UNITED STATES—Oh Lupe, dear Lupe, you certainly showed your spontaneity superpower this afternoon. Just when everything looks like it is cooling down into a pattern of predictability, Lupe, the legendary pit bull Labrador was seized by a lingering bolt of that kinetic craziness that marked so much of her puppyhood.
It was in the sala today where she bolted from behind the blue-velour couch, and her sinewy body in a split second described an arc. It commenced on the wooden floor, with a zingy spring of her white fur paws, evocative of nothing so much as white booties clad to the ends of her long spindly legs. Briefly, Lupe because airborne, at the top of the arc, after clearing the sofa, Lupe zeroed in on the coffee table. There was a sharp thunk as her paws (badly in need of a manicure) struck the hardwood edge of the coffee table, book supporter and bric-a-brac and art showcase. In a trice the white-tipped, spindly forelegs descended to the floor.
Lupe retreated with aplomb and a sweeping gaze of those so-human eyes the pit bull possesses. What is it? I ask. The warm brown pupils, or it it the very white background provided by the eyeball that gives her gaze a charm than is human and also, a bit startling.
“Thank heaven she didn’t land on the table,” exclaimed a bystander. “She could have been hurt.”
Such is always the case with Lupe. She zips out of the gate. Will she ever come back? Will she get onto that 1923 sidewalk built by a sidewalk mogul named Peck? Or will she get on that cracked survivor of a pedestrian walkway and discover its irresistible charms known by locals and tourists alike, and make her way to Hollywood Boulevard? Truly, it makes the heart stop to imagine all the perils that Leapin’ Local Lupe could face in the big wide mad world outside her comfortable home where she gets three round meals a day.
Yes, no doubt, her energy, spontaneity and sheer sinewy strength coax a human guardian (i.e. dog owner) into craving the delusion how easy life without a Lupe might be. But that is a desire to be summarily dismissed. She has all love, and to get her through the day is submission to duty. A simple case of stepping up. I love Lupe: we all love Lupe.
There’s a neighbor of mine who loves her and has been taking baby steps for months. Stopping outside the gate to call her name. To reach a hand between the metal bars and pat Lupe on the head. Verily, he has gained her trust. On weekends Lupe has been invited inside their yard hang for a while and get to know their spaniel. It has worked out surprisingly well, this experiment in socialization.
Still, in a world gone sideways, it is reassuring to know that when this neighbor walks by the fence with his briefcase, Lupe breaks into a dog-race run from side to side in the narrow strip of yard, stirring up clouds of parched dust. And reigniting my beliefs, “Yes, she is still a contender.”
To be continued…
