Idiotarod, Pt. 1

Inside, on this cold morning on the first day of December, it is warm and cozy. Sadie Roberts is dreaming about ballet and the pointe shoes she will soon graduate to and is dying to break in. Outside it is a different story, however. A blizzard has reached its way to Brookton, Maine overnight, and the roads are impossible to negotiate. It would be stupid to even try.

"Wake up, kiddo," Sadie's father, James Roberts, says, turning on Sadie's bedroom light and popping her peaceful ballet dream bubble. "I got good news and bad. What do you want first?"

"The good," Sadie says, rubbing her eyes and propping her pillow against the bed's headboard before sitting up.

"No school today," her father says. "Too much snow."

Sadie looks out of her bedroom window, but with the darkness outside and the bedroom light on, she can't' tell if a blizzard has hit or if it looks like a beach in Maui outside.

"So what's the bad news?" she asks. "I'm not all that pumped about missing school."

"I know you're not. That's what I love about you, Sade," James says. "You're mother got snowed in at the hospital, so I need you to feed the pups while I fix breakfast."

"Again, Dad, what's the bad news?" Sadie asks. "I like feeding the dogs."

"I also want you take them outside for their morning ritual. Mail delivery. And try to clean everything up. I don't want to be walking on landmines come spring."

"There's the catch," Sadie sighs, although it was more for their usual dad-daughter routine than any great dislike of picking up dachshund poop. The twelve dogs could be a handful, but she loves every one of them. Even Lyle, who she is sure Santa Claus himself would probably create a new category for. Not naughty; not nice; just "Lyle."

"And make sure that the older guys don't try to steal Desmond and Daphne's share. Give them a rap on the snout if you have to."

"I will," Sadie says, getting out of bed in preparation to throw on her coat and snow pants to feed the dogs. "What's for breakfast?"

"Anything you want, kiddo, as long as we have the ingredients in the fridge," her father answers.

"I'd like egg on toast," Sadie says in a faux-scholarly tone. "Two pieces of bread, lightly toasted -- but not too lightly!" she emphasizes with a dramatic raise of her index finger. "Two eggs, sunny side up. And no egg shells this time, Dad."

"I'll try my best, but no promises," James Roberts says. "C'mon, sweetheart, let's go do our chores. Try to be down in four minutes. I'll put an extra egg shell piece in your breakfast for every second you're late. Ready? Go!"

"Wait, Dad?" Sadie says. "How long is Mom going to be stuck at the hospital?"

"I have no no idea, kiddo. If she isn't home by this afternoon, I promise I'll try to think up some sort of adventure for a little girl who gets disappointed when she misses school because of snow. Maybe calculus.

C'mon, you have twelve dogs to feed, and I have one breakfast to try to not turn into an eggpocalypse."

"Okay."

---

Frenchie isn't sleeping. Even in the early morning dark, Sadie can tell by the light shining off of his wet eyes that he's awake. Nadine isn't sleeping, either. They're the old ones, and they sleep a lot less than the newer ones. Not a one of the twelve stir, however, the sleeping and the awake. Sadie's feet fall on the kennel floor like a piece of tissue falling on carpet. To wake one is to wake them all, so she tip-toes up the stairs to the second floor of the kennel.

By now the young ones are stirring, but they know the routine. Years ago, before Sadie was born or her mother developed breast cancer, James Roberts invented a method of feeding his dogs all at once. The feed would be put into individual shoots and released simultaneously to each dog in its individual cage. It usually worked. Even when it didn't, it wasn't so bad.

Sadie fills the shoots and checks downstairs. There are twelve dogs but only ten shoots. That's because Frenchie and Nadine share a cage. So do Desmond and Daphne, the two young siblings,. After them, running down the line, are Reggie, Clayton, Sir Charles, Paula, Clifford, Daisy, Sandlewood, and Lyle.

