How I met Caroline
Just another day…
Every morning I drive my old pick up truck along the Highway 35 from Toronto to Minden and play with my half-broken radio searching for the right tune to keep me company. It is a challenge I face every day since all I seem to get is cracking noises or just plain annoying static. But this morning was different, as soon as I turned the engine on, one of my favourite songs blasted out and almost knocked me out of my seat. Well, what do you know, this old piece of trash still has some surprises in store. I rolled out of my drive with a big smile on my face and wondering what kind of the day it was going to be.
And then I saw her…
Since it was already an unusual start of the day, I figured it was a sign that I should do something different. So instead of continuing with my boring drive along the highway, I took the very next turn to a small farm-like road and decided to enjoy the scenery along the way.
And as I was admiring the snow-covered trees and bushes, I noticed something very strange—a dog-like creature standing by the road carrying a backpack on the shoulders and a medium-size cardboard sign in hands saying “Lift anywhere needed”. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I must have been hallucinating or just had way too much coffee. I closed my eyes and blinked a few times for good measure, but there it was again—same dog, same backpack and same cardboard sign.
Happy ending…
Well, without much further thinking and reasoning, I stopped and opened the passenger-side door. The dog didn’t look surprised but relieved. She smiled at me with the most grateful smile, packed the cardboard sign inside her backpack and hopped in my car.
We sat quietly for a few minutes and when I thought the situation couldn’t get any stranger, my mysterious hitchhiker turned to me and introduced herself: “Hi, I’m Caroline—your new guard dog. Where are we going?”
Well, hearing the dog talk convinced me that I had lost my mind and so I decided to just go with it and enjoy my crazy state of mind. I turned to my new dog and gave her a big hug. “One of us or both of us went bananas, so let’s go home and figure it all out. What do you think?”
“I like bananas!,” she said and curled up into a fluffy ball of fur next to me.
