Joe is a friend of mine. He has proven on more than one occasion that he is willing to sacrifice his own life to preserve my safety. Joe has a deep and forceful voice which intimidates those that do not know him well. He does not often raise his voice; in fact he can appear mute at times. He is a strong silent type who can use his voice as a warning when it is needed.
Joe is of mixed color. He is both white and black, with a little brown thrown in there for good measure. Race, however, is a word that is relevant only as a term related to being fleet of foot, which Joe is quite an example of such a quality. He has a rather large nose, that sets off his big brown eyes. He has a rather toothy grin, and his ears are large.
My friend Joe feels that it is his duty to protect my family. In fact he is a bit over-protective at times. He sees no reason for anyone other than our immediate family to be in our home. This protectiveness is so deeply ingrained upon his psyche that it is borderline schizophrenic in nature. It is nearly impossible for us to have guests over to dinner.
Joe was always a fiercely loyal friend, but his paranoia set in shortly after a threat was made against my person on a rainy night in the Fall of 2008. One night we were walking along the rain soaked sidewalk in our neighborhood. Suddenly out of the shadows came this stocky flat-nosed youngster. I shined my flash-light in his eyes to distract him, but it was apparent by the wild look in his eyes that he was not going to be easily deterred.
This young man had a powerful lantern jaw, with a distinct under-bite. His thick hairy fore-arms reminded me of Popeye the sailor, as played by the hairy Robin Williams. The resemblance ended there, because this fellow had not even a glimmer of humor about his demeanor. Thick sculpted biceps sprung from a broad muscular chest. His eyes glinted unflinching in the beam of my light. He slowed his pace as he rose to his full height in front of us there on the dark street. His blank thousand yard stare would have given pause to even the most fearless man. If the eyes are the window to the soul, his eyes were like looking into a periscope that led into the depths of his ice cold psyche.
With no thought for his own safety, Joe jumped in front of me just in time to take the brunt of the blows that were directed at my person. I am certain that this young man with ice in his veins was intent upon harming me, if for no other reason than the pure violence that was thinly restrained within his soul. If it were not for Joe, I would not be telling this fantastic tale of bravery.
With a fierce deep throated growl and a yell that would stop a charging rhino, Joe not only put himself in the path of the assailant, he also went on the offensive. He attacked the young man with such ferocity that for a moment I did not recognize my calm and mild mannered friend. It seemed that he was driven by pure adrenaline and instinct. He turned away the burley young man, but not without some injury. Joe sustained a gash to his neck, as well as a bruise over his right eye. These were minor wounds compared to those that he had inflicted in return.
The attacker was taken by surprise. For, you see, Joe is a rather unassuming figure of a man with a slight build. His opponent outweighed Joe by a good number of pounds. That may have been what led the killer to have made a severe misjudgement of his opponent, my friend Joe. What Joe lacked in brawn, he compensated for with pugilistic skill.
In the darkness of this summer night, it was not necessary for Joe to defeat our ice-eyed attacker. It was sufficient for him to distract and engage the young fellow in such a way that I was able to call for the boys in blue to come to our rescue.
However, the encounter was not completely resolved with the arrival of the police. As the cops approached the scene, they appeared to be walking out of a mist of blue and white, bathed in flashing beams of ethereal light diffused through the rain. The effect served to heighten the illusion that the officers were walking in slow motion. As they drew their weapons, the young man seemed to feel that he was bullet proof. With an animalistic growl he lunged.
As I said, there was an illusion of slow motion, similar to the effect that a strobe light, as it seems to slow the dance moves of those on the floor of a disco. In reality however, the sharpened professional reflexes of the cops were lightning fast as they used the attackers forward momentum against him. Before he could land a single strike, the officers had him subdued, and collared in the back of a police van.
This young attacker earned himself a very severe penalty. For his attack upon myself and Joe, he would have likely faced some time in custody. During that time he would have been given an evaluation of his physical health to rule out a viral infection that could have caused him to go insane.
Unfortunately for him, in his cold rage he struggled and tried to scratch and bite the officers as they worked to subdue him. He snarled and spit like a wild aminal.
This last demonstration of disregard for human life resulted in the stout young man being given the death penalty. As much as I am against violence, I also abhor the death penalty, or as it is known in this case, euthanasia. For you see, my best friend Joe is Dominoe Joe, a 3 year old English Coon Hound. The young attacker in this case was a Pit Bull that was not properly licensed or restrained by the owner. This incident actually happened in October of 2008, near my home as Domino and I were walking one night.
My dog, Domino Joe, is a well behaved and well loved dog by all those that know him. I adopted Domino from P.A.W.S., the Progressive Animal Welfare Society Adoption Center Inc., a no-kill shelter for dogs and cats here in Middletown,Oh 45044.
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