"Are you serious?" I breathlessly ask as Dean nods. "Yeah, I want you to drive Baby this time." I can hardly think, so I just nod excitedly and jump in the drivers seat. Dean sits in the passenger, and Sam is booted to the back, with my service dog Autumn. Sam sits back there and pets her, as I start to get anxious about driving Deans car, she comes up to me and gives me an alert with her paw. Dean sees this and reassures me everything will be fine, and there's no need to worry. I try to calm down so I can focus on driving, and I do. I put my left foot on the brake pedal, and stick the key in ignition. Baby roars to life as I turn the key, and we are doing good so far. I should mention this is the first time I've ever drove this car, I've only ever drove my Ford pickup. We start slowly down the road, then I start to get the hang of it and before long, we're flying down the highway rocking out to Queens "Another One Bites The Dust."
As we arrive at our destination, a small little barbecue place, I put her in park as well as I can, taking up two spaces like Dean said. "Less chance of her getting hit by a car door." I laugh, "Were already as far back as we can possibly be, but okay." I listen anyway, and cut her off. Dean climbs out, then Sam grabs Autumns leash and she unloads. Sam is my boyfriend, so it's okay for him to handle my service dog at times. I get out and am automatically feeling vulnerable without her by my side. Sam notices this slight change in my body language and quickly puts her leash in my hand. I'm calmed down in an instant as I feel her feathery Alaskan Malamute fur touching my leg. Her vest is black, and she has seven patches. The first reads "anxiety alert service dog", the second "back up! Handler has anxiety", the third "do not pet", "interactions stress handler", "leave me alone", "medical alert service dog", and "no touch, no talk, no eye contact." I scan her patches and straighten her vest so that she looks presentable.
We walk up to the door and she smashes the handicap button with her paw. We walk in and I'm instantly at home. There's only four to five people in here, and all of them look like my kind of crowd. Dean knew what he was doing, and we get seated. I ask Autumn to tuck, and she does. Then, I sit down. The boys do the same on the other side of the booth.
When it comes time to order, I get anxious again and feel Autumns nose on my knee. After her alert and some help from Sam, I successfully order my food and enjoy a large rack of ribs with corn and green beans.
