A Memorable Walk
By Marilyn Christy Aberth
When I look back it was indeed a most memorable experience in my life. At the age of fourteen, everything and everybody is exciting. My family and I were living in an apartment hotel in Minneapolis at the time. Lots of celebrities stayed there and each time I recognized one, I got a thrill.
One day a distinguished gentleman was walking through the lobby of the hotel and on a leash beside him was a huge dog. The dog looked like a cross between a German Shepherd and a husky. As they approached me, the dog moved over to whee I was sitting and I instinctively put my hand out to pet it. With that the gentleman smiled and said, “How would you like to take my dog for a walk?” I said I would be glad to, so we started out, the dog and I. We walk and we walked thoroughly enjoying each other’s company.
After about an hour, I started back to the hotel. All of a sudden I realized that I didn’t know the gentleman’s name so how was I going to get this dog back to him? Perhaps he would be in the lobby, but when we arrived back at the hotel I looked all through the lobby and he was not there.
Not knowing what to do, I decided to ask the elevator boy if he could remember where the gentleman with the dog was staying. Thank goodness, he remembered them getting on the elevator at the ninth floor. I rode up to the ninth floor and started walking down the halls hoping to find the right door. With that one of the doors opened and several men came out in uniforms and I caught the glimpse of the gentleman I was looking for. I timidly knocked on the door, which was half ajar. “Ah, there you are!” he said smiling. “Come in and have some punch and cookies with my friends.” He introduced me around the room to people whose names I didn’t recognize. I still had hold of the dog that was pulling me around the room acting like he was being introduced too.
After some punch and cookies, I thanked him and said I had better go. He waslked me to the door and pressed a dollar in my hand saying how much he appreciated my taking his dog for a walk.
“Tomorrow,” he added, “I will take this rascal for a walk early in the morning and we both would be happy to have you join us.” I replied that I would love to and looked forward to telling Mom and Dad about my experience.
I rode back down to the lobby and just as I got off the elevator the evening papers were being delivered. I glanced at the headlines and to my great surprise read, ‘Rear Admiral Richard Byrd visits Minneapolis,’ and there was a picture of the nice man on the ninth floor and his dog!
No one was ever more excited about taking a walk the next morning than I was and it is an experience I will never forget.
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If you would like to contact Marilyn, write to: kc80cv@tpromo.com