why don't we do it in the road

Trying to help somebody's lost dog get off the main street (four lanes traffic), a guy stopped and took out his tiny key-chain flashlight and read Dog's tags, took out his cell phone and called Dog's humans, then said to me,
"There's got to be a better place to do this than the middle of the street."
True.
However -- that's where the dog was.

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Last Thursday night (I think), Walking, sidewalk by main thoroughfare -- traffic relatively busy, though 11:30pm, and I'm alone thinking my own thoughts and I see this low -- thing -- sort of barreling bouncily toward me -- it's one of those long, low dogs, don't know which breed. Low to the ground, with short legs and a thick, round, sturdy body. Running right at me.

("Is it a pit bull?"
"A dog in the dark!"
"What do I do now?")

I like dogs but am never to bold about petting ones I don't know. They may growl or bite.
So I made a U-turn with my Fast-Walk: "Nice doggie, stay out of the street!" -- and I just headed back toward home, away from the dog.
Who promptly trotted out into the street, keeping pace with me, heading same direction.
Right after I thought to myself, "It isn't my problem," and "I just want to go home,"
I went out into the street to try to "shoo" the dog off street-onto sidewalk.

More cars coming;
"Shoo! Nice doggie! Come on!"
Fear of being bitten by the dog lost out to fear of seeing it get run over, so I put up my hand to try to let drivers know they -- like -- shouldn't run over me and the dog and kill us -- you know, might be nice if they didn't,
and took hold of the dog's collar, didn't get bitten or killed, and started trying to pull dog toward curb, but he's just huddling, heavily, by my ankle, thumping his tail against my leg.

Great.
But almost immediately a big van stopped in the street next to us and a big tall guy got out and helped us -- he was so efficient and effective: grabbed the collar, petted the dog, got hold of the tags, had that flashlight handy right there, got a phone number off of the tags --
meanwhile, he had a sidekick with him, a shorter guy, coming around from the other side of the van -- the first guy goes, "Gimme my phone!"

So with the cell phone, he calls, starts talking;
I thought, "Oh good! He reached the dog's owner!" -- then realized from the monologue the guy was doing, with no pauses to listen, he was speaking to a voice-mail. Crap.

HOWEVER -- the saga continued.
Right about then Guy 1 (the tall guy) said to me, "There's got to be a better place to do this than in the middle of the street."
Couldn't agree more.
THEN -- he says, "I'm gonna take the dog home, that way they won't have to pay pound fees." He said it again, to Guy 2 (the one who had apparently been riding shotgun) -- "..gonna take the dog home, that way I can give it back to them -- if the police take him in, they're gonna have to pay pound fees."...
[Spoken like a man who had himself, at some point in time, paid "pound fees" and didn't enjoy it.]

The dog was thick and awkward to handle -- I couldn't even drag it -- but together those two guys got him (or her -- name was "Allie") loaded up onto the floor of the van, in front of the back seat, where Allie seemed to be quite content and even enthusiastic upon landing.

(We must have looked like a comedy routine -- like the Keystone Cops out there on the street -- cars driving by us, and around us, drivers thinking charitable, generous thoughts such as, "Dumb-asses...!"

The van started to drive forward, (everybody in), I was walking to the sidewalk, and then the van was pulling over into my neighbor's driveway; in the darkness, there was a suburban partway up into my front drive, and behind that a police car (why weren't they helping??).
The dog's owner got out of the suburban: "Thank you SO MUCH! I'm sorry! Thank you!" Allie went with him -- everybody happy, blah blah blah....

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That happened so fast -- the dog's person must have been out looking for Allie already -- there was no way he'd had enough time to come from home. That's how fast things go, these days -- with cell phones etc.
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That Van guy was terrific. He went way beyond Basic Polite and Helpful -- he helped the dog; he helped me; he helped the dog's owners; he helped the passing drivers because none of them had to run over the dog and feel bad or swerve to avoid the dog and cause an accident -- and I mean, thinking about the "pound fees" and following through like that, being willing to take someone's dog home with him. That's above and beyond the call of duty.

I have Vast Admiration for men like that, who can Make Decisions, Do The Right Thing, and Take Care of It.
I was amazed.
I was still thinking about it, a couple of days later.

-30-