CROWD IN A FOG

We went to the beach in the afternoon.  It was very foggy, and very crowded.  It was over 100 degrees in the valley, thus the fog and the tourists.  We walked along the waters edge to the south.  The dogs and us.  When we turned around to head back, we first walked along the back of the beach, but then went back through the crowd by the water. Duchess has to go see every kid in the water, so she went in to see this group, and they asked if they could pet her and we said yes.  We walked on a ways.  When I looked back and saw that she wasn't coming, I whistled and Duke came, but she got confused, smelled some other people, then ran back from where we had come.  I yelled at her, but with the surf, and all of the other people trying to help by yelling, she just got more confused.  Then it was like the whole world went quite.  My wife and I both felt that everyone in that crowd had become aware and concerned with her plight.  She finally spotted me and all was well again.  Funny, I felt just like I did when this sort of thing happened to my child.