The Dog Park
If you're looking for wham bam thank you ma'am, that is great! However, that is not this story. It's slow. It's sweet. Sometimes just getting to the juicy parts are wonderful, but sometimes characters need to become real...that was my hope with this tale. Hopefully the ending was worth the wait?
For it being the middle of October, it was unusually warm, which was fine with Hannah. Living in the Midwest was not ideal, but she was slowly learning how to cope. Originally from Arizona, Hannah had moved to the Chicago area about ten months ago for a position at a university. She knew that getting her doctorate in Victorian Age literature was not going to open many doors, so she couldn't be picky with what doors actually did open. So, when the University of Illinois in Chicago called her, she had to accept. Not only was it a good school, but the position allowed her the flexibility to conduct research and write.
While she enjoyed her new position, she missed the mountains and hiking with her dogs. People in the Midwest liked to say that they went hiking, which baffled Hannah because there was nothing to hike. Apparently, going for a walk on grass paths was equivalent to hiking. Hannah could only shake her head. She was not about to correct anyone and possibly come across as a snob. She also missed the weather. She had no idea how people dealt with the humidity; it was god awful. However, the snow was worse. So there it was- what she missed from her old life: the weather and the mountains. How pathetic. Granted, there was her mom and younger brother, but that wasn't saying much. Her brother was literally living in a van somewhere on the west coast. Her mom was a nurse and dated every widow who walked out of the hospital doors. Hannah had very few friends. People were never Hannah's priorities; school was, which was why she had her doctorate and two published books. She was not even twenty-nine.
Who she did love were her dogs. They had adapted to the Illinois weather much better than Hannah had. Indiana and Vlad were a Golden Retriever-Yellow Lab mix and brothers. Since moving to the Midwest, Hannah, Indiana, and Vlad spent a lot of time at the dog park. Hannah found that the housing in Chicago did not allow for large yards; so for her boys to run, she had to take them to the park. Luckily, she found a place inside of a nature preserve that was fenced in and allowed dogs to be off their leash.
Hannah knew everyone at the park: Zoey was a cute husky; Niko was a boxer who could run for hours; Lucky was a German Shepard who wore a military vest; and of course her favorite was Bella who was an adorable chocolate lab puppy. Who did all of these fur babies belong to? Hannah could possibly identify their owners, but she had never talked to them other than to learn the dogs' names. She would talk to the dogs without any issue, but she really had no desire to make small talk with the humans.
"Come on, boys!" Hannah hollered for her babies. In order to get out to the nature trail, she had to go through a fenced off area. Vlad and Indiana apparently got distracted by a cute, little poodle. "She isn't interested in either of you," Hannah joked. "Let's go."
"Oh, come on Mom. We want to play with the nice poodle," a voice said behind her. Hannah jerked her head quickly, for she had not heard anyone walk up near her. "I apologize," he said. "I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you could hear me. Lord knows if not me, my boy Hank." As the man said that, a large great dane came running up to Hannah. Most people would be afraid of his sheer size, but there was not a dog that Hannah did not love.
"Oh my goodness," she said as she rubbed the massive dog's head. Hank was a black and white great dane with floppy ears and perfectly soft fur. "You're such a lover boy," Hannah said as Hank enjoyed his ear scratches. Apparently Vlad and Indiana noticed mom giving another boy attention, so both of them came running to sniff out the stranger.
"Are these two brutes yours?" the man asked.
Hannah had hoped this old guy was not using his dog to strike up a conversation. She was a dog person- not a people person. "Yep. This is Indiana and that is Vlad." She pointed to the brothers.
"Indiana and Vlad? Those are interesting names for dogs. Most people go for Spike or Max."
"Well yes. I suppose so."
"However," the man began, "if you were a movie buff, you would know that Indiana Jones took the name Indiana from the family dog. His real name was Henry. But I am sure a young, pretty woman like yourself wouldn't know such a random piece of movie trivia. Or quite possibly you just like the state of Indiana, which would actually be
more
surprising."
