Miss Wheeler

Miss Wheeler wasn't one to tolerate the inessential. Or anything fun. The very word caused her to stick her tongue out in blatant disgust. Indeed; what little fun Miss Wheeler might have ever experienced in her lifetime she put behind her, as Miss Wheeler had more important things to attend to. There's always something more important to attend to, Miss Wheeler thought to herself. After all, being CEO of London's top fortune cookie corporation, she deemed it pointless to stop and smell the roses.

As a matter of fact, Miss Wheeler, making her way through the crowded London train station, had paid little heed to the stand of beautiful-arranged, freshly-picked roses she had just passed. Waste of my time, she thought to herself, as she proceeded briskly through the masses on her way to catch the early morning train. She had a prior commitment--an appointment, to be exact, with the top fortune cookie company executives that was to take place on the other side of the city.
 

It was at that time that seven rambunctious dogs caught Miss Wheeler's eye. "Filthy, obnoxious creatures," she muttered, high heels clanking almost louder than the barking of the dogs. Her antagonistic glare traveled up the dogs' leashes to the apparent owner: a bright-eyed young woman wearing a backpack over a suit, presumably a business student. Something about the young woman brought up memories in Miss Wheeler about her own early career in business. That seemed long ago. Miss Wheeler had since "grown" to disregard the inessential.

During that brief moment she had pondered over her past and made something of a connection with the student, the many leashes had broken free of the owner's grip, and the seemingly crazed dogs all headed in the general direction of Miss Wheeler, who was making to board the train. The dogs briefly circled her, to her surprise, and then ran off, leashes dragging. Somehow, a few of the leashes had tangled up at her legs, pulling her with the dogs as they made for the train station exit. The young woman had attempted to chase after them, but the crowd engulfed her.

"OHH! AAGHH! Help me!" Miss Wheeler called out as she was being dragged by one foot through and out of the station, but know one could catch her. The dogs didn't look back either. They just kept sprinting through the streets.

Miss Wheeler managed to untangle her feet and grab hold of the leashes. "Woah!" She was unsure why she tried to slow the dogs down--she could have just let go and forgotten about it. It might have had to do with her connection with the young student. It was absolutely humiliating, and she broke her high heels, but she wouldn’t let go out of commitment to this random stranger.

There seemed to be no limit to the dogs' energy as they took Miss Wheeler through the city park. By through the city park, I mean through the bushes, through a flock of pigeons, and through the pond. "STOP!" she cried the whole way, yanking harder and harder on the leashes. She couldn't control the dogs, no matter how hard she tried.

Eventually, she became lost. Miss Wheeler was lost, and couldn't control what happened to her. She finally stopped tugging so hard. She loosened her grip on the leashes. And the dogs stopped tugging back. She had loosened her grip on life. Life loosened its grip on her.

The dogs slowed to a light jog, as did she. She smiled. Everyone was tired though, so they pulled off to the side. embraced grass stains.

she learns to let go (of her busy/perfectionistic attitude) and to take things a little less seriously. (She lies down in the grass, allows dogs to embrace her. It's as if color had returned to her life


















 
 student finds Miss Wheeler in the park. Thanks Offers to Businesswoman (steps down/up!) is made to feel good about her thoughtful decision to look after the crazy dogs.

She later finds that the train never took off, and she’s not late. So she decides to offer to walk the dogs again, whenever she has time (which is often)