Header Challenge: That's Silly

From Topsail, April 2011

This good-looking couple on the beach in North Carolina is my daughter, Adella, and her best bud, Clyde. We rescued Clyde a year ago this July shortly after her guinea pig died. It was time; Clyde was waiting for her. I think Tapper the Pig knew that and made way for the next mammal. I think animals know.

When we first saw Clyde, he was in a small kennel at the ASPCA kennel in Monroe, Connecticut, being bounced on by what seemed to be three dozen million Jack Russell terriers. "There's your dog," I said to Dell. "Under those other ones." And so he was.

Almost a year later, he walks the line between devoted and needy, often falling over one way AND the other. He's a piece of work. He will be a tough act to follow for the men in her life many years down the road.

Clyde's devotion is to my daughter only. He does not multitask; he does not share. I am an onlooker, a bill payer, in his world. That he can run so hot and cold so quickly is amazing. Still, when he is under her spell, he is the silliest, most compliant pup in the world. He's also pretty funny looking when his ears catch air.

Please visit the other head bangers listed in the banner to catch their take on "that's silly" this week.