Driving Dogs

I remember 2 large dogs that were sitting in the front seat of an old car in the parking lot at the Hummingbird Pub on Galiano Island BC. The 2 dogs that were sitting in the front bucket seats of that old car looked just like humans. They were sitting up straight like detectives on a stakeout and in perfect disguise. Their heads had long pointy noses and ears and their necks looked very long ... but their eyes took in everything - without judgement and without surprise. The experience pierced and exploded my vision of being gifted to be human. Those dogs seemed to have it all under control and I would have chosen them both as twin friends. They were probably just checking out the place or maybe waiting to pick up a fare at the Hummingbird.


The dogs were white in color and may have been King Corsos but they looked very much like white versions of 'Prospero' - the Black Dog in the photographs that you forwarded. I never had the feeling that they were concerned to be in the car because they were so calm and so interested in what was going on around them. The windows were done up on the car and as Roger and I approached for our evening meal both the dogs tracked us by simply turning their heads toward us in perfect unison. I felt naked in that moment and was fully aware that there was no room for anything but truth in the world as we passed by the silent dogs.


Except for the black color of Prospero and the right hand drive vehicle he was sitting in the two white dogs in the left hand drive car that Roger and I saw could have come from the same spy school training program. I am almost sure those two white dogs had drivers licenses and they certainly had us pegged for who we were. I never felt that those animals were anything but happy and engaged in the life that they had imagined and found. The dogs and their car were gone by the time Roger and I finished our dinner and exited the pub. Neither Roger nor I have ever forgotten those two mysterious dogs over the past 10 years.