SHORE THING: One Lucky Dog

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

March 25, 2013

My wife and I are walkers (and joggers of a sort), and a big attraction of the Historic District is its walkability. So, most mornings for the past couple of years we have been “making our rounds.”

First we head to the beach, then out to the end of the pier, thence up Front Street (Mason Avenue, but I’m trying to sound like a local), left on Peach, then through Central Park, continuing on Monroe past Fig, all the way to Bahama Road (reachable from Monroe by foot but not by car).

From there we cross Lake Foster, approaching the gated community of Jellybean Village. And since what happens from that point possibly involves illegal activity, I’ll just conclude by saying that eventually we wind up back in the Historic District.

That’s a generic description of our “rounds,” which might run in the opposite direction the next day, and which also might entail detours, side paths, and shortcuts.

It’s a good way to meet people – and dogs (and cats).

In the people category, we’ve made a good friend who makes his rounds much more faithfully than we. But unlike us, he never varies his route. Visit the Natural Area Preserve behind the WACO building any morning (and I do mean any morning, rain or shine) and you’ll likely see him coming or going.

In the dog category, we’ve met any number. I consider myself very much a “dog person,” so I feel some jealousy that, invariably, any dog we encounter ignores me in favor of getting attention from my wife. She greets them, compliments them, and rubs them. Of course they like her!

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But we regularly saw one dog who never was interested in us. Unlike the others, he was always on his own, and always seemed intent on going somewhere. He was “making his rounds.”

A nondescript, mixed breed, black sort of terrier without much of a tail, this dog was always on the move. He had a collar with a tag, so we knew he wasn’t a stray.  Soon we learned his name: “Lucky.”

Everybody who lives in Cape Charles knows Lucky. You see him all the time. The other night, driving my car, my headlights picked him up in the opposite lane, trotting down the street.

And now I have learned the amazing history of Lucky, straight from his owner.

Lucky’s “home base” is the trailer park on Madison Avenue, where he’s lived with his owner for 15 years.  I was amazed he could be that old, but a friend verifies that he’s known Lucky ever since he moved here more than 10 years ago, and Lucky was no young dog then.

Lucky came from a litter of five, all unwanted, that were dumped in a plastic bag and left in the woods behind the old golf course that now is part of Marina Village. Children playing in the woods found the bag. Only two puppies were still alive. They took them home, but only one pup lived. Lucky.

And that of course is how he got his name — a dog very lucky to be alive.

I asked about his tail, or lack thereof. How did he lose it? “Born that way,” I was told.

Lucky is like a cat with nine lives. His owner says he once drove over Lucky in his car. Somehow, Lucky survived. Now Lucky looks both ways before crossing the street.

Clearly, Lucky now owns the Town of Cape Charles. He covers much of the Town every day, keeping track of everything, and has rightfully received the honorary title “Mayor of Cape Charles.” No offense to Mayor Sullivan — but Lucky came first.

Now we hear that the trailer park is going away and the land will be put up for sale. What will become of Lucky? I can’t imagine Lucky living anywhere but Cape Charles.

Will Lucky’s luck run out?

Will pigs fly?

SHORE THING is an occasional feature of the Cape Charles Wave.