They say the neon lights are bright

Tonight I got off the bus a little earlier than usual, to make a pit-stop into Wallgreens, my favourite pharmacy/makeup/everything store.

Emerging from there some minutes later, laden with every kind of cleaning product you can think of, I walked along the principal street in this area - Broadway.

In every way, this street is as sparkly as its New York namesake (admittedly without the overpowering neon fixtures). Chicago's Broadway is chock full of shops, restaurants, and bars and there are always lots of people around taking strolls.

This is a dog lover's neighbourhood too, and I had to laugh at the doggy boutique on Broadway and the rather one-sided conversation I overheard tonight.

A woman was walking her silky-haired pooch on a sparkly leash. The dog stopped dead in its tracks when it reached the doggy boutique, and immediately put its nose to the floor to sniff around for any information about the four-legged customers that had frequented the premises recently. The dog's owner, clearly not in need of any puppy purchases this evening, tried to press on with their walk. But the dog would not be shifted.

After trying some gentle cooing to urge the dog on, the woman started tugging discreetly at the leash. To no avail. Then she bent down to the dog and, I kid you not, started trying to reason with it. The 'conversation' went something like this:

No darling, we don't need anything in there tonight. We can come back on
the weekend and choose something. You've got a lot of toys already.
It's getting late and we need to get home. Aren't you hungry
yet? Let's go get you some dinner.

I don't know whether the dog understood her (probably), but at the mere suggestion of a meal, the twosome were off. Classic piece of negotiation - on the part of both parties.

The neon lights may not be plentiful on Chicago's Broadway, but they are bright. And so are the dogs, it would seem.