Going Home, Trina and her Dogs

1. “Going Home”

In a small apartment in San Francisco’s North Beach District, Trina stood next to her bed packing her old, green suitcase. Her four dogs stood around her, intently watching every move she made.

A few minutes later, she shut the lid and zipped up the last suitcase, announcing, “Ok, now it’s time to go.” Two of her dogs started jumping around in circles playfully.

Suddenly, there was loud banging at her front door and her large dog, Teddy, with the sad brown eyes, ran over to the door barking and growling (and drooling).

She grabbed his leash and opened the front door. It was the landlord. They spoke no words as he invited himself inside, inspecting everything. He finally turned around, gruffly saying, “It looks ok. I’ll be back in 15 minutes with your deposit money.”

Soon, he was knocking on the door. Once again, she told Teddy, “Sit down, it’s ok.”

He gruffly handed her an envelope and said, “Here’s your money.”

She took the money out and counted it, then exclaimed, “You're $250 short! What the hell.”

He loudly replied, “I’m allowed to take out a cleaning fee.”

And she loudly hollered back, “Oh Bullshit.”

But now he replied, “Ok, I’ll give you the money if you’ll come over to my apartment and have a goodbye drink with me.”

She laughed at him and shut the door in his face. Now feeling mentally exhausted, she told her dogs, “We need to get out of here before something else happens.”

Holding a suitcase in one hand and Teddy’s leash in the other, she went back and forth to the car as she loaded the suitcases and boxes into her old Volvo station wagon.

On her last trip out to the car, the landlord cracked open his door and hollered to her, “Listen, I’m sorry. You can have the $250 cleaning fee, but can you come over and get it? I’m afraid of your big dog.”

She stopped, and sighed, “Ok, sure, I’ll come over and get the money.” She walked over to his door, but when she reached out to take the bills from his hand, he grabbed her wrist with his other hand.

Laughing like a madman now he tried to sweet talk her, “Come on, honey. Have a quick drink with me, one for the road.”

She started screaming, “Help! Pervert! You jerk.” As she pulled her hand away from his sweaty hands.

But now, 150 lb. Teddy jumped up between them and he smacked right into the front door, knocking it backwards, hitting the landlord hard enough that he lost his grip on Trina and fell backward onto his back. Making a loud grunting noise as he hit the wooden floor beneath him.

Trina couldn’t run to her apartment fast enough, grabbing the last of her things. She shouted excitedly to her dogs, “Hurry, go get in the car.”

A few minutes later, they were nearing the freeway on-ramp. And within nine hours they would reach their new home in Pacific Beach, sharing a small cottage house with her cousin, Jake.

She thought as she drove down the freeway, Things hadn’t always been so bad at the apartment. She lived there for over a decade, but when her best friend, Rita, passed away six months ago, her husband and landlord, immediately started harassing her. He told her, “The dogs had to go.”

She thought it was odd that she wasn’t even crying as they drove down the freeway getting farther and farther away from the City. She only said, “Goodbye Rita, I miss you, my dear friend.”

After a lunch break in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and many hours later, they were nearly home. But they had to make one more stop for gas near the freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

2. “Los Angeles”

The sun was setting as she exited the freeway and pulled into the nearby gas station. She was relieved everything seemed quiet.

As she got out of the wagon, she made sure all the windows were down, because the dogs liked to stick their heads outside and have a look around.

After paying for her gas, she walked back to her wagon, when a young man appeared from behind the station and approached her. He said, “Hey, do you have ten dollars I can have?”

Shocked, she replied, “You want ten dollars! I can only give you one dollar.”

Now, another man walked out from the side of the gas station, and Trina got a little scared because she didn’t like to be outnumbered.

As she opened up her wallet, one man reached over and grabbed it out of her hands, rudely saying, “Give me that.”

Ronnie, the gas station attendant, had been watching the two men who were hanging around all day. He picked up the phone and called 911. “Please send out a patrol car because two men are harassing my customers and now they are robbing a woman and have taken her wallet. The woman has some dogs in her wagon and now they are getting out of the wagon and running around. There’s going to be a fight. We need someone now.”

Before Trina could react, the man pushed her backwards. Just enough to make her trip and fall down. She instinctively hollered at him, “Hey, stop hurting me.”

But, her dogs were barking and Princess jumped out of the car window and ran up to the man, and was now snapping at his legs, preventing him from getting any closer to her mom.

Trina stood back up and told the man, “I’m trying to get home for Thanksgiving. Why do you have to be so mean? Can I please have my wallet back?” The man said, “Sure.” He then took all the cash out and tossed the wallet back to her.

