WRITTEN BY LIZ HEIDHUES WHILE LEE GRIEVED OVER THE LOSS OF HIS BELOVED DOG, JACK – 7.25.2022
IN MEMORY OF AND IN TRIBUTE TO
JACK A.K.A HOUDINI HEIDHUES WHO MADE HIS FINAL ESCAPE THE MORNING OF JULY 25, 2022.
HE ESCAPED METASTATIC LUNG CANCER.
JACK HAD BEEN FEELING POORLY, COUGHING AND DISINTERESTED IN FOOD, NORMALLY RELISHED WITH GUSTO.
JACK WAS SEEN BY HIS VET JULY 19.
WE RETURNED TO HIS VET JULY 22 AS HIS COUGH AND APPETITE LOSS WORSENED.
X-RAYS WERE TAKEN TO SEE IF JACK HAD A PROBLEM WITH HIS ESPHOPHAGUS.
JACK’S VET INFORMED US AFTER LOOKING AT HIS X-RAYS THAT HIS LUNGS WERE RIDDLED WITH METASTATIC CANCER.
WE TOOK JACK HOME AND PONDERED HIS PROGNOSIS.
OVER THE WEEKEND, JACK GREW WEAKER AND COUGHED MORE FREQUENTLY.
HE REFUSED TO BUDGE FROM HIS DOG BED IN OUR KITCHEN.
JACK WAS TELLING US IT WAS TIME FOR HIS FINAL ESCAPE.
JACK LOVED OUR KITCHEN AND SLEPT IN HIS BED NEXT TO OUR STOVE WHENEVER HE WAS HOME.
HE SAVORED THE INVITING AROMAS OF HIS MISTRESS LIZ ENDLESS COOKING.
LIZ ROASTED CHICKEN AND SIMMERED RICE FOR JACK TO SUSTAIN JACK INTO ADVANCED DOGGIE LONGEVITY.
14 YEARS AND 271 DAYS.
JACK AND OUR KITCHEN WERE INSEPERABLE.
SO MUCH SO THAT – WHEN JACK WAS BOARDED AT A DOG BOARDER’S HOUSE IN THE WESTMOOR AREA BELOW DALY CITY IN SEPTEMBER 2019 — JACK DECIDED HE HAD TO ESCAPE AND RETURN TO THE KITCHEN HE LOVED SO MUCH.
WHEN THE DOG BOARDER REALIZED JACK HAD ESCAPED OUT OF HER DOUBLE FRONT DOOR, SHE IMMEDIATELY WENT OUT TO HUNT FOR HIM.
THE DOG BOARDER AND THE COUNTY DOG CATCHER SPIED JACK IN SCRUBBY UNDERBRUSH SURROUNDING THE AREA HE HAD VANISHED INTO. WHEN THE DOG CATCHER GRABBED JACK’S COLLAR TO TRY AND SEIZE HIM, JACK SLIPPED OUT OF HIS COLLAR AND VANISHED PERMANENTLY.
WE DID NOT KNOW JACK HAD ESCAPED FROM THE DOG BOARDER’S.
WE WERE VISITING LIZ’S SISTER IN MISSOULA, MONTANA.
WE WERE ENJOYING THE LAID-BACK HIP SCENE OF THE BIG SKY COUNTRY WHEN LEE GOT THE FRANTIC CALL FROM OUR DOG BOARDER.
SHE HAD BEEN SEARCHING ALL DAY AND OVERNIGHT FOR JACK.
JACK WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.
JACK HAD STARTED THE FIRST LEG OF WHAT TURNED OUT TO BE A FIVE-DAY JOURNEY WALKING HOME FROM THE AREA NEAR MUSSEL ROCK STATE BEACH.
AS JACK WALKED, THE DOG BOARDER BEGAN A MASSIVE CAMPAIGN PUBLICIZING HIS ESCAPE FROM HER HOUSE, 10 MILES AWAY FROM HIS BELOVED KITCHEN.
THE DOG BOARDER CONTACTED HER EXTENSIVE NETWORK OF DOG BOARDERS, WALKERS, GROOMERS, LOST DOG FINDERS, AND NEIGHBORS TO SCOUR THE SCRUB BRUSH SURROUNDING THE SPOT JACK WAS LAST SEEN AT AND TO FAN ALL THE WAY OUT TO NEARBY THORNTON STATE BEACH.
THE DOG BOARDER POSTED HUNDREDS OF FLIERS.
BACK IN MISSOULA, MONTANA, LEE WAS HAVING A MELTDOWN.
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, LEE METHODICALLY WORKED HIS CELL PHONE TRYING TO GET A FLIGHT OUT OF MISSOULA AND BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO ASAP. HE SUCCEEDED IN GETTING US BOOKED ON AN SFO FLIGHT THE FOLLOWING MORNING, FRIDAY THE 13TH.
A HARBINGER OF BAD LUCK, FRIDAY THE 13TH TURNED OUT TO BE THE SUPERSTITION THAT ALWAYS WAS. THE PLANE WE WERE BOOKED TO FLY OUT ON WAS DISCOVERED AT THE LAST MINUTE TO HAVE A MALFUNCTIONING ENGINE. THE MISSOULA AIRPORT WENT TO WORK DRUMMING UP AN EMPTY AIRCRAFT.
EVERYONE WHO HAD BEEN QUEUING UP TO BOARD A COMPLETELY BOOKED FLIGHT WOULD NOW HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER HOUR FOR A REPLACEMENT FLIGHT. THE HOUR LENGTHENED INTO HOURS. AS THE AIRPORT ANNOUNCED OVER THE PA VARIOUS FLIGHTS THE PASSENGERS COULD SUBSTITUTE FOR THE SFO-DESTINED FLIGHT, WE WATCHED AS LUCKIER PASSENGERS RAN BY WITH THEIR CARRY-ON LUGGAGE TO SNAG FLIGHTS.
WE WERE SFO BOUND. STUCK AT A VERY SMALL AIRPORT.
LIZ MADE LAPS AROUND THE TINY SECURITY AREA THAT WOULD BE OUR BORING LOUNGE FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.
FORTUNATELY, THERE WAS AN OUTDOORS DECK. LEE VENTURED OUT INTO THE HOT AND HUMID MISSOULA WEATHER FREQUENTLY.
A FUNCTIONING PLANE FINALLY TAXIED UP.
AS WE SOARED OVER THE GUSTY MISSOULA AIRPORT, LIZ BEGAN TO CHANNEL JACK. SHE KEPT REPEATING IN HER MIND, OVER AND OVER, “JACK, KEEP GOING NORTH. DON’T REVERSE COURSE. WE’RE ON OUR WAY HOME TO FIND YOU.”
WE RETURNED HOME TO SAN FRANCISCO TOO LATE FOR LEE TO START TRACKING DOWN JACK.
BUT THE NEXT MORNING, SATURDAY, LEE HIT THE ROAD, TAKING MUNI AND BART TO MEET WITH THE DOG-BOARDER IN WESTMOOR.
LEE PICKED UP A HUGE STACK OF FLIERS TO POST AROUND OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
ATTENTION-GRABBING FLIERS.
LOST DOG. HIS NAME IS JACK. REWARD FOR FOUND DOG. WITH JACK’S PHOTO.
FLIERS WERE NOW CIRCULATING UP AND DOWN THE PACIFIC COAST, FROM DALY CITY TO SAN FRANCISCO’S SUNSET DISTRICT AND ENDING IN SAN FRANCISCO’S OUTER RICHMOND DISTRICT. A RADIUS SPANNING 15 MILES.
JACK ALSO MADE HEADLINES ON “NEXT-DOOR”.
LEE POSTED ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM THAT JACK HAD GONE MISSING. JACK WAS WELL-KNOWN AT SUTRO PARK, THE GO-TO PLACE FOR DOGS IN OUR OUTER RICHMOND DISTRICT NEIGHBORHOOD.
EVERYONE WAS SEARCHING FOR JACK. JACK WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.
LEE MET OUR NEIGHBORS SEARCHING AT THORNTON STATE BEACH. THEY HAD DRIVEN THERE SATURDAY AFTER HEARING JACK WENT MISSING.
WE WERE FACING THE AWFUL POSSIBILITY THAT JACK WOULD NEVER BE FOUND.
JACK HAD SEVERAL DANGEROUS HIGHWAYS TO CROSS ON HIS JOURNEY HOME.
HE HAD TO AVOID OTHER DOGS WHO MIGHT BE AGGRESSIVE, COYOTES WHO MIGHT ATTACK HIM, STRANGERS WHO MIGHT MAKE HIM THEIR CAPTIVE, OR MOTORISTS WHO MIGHT RUN HIM OVER.
LIZ WENT TO CHURCH AS USUAL ON SUNDAY.
SHE WAS SITTING IN A PEW WHEN A PERSON SURPRISED HER, SITTING DOWN NEXT TO HER AND PASSING HER A NOTE.
THAT PERSON WAS LEE. ON THE NOTE WAS SCRIBBLED THE MESSAGE: JACK WAS FOUND.
AS LIZ READ THE NOTE, LEE’S EMOTIONS OVERCAME HIM. HE STARTED TO CRY FROM RELIEF AND JOY.
LEE MADE A HASTY EXIT TO GO HOME AND WAIT FOR THE DOG BOARDER TO BRING JACK BACK.
A KIND STRANGER IN THE SUNSET DISTRICT HAD SEEN THE FLIER ABOUT JACK AND HAD RECOGNIZED THE DOG HE FOUND WALKING ALONG JUDAH STREET WHERE IT INTERSECTED 44TH AVENUE.
HE HAD FOUND JACK ON THE WAY TO THE DOGGIE BATH O’MAT ON JUDAH STREET, WHERE JACK HAD BEEN BATHED AND GROOMED FOR YEARS.
JACK HAD TURNED ONTO JUDAH STREET AFTER WALKING ALONG OCEAN BEACH FOR MILES.
HE WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE AREA BECAUSE WE HAD ALWAYS WALKED DOWN JUDAH TO OCEAN BEACH AFTER PICKING HIM UP FROM HIS BATH. ONCE HE GOT HIS BEARINGS, JACK FIGURED OUT HOW HE COULD GET HOME. WE HAVE NEVER OWNED A CAR. OUR NOT DRIVING JACK AROUND IN A CAR HAD MADE JACK SMART ABOUT WHAT DIRECTION HE SHOULD BE HEADING.
THE STRANGER REFUSED THE REWARD OFFERED BY THE DOG BOARDER WHEN SHE PICKED JACK UP.
JACK’S PAWS WERE RAW FROM HIS FIVE-DAY JOURNEY. HE WAS THIN, DIRTY, AND EXHAUSTED.
BUT JACK WAS HAPPY TO BE BACK IN LIZ’S KITCHEN WHICH HE LOVED SO MUCH.
HE IMMEDIATELY CRASHED IN HIS BED NEXT TO THE STOVE AND SLEPT FOR TWO DAYS.
JACK ALSO MANAGED TO ESCAPE FROM BALBOA PET HOSPITAL WHEN WE BOARDED HIM THERE THREE WEEKS AFTER HIS EPIC JOURNEY HOME.
HE SLIPPED OUT OF HIS HARNESS AND RAN OUT THE FRONT DOOR TO WALK HOME. WE NEVER BOARDED JACK AGAIN.
THE NOTORIOUS ESCAPE ARTIST MADE HIS FINAL ESCAPE THIS MORNING. HE ESCAPED WITH DIGNITY FROM INEVITABLE SUFFERING THAT IS THE OUTCOME OF A TERMINAL DIAGNOSIS.
JACK WALKED AWAY FROM LIFE ON HIS OWN TERMS.
JACK. THE NOTORIOUS ESCAPE ARTIST. A GENTLEMAN AMBASSADOR OF OUR OUTER RICHMOND NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE HE TOOK DAILY WALKS FOR ALMOST 12 YEARS.
Lee's Perspective 