Daily Observations

Today, when I was at the station, a guy came and sat near me. He looked about 22 I'd say. For the sake of this blog, let's just call him Steve. As he walked past I noticed he had a backpack with him, but when he sat down, he was a little behind my line of sight, so I couldn't see what he was doing exactly. I heard him whispering Shut up, sit down, just stay there a few times and had no idea who he was talking to, because at first glance, he appeared to be alone. I assumed Steve was perhaps on drugs or was just a bit psycho. However, I chanced a quick glance at him and saw, to my surprise a small, extremely cute, white fluffy dog, which I think was a maltese terrior minus the yapping. The dog was sitting in Steve's lap, hardly moving, but every time it made a slight fidget (not even an attempt to escape from his lap - I would have) he would swear at it and tell it to shut up (which was funny 'cause I didn't once hear it make a noise) and be still. I hadn't really thought of how the dog suddenly appeared from nowhere (I had assumed he was carrying it and it camoflagued with his white top and I just hadn't seen it) until he swore again and threatened the dog. Shut up or I'll put you back in the bag, I swear. (Not that the dog would understand that since he was whispering and all - he could have been saying how good a dog he was, for all the poo thing knew) I couldn't believe he was carrying it in that bag. Isn't there laws against that? Surely that classifies as animal cruelty. I mean the backpack didn't even have air holes in it or anything - the poor thing could have suffocated in there if left for too long. Not like it'd make a difference, the poor thing will probably die of lung cancer 'cause Steve stunk like a smoker and I'm pretty sure he was smoking at the time, with the dog in his lap. The train was about to come in a couple of minutes so I got up off the bench I was sitting on, and some old lady took my place next to Steve after a bit. As the train was about to come, Steve opened his backpack and placed the dog inside and zipped it fully, all while the old lady was watching him (and while I, from afar, was also watching him, obviously). The lady spoke to him and said Will it be right in there? Has it got enough air? (or something along those lines, I don't pay that much attention to detail) and to my surprise he answered in a quite friendly manner explaining that the dog will be fine and it has enough air (which I highly doubted). After only a few seconds the poor thing started to cry and he opened the zipper a bit so the dog could stick it's head out. It was terribly cute. Anyway, Steve boarded the train on the same carriage as me, and I got off and that was about the end of it. Aside from his friendly manners, I was also surprised by the contradictingly affectionate way he hugged and held the dog and the way he scratched it behind the ears. It was cute. I s'pose a dog really is a man's best friend (apart from the whole cruelty thing).