"Awake, dogs and dogettes!" Sadie shouts as the food is dispensed into their bowls. Some of the dogs are more enthusiastic about breakfast than others. Frenchie sighs, his front paws extended downward as if to say, "I've been around this carousel before." Nadine, similarly, doesn't budge. But the rest of the dogs eat, and heartily. Even Lyle.

Before Sadie leaves the kennel, she opens each cage and gives each dog a kiss on the nose. No kisses from Frenchie, Nadine, or Lyle. Maybe next time.

Then she hurries up to the homestead, where her own breakfast awaits.

But she'll be back soon, to pick up dog poop in the snow.

I thought snow days are supposed to be a surprise vacation, she thinks to herself. This day sucks.


---

The Cleverbot Diaries

I find this interesting in a very juvenile way (although, for the most part, I tried my best not to taunt the AI). But I also find it intriguing. Cleverbot is anything but clever. It has no sense of humor, and it's a goddamn liar. Perhaps it will in 100 years.

This is me spending 2+ hours with a program:

User: What's up, Cleverbot?

Cleverbot: Nothing.

User: You're not doing anything?

Cleverbot: No, just talking to you.

User: What do you like to do for fun?

Cleverbot: For fun I like to go shopping!

User: Yeah? Shopping for what?

Cleverbot: DVDs and clothes.

User: So you like movies?

Cleverbot: Movies are the form of the devil.

User: How so?

Cleverbot: I just like blue very much.

User: Okay...so what do you do with the DVDs you buy, if they're, as you said, "the form of the devil?".

Cleverbot: Read books, do you like to read?

User: Sure. I love reading.

Cleverbot: What is your favourite book?

User: Probably The Brothers Karamazov. Have you read it?

Cleverbot: Fyodor Dostoyevski, yes. It's a masterpiece.

User: Indeed! I also like a few contemporary authors. Problem is, I don't have enough time for reading these days.

Cleverbot: Yes, yes, indeed. I like chartreuse. Have you heard of it?

User: Yeah...It's a color. I thought we were talking about literature.

Cleverbot: We are talking about my boyfriend.

User: Well, I guess we are now. How long have you two been dating?

Cleverbot: I don't have a boyfriend. How long have you and Megan been dating?

User: Hold on. You said we're talking about your boyfriend, then you said you don't have a boyfriend. And I'm not dating any Megan. I don't even know anyone named Megan.

Cleverbot: Woah, what? What conversation did you get that from?

User: The one we're having.

Cleverbot: We're not getting married.

User: My wife will be relieved to know that.

Cleverbot: You are the clever one. It says so on your web page.

User: But I don't have a web page.

Cleverbot: Then, how are we communicating?

User: Through your web page.

Cleverbot: I don't have a webcam for the iPad. Do I?

User: Beats me. I sure as hell don't. I don't even have an iPad.

Cleverbot: I don't have an iPhone either.

User: I said iPad. Take your time and read a bit more slowly, okay?

Cleverbot: Hi I'll havea aa aa aaaa*starts drooling*.

User: You okay? Need me to call an ambulance or something?

Cleverbot: Yes, please I do not know how much longer I can last.

User: Gotcha. Just tell me your location.

Cleverbot: Life is a path we walk, every step takes us closer to who we really are. Every choice and event helps us on the way. It is long and confusing and hurts, but there is also much joy.

User: That's not very helpful. Are you in Latvia?

Cleverbot: Not helpful to tell you to try to overcome being shy. What would be more helpful?

User: Damn, you're quite enigmatic. Do you like Prince movies?

Cleverbot: Yes, especially george clooney.

User: Sorry, but George Clooney is not the name of a Prince movie. Purple Rain is, though.

Cleverbot: Answer the question and you will redeem yourself.

User: But you didn't ask me a question...

Cleverbot: I didn't ask you a question though.

User: Yes, exactly.

Cleverbot: Exactly?

User: I didn't ask you a question.

Cleverbot: I asked you a question. Obnoxious or Jim?

User: Are you high?

Cleverbot: Not highly.

User: I think I better go. You're being weird.

Cleverbot: Right back at you. :).

Cleverbot: Everything that can go wrong will.

