Ripley, McDonald's and a Rough Monday Night

After a particularly long day at work, I was looking forward to getting home. Sure, leaving at 9:30 on a Monday night from the office will always get to you, but having a rough ride home makes it worse.

Take, for example, a fresh meal from McDonald's with your puppy in the back seat. Imagine sitting in a particularly long drive thru line with a phone in one ear and a puppy bouncing around in the back seat.

Ok, so 10 minutes later, I'm sitting at the front window having my food handed to me. I placed it in the front passenger seat and pull out of the lot and start my drive to my home 6 blocks away, taking a fry as I pull onto the road.

Not more than 3 blocks later do I hear this noise and take a look in the rear view mirror. The silhouette of my puppy dancing in the background with "something" in her mouth caught my attention, and as I quickly looked in the back seat, I discovered what she was up to.

Somehow she had snuck between the front seat, weaseled her head next to my arm, picked the French fry cup out of the bag and brought it to the back seat where she normally stays during rides in the car.

"RIPLEY!!!" I screamed, startling her enough to have her drop the cup, back up into the corner and stare at me with a few shakes and shudders. There, ladies and gentlemen, lay the fries, strewn -- no scattered -- across the back seat and the portion behind the back seats that sit rights under the rear window.

She watched me as I quickly put my eyes back on the road and avoided me as I used my right arm to grab for her (or flail) to restrict her movement until I pulled into my community 2 blocks away. It was too late, she was already prancing around the back eating every fry she could smell!

By the time I got home, she had eaten every fry... every single one. If that wasn't enough to bother you, imagine the entire car filled with the aroma of French fries not coming from a small cup, rather, coming from the entire back seat. In fact, it made me want to drive back to McDonald's to buy another cup of fries!

Then, as soon as I get in from taking her for her before-we-get-inside walk and making sure she's satisfied with her business, she squats and leaves a nice present for me on the carpet. I swear she did it in spite of me, even though my friend assures me dogs don't do things in spite, I'm certain of it.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a rough Monday night. Of course, I still love my puppy. I hope she enjoyed the first and last time she'll ever taste a French fry.