Adopting a dog

I was reading the Sunday paper around the birthday of my dog that had recently died. I wasn't interested in getting another dog but glanced through the Classifieds just out of curiosity. Under dog adoptions, I noticed an ad for a black-and-white Lhasa Apso, which was the breed and color of my dog that had died.

I must have interpreted it as karma. I made an appointment to meet the dog but was told other people were ahead of me. When the dog came out, his front half was full and furry, but his back half was completely shaven-except for the few long hairs dangling from the tip of his tail. He had been hit by a car, been operated on, and now had a steel plate and 12 steel pins in his left hip. But you'd never guess there was a thing wrong with him.

We played with each other for a little while and he came home with me. Unlike my other dog, he was a little rascal who was always getting into trouble and made me laugh all the time. But he was my buddy.