sidewalk. I had on boots and no winter coat. I looked very American.
Winter
turned to spring which turned to summer which skipped fall and turned back to
winter. Finally, they appeared. Bear Hat had dog by the leash and was leading
him towards me. I froggered my way across the busy road to the side they were
on and joined them. Dog was a very obviously purebred Shiba Inu. He had a light
tan coat. Dog looked very confused. Dog was timid but also very cute.
Bear
Hat and I walked Dog to the Eneos gas station that was just up the street from
where we had almost flattened him into a Shiba-pancake. We figured we – and by
we I mean Bear Hat – could ask the attendants to see if anyone recognized him. I
held Dog’s leash while Bear Hat went inside to ask around. Dog was very skittery
and jumped at each passing car. He whined a little bit and darted around in
small circles around me. I wanted to pet him but didn’t want to freak him out
more.
Bear
Hat returned with an attendant. He told us that there was a glass shop just
down the road and that a Shiba-inu had been tied up outside it. He said if that
didn’t work to take Dog to the police station. We set off on our way.
When
we arrived at the glass shop it was closed. However, a woman was ascending the
stairs of the same building to her apartment. Bear Hat called out “excuse me!
Can I ask you a question?” She turned and jumped when she discovered that Bear
Hat was not Japanese. Bear Hat explained the situation and Dog while I held his
leash and smiled. The woman didn’t recognize him but said she would call the
owner first thing in the morning and ask all her neighbors and friends. We
thanked her and continued up the road to the Police Station.
We
jaywalked our way across the street, Dog in tow, and made our way up to the
doors. I stood outside with Dog while Bear Hat went inside to ask what we
should do. I sat on the curb and Dog sat nearby. I wanted to pet him but was
still afraid of scaring him. Bear Hat returned followed by two young and fairly
attractive police officers- one of which immediately hugged the dog and rubbed
him all over. He wasn’t the dog’s owner but claimed to know a lot about Shiba
Inu because he had one himself.
They
explained that there was an animal shelter and that they could take him there
while they waited to hear from the owner. When Bear Hat asked they explained
that the shelter does euthanize dogs that are adopted. They then asked if I’d
be interested in taking the dog if it wasn’t claimed.
I
paused for a very long time. There were about a hundred reasons to why I
shouldn’t adopt a dog so naturally I said yes – but I’d have to check with my
supervisor to make sure I was allowed to have pets in my house. I hypothesized
that this wouldn’t be an issue since the gargantuan bugs could easily outweigh
a Chihuahua and no animal no matter how devious could do more damage than the
mold that I seemed to discover more of everyday. They told me they would call
tomorrow and update me. We left and went to our friend’s house.
On
our way, we decided to name him Mojimoji – Moji for short – which is the
Japanese onomatopoeia for flittery or jumpy or something like that.
The
next day, Bear Hat called me to tell me that Moji hadn’t been claimed. I
prepared to ask my supervisor if it was okay. She was out of the office. I
waited for her return. Bear Hat called again a few hours later to tell me that
the owner had come in and that Dog’s / Moji’s name was Tarou and that his owner
had a present for us. I was sad and relieved at the same time.
That
night I went to Bear Hat’s house and we opened the present together. We were
excited because the box said “donut treats.” They weren’t donuts – but they
were delicious. We decided that we would be a Pet Rescuing team and that we’d
even make a theme song – which will be coming out soon…. Maybe.