Where's Lucy?

So I got to the O's house around 6PM yesterday. No one was home. It was kind of strange, but hey... whatever. Well when I got to the door I could see Rosie was in her kennel. She was barking like crazy (which only meant that no one was home). So I went in to the O's house and left Rosie in her Kennel, then checked Lucy in her kennel... uh... went back to Rosie's kennel... OK, I see Rosie, but where is Lucy? Is Lucy in Rosie's kennel? Nope. I called out for Mrs. O and Dr. O... nothing. I saw both their cars were still there, Mrs. O's purse, opened bottle of juice. Maybe they took Lucy for a walk, and not Rosie? Nah. I even went upstairs, downstairs in case they didn't hear me. Nothing. So, what do I do? I let Rosie out of her kennel and I sat on the sofa and watched TV. Then my mind started wandering. Great, something bad has happened to the O's and I am going to sit here and watch a few hours of TV before anyone knows what happened.

So then I see Mrs. and Dr. O walking past the front and into their side yard (phew, no need to call the cops). Mrs. O had the blankest, most distressed look on her face, and she was crying. Dr. O looked a bit bewildered and a bit nervous. They were looking for something... and then it hit me... Lucy ran away! Yes folks, Mrs. O let her out for a walk and Lucy decided it was better to duck under a fence and take off.

Apparently the O's had been searching for an hour before I got there. I caught up with Dr. O and he said he tried to reach my cellphone but I didn't answer (I left my cellphone in the car thinking I was just going to pick up Lucy and be back in the car in a few minutes). He then told me he called Anna and let her know what happened. My response? "... Oh! You called Anna!?...". You see, Anna had gone to dinner with a mutual friend of ours, Andrea. Apparently they were about to order when Anna got the call and started balling. Well they rushed back to help us form a 5-person search-and-rescue team (along with the countless others we asked to keep an eye out).

So I start combing the area, along with Dr. and Mrs. O... we went in a few directions, crossing paths every now and then. Dr. O and I were convinced Lucy wasn't too far away. It was really humid outside, and if you know Lucy, you know that she is not one to go for walks when she is tired, she instead decides its better to just flop down and make you pull her. She is also pretty good at not crossing streets, not chasing cars, and really good with people. These are all things I though would help. What I learned, you can't read a dogs mind.

Lucy had crossed two (small) streets and was "booking it" down a two others. She wasn't tired or scared. I had drove around calling her name around the neighborhood. I also went into the very large cemetery near the O's house wondering if she got under that fence. I circled the whole perimeter of the cemetery before I went in. I then drove into the cementer and began calling her name. What was going through my mind? Great, someone is going to see me driving around yelling for "Lucy" and think "... hey buddy, give it up, she is gone, no one here is coming back...". I then called the house's answering machine to check if anyone had called. There were two messages. Both of the messages sounded alike... "...beep,bop....bop, bop, bop...beep, beep-beep..." Yeah, that was me trying to get into our answering machine a few minutes ago.

During my 2nd time in the cemetery I got a call from Anna... it kind of went like this "... Curtis... sniff-sniff, moan-moan, Lucy... snif-sniff...moan-moan... Mount Auburn Street... sniff-sniff, moan-moan... " oh yeah, and there wasn't much breathing.

Turns out, Lucy was hauling doggie-butt down Coolidge Ave along the side of the cemetery. When she got to the end of the street (where the street meets the busy Mount Auburn Street)... and this is where Anna closed her eyes and had her hands over her face... Lucy quickly took a left and stayed on the sidewalk, still hauling doggie-butt. Dr. O jumped out of his car (leaving it in an intersection) trying to catch up with Lucy, she was too fast, he now refers to her as "the white rocket!". Andrea also took off running after Lucy at one point, in her pointy high-heel shoes... she's an athlete I tell ya. Anna, Andrea, and Dr. O were yelling at Lucy to "stop" and "wait", but she didn't want any part of that. So, Dr. O got back in his car and cornered her, but she went around the car. Andrea and Anna were in hot pursuit following Dr. O. A jogger, coming towards the commotion, noticed Lucy and held on to her.

When we got home there were a couple of jokes and loose ends were tied up. Each of us had a slightly different angle of the event, so it was funny to hear what went on. From Dr. O running after a dog, leaving his car in the middle of the street... to Mrs. O's conversation with the cemetery grounds keeper "... please start burying a hole for me, if I don't find this dog my daughter is going to kill me..."... to Andrea thinking she was going to have a relaxing, enjoyable, and calm dinner with Anna (we eventually took her to a nice dinner)... to Anna in hysterics... to me thinking "somethings happened to the O's, so I better sit here and watch TV", yelling "Lucy" (in the cemetery), wondering what I was going to tell my Uncle Charlie in Michigan who gave us the dog (Uh, Uncle Charlie, we lost that first dog you send us, mind sending another one?), and finally thinking... if this dog cuts into my sleep time, she is going to be grounded!... we had a very "interesting" evening!

My finally theory of why Lucy escaped... She is being "fixed" tomorrow. I think she had a little conversation with Rosie,and Rosie said "Listen to me kid, you don't want to go through this... run, just get out of here... and if they call your name... keep running!"

So how long was Lucy "gone" for? I figure about 2 1/2 hours... and we all feel about 5 years older thanks to her.