Traumatic incident number one:
Saturday morning I awoke to the sound of something walking back and forth beneath my open window. The dry leaves crackled under the creature's feet. Since I had heard the same kind of thing the night before and had been too lazy to check what it was, I decided that I should check it out. Through the blurriness of myopic vision, I thought I saw a little brownish ropy thing under my window. Confused, I grabbed my glasses and peered out again. Nothing. But I could still hear the creature shifting in the leaves. So I jiggled my window and the little puppy shot out from under my window and away. I went back to bed smiling because I had solved the mystery, and there was nothing to be afraid of.
Later that day I saw the same puppy (at least I assume it was the same because it still had a brown ropy tail, and was the right size). He was nosing around at my doorstep, trying to catch the grasshoppers which were usually too quick for him. I felt compassion on the dog because he was hungry, and besides, he was cute, so I ran back inside and grabbed a piece of bread for him to eat. He wolfed it down eagerly and then let me pet him. He was the ugliest, cutest, twelve-inch reservation mutt you could ever hope to see. So I quickly went inside and washed my hands very very well.
Then I told Kathy, the principal here, about my new friend. Instead of sharing my delight, she groaned. "I'll have to call the department of wildlife to come and get him," she said. "And what's worse, they don't even come on weekends!" I was horrified. She was going to send my puppy to the pound! To be killed! I quickly formulated a more tactful response querying the necessity of such immediate action. She said it was because if he stays around he will be abused or killed by misbehaving teens. THAT MAKES ME SICK! My cute, ugly little dog is pretty much destined to die, all because nobody knows that animals are to take care of, not destroy. That's why all the dogs around here are so mean; because people are mean to them! They have to be wild in order to survive. I think that's why some of the kids are so mean too. They have to be tough to survive and they take it to extremes. Like today as our class trouble-maker walked out of the room 20 minutes later than the rest of the class let out (he's also very distractible so he had to finish up his work after school), I just wanted to cry for him because we don't know if something was going on at home that gave him such a bad day. He has gotten in trouble for playing teachers off against each other, and for giving another student the finger, but I'm not really sure if he knows better. Hence why he needs to learn through being punished -- I know -- but I hate the social system that sets kids up for failure.
Next post will be more positive, I hope. There's lots of cool things about living here, too. Mainly the small-town atmosphere, the sharing of responsibility for children, the open hospitality, and the marvellous scenery. I'm just sad about the puppies right now. :-}