So The Husband and I were just walking onto the field with the pups and a little way ahead was the man with the greyhound. Doggie owners notice other doggie owners you see, so although we've never spoken to or even made eye contact with man with greyhound, we feel like we know him.
We know he never lets the greyhound off the lead, we know it looks quite old and walks staidly and nicely next to his owner and we know he'll take no notice of our pups when we let them off the lead for their run.
We also know the owner keeps himself to himself. Some dog owners are chatty, we know their backgrounds, their hobbies, what treatment they consider for doggie tummy upsets, what they had for dinner that night, what they think of various other dog owners (notably the irresponsible ones whose dogs run riot and they just let them terrorise everyone else!). We look out for each other, we chat and even though we always know each others dogs names, we rarely know each others names and after months or even years of passing the time of day with your pooch, it seems somewhat rude to then ask what 'their' name is, so we don't. It's an unwritten rule that seems to work.
Man with greyhound though is quiet, late 40's/early 50's, head down, always dressed in a suit - strangely (unlike The Husband and I who as you well know are trussed up ready to take on Antarctica) and there's another thing about man with greyhound – he's always on the phone.
'Of course' he's having an affair you know', I've commented to The Husband on many an occasion.
'And you know that' he answered with a frown the first time I said it.
'Of course! A man on the phone? Walking his dog? Same time every day? The dog is his alibi!' I roll my eyes that The Husband doesn't know stuff like this, then I continue, 'The dog doesn't even want to go out, you can tell, he wants a rug and a warm fire PLUS he's not exactly dressed for dog walking is he – in a suit for goodness sake – it's definitely an affair!' I declared. Rather judgemental I know, but heck I'm a woman, I can smell these things!
So onto the field we walk and the greyhound is much more bouncy than usual, raring to go one would say, so much so that we called over cheerily to the owner to comment.
'He's bouncy today, he's usually so calm!', I shout
'Yeah, he wants to chase your two that's why', man with greyhound replied.
We all laugh
'He'll most likely kill them though!'
More laughter
'Yeah right!' we jest
'No seriously' continued man with greyhound - by this time at a reasonable distance away. 'Last year he was the 3rd fastest dog in the UK and killed a Doberman'.
'Blimey!' say The Husband and I in unison...backing away from previously cute greyhound.
'Yes somewhere in the country there are several dogs with only half an ear!'
Wow. We were both stunned. There we were, all this time, thinking this calm, old, retired greyhound would be a gentle, if long legged, walking companion for our two (if only his owner came off the phone) and there you go – a killer in disguise!
'Well, it's not an affair afterall', I muse to The Husband as we walk away rather more quickly than we would previously have done.
'All this time, he's been on the phone...it wasn't a woman, it was his lawyers!'
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