I see dogs

Through the bus window yesterday, I saw an old man, shirtless in the afternoon sun, walking his brown dog on a leash. The bus went past a petrol kiosk and I momentarily lost sight of them. After it went round the station and I could look into the field behind it again, I craned my neck to catch sight of them but they had disappeared like they were never there.

I don't know why I keep seeing dogs or running into them. I've written about Yellow Dog before and the Stray Guy who got the pizza (we haven't seen him since his pizza feast, and I keep thinking that the next time we order pizza, maybe he'll come back).

Last week, at the bus stop across the road from our development, a black dog came ambling down the sidewalk. He was all black but his muzzle was a grizzled white. He was quite nicely filled out and it was only when he passed that I realised he had a collar. So maybe he wasn't a stray after all but I do wonder where he came from as there are no flats on that side of the road and in any case, he's too big to be HDB-approved. (HDB is public housing and you are only allowed small-sized dogs, mostly the toy breeds.)

I minded my stranger dog manners, turning away from him so I wasn't facing him head-on as he approached. And he minded his own business, walking straight ahead before clambering up the grassy bank into the field behind the bus stop, then headed for a clump of bushes to mark them.

It was then that I remembered that my newish cellphone has a camera and I could take a picture of him. Sometimes I still forget that this phone does more than make phone calls! I fumbled with the cellphone but by then he was too far away. Anyway, just at that time, the bus arrived. My last view of Black Dog was through the bus window as we pulled away. By then, he had gone behind the bush and it was so small and sparse that I could see his head sticking out on top and his long curvy tail poking out the other end, making him look like a dog-shaped topiary. It looked rather amusing and I'm beginning to fear that what I thought was a giggle in my head was done out loud because people in the bus started to shift away from me.

If only I got the photo...