Snippet #1619806

~Eliza Whittaker

After about a half an hour Eliza called the dog over. It trotted over happily and plopped down in front of her, panting directly into her face. Eliza laughed a little, ducking under the hot, smelly breath and catching the dog's tag. 'Roco:', then it gave another name and a phone number. Eliza reached into her pocket for her cellular phone only to discover that she had left it in her dorm room. She looked around. No pay phones in sight.
"Well, sorry Roco, looks like you're not going home just yet." She stroked the dog's head as she took a sip from her soda.

The sun had shifted and she had to scoot along the sidewalk to avoid its rays. The dog followed, wagging its tail. Periodically it would walk up to people in the parking lot and once or twice Eliza had to catch it before it followed someone into the store. Some people commented that she should keep better control of her dog, keep it on a leash, others told her what a beautiful, friendly animal she had.
"Too bad it's not my dog," she said under her breath.

Another fifteen or twenty minutes went by and an old-ish white truck pulled into a parking space. Eliza heard a whistle and the dog took off towards the truck. "Hey, Roco, you been havin' fun?" She heard a male voice ask. She watched Roco hop through the driver's side door and scoot over to the passenger's seat. As the man got into the truck she briefly made eye contact. He nodded a greeting with a smile and she waved. Then the truck pulled away.

Eliza had pretty much finished her drink by then and she stood, tossing the Styrofoam cup into an outside trashcan before going in to buy herself another for the trip back to campus. She took the same route back to her dormitory as she had taken to the convenience store so that she would remember the way and not get confused and possibly lost. She determined by the position of the sun that it was after noon, possible around one or two pm and considered finding another dining hall. She walked slowly, looking for a place that wasn't too far from her route back to the dorm.