Early one sunny morning while walking and jogging in Lumphini Park in Bangkok, Thailand, the calf of my right leg started to cramp. I stopped and sat down on a bench to massage it. I was startled to feel a wet cold nose on my left leg. It was a stray dog with a loveable face. His coat was mostly white with some brown markings on his face and back.
I petted him and said, “How are you?” in kind of a sing song voice, “You’re such a nice dog.” I scratched his ears. I stood up and started running again. He ran ahead of me but kept looking back to see if I was coming.
After a while, I stopped again to massage my calf. This time, he came back and lay down beside me. He was so content to just be resting and scratching vigorously at his fleas. He ran with me for a long time and then we became separated. I left the park but it was nearly impossible for me to cross an intersection of the worst Bangkok traffic I have ever experienced. As I walked on my way home, there he was again! He spotted me, came over to see me and I petted him. A nice Thai woman came out of her shop and gave him a drink of water.
I started on my way to my hotel and he was out front again looking back to see if I was coming. There was a woman selling food from a stand, and I bought him a piece of meat but he just ate one small piece. When I got to my hotel, the door closed slowly and he came in behind me. The people at the front desk told me to put him out, so I did. I called my friend Pam and she came down to see him. He was still scratching. What a loveable dog. I named him ‘Flea Pet’ just for fun, because he had fleas and I petted him.
Just in case he might be there the next day, I thought I would buy a flea collar for him. I guessed I would never see him again, as the year before I rescued a stray dog that was trapped in traffic and carried him to safety in the park, but he did not stay with me. I went to my room and took a hot shower.
The next day while jogging, he came up to me. I was extremely surprised to see him in the park. I put his flea collar on and we went running. When I was ready to go home, he was with me. There were two park police at the park’s gate. I had no place to keep Flea Pet and I could not shoo him back into the park. Besides, I didn’t want him to draw the attention of the police. I clapped my hands, hoping he would go back. He cocked his head and looked at me as if to say, “What’s with you man? You like me or what?” Anyway, we both were crossing the street in this dangerous traffic and he was not good at it.
I was going to have breakfast with my friend Joel and I was late to meet him at his hotel. When we got there, the door man shooed Flea Pet away.
It has been a week now and I have not seen him in the park. He was so loveable and I wanted to keep him and love him. I look for him every day. I saw dogs that looked like him and one dog was so much like him I went over to pet it and it growled at me, showed its teeth and I jumped back in surprise. A case of mistaken identity! I am very sad. I hope someone gives Flea Pet a good home. I still think of him often.
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