Guardian angels for dogs

My car has a guardian angel that has protected us for over 200,000 miles—no accidents, no tickets, no major collapses. Since switching from driving the car to riding the bike, I’ve found human angels are just as helpful as a car’s guardian angels are.

You may have noticed me out with my bike because I am extraordinarily slow, cycling as I do towing an open bike trailer into which squeeze two dogs—an arthritic little Collie and a Border Collie. Together the dogs max out the carrying capacity of the trailer—about 100 pounds. Towing this much weight makes it difficult to gather momentum after coming to a stop and I am very slow off the mark when the light changes to green. It is also difficult to turn the bike in a very tight arc so that I sometimes travel straight over potholes I would prefer to avoid.

Today I traveled over a pothole smack dab in the center of a left-hand turn at an intersection. I cursed, and cursing scares Star, the Border Collie, and Sam, the little Collie. Pumping hard to get momentum through the intersection, I wasn’t paying attention to the cart and didn’t realize that Sam & Star, disturbed by the cussing and the pothole, jumped out of the trailer. Up ahead I saw another green light and normally would have accelerated to wing my way across, but today something told me to slow down. The thought I registered was, “Don’t make this light. Don’t cross the street.” So, instead of speeding up with the momentum gained accelerating from the stop, I slowed down. At that instant, a human angel honked her horn. She waved and pointed toward the trailer. Looking back, I saw the trailer was empty and the dogs were down the road beside the potholed intersection. Star waited on the grassy shoulder, but Sam, the Joe Hollywood of Collies, was jaunting with stiff legs down the road. All the human angels on the road gave way, and Sam advanced to the cart and pulled himself in. Star waited for my signal, then jogged down along the grassy edge of the road, joining Sam in the cart. The light in front of us was green, and off we went.

Thank you to all angelic drivers everywhere who share the road with dogs and bikes. Sam, Star, and I appreciate your kindness.

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