The beast takes a licking but keeps on ticking...

Monday night as I was locking doors and turning off lights after 11:00 PM I noticed the front door ajar.  I peeked outside and saw my husband in the front yard playing catch with the beast, Elliot in the pitch darkness.  He was not on a leash because it was a time when all good people are snuggled up in their beds sleeping.  For the most part my husband does not put the dog on a leash in the evenings because he usually meets up with some of Elliot's friends and they frolick without the hindrance of a leash.  You getting the foreshadowing here?

I went to bed and apparently fell into such a deep sleep that I missed what happened next.  Around 11:30 or so a car came slowly down the street and turned into one of our neighbor's driveways.  It did not stay long, prompting me to wonder when hearing this story what was happening there, before backing out of the driveway and coming back down our street.  Tom was trying to distract Elliot with the ball, but he was having none of it.  In the last six months or so he has wanted to chase certain cars:  cars with trailers hooked to the back and cars that have loud mufflers.  I don't know what attracted him to this car, but he took off after it.  Tom shouted at him, but it did no good and he heard a loud "THUMP".  The car continued down the street and out of the darkness came the beast, limping and panting, a nice tire tread across his side.

Tom, his heart racing, brought the dog inside and checked him over and over and over, again and again and again.  Other than the mark and the panting Elliot appeared fine.  Tom gave him a bath and then let him crawl into our bed where he spent the entire night, not something he does because he prefers the coolness of the tile.  The next day he was quite clingy, but showed no signs of distress.  Today he is back to driving me crazy.

While I did not want a dog and while I whine and grouse about caring for the beast, I am hooked.  The little pain in the ass has grown on me and stolen my heart, and of course I don't want anything to happen to him.  Even if he is not the smartest dog....he tried to chase a car today while in the very same spot in the front yard.  I can't even tell you the years that have been shaved off of my life with this beast, but for better or worse he is a part of our family.