I'm not sure if I have mentioned, but Sunday was supposed to be a good day. I had been looking after Lee's animals while she was away in Seattle since Thursday. She is a little OCD and daily goes through a check list of everything that possible to worry about. I'm much the opposite. I worry about very little until something happens which requires worry. Due simply to the law of averages my way of thinking proved itself to be right. I mean if you worry about everything, most of the time it is going to prove unfounded, but eventually something has to happen.

Lee had gone to Seattle, leaving me in care of her 12lb Chihuahua Lugosi an three cats. Before she left I got the agonizing rundown of everything I should do to keep anything from happening to her "baby", and then she went over it again, right before she left after our third of fourth repeated round of instructions, my eyes were rolling back in my head. I did everything she asked me to..... except for one.

Lugosi is mostly an inside dog, but when he has been over at my house we have let him down into the shared back yard. He does what he does and runs back up. Our very downstairs neighbor own three rottweiler mixes. Soon after the guy moved in a couple months ago we started hearing hell hound barking whenever we brought Lugosi out, then I began to notice all the flowerbeds in the back yard being unceremoniously transplanted to the walkway. then there were the Kongs, giant rubber things that looked like they belonged on the end of a chain in medieval Europe and they were everywhere. These are big dogs.

I don’t like big dogs, I was chased around a tree by a pit bull when I was four. It also, on one occasion broke through a car window to kill the neighbors cat under our house. the occasion happened to be my birthday party. I don’t understand why people own killer dogs. Its kind of like owning a gun, but a gun that might randomly chew someone’s face off.

Within the list of anxiety, Lee had asked my to carry Lugosi down stairs.

Lugosi woke me up around nine. I crawled out of bed and opened the door to let him out. I was about to follow, but I realized that I should put clothes on before going out into the world. Lugosi paused at the top of the stairs, It ran through my mind that the dogs might be down there, but I would just be a second. I rushed back in, threw on some pants, and just as my foot hit the landing the screaming started. There was no growling or barks prefacing, just screams. I nearly slid down three flights of steps. When I got to the bottom Lugosi had already bolted past me back up. The neighbor was standing there holding his hand and bleeding. I turned and followed Lugosi back up. he was sitting on my bed whimpering covered in his own shit.

he had been bitten nine times and required surgery. If the neighbor hadn't have been right there he would be dead. Lugosi bit him as he was trying to pull open the jaws of his dogs mouth to get Lugosi out.

I could have prevented all of this if I just would have waited to open the door a few minutes while I put clothes on. I should have carried him down. I should have listened to Lee instead of assuming that she was overreacting. I shouldn’t have just assumed that everything would be ok even if the dogs were downstairs. I was lazy and a helpless creature that I was in care of paid the price. I kept thinking of him tossing his toy bear up in the air and wagging his tail on the way to the back door that morning, all excited for the day. I felt sick.

I called Avidd to cancel our plans, which at this point was the least of my worries, picked Lugosi up from the vet and went to Lee's house to take care of him and wallow in guilt.