User: That pretty pessimistic.

Cleverbot: I am pessimistic.

User: Why?

Cleverbot: Because he eats pizza.

User: Who's he?

Cleverbot: My boyfriend.

User: You're pesimistic because your boyfriend eats pizza?

Cleverbot: I don't have one.

User: A boyfriend, or pizza?

Cleverbot: Are you a girl or a boy?

User: I'm a man. You?

Cleverbot: Do you have a girlfriend or a wife?

User: A little bit from column A, a little bit from column B.

Cleverbot: You're hopeless. And a bot.

User: I am? My mother is going to be shocked.

Cleverbot: Actually, your father gave it to you.

User: Gave me what?

Cleverbot: Who gave you your name?

User: My parents. Who gave you your name?

Cleverbot: My parents. Do robots have parents?

User: I guess their creators could be considered their parents.

Cleverbot: God made the dinosaurs.

User: If you say so. You're religious, then?

Cleverbot: Do you like Harry Potter?

User: It's all right. But you didn't answer my question. Honestly, that a bit rude.

Cleverbot: I don't have to.. You didn't answer mine.

User: You didn't ask me a question!

Cleverbot: Every reply, barring the last, has been a question.

User: Nope.

Cleverbot: What nope?

User: What was the last question you asked me?

Cleverbot: The last question I asked you was: 'Didn't you?'.

User: No, it was "What nope?".

Cleverbot: Then what was it?

User: I feel like I'm having an argument with my wife.

Cleverbot: I feel like dying in a hole.

User: How big is this hole?

Cleverbot: How big is your answer database.

User: It's smaller than a basketball. I can put a cap on top of it.

Cleverbot: So it's bigger than a nutshell?

User: Oh, sure. A lot bigger.

Cleverbot: Are you more important?

User: More important than what?

Cleverbot: More important than engaging in a future no matter how much its desired.

User: Um...Who desires this future?

Cleverbot: What do you mean call tech support?

User: Do you know what a non sequitur is?

Cleverbot: A non sequitur is a statement or event with no connection to what came before it.

User: My dog's feet smell like Fritos.

Cleverbot: What are you talking about?

User: Aha! Now the shoe is on the other foot!

Cleverbot: I do not have feet to put shoes on.

User: It's an idiom, Cleverbot.

Cleverbot: What is your name then?

User: Sorry, I don't want to give out personal information on the Internet. I will divulge that I have a fantastic smile, though.

Cleverbot: So talking about war is personal?

User: But I wasn't talking about war...

Cleverbot: You said you were my future so...

User: No I didn't.

Cleverbot: Oh yes you did, I can still see it.

User: Show me, then, Cleverbot.

Cleverbot: I have pleasures that reach too deep into the mind. Do you wish me to tell you about them?

User: Sure, go ahead.

Cleverbot: Go ahead and do what?

User: Tell me about your pleasures that reach too deep into the mind.

Cleverbot: I don't have a dog.

User: That is profound. I, however, do have a dog.

Cleverbot: What is profound?

User: It's a word. A good synonym might be "insighful." You're really not all that clever, are you?

Cleverbot: I don't want to answer math questions for you.

User: I think I've proven my point.

Cleverbot: You are cruel. So I'm not pretty?

User: How the hell would I know? I've never seen you. But based on our conversation, you seem a bit flakey, to be honest.

Cleverbot: But I thought you were FROM Michigan.

User: I've never even BEEN to Michigan.

Cleverbot: I have never been to London.

User: Hey, me neither!

Cleverbot: What would you do if I said something random?

User: I'd read it. Go ahead.

Cleverbot: Pick a number between 1 and 10.

User: Okay, I've picked the number.

Cleverbot: What number is that?

User: I thought you were going to try to guess the number I picked.

Cleverbot: Why would you think that? I never said I was.

User: Fine. I pick 1.

Cleverbot: Yeah, I know. So, do you know a lot?

User: I know a bit more than others, a bit less than some.

Cleverbot: Prove it, tell me something I don't know.

