BILL CADY Word Count: 149,227 - At My Friend's Place

Bill Cady, The Early Years … by Bill Cady 183
walk around in your damned underwear whenever you want.”
have all the dogs you want.”
So, it looked like that was my only choice. I was almost seventeen and I wanted a
dog a lot. Dogs have always been my best friends, and I was lonely. I gave up on the
idea again, but only for a while. A guy I knew told me about a friend of his who was
selling shepherd-mix pups for only five bucks apiece. Even though I knew I couldn‟t
have one, I went to look at „em, anyway.
Man, was I glad I went.
I think there were eight puppies in the pen, all black, with the gold trim you see
on shepherds. They were three-fourths Shepherd and one-fourth Border Collie. When I
got to the pen, seven of „em came running to the fence to lick my hands and be petted.
One pup, a male, just sat there in the back of the pen looking at me. His head was cocked
to one side and he had an intelligent look about him. The expression on his face said,
“I‟m bored, dude. Show me whatcha got.”
I told the guy I wanted to see that one, so he went in and got him. When I held
him in my hands, he wagged his tail and licked my face. “Damned glad you had the
good sense to pick me,” he advised. “Now, let‟s blow this pop stand and go have us
some fun!” No sooner said, et cetera, et cetera.
I took my little bundle of joy back to the house. He cost me five bucks. Ears that
came up halfway, like a shepherd‟s, then flopped at the tip. Beautiful soft black hair that,
even as a puppy, formed sheets of waves on his back, sides and shoulders.
The goddamned animal was gorgeous.
Mom was half talked into it when he licked her face, but she said she‟d have to
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