14 Years Ago
"Oh, he's cute."
I am standing next to my friend, Bob, in the parking lot at work. As is usual in San Diego, it is an extraordinarily beautiful day, so the sun is reflecting off the windshield of Bob's friend's car, the one that holds the puppy he needs to find a home for. White, long-legged, about a foot tall, the dog I see peeking out the window looks more like a lamb than a dog.
"No, that's his aunt. That's the puppy," he says.
He points.
I squint.
And then I see: the white kitten I begged for as a child; the baby white seal I always wanted to protect; every stuffed animal I ever loved. Only this one was real, all rolled up into a white puppy the size of a pomegranate.
"Oh! Oh!" I cry, rushing over to the car like an idiot. "I'll take him! I'll take him!"
"He don't have no papers or nuthin'," Bob's friend says, sauntering over.
"Oh! I don't care!"
I shove my endorsed paycheck at Bob and scoop the little wagging ball out of Bob's friend's hand.
"Uh....Sold?" Bob says to his friend with a shrug.
I rush the puppy back to our apartment a few blocks away. David's gonna kill me but I don't care, I think happily. (David is my live-in boyfriend of several years who does NOT think we need a dog, and certainly not a "wimp dog").
I dial my mother at work and set the puppy down on the rose-colored livingroom rug.
"Department of-"
"MOM?!"
The puppy wags and rolls over like a happy Weeble.
"WHAT'S WRONG?!" My mother shrieks. Because I am shrieking.
"I GOT A PUPPY AND OOOOOOO HE IS SOOOOO CUTE!"
I can't stop giggling. I sound like a lunatic. Or a little girl.
"Oh, Mother of God I thought someone died," my mother gasps.
"No! No! Wait 'til you see him! He's soooooo cuuuute! Oh, I just LOVE him!"
****
