Copping Blind

By Tom Kehr

          Hello friends: I want to share  this story with you that happened
          to me and my  first guide dog tay.  It was a  cold day in January
          of 1982, as a matter of fact, the coldest day of the year.  I had
          been home  with tay from  the guide dog  school for only  about 2
          months.    The job  i had  at  the time  required  me to  work on
          sundays,  and in  Reading,  Pennsylvania,  there  are  no  busses
          running on  that day so i had to use a cab. When the cab came and
          we got in, I asked the driver  if we could stop at the 7-11 store
          so I  could get a sandwich  to take for lunch. We  arrived at the
          7-11, and I told the driver that i would be rite out. He said  "I
          have to get a cup of coffee, so I'll come in with you." I made my
          purchase as the driver was several  people behind me in line, and
          I  said to him  "Hey buddy,  I'll meet you  back at the  cab." He
          replied "No problem", and tay and I proceeded to head out  to the
          cab. We  reached the  door of the  vehicle and got  in.   Tay was
          sitting up on the seat just as proud as could be  and thinking to
          himself, gee didn't  I do a good  job? A few moments past  and no
          cab driver.  I started to wonder where the heck he could be?  For
          some  reason I put my hand  forward and noticed a glass partition
          witch i knew shouldn't be there.  When I tried to get  out of the
          vehicle, I  noticed the  door wouldn't open,  and I  proceeded to
          bang on the window. Just  then i heard 2 guys talking a  few feet
          away.  The one guy who was the cab driver was saying "Gee officer
          he was in the store a few minutes ago, and said he was going  out
          to the  cab." Then i heard  the other man  say, "Oh, there  he is
          sitting in my police cruiser."  We all got a big laugh out of it.