Hannah about fell over. "You are literally the only person who has ever said that! That is exactly where I got his name from. I'm not a huge movie fan, but those are my favorite. It only made sense that I named my little man Indiana."
"And Vlad?"
"Vlad the Impaler. I was obsessed with Dracula when I was younger. I thought Vlad was a little more subtle than Dracula." While Hannah was impressed with the man's knowledge of Indiana Jones, she had had her fill of small talk. "Well, I better get these two running. Thanks for the chat." Hannah walked the opposite direction from where the man had come from. "Let's go boys." She didn't even wait for the man to say goodbye, or nice to meet you, or anything that cordial people typically say.
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A few days had passed and Hannah was able to go back to the dog park. As she and the dogs were walking the path, a familiar face showed up. "Hank!" she said with excitement. "Look boys! It's your friend, Hank." She really thought nothing more of it as the three dogs ran together and played. Hannah kept walking. She knew her boys would catch up. After a few minutes, the dogs were nowhere to be found. She started yelling for them. "Vlad! Come here boy! Indiana! Let's go! Come on boys! Where are you?" As she moved further down the path, she saw Hank's human. "Oh man," she thought to herself, "I hope he doesn't talk to me again." Hannah kept walking, trying to avoid eye contact with the man, which was probably why she didn't hear the dogs running behind her.
Hank crashed right into the back of Hannah's legs, which caused her to fly forward. She put her hands out to brace her fall, but it did not help when the one hundred and fifty pound dog toppled on top of her. Hannah laid on the ground trying to catch her breath. Indiana and Vlad ran over making sure that she was okay. Once they realized she was still breathing, the trio took off again.
"Fucking son-of-a bitch," Hannah held her knee. Hank's owner came running over.
"Holy shit! Are you okay? I promise! I will beat Hank tonight and make him go to bed without dinner."
"Oh don't do that." She was holding back the tears. Not only was she embarrassed, but her knee hurt like a mother fucker! "It's my fault for not paying attention." Hannah tried to stand up, but it was more of a struggle than she had anticipated. "How the hell am I going to get my ass to the car?" she thought to herself.
"Can I help you?" the older man said?
"No. No. I'm fine. Thank you."
"Really? Because you don't look fine. Listen, I know a thing or two about bummed knees. Let me at least help you up." The man extended his hand, and Hannah set her pride aside and took it. Once she was standing up-right, she tried to limp her way back to the gate.
"Oh for the love of god woman, just let me help you." He put his shoulder under armpit and the two of them made it back to a picnic table. "Sit. Let me look at this thing. Just don't argue, okay? I'm not hitting on you. I'm not playing hanky panky. You could sue me and Hank. He could become human-less." Hannah chuckled at his lame jokes. She also agreed to let him look at her knee.
"I'm Hannah," she finally said.
"Thomas," the man said as he examined her knee. "Good news is that the kneecap is not dislocated. Bad news is that I have no idea if you tore a ligament. I don't feel anything towards the back, but you will need an x-ray or MRI."
"How do you know all of this?" Hannah asked as she pulled her pant leg back down.
"I was a medic in the army for twenty years. Two tours in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and that's all I'm allowed to share, or I will have to kill you for knowing too much." He laughed. "I'm kidding about that last part. I was just an average medic. Nothing fancy."
"Was? What do you do now as a civilian?"
"I am a volunteer fire-fighter. Help where I can. Sometimes I go to the elementary school down the street and do traffic duty. I go where I'm needed. How about you, Ms. Hannah?"
"I teach at UIC. Victorian Literature. I write. I research. Nothing as generous as you."
"Nah. I disagree with that. Reading. That's important stuff. I read a lot in the military. Not so much in school, believe it or not, they did have books back in my day. Not stone tablets."
"Oh really? So you say you've read some books? Let's hear them?" And that was how Thomas got Hannah to lower her anti-human wall and talk. They sat on the bench and talked about titles, authors, story lines, and of course- dogs.
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