Having completed my turn into Hills Avenue and
gazing automatically ahead towards the veterinary
surgery, which was about half way to my destination, I
saw something that made me sit bolt-upright. Outside
the entrance of the vet’s were two men dancing!
‘What?’ My tranquil eyes snapped wide open and I
looked again. Although still far away, I could definitely
make out two men dancing. They were about the same
size and holding each other in an embrace while dancing
to the tempo of an imaginary English Waltz.
‘What is happening to me?’ I looked again, this time
squinting, yet there they were, still dancing! All the time
I was getting closer and seeing them more clearly. On
and on they danced, on the spot, in front of the entrance.
But having nearly reached the two, I suddenly noticed
that they were not two men, but one man and his Great
Dane! They were holding each other the same way:
upright, hands and paws at each other’s shoulder blades,
staring into each other’s eyes with utter concentration,
but neither saying a word. The man was rather elegantly
dressed in an expensive suit and his face was almost as
red as a stop sign from embarrassment and effort.
Wondering what the problem was with the two and
slowing down almost to a halt, I suddenly perceived the
true situation. The man was trying to get the Great Dane
into the veterinary surgery but the dog didn’t want to go.
Obviously the man had tried brutal force by positioning
his dog in the doorway and trying to push him through.
The dog had, in return, reared up on his hind legs and
got a hold of his master exactly the way he, himself, was
being held. Every time the man tried to push the dog
through the glass door into the waiting room, the big dog
took evasive action. Obviously, he was smarter than his
owner because every time the man tried to push him hard
against the door, he did not push back - oh no! Instead,
he quickly side-stepped so that the man found himself in
the doorway, with the dog on the footpath side!
So he had to resume his original position again, with
the dog in front of the door and him on the road-side.
Another push against his dog was parried again with
a side-step (actually a ‘Quick-Step’, as they teach in
dancing schools) and, once more, he found himself in the
doorway instead of his dog! A step forward, side-step,
reverse position and, again, round and round they went.
If it had been a dancing competition and somebody had
played the tune of the ‘Tennessee Waltz’ they would
have won a prize, for sure! They just kept looking at each
other very seriously whilst pirouetting on the spot.
I had to drive on and was long past the two when
I glanced into the rear vision mirror and saw that they
were still dancing. And they really did look like two men
dancing! Except one of the two had his trouser bottom
rather low, with spindly, unattractive, legs sticking out!
Peter Frederick
http://www.peterfrederick.org http://www.life-on-the-road.com
