[Cagdu] my lost guide

[Ken Volonte]

This has been a long day.  Edison escaped from our back yard early this 
morning.  Early, when there were no cars on the street which usually sounds 
like the ocean.  I called and called, then got dressed and started walking 
with my cane and his leash clicking and calling.  I heard his bark and 
called again.  He was perhaps three houses down.  I ran back to the house as 
fast as I could, left the front door open and started dropping nuggets of 
kibble into his food boll.  In a minute, he bounded through the door all 
glad to see me.  I later discovered that the lock on my west gate was 
faulty; and the day progressed pleasantly.

    Tonight I let him out but stood outside figuring that when he was done, 
he'd come back to the door; but once he had escaped, he had a taste for more 
adventures in the neighborhood.  It was now 10:30:pm.  Again, I walked with 
cane and leash clicking and calling, but he was nowhere to be found.

    Velvet and I set off driving around the neighborhood looking for him. 
We phoned the S-mart, the pizza restaurant down the street, any place that 
had to do with food.  Edison is, after all, a lab.  Nobody had seen him.

    I called the police and animal control.  There was nothing left to do 
but go home and wait.  I also called GDB to report this incident.  I left my 
name with the voice mail to which I was directed by another phone machine.

    When we got home, the phone was ringing.  It was someone from Guide 
Dogs' kennel staff.  She took down Edison's stats and time of loss, etc. 
While I was on the phone with her, the door bell rang.  Two girls were 
standing there.  "Are you a blind person", they wanted to know.  They were 
embarrassed and feeling awkward.  "Well, we think we have your dog."  It was 
true enough.  They had him on a thin plastic leash such as I've never run 
across.  All of this was heard by the Guide Dogs person who thanked me for 
calling and rejoicing at the happy outcome.  When I think of what could have 
happened... I don't think I'll sleep tonight.  Edison had made his way to 
one of the sororities at UOP where there was a party going on.  a cook out. 
He's a lab.  What can I say.