some comic relief in the cement jungle

As you all well know if you have read my last blog, I have delivered mail for two decades. My route was in a very tough neighborhood filled with housing projects. A lot of crime and human misery, tough to deal with day in and day out. But, there were times that were very comical, one such time I will now describe. There was an old lady, probably about 70 years old, she had a dog, the dogs name was William. This dog was what looked to me to be a miniature doberman, very small, I mean a very little dog. The old lady who I will call Marie, loved that little dog and thought that this dog would protect her from the drug addicts that were all over the hood, most of them were strung out and dizzy from the junk they were putting into their veins. Marie used to put the dog into a little push cart that the old ladys took to the supermarket, she would even wrap the dog in a blanket. Well let me say first that the people in the hood have great respect for the mailman, they really do, mailmen bring the people not only the checks they recieve from the state, but we watch out for those people that need it. Even the drug pushers respect that. Well anyway, I used to watch out for Marie and William, they were robbed before(thank God they were not hurt). As they walked into their development, a junkie named black came across the path of Marie and William. Now black was not really this junkies name, but, he was so dark that people called him by the name black. Black was a huge guy, I mean huge, 6ft 5inches tall 300lbs. The guy was mean as a back alley cat, very intimidating even to look at. You did not look black in the eyes because you were nervous even to pass by this dude. Well black was strung out and needed a fix, and he needed the shit now! So he stops Marie and tells her that he wants her money and starts to reach for her purse. Marie being the tough old lady that she was, starts to yell and scream at black, I look around the corner as I'm delivering the mail and see black trying to grab the purse of Marie. Now I'm dreading having to go up to black and stop him from robbing Marie, but I have no option, this sucks. As I start to walk up to intervene, Marie takes William the dog out of the push cart and tells William to get black. Don't forget, William is smaller than most of the rats in that hood, I'm not joking, I've seen cats bigger than this dog. Well William starts to bark, snarl and go after black. Black is backing up with his hands in the air like he is surrendering to the cops, as William the dog is snappimg at him and growling like a mad dog. William is going nuts and Marie is yelling for William to get 'im, black starts to high tail it out of the alley way running like hell with this tiny little dog chasing him out to the street. You have to picture this- 6ft-5inches and 300 pounds of the darkest blackness you've ever seen running down the street with a miniature doberman chasing after him from behind, the dog barking and black running for his life. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life, I laughed like hell telling that story to every mailman in the city, I'm laughing to tears now. The cops catch up to black and arrest him, but not before they have to get Marie to get William off black. I'm busting a gut as I'm writing this. So there was some comic relief to this job of mine sometimes, that was one of them.