Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2015

The Sunday Series: Sunday June 7, 2015




The Sunday Series:

Sunday June 7, 2015

The strangest thing happened this Sunday, and it wasn't the small-sized woman who I have never seen before, come upon my back yard to sunbathe nude.   No, I have to say that was a bit odd, but nothing like what happened in this early Sunday morning.  I woke up hearing a strange noise outside the window.  Dawn was breaking, so I had a clear view of what was outside my bedroom window.  First of all, my window faces a busy rural street - we get a lot of people hiking back and forth in front of that window.   I have heavy shades to cover the brightness that comes in the morning, and as usual, when I hear a noise, I sort of peek out, instead of opening the window fully.  What I glanced at was a well-dressed male with a dog on a leash holding a bush open so that another well-dressed individual can depart with their dog on a leash.  

That small area has always been troubling to me. I often wake up in the morning and see either discarded food, and empty bottles.  Also I have come upon used condoms as well.  Yet, I never heard a noise during the night.  It is just something that I come across when I wake up to look outside my window.   The oddness of seeing someone holding a shrubbery apart so one can exit from it -like the vegetation was a residence of some sort.  I closed the curtain, and tried to go back to bed.  But I kept hearing sounds from the same direction, and again, I got up to give another look.  What I saw were more well-dressed individuals - now females as well, with dogs on leashes - and now three or more are keeping the undergrowth open so more of these people can come out with their dogs.



The dogs were all the same species.  Perhaps a pit-bull.  The only thing I could make out is that their eyes were bright red, and I didn't see a pupil - but solid red eyes.  It was a disturbing sight, so again, I went back to my bed.   Occasionally I could hear what sounded like a dog leaping up to my window which was street level.  I tried to fall asleep but the sound of the dog hitting the window pane unexpectedly, was disconcerting for me.   I was feeling cautious and I didn't want to make any waves, especially living in this neighborhood.  I remember I had to call the police regarding noise-making in the middle-of-the-night, and after that someone painted on my garage wall "snitches get stitches."  After that I hesitate to call the police. It was much later I found out that it was actually the police that painted that phrase on my home.

I pulled the curtain a bit, and when I did so, a dog came right up to the window snarling and barking something horribly towards me.  I quickly pulled back and covered the curtain across the window.  I called the police, and once I got a live person, I had a hard time describing what was happening.  Should I just mention that there is a pack of wild dogs outside my window, or should I add that these dogs are on a leash with a pack of mad well-dressed people?  It obviously sounded crazy, so I told them to forget about it, and I hung up the phone.



To get some air, I went to my backyard, where it is pretty secured from the outside world due to a high fence surrounding the property.  As I sat on my patio chair, I got the feeling that there was another presence near me.  I looked across from the yard and saw a pretty young girl sunbathing in the nude.   She was on one of the lounge chairs and didn't wear a thing on her, except sunglasses.  The first thing that struck me was how short she was.  At first I thought she was a child with a perfect female figure, but alas I suspected that she may have been in her twenties.   I didn't know her. Nor have I ever saw her in the neighborhood.   I didn't know what to do, because one I didn't know her and two She is in the nude.  Also she was aware of me sitting there, because she was looking towards me, but turned her head when she saw me looking at her.  Finally I walked up to her and asked her if everything is OK.  She took her sunglasses off and looked straight at me, but didn't say a word.  I walked back to my chair and I felt totally helpless.  On one end, I found this strange meeting alluring to me.  She had a lovely body, and I wanted to stare at her, but felt for obvious reasons, that it would be impolite to do so.   I couldn't read the narrative here, if she was expecting me to propose a sexual gesture towards her.  I suddenly heard loud knocking on the front door as well as the door-bell ringing off and on.  I walked to the door, but didn't want to open it of course.   I looked at the keyhole and there were two well-dressed men smiling at me through the keyhole.  I felt awkward that they caught me looking through the door keyhole, so I opened it slowly.  A foot came in to block it being closed.  "May we come in, please?"



