Sometimes We All Need a Little Help

I recently made a split-second decision to head out for my lunch break on a bike ride. It was one of those unseasonably warm days that seemed like a precious gift for a seasonal biker like myself.

Ten minutes into my ride, I came upon a Beagle walking down the sidewalk with no human in sight. I stopped my bike and looked around for the owner. No one.

Eventually, I saw a man across the road, raking leaves, and called out, “Do you know who owns this dog?” “No,” he replied. “Must be lost.” He seemed unconcerned as he returned to his raking.

Well, what am I going to do? I had my bike with me and I didn’t have a leash. I wasn’t sure how I was going to orient this situation but I knew I couldn’t just bike away in good conscious. I quickly snapped a picture of the dog, planning to send it to a local neighbourhood Facebook group in hopes of finding the owner.

Then I saw a man round the corner, walking down the sidewalk. “Is this your dog?” I yelled out to him, in a last-ditch hope of this story coming quickly to a happy conclusion.

“Yes,” he responded. Wonderful! I began to get back on my bike when I heard him say, “Well, not really. I was asked to watch this dog for a few minutes while a woman had to move her car and he escaped.”

I hesitated for a moment. Does he need help or not? I have learned the best way to know for sure is to ask. So I did. His response was, “I can use every bit of help I can get at this point!” Good on him for asking for what he needed. This isn’t easy to do. His slow walking pace didn’t indicate any urgency but listening to his words told me his mind was concerned.

So, I hopped on my bike and followed the dog. As I pulled up beside him on the street, he turned his head and his brown eyes locked on mine but he didn’t break stride on his full-speed run. This little guy is determined, I thought to myself!

Just then, a white Acura SUV pulled up beside me.

“Is this your dog?” I asked. She opened the door of her car to approach us with a leash in hand. “Yes, well no,” she said.

I was beginning to wonder who really owned this dog. But, I knew he didn’t belong in the middle of the street.

The young woman from the SUV started sobbing. “This is my parents’ dog and they are away on vacation. I am watching him. If anything happens to Arty, I am in big trouble. But, I am supposed to be on a flight that leaves in exactly two hours from now. My parents come home today.”

I gave her a quick hug and promised her I would stay with her until we captured little Arty the Beagle. She wiped her tears and then we approached the dog to put the leash on him.

The young lady picked him up and put him into the car. She had a stressed look on her face. She said that she was afraid he was going to escape again as soon as she got him out of the car. She was feeling panicked about her soon-approaching flight.

I asked her if she would like me to bike behind her car to her parents’ place to make sure, Arty the Dog got inside safely. She nodded, showing relief, that she wasn’t in this alone.

I biked behind the car, expecting this house to be a block away. After all, how far could this little beagle’s legs take him? But I ended up going more than a kilometre behind the car, biking as fast as I could to keep up knowing this woman had a flight to catch.

When she shut off the car in her parents’ driveway, she was right, Arty did not want to get out of the car. I tried to reach in to grab him. The lady cautioned me not to as he would bite so she grabbed him. She asked me to open the front door to the house as she carried him and put him inside.

The floodgates then opened as this woman began to cry and shake. She was having one of those days where she was trying to pack a lot into one day, and then something went wrong (as it often does in those situations), and she felt like she was going off the rails. I recognized this feeling. It is one I know well.

She thanked me profusely and apologized for needing my help. I told her quickly, “Listen, I have suffered a brain injury in my life and had a husband who died 5 years ago of cancer. I don’t know what I would have done without help. It was my honour to help you today. Now, don’t worry about the craziness of this morning, just drive safely to the airport and have a good flight.”

And with that, I was off on my bike. I wondered if I should still continue on my bike ride to get that exercise I had initially been seeking. But, I decided to turn my bike around and head home. I had got another kind of exercise that day. It was around compassion and helping others and the gift that gives to us when we allow ourselves to be open to giving and receiving help. When we do this, it makes us all stronger.