Annoyed is actually the kindest word I can apply to how I feel. Actually , thinking about it, I’m going to change annoyed to disgusted.
My friend Mike, who was with me when I got Charley, so he’s like her “pack dad”, and I were in the parking lot by my place so she could showcase her new dog flying disc moves, and while there, my backpack, her leash AND harness got stolen. HER LEASH. Seriously. I get the backpack and the brand new bright pink harness lying there, but her ratty ass used-to-be red leash???
Mike had just arrived from driving from Pennsylvania to Washington on his way to be with his mom and sisters while they are waiting for his stepdad to pass from an aggressive cancer that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He was driving by my area so we met at the Polyclinic parking lot so Charley could see him.
We always go to the back lot because it’s semi enclosed, and hidden from foot and vehicle traffic. Less temptation for her and some privacy as well. He pulled into the lot, which is sectioned off by a waist high retaining wall in the shape of an L, and parked his Dodge Ram truck.
After Charley got over falling over herself when she saw him, we started talking and tossing the disc around. It was about 6:30 p.m. and people were still leaving for the day. The lot was empty besides us and one parked car.
Going to leave, I went to go grab her leash, went around the truck, and my heart skipped. “Where did her leash go?” Then, “Where is my backpack?”
That feeling that happens when you know something should be there, but it’s gone, and deep down I knew it was stolen but takes a few beats to sink in is one I can never explain. Pure violation, almost an assault towards my personal self. Disbelief turns to panic turns to anger then to horror to helplessness. I really panicked because I thought my phone was in there, but ever since I lost it 3 times in 2 months I have it tethered to me. Tethered to me because I learned that the hard way.
Then, I was thinking, wtf? Usually when it’s just us two I put my stuff in the middle so I can see anybody come up on us the total 360. But, there was a large truck, the only truck in the lot, and me, and a 6 foot man, and an unleashed, un-harnessed dog. Forget it’s Charley Waffle, she is still a dog. Plus, she has been getting protective the more mature she gets, which is what her breed can easily become, so I was absolutely astounded. Disbelief.
Mike was pissed, yet he didn’t show it, never does, (he leaves that to me to act on) and told me to wait there while he went looking for the only guy that had been walking by who’d been banging a stick against the wall, acting a bit crazy.
The sucky thing is I use my backpack everyday. I don’t have a car, I use it to carry almost everything in it when I’m out and about. It’s my diaper bag for Charley. I never know if I’ll stop by a store, or have toys in it, or whatever. Plus, I’d gotten an almost brand new Swiss backpack that has a separate section for papers and a laptop, a different one for bulkier things, and, well, it was the backpack of backpacks, all for $12 at Goodwill. I figured they didn’t know what they had when they priced it. It was well a $200 bag.
I know that I shouldn’t have left it where I did, because of things like this, but with Mike there, and the retaining wall, and the only ones in the lot I didn’t think I had to have my guard fully up. Who is brazen enough to do that? Seriously!?!?
Neither did Mike. He said he thought twice when i put it there, but thought it would be ok.
I did too. I had thought twice when I put it down.
How many times has that second beat of questioning happen and I’ve ignored it, only to realize I shouldn’t have?
I guess this is one of those things I’ve got to put under “Learning the Hard Way.”
Still, Who does that?
CHARLEY WAFFLE 