Tails of Popeye 2

He loved car rides.

Like a lot of dogs.

But we didn't like to take him on car rides.

The reason: No matter how near or far, how long or short the journey was, when we got home, drove into the porch, stopped the engine, took out the key, opened the car door and got out of the car, he wouldn't. No matter how you called him, tempted him with food, or scolded him, this usually sweet-tempered dog who would come when called, look remorseful when scolded, he would not get out of the car. Short of physically pushing him out, which, 1) would be quite strenuous to our lower back and spine and 2) made him look undignified. So I would leave him sitting in the car, sans air-cond, doors wide open - car door and front door. I would go in, shelf my groceries, take a shower, change into comfortable clothes, make myself a cup of coffee, sit down in front of the tv, start a movie and get quarter way through before he would deign to get out of the car and come inside the house.

And what would he be doing inside the stationary car? What he did when the car was moving. To wit, sit upright in the front passenger seat, face forward and look out the front windscreen in a very serious manner.

We had tried winding down the window beside him, thinking he might enjoy putting his head out the window and grinning into the wind like most dogs. This sombre dog looked out once and decided it demeaned his stature to hang out of the window that way.

I managed to take this picture when we still had the Proton Saga and he had still not discovered the absolute "rightness" of the front passenger seat for a dog of his stature. I was standing across the road with the camera and when I called him, he was willing to pop his head out the window for a picture.

Soon after, we downsized and traded the Proton for a Kancil and I made the terrible mistake of inviting him into the front passenger seat because there was just him and me. After that, there was no way he would settle for the back seat. When there were other human passengers, they had to sit at the back while he rode in front.

He was a "natural", as good as a mini-bus conductor. He only fell off the seat the first two times I braked suddenly and swerved too fast. After that he could balance himself no matter how I drove. It was really funny to see how he adjusted and shifted his weight left to right or forward and back when I turned a corner or braked.

I used to take him when I go grocery shopping or to the wet market. I would leave him in the car, engine running, doors unlocked, his window half-down or sometimes, engine off, doors locked but his window half-down. I would go and do my errands and when I return, I would find a knot of admirers or gawkers surrounding my car.

Think of it: a big mean-looking Rottweiler sitting in a small little white Kancil.

He wouldn't even look at them. He just sat ramrod straight and looked out the front windscreen like he was some royalty or celebrity and they were beneath his notice. He even sometimes ignored me when I talked to him. I had to poke him to get his attention.

When the car is moving, it seemed that he was looking at the traffic although he hardly turned his head to follow anything once it had passed. But when the car is parked in the porch facing the front wall and door of my house, what in the world was he looking at for almost 45 minutes?

Sorry I don't have a picture of him this way because back then, I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of him through the windscreen. I tried a few times but could only see a blur outline of something black through the reflection of the windscreen. Come to think of it, I still don't know how to now.

This is the best I have of Popeye and his Kancil

When we traded the small car for regular cars, he was not as fixated about the front seat anymore. He could go meekly into the back seat although he didn't enjoy going into the cargo area of the Nissan AD Resort or Larry's Volvo T5. I wonder how he would have looked like in my present roadster. I think he would have loved it - no backseat to force him into. With the top down, he would have looked like a dignitary on parade. Except that everybody would steer clear of my car - they have no idea that he would never stand up and jump out. It was just not his personality to do doggy things like that.

He used to step out of the Kancil with a stately solemnity that made me laugh out loud, which in turn, earned me a reproachful look from his soulful eyes.

He was always such a serious dog...except when he did the lion dance. That will be in Part 3.