I appreciated his concern. I didn't think many people would actually care about a stray dog, but this guy did. If I ever became trapped in dog morph, I knew who to find, at least!
Speaking of trapped, I moved to his other side to take a look at his watch. Plenty of time. Good.
There were more and more people as we walked deeper into the city. The stimuli got my dog instincts revving like a car engine and I was having trouble keeping control. What was that smell? Who's that? Where'd that sound come from? Everything had me looking this way and that, floppy ears twisting independently like little radar discs. Now I knew why dogs were so excited all the time!
And then I saw it. It was like a movie: the little kid playing with a ball, or maybe it was a yo-yo. From this distance it was hard to tell. But what wasn't hard to tell was that the round, rolly object slipped through the child's fingers, right off the sidewalk and into the road.
Time felt like it slowed down. The kid followed the ball as easily and innocently as if there was no one else around, no cars driving a little too fast up to the intersection.
I yelped, because I didn't need to be able to see the future to know what was coming.
My hind legs bunched and I was off before I even realized what I'd decided. I was fast. But was I fast enough?
<Stay there! Don't move!> I said, focusing my thought-speak on both the child up ahead, and the kind man who just wanted to make sure a stray dog was okay.
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Speaking of trapped, I moved to his other side to take a look at his watch. Plenty of time. Good.
There were more and more people as we walked deeper into the city. The stimuli got my dog instincts revving like a car engine and I was having trouble keeping control. What was that smell? Who's that? Where'd that sound come from? Everything had me looking this way and that, floppy ears twisting independently like little radar discs. Now I knew why dogs were so excited all the time!
And then I saw it. It was like a movie: the little kid playing with a ball, or maybe it was a yo-yo. From this distance it was hard to tell. But what wasn't hard to tell was that the round, rolly object slipped through the child's fingers, right off the sidewalk and into the road.
Time felt like it slowed down. The kid followed the ball as easily and innocently as if there was no one else around, no cars driving a little too fast up to the intersection.
I yelped, because I didn't need to be able to see the future to know what was coming.
My hind legs bunched and I was off before I even realized what I'd decided. I was fast. But was I fast enough?
<Stay there! Don't move!> I said, focusing my thought-speak on both the child up ahead, and the kind man who just wanted to make sure a stray dog was okay.