Sultry evening breeze + firemen w/treats for my dog = perfect summer stroll. #springinmystep
That was the facebook post I almost wrote.
Sounds idyllic, right? It sort of was. There was indeed an evening breeze. There were extremely cute firemen sitting outside their station, offering treats to passing pooches. Can’t you just picture it? The single-yet-confident woman and her dog, strolling down the street to a hip yet not quite hipster soundtrack, stopping for a dog bone and some witty banter with the handsome and gallant firemen, blinking through her artfully tousled curls, then heading home with a saucy glance over her shoulder?
Yeah.
That didn’t happen.
The reality was my curls are a frizzy mess in this heat. The reality was that all we really did was talk about the weather after I blurted out a stilted “So how are y’all tonight?”
“Fine thanks,” said cute firefighter 1, politely, as he tried to pet my dog who was too busy sniffing to pay him any attention. “Nice night for a walk.”
“Little hot,” I replied brilliantly. “But I’ll take it.”
“Yup, it’ll be cold soon enough,” replied #1 dutifully.
“There’s more dog bone left on the ground from another dog,” firefighter #2 said to Sadie. “Go get it!” She ignored him.
Awkward silence.
“Well, thank you guys so much, have a great night!” I said in my cheeriest voice.
“You’re very welcome and you too.”
And off we went. No glances over the shoulder, no eye contact at really, through most of the encounter.
Prosaic in reality, but in truth, it did leave a little spring in my step. Because let’s face it; firemen handing out dog treats?
Damn.
Who needs reality?
Everything and a Racehorse 