Dave's cousin, Lathan, arrived from Australia for a couple of days' visit. What a lovely guy. Unlike Dave, he is thoroughly comfortable sitting on the floor. I wonder if he is part dog somewhere. I can just lie alongside of him and rest my head on his leg while he scratches behind my ear. He's very like Dave in his softer moments - very gentle indeed.
Bonny. Yes, indeed, Bonny.
I think she and Dave have got something going. We went out to the airport to meet her when she came back from Norfolk Island, and it was really wonderful. I hadn't seen her since late September, and I was really excited. Bonny has that effect on people, especially Dave.
We seem to be spending half our time round at her place lately, and the last week has been a bit hard, as Bonny has a three storey apartment and just now stairs aren't my favourite thing. I am gradually training her to feed me on command, and on the whole she has a much better line in treats than Dave, and is more easily trained. I suspect she's more intelligent, but I'd never let Dave know I thought that.
You should have been a fly on the wall a week or two back. Miranda came round to pick up her piano and put it on the truck with her stuff for Waiheke, and Bonny happened to be here. Dave introduced them, and after a couple of preliminary sniffs, Miranda asked if Bonny had ever owned a preschool in Mt Eden in the seventies. Yes, she had. "I worked there," said Miranda. "You were my boss."
Well, she appears to be Dave's boss now. Small world.
Now I have two people to look after. For a dog, that's pretty special. And Bonny is keen on walking, too. Not just lawn-mowing but real walking. And living on the edge of Papatoetoe golf course as she does, there's heaps of opportunity. We also went for a walk around the roads near her place. It was weird. I had to go on the leash. Bonny said there were a good many people of Indian or Asian origin in the area and they tended to be scared of dogs or not like them very much. How could you not like dogs?
Dave reckoned the word for outcast, "pariah", comes from the Indian term for a wild dog, so perhaps there's some kind of history. Pity. No kid should grow up without a dog for company.
Bonny's down in Christchurch right now, at a wedding, and Dave's at a bit of a loss. He's even doing extra housework, I think, just to keep busy. There was an article in the Herald yesterday that said guys that did a lot of housework got more sex, but I don't think that's it. Didn't work last time, Dave reckons.
Catch you later.
