The legend grows. Mojo has by now firmly established himself as a force of nature on the beach during our early morning romps, but every now and then he accentuates his reputation with an exclamation point that is as large and black as he is. This morning was such a time. It is not unusual, especially over holiday weekends, for families having re-unions here to gather at the beach for an early morning photo shoot. Everyone is dressed to the nines; the kids are scrubbed; the photographer is restless to get the job done before the sunlight becomes too bright. Today, Mojo and I spotted what appeared to be one of these groups arrayed near the shore line, and we headed in that direction up the beach, as we always do. Unfortunately, Mojo took off to get closer to what he hoped would be “new friends” and he frantically dove into the mix. What I did not realize was that this group was a wedding party, and they were in the midst of the ceremony when Mojo crashed it! Naturally, he shook off all the loose water on him in the space between him and the bride and pastor, and he deftly dropped his tennis ball at the bride’s feet with clearly great expectations for further play. Some were amused; others were not. The bride’s maid and best man, in particular, were doing whatever they could to unceremoniously and forcibly usher Mojo to the exit.
As I approached the assembled wedding party, I knew I could not pretend to feign ignorance of the ownership of this beast. The ball launcher in my hand and a sandy leash were pretty much a smoking gun, if you know what I mean. So, I did my best sheepish routine but did not slow my pace. I will say that the bride -- in the midst of the ongoing ceremony -- gave me a furtive wave as if to allay my horror at the poor etiquette of my very own wedding crasher.
On the return trip down the beach, the wedding group was breaking up giving me an opportunity to apologize in a more personal way. Most everyone assured me it was all copasetic, except, that is, for the bride’s maid. I don’t know that she thought my apology was all that sincere.
Maybe it was the two bags of dog shit I was toting that dampened the mood.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment