LaDama asked a question a few days ago about what turns you into a ‘don’t fuck with me’ person and my immediate thought was someone abusing an animal. And I was thinking about this time.

My brother and I were on the bus with our dog, Toby. Although Toby didn’t particularly like being on a bus, he was used it, and because he was well-trained, he always behaved himself. We were going to see my granny one Saturday afternoon - we’d been 12/13 years old. We were sitting upstairs, right at the front, out of the way of the stairs and anyone coming or going. A drunk man in his fifties came upstairs and sat across the aisle from us - Toby was sitting on the floor in between. He started petting Toby quite roughly, but that was okay. We’d been on the bus for quite a while and Toby started to cry a wee bit - nothing to annoy anyone. The man started shoving Toby and saying “shut up” really loudly. Then he whacked him over the nose. That was me! I said, “Leave my dog alone!” really sternly, even though I was shitting myself. And he did. He stopped immediately and looked out the window. We couldn’t wait to get off that bus!