A dog stole my shoe

I went to St. Stephen's Green with some of my classmates today. It was another beautiful day in Dublin: warm with a bit of breeze. I got there, took off my shoes, and enjoyed the cool, slightly damp grass under my toes. I think I got a little too much sun today, though, because I walked to campus this morning. And that breeze kept me cool so I didn't realize how much sun I was getting.

Anyway, Zoi and I are chatting away and some girl comes over to tell me that this dog that had been wandering around stole one of my shoes. So I get up and walk over to where the dog has set himself. As soon as I get close, of course, he gets up and starts trotting away from me. I don't think he saw me though. So I start following him, not running because I don't want to scare him or get him thinking this is some fun game. Well he starts walking out of the park. So I follow him out all the while thinking how frustrating it would be to have to buy new shoes because some random dog took one of mine. He crosses the street and doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere, as if he's looking for his owner and isn't sure which way to go. I wait for the light to change and start going across the street. By now Zoi has come after me and is laughing away at how absurd this situation is. The dog has started to trot again and I am concerned that he'll just keep going so I decide to run after him. There were enough folks on the sidewalk that I figured he wouldn't break into a run. So I caught him, took my shoe from his mouth and turned to go back to the park. Zoi was still laughing.

We get to the corner and are waiting for the light to change when a woman walks up with the dog, this time on a leash. I turn to her and said, 'Your dog took my shoe.' And she says, 'Good thing you got it and he didn't just drop it out here on the street. I wouldn't have known how to find you.' ha ha. Isn't that funny? I looked at her and she apologized. Zoi makes some comment along the lines of 'what can you do?' and I said, 'It's not like you can change it now.'

When we got back into the park, the group who told me about the theft applauded our triumphant return. I'm sure they'll be telling that story for weeks.