Behind them were others with their dogs, so I told them 'Please come in quickly."  Once they came in, one of them started to look around the house, and he was slowly going towards the backyard but of course, I didn't want him to go back there to see the girl.  I asked them both what do they want?  "We're doing a survey of the neighborhood, and you're the only one who didn't fill out a form that was left in your mailbox."  I thought about it, and I sort of have a vague memory of seeing such a form, but like all forms I get in the mail, I threw it out.  I didn't tell them that of course.  I said something of the effect, that I didn't see it.  They both looked at me, and then each other with a smile on their faces.  One had a small carrying case with him, and he opened up and took a form out.  He handed me the form with a pen and asked me to fill it out there in front of them.  I asked if I could do this in another time because I have another engagement I must go to.  They both looked at me again, and just said, "it will only take a minute.  We just need your name, address, phone number and that's it.  Please fill out the form sir."

I have to admit that I felt totally intimated by these two men.  I thought to myself, "what is the harm in filling out my name, address and number - they have it already."   I took their pen and filled out the form.   I then handed their pen and form back to them.  While I was doing all of this, they basically both just smiled at me.   When I hand him over the pen, he immediately dropped it on the ground.  He didn't do anything just stood there and smiled at me.  By instinct, I got the pen from the floor and again gave it to him.  He then dropped the form to the ground.  Again, I went on the ground, to pick up the form and I hand it over to him.  He then dropped both pen and form on the ground.

He then told me "that is all, Mr. Berman, thank you for your cooperation."  They both left the house, but they also helped themselves out.  The odd thing is that they kept the door open, and I was scared to death that one of the dogs would come in.  I ran by the door to shut and lock it.   The form and the pen as it lay on the carpeted floor were like an ugly stain on the floor.   I took the pen and form up from the floor, and went out to the front yard.  To my surprise, the young girl was gone.   I went back in, and found an old empty frame.  I attached the form to the frame, and went up to an empty space on the wall in the front room and hung the frame with the form attached to it.   This I feel, will be the closest thing as a self-portrait.

Friday, April 25, 2014

April 25, 2014



April 25, 2014

In m lifetime, I only lived with two dogs: Rover and Pi.  Rover was a mutt and Pi was part collie and coyote.  Pi moved in with us because her family was moving out of Topanga, and once moved, she found herself back home at our house.  We adopted her or just kept Pi, because she was always hanging out with Rover.  My relationship with dogs is very laissez-faire, and I rarely ever think about them either as pets or objects in front of me.  All I know is Rover and Pi lived with me, and they liked their stomachs scratched and petted.

I remember watching “Lassie” on our black and white TV, and Rover was totally intrigued by the show one night.  Especially when Lassie barked, or made a sound.  He would sit in front of the set, cock his head towards the left with his ear up.  Eventually he would walk around the TV set to determine what was happening in the back of the set.  Rover was just thinking logically if Lassie was actually in the TV set, which makes perfect sense to me.


As a boy, I totally identify with Timmy on “Lassie” and Rusty on “Rin Tin-Tin.” So when I was with Rover and Pi, I didn’t really think about the dogs, but instead I projected myself as the boy who is surrounded by his dog, who also appears to have been tuned in to my needs and concerns.   Getting love from a dog is without a doubt one of the greatest love relationships on this planet.   There is the famous story of Hacikō, the akita dog who would go with his owner, Hidesburō Ueno, a teacher, to Shibuya station in Tokyo, and would come back to see him there when he arrived from his work.  One day, the teacher dies at work and of course never returns - but Hacikō without fail, would wait at the meeting spot in the Shibuya station every day at the same time.  Hacikō waited for seven years till death came and took him away.



The Japanese media picked up the story of Hacikō, and eventually it became almost an urban myth about the loyal dog waiting for his master or owner.  Except this was all true.  Hacikō died on March 8, 1938, where his body was found on the streets of Shibuya.  The dog had terminal cancer and a filaria infection (worms).  They also found four yakitori skewers in his stomach, but that didn’t cause his death.  Hachikō’s remains are stuffed and mounted and kept at the National Science Museum in Ueno, Tokyo.  His burial monument is in the Aoyama cemetery.   But the people’s monument is at the Shibuya station, exactly where Hachikō waited for his master.  There is a statue in honor of the dog, and it is probably one of the best-known locations in Tokyo.



I will never forget the night Rover died.  He was for sure feeling his age, and I remember the night he insisted ongoing outside.  I opened the door for him and that was the last time I saw Rover.  But as I was falling asleep on the couch in the living room, I had a waking dream of Rover in front of my face, barking wildly.   I woke up and of course he wasn’t there, but I never did see my dog again.  Also I never had the urge to get another dog or to live with a dog.  Rover and Pi were dogs who lived with me at a specific time, and one can’t repeat its past.  I had to move on.