Running Away

I had to make some adjustments when I brought Max home. First I discovered Max darted out the door as fast as you can say the first letter of his name.  Then he ran out of the yard, but with my luck, it wasn't to the next door neighbors.

 The First time he ran to the end of our block.  I heard the construction workers laughing as they watched me zig-zag after Max, shouting his name. He wheels around garbage bins, bushes and turns the corner of the neighbors house. I'm exhausted. But thoughts of him disappearing forever reel through my mind, so I hit the gas pedal and follow him through brush, mud and onto the golf course.

I spot a foursome of men getting ready to tee off. Max barked and flew straight for them. Thp, Thp, Thp..... I screamed, "Max, No."

One of the men turned around, points his finger at Max and says, "Max, No."

Max halted. His ears twitched. This was the perfect opportunity to capture him. My feet became jets. I reached Max, grabbed him and apologized for the interruption. The golfer told me not to worry. Whew! I was fortunate it was a friendly group of men.

The second time Max darted out onto to the golf course, I was fortunate it was Roberta and Tony teeing off. When Max escaped, he jumped into the pond to capture a duck. The duck flew off and Max circled back to shore and onto the course with me screaming, "Max, No."

He stopped to check out Roberta. But as soon as I approached him, he darted toward the cart path and
headed North. My energy was low. I couldn't run any further. Instead of chasing him, I thought I'd try hiding. Ah, it worked. He began looking for me. Thp, Thp, Thp....as he got closer, Thp, Thp, Thp...I
flew out from my hiding spot but just missed him by an inch.

Max ran back to Roberta, she threw a golf ball and he ran after it.  I was huffing and puffing, barely able to stand.  I knelt down, placed my hands over my eyes and pretended to cry, hoping Max would come over. But Max had the golf ball and he had no plans to come anywhere near me. Instead, he trotted through the sand traps. Finally, I had one last trick left in my hat. If it didn't work, then I would have to either continue following him with the hope he would eventually tire out or go home, wait for
a call from the humane society or a vet breaking the "bad news" over the phone. I strolled toward the
house and told him, "Good bye, Max. I'm going home." His ears perked up, he whirled around and raced past me straight to the lanai door. Thumpity, Thumpity, Thumpity.....