Old Mike Visits Tony Boloney March 2010
It took some coaxing but my good friend, and next door neighbor, Sheri convinced me we should follow Old Mike back to his house where one year old Morkie named Bones was waiting for a new mommy. Old Mike had two dogs besides Bones and he couldn’t keep him. The woman who was supposed to take him never showed. Sheri told me it was “fate.” I believe in fate. It makes tragedies and not winning the lottery easier to accept.
The next thing I knew six pounds of furry love was on my lap in the car. Sheri’s face shined a sweet satisfied glow as she drove me and “the new man in your life” home. She began to hum “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof.
At least someone was happy. This tape kept running in my head: “What have I done? This is a huge commitment. I want to travel. Could I take him, leave him? He could easily live fifteen years. I’ll be 72.”
Sheri read my mind. “Well,” she said, “I’ll either be a hero or you’ll hate me.”
As Yentl drove and hummed I scratched his ears and stroked his head and back to relax him. He looked up at me and I noticed his brown eyes were rimmed with a dark line – beautiful how it outlined is blondish and silver fur.
For an instance I was envious that he didn’t need to apply eyeliner to make his eyes “pop.” I shook my head to throw away that deranged thought. I was relieved that I recognized my thinking was deranged. I’m pretty sure that’s a good sign, although I have thought it again and again over the years. I’m pretty sure that’s a bad sign.
I held his head in both my hands and smoothed his fur back. It made his face smaller and more vulnerable and I felt something rise up inside me. I thought of Johnny Mathis and Jane Olivor duet, one of my favorites, “The Last Time I Felt Like This I Was Falling In Love.”
I began to sing it to “Bones” but the constant “Matchmaker, Matchmater” tune threw me off. It’s just as well. It should be a private moment, a moment to bond just Poor Widow Me and my “widow” dog.
The first night he slept with me was all I needed to fall “the rest of the way.” Love with a human is so much more complicated. I hadn’t had a date since high school, but I knew this. I watch a lot of romantic comedies.
To be continued…