The second man started walking toward her wagon now, and said, “Is that a Pug dog? Like in the movie Men in Black?” As he walked closer to the wagon, he added, “I always wanted a Pug dog, and now I’m going to take it.”

Little Princess would let no one get near the wagon and she ran toward the second man, barking and snapping at him. But now, the first man pulled out a gun and started bragging to everyone, “Watch me, I’m going to shoot your dog.”

She shouted at him, “No, you’re not.” But when she lunged at him, the gun went off and I hit her in the shoulder area and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The robber was now standing very close to her. “This is all your fault, and I’m going to shoot one of your dogs to teach you a lesson.”

He was still waving the gun around, pointing it down at her and then in the wagon's direction as she begged him to stop.

During the commotion, no one noticed when the large red Mastiff with the scars all over his head effortlessly jump out of the back window of the wagon. Now, he only needed three more long strides before he reached the man threatening his mom.

His mouth was wide open and his teeth were glistening as he smacked into the robber hard, and knocked them both onto the ground with Teddy landing on top. But now, the robber hit his head on the cement, and it knocked him out cold, while the gun went sliding over the pavement.

For a few seconds everything was still, and when the robber came to, Teddy was still standing on top of his chest, looking down at the man with his hazel eyes, drooling all over the top of his head, growling whenever the man made any movement underneath him. You could hear the robber saying, “Help, help.”

When Ronnie saw the large dog knock the robber to the ground, he ran outside and grabbed the gun that was sliding down the pavement. Then, he kneeled down next to Trina, putting pressure on her wound, asking her, “Are you ok? Please don’t pass out, stay with me. I already called the cops. They’ll be here any second.”

Princess was still chasing the second man, and she had gotten ahold of his pant leg, tripping him up, and now he fell to the ground. The man screamed at the little dog. “I hate you, dog, and I’m going to beat you as soon as I get free.”

Both of the criminals were hollering in unison, “Help, help!”

Ronnie was still holding Trina’s hand, reassuring her. He waved the gun in the air and hollered at the robbers, “Don’t even try to get up because I have your gun now! The cops will be here any second.”

He tried to keep Trina talking. “Are you moving somewhere? Is that why your wagon is full of suitcases and boxes?” He didn’t know her, but he liked her very much.

Somehow the Golden Retriever, Beauty, and Markie the Pug climbed out of the wagon and were now sitting by their mom as the police cars came screeched to a halt at the gas station. The two officers got out with their guns drawn.

The older police man glanced around, then said to Ronnie, “Put down your gun.”

Ronnie slid the gun over toward the cop, putting up his hands up as he stood up. He hollered back to him. “The two men had the gun and shot the woman, and robbed her. It’s my family’s gas station, and I called you. Where’s the ambulance?”

After picking up the gun and walking past the large dog holding down the robber, the Sargent turned back to his car and made some calls.

Trina was in terrible pain but screamed, “Don’t shoot my dogs! I’ll call them back. Princess, come here, baby. Good girl.” It was getting harder for her to speak. She was feeling lightheaded, and her strength was quickly fading.

When they were ready to cuff the second man, she called to her big dog, “Teddy, Teddy, good boy, come here now, sit down.” The big dog obediently got off the man and slowly walked over and sat down by the other dogs next to Trina.

As the police officers were putting the men into the back of the car, Trina tried to get up. “Ronnie, can you help me up so I can open the car doors to let my dogs run back inside?”

Ronnie immediately replied, “I’ll open them for you. Keep your hand on your wound.” As soon as the car doors opened, the three the dogs immediately ran back inside.

Ronnie told her, “My name is Ronnie, and my dad own’s the station. After I called the police, I called my dad and now he’s on his way over.” Ronnie was holding her hand, and he told her, “I’m really concerned for you.”

She told him, “I’m feeling a little lightheaded. That man stole all the money I have. It was $1,000, and now it’s all over the ground, and its blowing away.”

Princess was still sitting next to her with her head resting on her leg. It took all of her strength to tell Princess, “Honey, can you get my wallet off the ground?” She pointed to the wallet. “Bring it to me.”

Her smart little princess ran over and picked it up her wallet and then started picking up all the paper bills, dropping them right onto her lap.

By now, the two police officers had secured their prisoners in the back of the car. They stood there, observing the situation quietly. Sargent William looked at the other officer. “This is going to be a sensitive situation. I’ll handle this. You can take the prisoners to the station as soon as the back-up arrives.”

He walked over to Trina and kneeled down. “Hi. I’m Sargent William Bradley. The ambulance will arrive any second now, and I’ve also called the L.A. Animal Control and they’ll take your dog’s somewhere safe.”

He looked closer at Trina’s wound and told her, “You’re probably going to be in the hospital for a few days.”

