Delaney Kehm
A Moment of Fear
A Little Girl Learns How to Say "Thank you."
I can walk, but I cannot move. I can breathe, but the oxygen isn't available to me.
When I was nine years old my dog was almost taken by a stranger.
My dog is the sweetest animal you'll ever meet. She has brown eyes and is a yellow lab. She's friendly to all the people she meets, making her easier than other dogs. My dog liked to roam outside with with me and my little sister when we were younger.
When looking at our house, you have the neighbor's driveway which is to the right of our house, you have our yard which is to the right of our neighbor’s driveway. She didn't like being in there, because she wanted to be with us. We always liked to play in the front yard and she would always be with us.
One day it is a really nice day outside, The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the grass is green, there's a little bit of cloud cover. My sister and I are playing tag, running around, enjoying the day. My dog’s really energetic at this point.
There's a car that drives up to the corner of our driveway. The car is small, cream-colored, old, and I'm confused because I don't know what this person wants. Whoever's in the car, I don't know if he's here to talk to us or if he’s there to talk to another house.
My dog is opposite me, she's on the side.
He says, “Is this my dog?”
I tell him, “No.”
He says, “Is her name, Bella?”
“No, her name is Zoey.”
He gets out of his car, and walks around to where the back seat of the car and he opens it. At that moment I'm panicking. My sister is with me, and I tell her to go get my mom because I don't think she's capable of handling this sort of situation.
She runs inside and I'm panicking. My dog is very friendly with people, so worry started to take hold of me. Apparently, she didn't see anything wrong with the guy. She slowly starts to walk towards him and when I see this guy he's kind of middle-aged, he's got a light colored shirt on, glasses, and he has one of those hats that are kind of basket woven.
When I see him I think of my dog’s abuser. I've never met him before, but when we first got her she was abused, and my nine year old imagination goes to, What if he came all the way here just to get her back?
Of course I'm wrong, but I had a big imagination. My dog keeps coming towards him, and I'm on the verge of tears, my heart’s racing, the sun’s still shining, but my heart’s sinking. I can't move. I don't want to, because I think if I do, he's gonna hurt her, or she's going to move faster and jump in the car.
And out of the corner of my eye there’s this hill and it's really, really, fun to ride down on bikes and scooters. There is a girl, a couple years older than me, with dark hair, riding a pink bike with pink tassels on it. She rides down to where this guy is and my dog’s almost to his car and at that moment I'm thinking, Oh no, she's going to grab my dog by the collar and help him get her inside the car.
At that moment it was a matter of my dog’s life in a life or death situation. I'm freaking out because she's the one who's about to handle the situation and I can't do anything. She takes my dog by the collar and when she walks up towards me, my heart stops racing and all I can do is say thank you because I'm so shocked.
I took my dog inside and what I learned that day was, even if someone “saves your life” say thank you even if you don't know who they are.
When I was nine years old my dog was almost taken by a stranger.
My dog is the sweetest animal you'll ever meet. She has brown eyes and is a yellow lab. She's friendly to all the people she meets, making her easier than other dogs. My dog liked to roam outside with with me and my little sister when we were younger.
When looking at our house, you have the neighbor's driveway which is to the right of our house, you have our yard which is to the right of our neighbor’s driveway. She didn't like being in there, because she wanted to be with us. We always liked to play in the front yard and she would always be with us.
One day it is a really nice day outside, The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the grass is green, there's a little bit of cloud cover. My sister and I are playing tag, running around, enjoying the day. My dog’s really energetic at this point.
There's a car that drives up to the corner of our driveway. The car is small, cream-colored, old, and I'm confused because I don't know what this person wants. Whoever's in the car, I don't know if he's here to talk to us or if he’s there to talk to another house.
My dog is opposite me, she's on the side.
He says, “Is this my dog?”
I tell him, “No.”
He says, “Is her name, Bella?”
“No, her name is Zoey.”
He gets out of his car, and walks around to where the back seat of the car and he opens it. At that moment I'm panicking. My sister is with me, and I tell her to go get my mom because I don't think she's capable of handling this sort of situation.
She runs inside and I'm panicking. My dog is very friendly with people, so worry started to take hold of me. Apparently, she didn't see anything wrong with the guy. She slowly starts to walk towards him and when I see this guy he's kind of middle-aged, he's got a light colored shirt on, glasses, and he has one of those hats that are kind of basket woven.
When I see him I think of my dog’s abuser. I've never met him before, but when we first got her she was abused, and my nine year old imagination goes to, What if he came all the way here just to get her back?
Of course I'm wrong, but I had a big imagination. My dog keeps coming towards him, and I'm on the verge of tears, my heart’s racing, the sun’s still shining, but my heart’s sinking. I can't move. I don't want to, because I think if I do, he's gonna hurt her, or she's going to move faster and jump in the car.
And out of the corner of my eye there’s this hill and it's really, really, fun to ride down on bikes and scooters. There is a girl, a couple years older than me, with dark hair, riding a pink bike with pink tassels on it. She rides down to where this guy is and my dog’s almost to his car and at that moment I'm thinking, Oh no, she's going to grab my dog by the collar and help him get her inside the car.
At that moment it was a matter of my dog’s life in a life or death situation. I'm freaking out because she's the one who's about to handle the situation and I can't do anything. She takes my dog by the collar and when she walks up towards me, my heart stops racing and all I can do is say thank you because I'm so shocked.
I took my dog inside and what I learned that day was, even if someone “saves your life” say thank you even if you don't know who they are.