THE LOST DOGS OF LANGSTON.

THE LOST DOGS OF LANGSTON. Entry 4. Sophie. So one morning I got a text from the chef down the way and she said come get this little dog that is running around down here at the restaurant. I sprang into action, it was almost like being on automatic. I got the car out of the garage and just took off. I don't have an automatic garage door opener so it's kinda a big deal for me and now that my wrist is hurt I want to do it even less. But that day it was like a robot. I just went. I needn't have worried. When I got there, a little yellow dog was sitting by a trailer belonging to a man and his two kids. I knocked on the door and asked was that his dog. He said no, she's just been sitting there all night. So I took her and put her in the car and she didn't smell very good. On the way back home it occurred to me that her name was Sophie. She was very friendly. When we got home I put her in the bathtub and washed her and she went into a crate on the porch, where she stayed for a couple of weeks to sleep at night and during the day I would let her run around the yard. She liked to take my things, she chewed a sandal and a garden glove and a cat blanket and so I couldn't let her go out unsupervised so she got used to that crate. I later had to get some fence people to build a small fence around the heat pumps so she wouldn't tear up the wires there. The fence people are very nice; they fixed Miss Ilene's swing for her when they were here the first time. Theyve been here several times since then. I guess people think I'm running a child sex ring and harvesting adrenaline which is why I look so obscenely young. Everybody in Hollywood knows that the only thing that makes you look young when you're old is good genes, staying out of the sun, not smoking, sleeping a lot, a huge bunch of really good food sources, pomegranate juice, exercise, brushing your teeth and getting dental checkups regularly, going to the doctor for a physical regularly, paying all your bills on time, reducing stress, and Retin-A. That's the only thing that works and the adrenal glands of children don't really figure into that equation. I have never seen the adrenal gland of a child and I hope never to ever see one. I don't like children generally, I don't like being around them because they are too needy; if I did like them, I'd have some of my own. And I quote, and I stand behind that quote; other people can have all the kids they want, that's fine, but I'm just not supposed to have them and so I don't. Right now the dogs are plenty to worry about. I don't need children in the mix. Children are difficult. You tell one child one thing and he's okay with it and then you tell the other child the same thing and it damages him and he harbors it in his psyche for years and constantly envisions you roasting over a spit in hell. But there is no such place, so I guess it doesn't matter. Sophie quickly was brought into the house in her crate when it turned cold and so furniture had to be moved about and she quickly got ensconced and her playtime had to be rationed out because of the incredible fighting Tinky and because Sophie destroys things and eats blankets and so she does not have blankets in her crate because she will eat them and I don't want to have to do another thousand-dollar surgery at the vet's and go through all that, I just don't. So Sophie lives a spartan existence but she relishes her playtime. So much so at first that she wouldn't come in, mainly because squirrels. I exhausted everything in my repertory to get her to come in each night. Treats, dog food, Italian creme cake. I would sit there and eat an apple and she knew there was food coming but she tried to play it off and be coy, sure, Mama, I can just eat these pecans out here and keep playing in the yard all night, I'll do fine. Well suffice to say that she is very strong-willed and a little bit difficult to handle. She has also run into my knee twice, the second time she dislocated my hip even though I was wearing knee pads at the time, and it took two or three weeks to get it to stop popping when I went up the stairs. She also pulled my fingers out of joint and almost slammed me in the same eye Lily Belle slammed a year or so earlier. I have to be really careful around here. I don't do things when I'm tired, I just don't want to risk it. i'm not as young as I once was. I'm not as young as I used to be. Not even Retin-A will help with that. Sophie needs a lot more attention. She is barely out of puppyhood and she is cute as a stinkin' button and just a real pretty dog besides, gold with a white tip on her tail and a black muzzle and black eyeliner around both eyes. Really pretty dog. I guess she is a smaller pit mix but I don't know what she is mixed with, she weighs about 45 pounds. Still and all she is a steam train and plays rough with the bigger dogs. She won't give Lily Belle much of a break. Lily needs that to keep her joints moving but sometimes they have to be separated anyway. Enough about Sophie. She kinda makes me tired. She's very affectionate and wormed her way somehow into sleeping on the couch with me at night which is not the most comfortable place to sleep but she started makling me dream and sleep heavier at night so I was thankful for that. Now she's used to it and since she has crate time I figure it's the least I can do for her, to just let her sleep in the couch with me. It's the most of our quality time together because now there is Angelo and it looks like Angelo has taken over most of everything because he really is an angel sent from heaven, if there is indeed such a place. And if you are good and get your vaccines and wear your masks and mind your manners, and if the sugar bowl doesn't do a dance with the teapot at midnight and spill all the sugar into the coal scuttle, then next time I'll tell you the story of how Angelo got here and took over Roscoe's barn.