I’ve mentioned before the rather strange custom I witnessed (many times) in southwestern Colorado, where people drive down dirt roads letting their dogs run behind the cars for exercise. Recently here in Forest Hills, I saw a small family take this occupation to new heights. There were four people in a car; at passing glance, it looked like parents in the front, a grandmother, and a baby in the back. The car was moving slowly down 68th Avenue, and running along about ten feet behind the car was a young girl in pigtails. She must have been somewhere between 7-10, running determinedly after the car, which sped up and slowed down a few times, never getting more than a few houses ahead of the child. Finally, the car pulled over, perhaps because we were openly watching the spectacle, and a hand reached out the open window and motioned sharply to the child. We heard the child huff, “Ma-ma!” She sped up and raced towards the waiting vehicle. We turned the corner and didn’t see the actual reunion; New Yorkers hate to gawk, although the vision lingered in my mind. Was it a punishment, a training session, an object lesson? We’ll never know. You just never can tell what you’ll see when you’re out walking the dog.
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