The Alley

 The garage sale was a block south of Fullerton in the alley that runs behind the east side of Western Avenue. The garages in this neighborhood are behind the houses and they open into the alley. I had parked near the end of the alley and had to walk down it about five or six houses to get to the sale. As I was walking, I came upon a house where a guy who looked like Charles Mingus was bent over the engine of a car doing some repair work. Two dogs came running up to the fence to bark at me. One dog was a large mixed breed with a lovable face and floppy ears. The other was much smaller and looked like a Jack Russell terrier. He was the boss. These two dogs were like the ones in cartoons where the big dog is goofy and not too smart and the little dog is very smart and in charge. They both barked at me loudly as I walked. Then, they began barking at each other. Finally, they started biting each other. A total fight. Mingus dropped his wrench and came to break things up. He got between the dogs and waved his right hand, yelling hyah!, hyah! It sounded like he was driving a team of mules. The fight was over. I was impressed. I continued on to the sale which was bad. Lots of children's clothes, VHS tapes and an old television.

As I walked back through the alley, I hoped for another dog fight where Mingus would yell hyah!, hyah! I loved that. I'll always remember him and his dogs.