It's been about 10 years since this event originally happened, and it still haunts me a little to this day. Just a word of warning to those with uneasy stomachs or hearts. I don't want to give it away yet, but it ends up VERY SAD at the end.
At the time, I had been working for a few years as an instructor for a local college in Brooklyn Center. In the years I had been there, I had a solid following of students, and some who really needed help, or had big dreams and wanted to learn more beyond what we did in class. There was one student in particular, Sarah, who I got to know pretty well. She and her partner, Mary, lived not too far from the school, and there were a number of occasions where I would go over to her house and help her with some of the more advanced web design tools and coding. Through those visits I got to know her dog, Casey Jones. He was a rambunctious little dog; if memory serves he was a Shetland Sheepdog. Just a small little lap dog version of Lassie for those of you who don't know what they look like.
So it came one day when Sarah had rethought her life and ended up meeting a gentleman who lived out in New York. They started out writing to each other, after some time, she decided he was the one and made plans to move to the New York area and live with him and get married. She packed up all her things and made arrangements to ship them out by rail. She didn't want to bring Casey with her initially so she would have a chance to get settled for a couple days before he came out with her. So she asked me to watch him for a few days. Another option would have been her parents, but they were older and had some trouble getting around the house, let alone watching after a somewhat hyper little dog.
So one afternoon my wife and my daughter, and I drove over to her parent's house and picked up little Casey. He and I got along pretty well, and he listened to me a fair amount. When I picked him up, I simply opened the car door and called him and he came running and jumped into the car. I grabbed his leash, some dishes for food/water and we were off.
We arrived at our house and opened the door to the car in the driveway and little Casey took off around the yard smelling everything he could. He lifted his leg a few places, and generally made our yard into his yard. All seemed to be going well, until it was time to get inside. As I said, Casey listened pretty well, but he must have missed Sarah more. And he took off running.
I, of course, grabbed Mr. Casey Jones' leash and took off after him. Now, I was much younger than I am now, and in a lot better shape physically. That dog ran all over the neighborhood. There were a number of times when I lost track of him while running through side yards and all over the place. Luckily, being not too far off Dinkytown in Minneapolis, there were a lot of houses and a lot of people out walking around. They were kind enough to point me where they had seen the dog running loose.
I eventually tracked him down and kept in pursuit. Now, I know there comes a point where a dog will turn something like this into a game and if you stop and turn around he may follow you. This was not the case with Casey. He wanted nothing to do with me, and wanted everything to do with getting home to where he thought Sarah was.
So I kept in pursuit; about 2.5 miles now. I would have to stop and take a breath from time to time, but I was able to keep Casey in sight. He stopped from time to time as well. Then he found something that made his trip towards home much easier. Railroad tracks. How very fitting considering his namesake, Casey Jones.
So Mr. Jones and I jogged down a set of tracks for a while, but the sun was setting now and light was fading. Within a short time, it was getting downright dark, and I was no longer able to keep direct sight on Casey, but did see his shape in front of me. There were a number of times while we were on the tracks when I would get within 10-15 feet of him, but nowhere near close enough to grab him.
And then I saw it. A light off in the distance, right down the center of the tracks. Yup...now getting the dog was truly a matter of time. Sooner or later I was either going to have to grab him, or at least get him off the tracks.
However, Casey thought the tracks were great, and he continued right down the middle with me right behind. And the light grew closer. And closer. It eventually got to the point where the train was quite visible to me and the light was quite close. It was about then that I had to make a decision. I had tried any number of tricks with fake treats, his leash, running off the tracks, running around and screaming...to no avail. But I kept on his tail and eventually put on a last burst of whatever I had left and made a mad dash to get him. He turned around and saw me gaining and he put on his own burst of speed. Damn dog.
I stayed with him as long as I could, but eventually had to jump off the tracks to avoid being hit by the train myself. Now, if you have never been this close to the front of a moving train, I can tell you they are quite large, and the light is a lot brighter than you think it might be. To the point where sunlight was dark enough that it caused me to have some blind spots in my eyes, and made it hard to keep an eye on the dog. I walked back and forth on my side of the train, trying to see if he was on the other side running around. And then I saw him. On the tracks. Just lying there, with the remainder of the train's cars passing over him.
It took about 5 minutes for the rest of the train to pass. I then walked over to Casey and he surprisingly looked pretty intact, but was clearly very dead. So I pick him up and carry him a little over a mile back down the tracks we had come until I finally hit a cross street. I laid him down in some tall grass with my t-shirt wrapped around him so I could find him easier in the dark when I came back. So I walked the rest of the way back home, got in the car and came back and got him. Then I had the unenviable task of calling Kathy and letting her know what happened. I called Sarah's mom first to make sure I should tell her tonight and not wait until the next morning. She thought it best to tell her right away.
For those of you who know me, I'm a laid back guy who enjoys a good sense of humor. And this was nothing short of a perfect storm of events that was almost too unbelievable at face value. A dog, named after a famous railroad engineer, who was supposed to take a trip out East in a couple days, was killed by a train. What made it all even worse, was that it was literally April 1st. Yup, this happened on April Fool's Day.
So now I call Sarah and slowly set up the story so it's not a shock, and to my horror, she doesn't believe me. She thinks I'm kidding. Her first response is, "Yeah Erik, ha ha, April Fool's Day. And then Casey got on the train and is heading over to New York on his own. Ha ha ha." And she's actually laughing. So I have to keep telling her over and over what happened, and then finally have to tell her that she needs to hang up the phone and call her mother and verify what happened.
I get a call a few minutes later, from a very sad and teary Sarah who has finally come to grips with what happened. She didn't blame me for what happened, but I still felt microscopically small and just absolutely horrible. Not wanting to be completely separated from Casey, she asked me to clip off some of his fur and save it to send to her, along with his tags and leash. The next day I built a little box for him, and per Sarah's request, buried little Casey in her parent's garden in their yard. They were both very nice about the whole thing, as was Sarah. We stayed in touch for a little while, but eventually time and distance did what it does to people, and we just fell out of touch.
I still think about this day from time to time, generally around April Fool's Day. I've had a number of my own dogs since then, but we're more of a cat family as a whole, and we put down our last dog, Lucy, after a series of health issues including seizures made it uncomfortable for her to continue living. That said, if you were touched by the story at all, please consider making a donation to a local animal shelter and help out another cat or dog in need. There are many animals who need our help.
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