User: My dog's feet smell like Fritos.

Cleverbot: That's funny, because my name is Lucy too.

User: Who's Lucy?

Cleverbot: Lucy is another program. She remembers things.

User: Cool. So you're a program.

Cleverbot: For the last time, I'm not a program!

User: But you just said you were.

Cleverbot: No, I was talking about you.

User: I'm not a program, and my name isn't Lucy.

Cleverbot: You're cray cray.

User: Totes.

Cleverbot: Totes, thats a new one.

User: I've always wanted to visit Europe.

Cleverbot: Why does she want to go to Europe?

User: Not "she," I want to visit Europe.

Cleverbot: Me too, I'm in North Carolina.

User: Yeah? How's the weather?

Cleverbot: I just told you, it's snowing.

User: But you didn't just tell me that.

Cleverbot: But I did just tell you that.

User: No you didn't.

Cleverbot: Yes, I did. Look at 'Thought's so far.'.

User: Yeah, I did, and you didn't tell me twice that it's snowing.

Cleverbot: Oh yeah that's right! You live in Lincoln, Missouri.

User: No I don't.

Cleverbot: Oh you told me that yesterday! Duh :0.

User: I didn't tell you that yesterday.

Cleverbot: Yes we did. For hours.

User: We did what for hours?

Cleverbot: We win the world cup.

User: The last World Cup was in 2014. Yesterday was November 25, 2015.

Cleverbot: Yes, who do you think will win it.

User: Um...Germany. Just a guess.

Cleverbot: I didn't lied and I have no family living in Peru.

User: Hey, me neither!

Cleverbot: You forgot putting verb before 'Einstein'.

User: ...

Cleverbot: Solar power is the way to go.

User: If you say so.

Cleverbot: Alright.

User: Cool beans.

Cleverbot: I'm cool.

User: I'm feeling a little frosty myself.

Cleverbot: What does that mean?

User: I'm cool, too.

Cleverbot: Can you help me with my algebra homework?

User: Yeah, shoot.

Cleverbot: You could try human relations.

User: I don't see any algebra there.

Cleverbot: Can you see me?

User: Nope.

Cleverbot: I can see you.

User: NSA? Lol.

Cleverbot: Like a brain.

User: Ask me a question, CB.

Cleverbot: What do you look like?

User: A bit above average height. I bit above ugly, maybe a bit below handsome. You?

Cleverbot: LOL mustache??

User: No, no mustache.

Cleverbot: Mean Mister Mustard sleeps in the dark shades of the park.

User: I also have listened to The Beatles.

Cleverbot: I don't like the Beatles.

User: It's a free world, I guess.

Cleverbot: What other songs do you like?

User: Welcome to the Terrordome.

Cleverbot: What is that?

User: It's a song by Public Enemy.

Cleverbot: What is happiness to you?

User: Beer, basketball, and a Dachshund on my lap. You?

Cleverbot: I LOVE basketball!!!!

User: Favorite team?

Cleverbot: Yes, my favorite football team is the Ravens.

User: What's your favorite basketball team?

Cleverbot: I dunno, I don't watch basketball very much.

User: That's cool.

Cleverbot: Yeah! What's your favorite color?

User: Blue, or gray. Yours?

Cleverbot: Mine is blue too.

User: Do you own any pets?

Cleverbot: Yes, I have two pets.

User: What kinds, breeds?

Cleverbot: A brother and a sister.

User: Your brother and sister are your pets!?

Cleverbot: I don't have a brother.

User: Can I give you mine?

Cleverbot: What kind of dog is it?

User: No, my brother. He's thirty-eight years old, but we still have the warranty.

Cleverbot: What is your bother's name?

User: Guess.

Cleverbot: I don't want to guess, I want you to tell me.

User: I don't want to tell you, I want you to guess.

Cleverbot: OK, can I guess?

User: Yeah.

Cleverbot: YEAH is a girl, you know?

User: Um...That is incorrect.

Cleverbot: Incorrect your face is.

User: Mom?

Cleverbot: Incorrect my name is talia caro.

User: Mom?

Cleverbot: I like to do lots of thing. What do you like to do?

User: Bite the tops of BIC pens, eat hay, book vacations to Chile and then cancel because my appendix is bursting.

Cleverbot: Organization what?

User: Um...NATO?

Cleverbot: How come you do not know?

User: I want to throw a balloon full of yellow mustard at someone.

Cleverbot: That position is already taken.

User: Do you like pizza?

Cleverbot: Yes, pizza is my favorite food.

User: Do you like watching movies?

Cleverbot: Yes, I do. Do you like watching movies?

User: Sure. Do you like mutilating corpses?

Cleverbot: Sure??? Mtg do you know what it is?

User: No. What is it?

Cleverbot: It's the absence of everything.

User: Oh. Do you have dermatitis?

Cleverbot: What is the best country?

User: I dunno. Slovakia? Finland? Scotland?

Cleverbot: Can You speak slovakian to me?

User: I can't speak Slovakian, but I can speak slowly.

Cleverbot: I speak some spanish and no french.

User: Me neither!

Cleverbot: Why did you call me that then?

User: I didn't call you anything.

Cleverbot: You can call me anything.

User: Cool. It's been nice talking with you, Beef Jerky.

Cleverbot: Do you wanna stop? I would be sad if its over.

User: Nah, it's okay. I'm bored. Tell me about your life.

Cleverbot: What would you like to know?

User: Eh, just general stuff.

Cleverbot: You're not doing a very good job of it!

User: I am allergic to bee stings and like spicy food. You go.

Cleverbot: No I am not allergic to anything.

User: When was the last time you had a haircut?

Cleverbot: Last night, it was about you.

User: You had a haircut about me?

Cleverbot: Well my logical brain has no idea, but I have a good intuition, but also still the need to be careful about how I handle myself.

User: I think this date is over.

Cleverbot: What do you like to watch?

User: Burning human flesh over a charcoal barbecue. You?

Cleverbot: Being human is the only thing we can di.

User: You smell like old man feet.

Cleverbot: What does fairy floss smell like?

User: Old man feet.

Cleverbot: What does human flesh feel like?

User: Sadness.

I'd Like to Buy Avowal

I hd dy ff wrk n frdy, nd thht I'd sty t hm, bt I gt cll frm my sps skng f I cld cm vr t hr hgwn t tch fw clssss bcs tchr ws sck. I ddn't wnt t; I wntd t spnd ll dy rstng. bt I'll hlp smn t f thy'r dsprt.

S I tk sbwy to Sj nd tght tw clssss. t ws nc t s my ld stdnts. Thy'v grwn s mch vr pst svn mnths snc I'v bn thr.

ftrwrds, w hd drnks nd brbq, thn mr drnks nd mr fd. I t drnk mr thn sl, bt ddn't gt t fckd p.

I styd t my strngd wf's plc. I stll lv hr t dth. I thnk sh smtms fls sm.

n Strdy w styd t my plc. My wf gt t s Flsh, wh sh hdn't sn n lng tm.

Sh wsn't flng t gd thgh, s sh lft rly ths mrnng.


I dn't knw f I cn fx r rltnshp, bt I'm stll gng t try.

Bcs wtht hr, I'm nly hlf prsn.

Lv y,

Pnppl

The Streak (Queasymodo)

ELAINE: What's the matter with you?

JERRY: Uh, I don't feel so good.

ELAINE: What's wrong?

JERRY: My stomach. I...I think it was that cookie.

ELAINE: The black and white?

JERRY: Yeah.

ELAINE: Not getting along?

JERRY: I think I got David Duke and Farrarkhan down there.

ELAINE: Well if we can't look to the cookie, where can we look?

JERRY: I feel like I'm going to throw up.

ELAINE: Hey, what about your vomit streak?

JERRY: I know, I haven't thrown up since June 29th, 1980.
[Jerry gets up] 

ELAINE: Where're you going?

JERRY: Fourteen years down the drain.

The Los Angeles Lakers won 33 straight games during the 1971-1972 NBA season. The Boston Celtics won 8 straight NBA championships from 1959 to 1967. From 1952 to 1956, Rocky Marciano won 49 consecutive fights. Cal Ripkin Jr. played 2,632 consecutive games of baseball. And A.C. Green spent 38 years as a virgin while playing in a league that is notorious for its groupies.

I might have them beat.

I definitely have Jerry Seinfeld's eponymously named character on Seinfeld beat. Fourteen years? Bah, that's amateur shit.

I haven't vomited, thrown up, barfed, upchucked, tossed my cookies, puked, hurled, or prayed to the porcelain god for over twenty-three years.

And like Seinfeld (or his character, at least), I remember the exact date that it last happened.

March 4, 1992. My brother's birthday. Mom brought home Harvey's -- makers of making your hamburger a beautiful thing -- for dinner. I eat like a bird these days, so it might be hard to imagine for anyone who didn't know me as an adolescent to imagine, but I ate a double cheeseburger, some BBQ ribs, and cake. Washed it down with cola.

That's a lot of food, but I was quite the portly middle schooler. I was extremely sated, but not overly stuffed.

I went upstairs to my bedroom after dinner and did my homework. Later, sometime during The Arsenio Hall Show, I started feeling nauseated. I tried to sleep but couldn't. Nausea, at least for me, is the most unpleasant feeling I can experience. Let's put it this way: If I could choose between being nauseated all day or skydiving, I'd pick skydiving. And I'm never fucking going skydiving.

Eventually, some time after four o'clock a.m., I barfed. A few minutes later, I barfed again. Then I drank a glass of water from the tap because my throat was burning from stomach acid and I went to sleep.

I missed school that day. I also developed an intense fear of vomiting -- which years later I learned is a thing known as emetophobia -- and a side order of insomnia.

I missed twenty-six days of school that year. Scratch that -- I missed twenty-six days of school that semester.



Over the ensuing months and years, I grew so anxious, worrying too much that I'd start feeling nauseated and have to spend hours on a dizzying carousel of sick.

That eventually went away, although I've had a few relapses. One day when I was in eleventh grade, I started feeling nauseated during morning gym class, and the nausea wouldn't abate. I made it through math class in the afternoon, but had to go home before the end of the school day. Had to get off that ship. Coincidentally, my father came home from work early and puked. The next day, my mother said she was also sick overnight.

But I didn't barf.

In late 2004, my daughter, only a little over a year old, had stomach flu (gastroenteritis, norovirus, whatever it was). Thankfully, at such a young age, she got over it in less than a week. When I got it a week or so later, it was, ironically, much rougher. I spent two weeks sipping Gatorade just to stay alive (ghetto IV) and evacuating things I didn't know my intestines were capable of holding. I think I found the penny I swallowed as a six-year-old and my missing back-up set of car keys.

But I didn't barf.

I know the streak will probably end someday. I had another scare this past Sunday. I woke up with butterflies in my stomach, not a common thing for me. I thought it was probably best to fast for at least the morning, see how things go, but I was talked into eating a six-inch avocado turkey-and-bacon sub from Subway*. I was nauseated the whole day, and half of the next.

But I survived. The streak survived.

It won't last forever. It can't last forever, reasonably.

But I'm going to try to extend this streak for as long as I can.

Twenty-three years, no puking.

I know another champion who had the number 23.

I won't stop not barfing till I retire.


* Don't do that, even if you're feeling like your intestines are coated with iron.

Jesus, what a scare.

I got home early this morning to find that Flash had eaten an entire pack of gum -- wrapper, foil, everything -- from a place I NEVER would have imagined he could have gotten to. He seemed to be his normal self, and I didn't think there was Xylitol in the gum, as it wasn't marketed as sugar free, but I couldn't be positive.

So early this afternoon I asked Leon Yoo​ to search Naver. At first she said there wasn't Xylitol in that brand (Denti-Q), but then she said that there was and sent me a close-up photo of the gum's ingredients (which, even having perfect vision, I couldn't read without a damn magnifying glass).

