I have a lab dog story from 45 years ago. I wrote it down in 2014 so I wouldn't forget the details.
Adventures of Mister Dog
On this fine Saturday in 1982, my girlfriend and I had a friend over for a visit, it started with a nice cup of coffee and a joint. As we chatted we played a bit of indoor beach ball.
We were a bit startled when we heard a knock on the door. Not that having someone knock on the door was so out of place for most folks but we lived far off the paved road down a 700 foot dirt drive. Mud road would be a better description since it just rained. Anyone coming back would be a friend and we would hear their car long before we would see them. When we opened the door, there was a young man dressed in a suit and tie holding a roll of paper towels. First thought was this guy was surely lost or some Jehovah’s Witness. But he stated right in stating he was with “Kirby vacuum” company and had an offer for us to receive a roll of paper towels if we would offer him the time to listen to his spiel on his fines wares.
After a few moments the fog cleared from our heads and taking in what was going on, we began laughing hysterically as one might expect after smoking a joint. I explained to this young man that we were not interested in purchasing a vacuum. Further, we did not even have electricity, let along carpet. In fact we didn’t even have a floor in our home.
I should digress and explain a few missing details regarding this said “home”. The home would be better described as a shack. Though modestly sized at 12 by 13 feet, much thought went into the construction. One day we saw an ad in the paper for “irregular” lumber from a local saw mill, $25 a truck load. I cut two blocks of wood to wedge between the axel and the frame so I could load the 1954 Chevy as full as I could. I wanted to insure I got my $25 worth. In two weeks time we were done enough to move in. The floor didn’t come for quite some time latter.
So where was I? Oh back to our Kirby vacuum salesmen. By now even the young man was also laughing hysterically. When we all could catch our breath he became aware of the fact he was not going to be selling us a vacuum cleaner but did ask if he could buy some pot. Again we began to laugh again. We said no. Suddenly, we heard our dog barking at the salesman’s van.
I should digress again. I need to explain the odd name for our dog, Mister Dog. Like many college kids at the time, they bought/found a dog as the semester began. By the end of the year these dogs were “redistributed”. We saw such an add in the paper and went to look at this dog, as the add described a cute lab mix. When we got there, it appeared to have a lot more “mix” than lab. But in any case, we took her home. Her name was Misty. I just couldn’t bring myself to call her Misty. Knowing we could find ourselves in a pickle changing her name, we decided to just “modify” her name to Mister Dog. And as all long names, was shorten to Mister.
So back to the exciting adventure of Mister Dog. As all three of us were standing at the door, we could see Mister dog was standing on the running board of the ‘80s conversion van barking through the open door. I shouted, “Mister, GET OUT OF the VAN!!. Mister Dog ignored us as usual but from the van emerged a heavy set Indian man with his hands over his head. He began to call for the young salesmen to return to the van, IMMEDIATELY!!
By now the laughing was uncontrolled. It was a scene out of a low budget movie, escaping with their lives. Tires a spinning with mud fling.
We never did get that roll of paper towels….
