Belle Rides Shotgun

She rode in the car with the wind in her face,

The passenger side was her favorite place,

When Belle pushed the button she always knew,

She’d have the wind, front seat, and a great view,

It takes more than the wind to make her grin,

An open window is just a place for her to begin,

She sees the world as she thinks it should be,

It’s nicer when everyone is happy, don’t you agree?

Belle and I were going shopping one afternoon,

It was one of those beautiful days in late June,

She rode with her head outside to enjoy the air,

The temperature was still rising but she didn’t care,

“Belle,” I said, “dogs aren’t allowed inside the mall,

We’ll get an ice cream cone and then go, that’s all,”

If one food is her favorite it might be ice cream,

I expected Belle to be excited, maybe even scream,

She struggled and fought for me to let her down,

Her expression had changed, now she wore a frown,

The pavement was burning on her little paws,

She was in rescue mode, she had a cause,

She dashed three rows away to a car shut tight,

The car looked empty, no one was in sight,

Belle was insistent, she refused to leave,

She was giving me a message, I chose to believe,

I got closer and much to my surprise,

Children were in there, I saw two sets of eyes,

Their faces were flushed, their condition was poor,

I had no time to think, I tugged at the door,

The door was locked and the children were afraid,

How could I get them out and into the cool shade?

I called 9-1-1 and waited for their parents to show,

Should I break a window? I didn’t quite know,

Belle was running in circles but didn’t go far,

Belle heard a siren and led the firemen to the car,

The children were rescued but Belle wouldn’t go,

She wanted to show me something, what I didn’t know,

One more time I listened to what she was trying to say,

On the floor was a blanket, within it a baby lay,

Before I could call for help a fireman was at my side,

He had seen me follow Belle, his eyes were open wide,

Their procedures were smooth and quickly carried out,

The two recovered quickly, the baby’s life was in doubt,

Belle watched closely and then just walked away,

I could tell by her demeanor the baby would be okay,

“We’d like to take Belle with us,” was one fireman’s remark,

“She had so much to tell us without even one frantic bark,

She was calm in an emergency and she was constantly aware,

A dog that can do so many things is certainly very rare,”

A woman approached, “What have you done to my car?

You’ve broken a window and my house is so far,

My children don’t like the air blowing in their faces,

Somebody has to fix this so we can go places,”

Belle growled at the woman, something was not right,

Belle rarely growled but she was ready to fight,

The children were trying to hide behind me,

I wanted to ask Belle, “What could it be?”

“Don’t worry, ma’am, whenever there’s some doubt,

We call the sheriff and he can work it all out,”

The fireman wanted the kids away from danger,

He was becoming certain this woman was a stranger,

“Come on, kids,” she said as she backed away,

But she ignored the baby who on the ground lay,

Belle blocked her path so she couldn’t escape,

I thought, “All Belle needs is a Superman’s cape,”

Several police cars arrived at nearly the same time,

Apparently the police were working a major crime,

The woman was surrounded and nobody was hurt,

One deputy said, “You must have heard about the Amber alert,”

When all was explained from the finish to the start,

All were convinced that Belle had a big heart,

She’d saved three children from inherent danger,

And helped capture a woman who was a stranger,

Belle doesn’t like all the publicity or strife,

All she wants to do is live a quiet life,

But no matter how sweet life is each day,

She wants to do more than just eat and play,

With all of her quirks and strange whims,

She choose what she wants except for close trims,

She can ride up front with her face in the breeze,

Except when it’s cold and I don’t want to freeze.