The Illusion

The dreamlike insight awakened me at 3:00 a.m. In sleep my mind tried to unravel what I saw earlier in the day on the way back to my cave.Earlier in the day,I was strolling back to my cave by way of a narrow sidewalk in Germantown/Mt.Airy,Philadelphia,PA USA. The sidewalks are narrow in that part of town and often one pedestrian walking in one direction would side- step the pedestrian coming from the opposite direction. If two pedestrians are approaching and one has a dog then it's another story.Yesterday, I was approaching an intersection where two frail, old ladies were ,walking a bear-sized brown and black adult Rottweiler. They stopped for the red traffic light.They spotted me and I spotted them and I momentarily thought I would have to give them a very wide berth because of their dog.I knew that one good leap and bite from that dog would make my knee bones history! I also thought that I might have to live up to my given name,F-L-A-S-H . Suddenly,I noticed that the dog had two leashes attached to his neck.Each leash was held by a little old lady on either side.The sense of dread came over me.
As the traffic light turned green, the two old ladies and the dog walked in my direction. They crossed the intersection and as the light was about to turn red again,a small car barreled past the four of us to make the right turn.Inside the car and leaning out the passenger window was a smaller mongrel in the car who growled and barked at the Rottweiler.
Both women pulled their leashes to the left to allow me to walk pass them on their right as they approached me.The mongrel in the passing car on their right startled them and they were trying to console the Rottweiler by telling her that the mongrel sounded like her.I was in the line of attack between them and the barking mongrel in the car. As the women tensed up and crept to their left away from me and my red nose, the Rottweiler kept its' composure and unnerved by the growling mongrel and me, led the two timid women past me in close proximity.I am an imaginary hoboclown but I had a bead of sweat on my brow. After I slept on it, it hit me!
What appeared to be a Rottweiler dog being walked with two leashes by two little old ladies was actually two old ladies being walked by the their dog. Each old lady was attached to a leash to be led by their dog through the troubles of their day! The ladies were not blind and the Rottweiler was not a seeing-eye dog yet their dog was able to see through them and helped them through their anxious moments! Oddly enough, the Rottweiler was able to see through me too!