Bobby's ball down the boardwalk
My new best friend, Bobby, ten-month old former Carollton, Alabama squirrel dog, and current Waterhole Branch, Alabama lapdog, is on both counts a really smart boy. He aims to please, and loves to be right. Benny, who gave me Bobby, told me he didn’t fritter any of his time on city dog tricks like to sit or, say, fetch a ball. But just one strip of chicken jerky and he had the sit thing down pat.
Then, earlier this week, I found a tennis ball. I picked it up and told Bobby, someday we’re gonna play this game, Bring Me the Ball. Oh, what the hell, I thought, rared back on the spot and threw it. Bobby turned into a black and white blur racing to claim it. How did he know the fuzzy green ball was prey, and why’d he bring it to me? And why oh why did I get such a kick out of the whole spectacle. I was fairly hooting. My daughter Emily came outside to see what was the matter with me. Probably some neighbors’ curtains were pulled back. What’s that social media shorthand, LMAO?
So this morning at the Branch, on the deck with a cup of coffee, I wondered could we REALLY urbanize this new skill. Like chunk the ball down a boardwalk, not across the yard. Well...if it’s true that laughing boosts our immune system, this back-and-forth with Bobby, his tail-waggin’ and quick-legged show just might keep me around another twenty years.