How Friday Ate My Book And Made My Day

When my daughter Keats was a little girl, she and I went to 4th Street in Berkeley one day to get away from the Los Gatos heat and to do a little don't-really-have-money-but-we-can-look shopping. We had not anticipated the Milo Foundation having an adopt-a-dog day right there by the Crate and Barrel Outlet store. We certainly had not even thought about Mona being there, this little white dog who announced as soon as we met her, I'm going home with you. As an adopted person who has announced that same sentence to many people and have had many wonderful aventures because of such...uh...willingness...I was an easy mark.

I hadn't thought to consider that in a few weeks time Keats and I would be getting on a plane and heading to my parents' house in New Hampshire for a big chunk of the summer while her dad stayed in California working like a dog...and now with a dog he had not chosen.

After a week, her dad called. "Mona just ate all the signed copies of books you own," he said. "She picked them out and chewed the shit out of them." Those weren't his exact words--he's very well spoken, but it was a lot time ago so, yet again, and probably another reason for our divorce, I'm speaking for him.

He was, uh, pissed. His family was on vacation and he was stuck with this whim they'd brought home from 4th Street.

I had a friend bring Mona to the airport and we flew her to us where she could be with those who had chosen in the first place.

So when Keats sent me a video of her fairly new puppy Friday eating her copy of Making a Mess: Writing and Pooping, I felt ballooned with happiness. I have watched that video countless times. I love watching the abandon with which Friday graws on the pages I created and the sweet tone of Keats' voice as she says, "Honey. That was important to me," pauses, and then laughs a little. There's something about 1. the fact that she called her dog Honey and 2. the way Keats says important, hitting the first t in a way I didn't know she spoke, and so it made me delighted to meet her in this new way.

Maybe dogs can smell the love we carry in our hands when we hold books that matter to us. Maybe the dogs just want in and are showing us they can digest a book just as well as any stinking human can.

p.s. Somewhere on this website is a link where you can get a PDF copy of the book Friday found so delicious. It's free for both of you.