Looking at the Sargant, Trina stammered and tried to explain, “The two men robbed me and were trying to steal my Pug dog.” She could feel warm tears streaming down her face.

Sargent William replied, “I understand. You’re not in any trouble. You’re the victim here.”

Ronnie agreed. “She did nothing wrong. I saw everything.”

The ambulance and Animal Control both pulled into the gas station at the same time. Sargent William went over to speak with the two officers from Animal Control and quietly told them, “We’ve got a sensitive situation here.” The paramedics nodded their heads as they took the gurney out of the ambulance.

The Sargent and the animal control officers walked over near the wagon and looked inside at all the dogs, quietly discussing the situation.

When they walked back over to Trina, she told them. “The dogs won’t leave the wagon. I need your help. My childhood friend is a big movie star who lives in Beverly Hills. His name is Aiden de Young. You can find his address and phone number in my address book in the glove compartment.”

She was feeling drowsy and emotional after receiving some pain killers now. She motioned at the young woman from Animal Control to come closer. “Please, will you drive my wagon over to Aiden’s mansion?” She repeated, “Please help me.”

No one commented, so Trina explained, “Aiden lived with my family when we were in high school. He’s like a brother to me.”

Finally, the young woman from Animal Control broke the silence. “My name is Maria Alvarez. Well, I’ve done nothing like this before, but I’ll drive your wagon and the dogs to your friend’s house in Beverly Hills.”

Through her tears, Trina called Princess back. The little dog came running over to her and excitedly jumped up and down next to the gurney. Trina took Marie’s hand and pulled it over to Princess to smell.

Then she told her dog, Princess, I have to go away for a few days. Marie will take care of you.” Princess ran back inside the car and got into the passenger seat, and now big Teddy jumped into the back seat.

One paramedic got loud now, announcing, “We need to get going. She’ll be in surgery later tonight.”

Trina started crying uncontrollably, but said, “Thank you, everyone, for helping me and my dogs. God Bless You.”

As they rolled Trina into the ambulance, Sargent William asked the paramedic, “What hospital are you taking her to? Los Angeles County Hospital?”

The driver quickly replied, “No, I called my boss about the situation, and he said to take her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.”

The Sargent said, “Oh, ok.”

He watched as the ambulance drove away with the siren blaring loudly. Shaking his head, he thought, “This is weird. What happened here tonight?”

The Sargent asked Marie, “OK, let’s look in the glove compartment for the address book. If the information is not there, I’ll have to call my station captain.”

Carefully, Marie rummaged around, finding the leather address book inside. She asked out loud, “What is the man’s name again?”

Ronnie was standing close, and he replied rather loudly, “Aiden de Young.” This made Marie give him a dirty look. Now the Sargant said, “It’s been a rough night and I really appreciate all of your help so let’s quietly get this done.”

Ronnie put his hand on Marie’s shoulder. “I apologize if I sounded obnoxious.” Marie smiled and replied, “Apology accepted.”

Sargant William was surprised, but yet he really wasn’t, when Marie said, “Here it is, the name, address and phone number, like Trina said.”

Ronnie’s dad arrived now and after speaking with Ronnie for a few minutes, they walked over and confronted everyone.

Ronnie said, “Are you really going to drive the wagon to Trina’s friend in Beverly Hills tonight? Because my dad said he will call his brother to help at the station, and he and I can drive Trina’s dogs to her friend’s house.”

Ronnie was still pretty upset, and he added, “The armed robber would probably have come after me next if Trina’s dogs hadn’t stopped them both first.”

Sargent William nodded his head and replied, “Ronnie, I understand where you’re coming from. I’ll drive over to the house with Marie and Jake. But, if it doesn’t work out, Animal Control will have to take them to the shelter tonight until they released the victim from the hospital. She won’t be able to drive her car for a while after that, either. Do you know where she was going?”

Ronnie added, “She told me she was moving to Pacific Beach in San Diego to live with her cousin. My dad and I will be happy to drive her to his house when she is released.”

Ronnie’s dad handed both Marie and Sergeant William his business card, and Ronnie added, “Please keep us informed. We want to help her, and I’ll check on the dogs every day.”

Sargent William looked at Marie now and said, “Well, I know Beverly Hills fairly well and I’m pretty sure I know where this street is. Let me make a call to my station before we leave. Jake should follow you in the wagon and after the drop-off, he can take you back to the shelter.”

As he walked back to his car, Sargent William asked himself, “I wonder how this is going to end tonight? I hope it doesn’t end badly, being Thanksgiving week and all.”

This area wasn’t his normal route, but because of the Thanksgiving holiday, he was covering for his fellow police officers, who were on vacation.