king of the wall

Behind our old home ran an old stone wall that marked the boundary between our property and our rear neighbors’ property.  Our yard itself had a gentle rise toward the back, and the stone wall added even more height.  Thus elevated, sitting on any stone along the wall enabled me to see everything happening on our block and on the intersecting road as well: people walking up and down, jogging, bicyclers, mail being delivered, and most importantly, dogs being walked.

From my perch on the wall I could also see them and detect if they were looking at me.  The smallest movement on their part, a face in the window, a movement through the door, would and could catch my eye and call off my plans.

Every once in a while I was able to outsmart them.  Using my nose, or snout, I would nudge open the lock of the gate on the fence.  Once outside, there were so many different directions I could choose to go in, all equally wonderful.  However, this all ended when my parents put a padlock on the gate. If the gardeners, coming to mow the lawn, forgot to put the padlock back on after left, I was in luck and would take advantage of the opportunity. In this home, after a while that was my only hope of escape, since the ground here was too rocky to tunnel my way under the fence and out. Needless to say, the gardener was a good friend of mine!