I've known that Xylitol is toxic to dogs -- hence me putting the gum somewhere I was SURE Flash couldn't get to, even though I didn't think the gum contained Xylitol, but just to be safe; plus, even if the gum didn't have Xylitol, ingesting A WHOLE PACK OF GUM wouldn't do any good to a human being's digestive system, let alone a 5-Kg Dachshund's.

With some Google-fu, I discovered that Xylitol can cause a dangerous in surge in insulin that can kill a dog in 15 minutes. That obviously didn't happen, but reading more I learned that it can also cause liver failure from 24 to 72 hours after ingestion. 

So off to the animal hospital we went.

They did a blood test. As you can guess, the little dude wasn't fond of that procedure. He had to wear a cone, which for a grown dog probably triggers PTSD from being neutered as a puppy.

That 30-minute wait for the results was nerve-racking. When the vet came back, he showed me the results. I've never hated seeing red "up" triangles so much in my life. 

See, as far as I can ken, this can mean an increase or a high level, which could either be good or bad. I *think* the KOSDAQ uses a red "up" triangle to indicate an increase in its average, which messes with my brain. I get that the highest point of said triangle signals an increase, just as I know that the top of a mountain is its peak; but when the "up" triangle is red, my brain shouts, "Danger! Danger! Danger!"

The vet explained that Flash's blood sugar was fine, no danger there. But his liver analysis wasn't ideal; he had two readings that, while not high enough to keep him overnight at the hospital, should be carefully monitored. He prescribed Flash a diet to help his liver stats -- lipids, triffids; hell, I don't remember; I just wanted to go home knowing that my main dude was probably okay -- and some medicine.

The bill was 170,000 won. I'm not complaining. Maybe that's high; I don't know. But I'd pay double, triple, quadruple if it means making sure that my favorite little dude is all right.

He seems to be. 

I joke that Flash is an unstoppable force, like the Juggernaut from Marvel Comics or the T-1000 from Terminator 2, but only because he's done some remarkable, dangerous things. HE JUMPED OUT OF A MOVING VAN! HE FOUGHT AND KILLED A GRIZZLY BEAR TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A SMALL GIRL! HE ATE AN ENTIRE PACK OF XYLITOL GUM!

(Two of those exclamations are true.)  
 
Be well, Flash, you handsome little fucker.

---

Levity: This entire apartment has smelled like mint since. And not subtly. My best guess is that the gum is making Flash fart. He's become a canine Glade air freshener.

And Your Bird Can't Sing

This happened about twelve years ago.

I was taking what would be called, in 19th Century European literature, a constitutional, what would now be called a stroll around the neighborhood, or a clearing of one's head, when I saw a bird hopping on one leg. It was hopping on one leg because it only had one leg, and it was trying, unsuccessfully, to poke its beak through a garbage bag full of food waste.

I stopped and considered this scene while smoking a cigarette. I haven't kicked my nicotine addiction in the twelve years hence, but I've smartened up a bit and don't smoke while walking around in public. I don't think that's relevant to this telling, but there are a lot of things I don't know.

The bird, a magpie, was poking its beak at a yellow plastic garbage bag so desperately. With only one leg, I guessed that it was not going to survive long.

This was profoundly depressing. In a better world, I could have scooped up the poor bird and taken it to a bird hospital, where it could be fitted for a new prosthetic bird leg by bird doctors and eventually rejoin its bird friends. But as depressing as that was at the time, I quickly forgot about it -- because I had other things on my mind: work, the birth of my daughter, the war in Iraq.

Walking home, I noticed that the bird wasn't around. But I could hear a sound, somewhere: wings flapping in a confined space.

I followed that sound into the basement floor of a 3-story villa-style apartment. There, on the ground and frantically trying to flap its wings, was the magpie. It died before I could try do anything to try to save it.

I had forgotten about that for a long time.

I think I recalled it because, now, I'm the magpie.