True Story: 11 JAN 2019

Out walking Romeo this evening and we'd gotten halfway down the hill toward the park, just a couple house lots away from our home, when I noticed a young woman talking to a neighbor 4 houses down on the other side of the street. They were chatting on her front stoop. The young woman leaned down and made some happy cooing sounds when Whigenstein appeared and yapped at her attention.

Whigenstein is a little dog, a mix, a mut, a rescue. He's about half Romeo's size (maybe 20 lbs) with wavy black fur like a collie and a white muzzle and belly, put on a frame closer to a corgi. He nearly immediately spied Romeo and ran with abandon (sans collar, sans leash) across his front yard to the street edge. He barked happily and then ran across the street to greet Romeo. With tails wagging, the two sniffed and said "hello".

It was about 5:20. It was dusk and darkening. I then saw a pair of headlights coming up from the bottom of the hill around the curve in the street. What happened next happened very quickly.

The car began to speed up. I stepped into the middle of the street and began to wave my arm in the air and shouted to the women at the house "There's a car!"

Then I really fucking SHOUTED at the car--"SLOW DOWN!!!"

The car didn't.

I stepped directly in front of the car (a small sliver sports car) and shouted again, "STOP!! THERE'S A DOG!!!"

The driver slammed on their brakes and about a car's length from where it stopped and maybe two car lengths from me, Master Whigenstein jogged back in front the car's headlights to his yard and up the incline to his porch.

The car had tinted windows. After the moment was over and I had taken a breath and stepped out of his way, the driver continued up the street. As he passed me, he rolled down his window a little bit, but he did not stop or say anything. We made eye contact. I presented a friendly countenance and stared directly at him as he passed. I did not recognize the car or the driver. I did not assume malice. I was ready to engage the person with a "thank you" and request to drive responsibly, but that opportunity did not happen.

The young woman on the stoop called out to me "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much." My neighbor waved.

I replied, "You're welcome," and then Romeo and I resumed our evening constitutional.