Nobody Died

 

Me when I could still run... kind of.

Last Wednesday I was walking Scout and Daisy around the block as we do twice every day. Down at Thorndale Avenue there is a long stretch of grass between the street and the sidewalk that they love to take their time investigating. I assume many dogs leave messages in that grass for each other. That day I heard what I thought were firecrackers going off over by the high school, which is half a block from that street. It was not firecrackers, but three volleys of automatic gunfire. Within seconds high school kids were running towards me, and right past me. One kid across the street in a leg cast with a crutch, dropped the crutch and took off running too. Meanwhile, my two dogs ignored it all and kept on smelling the grass, picking up all the gossip of the day. I used to have a black lab named Molly who would start shaking if she heard the barely audible pop of a firecracker two miles away. Not Scout and Daisy, they acted like the hadn't heard anything. I can't run anymore. So all this time I'm looking for a place to drag the dogs and hide. There were no cars parked nearby that I could hide behind and behind me was a long stretch of brick wall. So I just stood there waiting. I did tighten up my grip on the dog leashes just in case I went down. Now before anybody makes disparaging comments about Chicago and shootings, remember this can happen anywhere. Guns are everywhere because the NRA and politicians have made sure that they armed all the crazy people in our country. Murder is not new, guns are not new. My grandfather was murdered with a gun in Chicago, eighty one years ago. It is the easy access and the increased lethal capacity that the NRA, the Supreme Court, and politicians have unleashed upon us that is different.

Anyway, we all pooped right after that. Scout and Daisy in the grass, me in my pants.