In an earlier story we learned how Shorty protected a close friend. You can read that story right here https://www.lipera.com/dog-tale-shorty-protects-a-pal/.
Shorty was rather small but had a very big attitude. That is so often the case, isn’t it? Our younger readers should ask their parents about the famous actor Mickey Rooney. Not only will the young folks learn something really interesting, but it will also cause their parents to think that their children have developed in classic American popular culture.
You know, the “old days”.
What we have not mentioned so far is that Shorty was also a “runner”. She ran, and ran, and ran. Shorty enjoyed running so much that quite often she could be seen zooming all over the place. As soon as Shorty got outside, she would dash off like a rocket. Zoom to the left, zoom to the right, zoom to the far end of the yard, zoom back to the door again.
You would think that Shorty would run away, right? Not, so! Shorty knew which side her bread was buttered on. Our young readers should also ask their parents about that old saying, “which side the bread was buttered on”. If their parents are baffled it might be useful to ask their grandparents. You never know where the conversation might lead.
You may have heard of “conversation”. It was a hobby before cell phones were popular.
As I was saying, Shorty knew which side her bread was buttered on, and she also know which end was up. In other words, she knew that she must never run away from home. As soon as it looked like she was getting too far away, Shorty would turn and run right back to where she started.
One of Shorty’s favorite places to run was the campus of the local college. It had a big open area in front of the main buildings and when Shorty went to the college for a visit she would often run around in big circles. The instant she hopped out of the car Shorty would streak off across the lawn. After a little bit she would make a big sweeping turn and run right back to the car. Everybody thought it was very humorous to see this little gray dog dashing around the trees on the campus.
What most people did not know (and I only know because she told me) was that Shorty truly loved to run in the lobby of the theatre building. Yes, it is a fact, Shorty was a “theatre dog”, but not in the way you might expect. I will explain this, but, beware, it will get a little technical.
The Johnston Performing Arts Building was a large brick structure that was home to the drama students, college choir, and students majoring in musical instrument performances. It was a very busy place. The building had an interesting feature. The theatre itself, sometimes called the “auditorium” was designed with what is called “Continental seating”.
Continental seating is an arrangement where the seats extend in rows from one side of the auditorium to another. There are no aisles down the middle as in a traditional theatre. Instead, there is lots of space between the rows of seats and large doors on each side of the auditorium and on the outside of the doors is the lobby. In truth, there are two lobbies, one on each side of the auditorium. So, you have a lobby on the right and a lobby on the left. The two lobbies are connected by a long and wide hallway that curves around behind the auditorium.
In the Johnston Performing Arts Building the lobbies and back hallway floors were covered in lovely red carpets. These carpets were perfect for little dogs to run on. Shorty discovered that she could get a good grip on the carpet and as a result could make flying turns. She would start in the lobby on one side of the theatre and run around to the lobby on the other side. Once over there she would do a crazy turn and run back to the first lobby. Then she would make another crazy turn and run, practically fly, over to the other lobby where she would do another fancy turn and run back.
Back and forth, forth and back, Shorty would run. Running on the deep red carpet was even more fun that running on the big lawn outside. She ran so fast that sometimes it was hard to see exactly who, or what, she was. Shorty seemed like a wild gray streak dashing around the theatre. Was she a dog? Was she a rocket? Was she a ghost? It was sometimes hard to say.
One day Shorty had been visiting the theatre and was a little bored. There’s nothing worse than being in a nice big theatre and feeing bored. Especially when there was a broad expanse of deep red carpet to run on. It was too much! Shorty just HAD to run and suddenly she was off! Flying the length of the lobby she disappeared down the back hallway that connected to the other lobby on the far side of the building.
Suddenly there were scream and shouts! Something was happening in the far lobby. Good heavens, it was a terrible noise!
“What is that!”
“Something ran by my legs!”
“Help! Something crazy is running by!”
“It’s a dog! No, it’s a cat! Oh, oh, it’s a ghost!!”
It was not a cat, it was not a ghost, it was Shorty.
It took some time to figure everything out, but after extensive investigation we discovered what happened.
The choir had been practicing on stage because they had a performance coming up the next weekend. When their practice session was over the students collected their sheet music and left the stage. They went out of the auditorium and into the lobby through one of the big doors I mentioned earlier. Just as they got into the lobby Shorty came running around the corner and into their midst.
Unfortunately, it was late in the afternoon and the lobby was a little bit dark. The automatic lights had not come on yet. The students did not see the super-fast gray dog as she ran around them. Well, that is not exactly true. The students could see her, but they could not figure out what she was. That is why there was all the shouting.
I guess a little gray dog in a dark lobby looks a lot like a flying ghost. That’s what the students said, and I believe them.
Shorty, on the other hand, thought the whole thing was funny. I could tell. She had a peculiar little dog-smile, and I could tell that she was figuring out how to do the whole thing again. Shorty enjoyed creating an uproar.
That is how Shorty scared the students.