I was downtown today. I dropped off Akemi, who was meeting a friend for lunch, and was on my way back from purchasing my 2014 cologne (I change it every year – and location. John Varvatos Vintage is Tokyo, Aramis’ Tuscany Montreal, and the sickening scent of Jean-Paul Hevin’s Le Beau Male will always remind me of that year in Toronto. 2014 is the year of Wood cologne by Dsquared2 that Akemi says smells like cucumber, but likes all the same because cucumber was her go-to snack growing up. Wait. I was talking about something else before this parenthetical tangent. What was it? Oh, yeah!) when I happened upon a tiny french bulldog tied up outside a craft shop. Even though its owner was nowhere in sight, the little gal seemed certain she was due to return any second, eyes fixed expectantly on the shop’s entrance, barely able to sit still she was so excited. I watched as a couple stopped to say hello and snap her picture, then another couple, then a Japanese student carrying a faux pink purse who stopped to pet her, started to leave, thought better of it and returned, pet her some more, started to leave again, returned again, and pet her some more, scanning the area for the dog’s owner before finally moving on. I approached and the dog was super friendly, up on her hind legs, batting me with her front paw, rubbing her forehead into my leg. It had been fifteen minutes since I’d happened upon the poor pooch – and still, no sign of the owner. Not cool. I won’t even leave my dogs unattended in a locked car, or in my backyard despite the fact that it is fenced in, so the prospect of someone leaving their dog unattended on a downtown sidewalk annoyed me greatly. I retreated up the sidewalk where I could keep my eye on things and patiently awaited the owner. Fifteen minutes turned into twenty minutes. Then twenty-five. Then thirty! And, all the while, the dog waited, perking up every time someone stepped out of the shop. Finally, by noon, I had to retreat to a quieter area, across the street, so I could call in to a scheduled conference call – and keep an eye on the dog. Ideally, I’d be sitting back in my nice, quiet car discussing the state of certain projects but, instead, I was out on the street, dog-sitting. Eventually, partway through my call, and well over thirty minutes since I first noticed the dog, the owner finally walked out of the shop, claimed her, and left. If I wasn’t still on the conference call, I would have dashed across the street and said something. Given the number of dogs that go missing, even from the presumably safe confines of their front yards, you would think people would be a little more careful about leaving theirs unattended. I think that, in the future, I’m going to carry around some pre-made messages I can affix to a dog’s collar for situations like the one I just described where I can’t stick around to reprimand. It’ll say: “In the time you were away shopping, I could have stolen your dog. Think about that the next time you choose to leave it unattended.”
On a brighter note, the polls have closed in the voting for the upcoming Book of the Month Club selection and the winner is…
And it wasn’t even close. My vote actually went to Snowblind that came in a distant third. Anyway, our winner…
TERMS OF ENLISTMENT By Marko Kloos
The book will be released January 28th but sources (you know who you are, eager readers) have already picked up digital versions for their kindle – and the early reviews have been strongly positive.
So, to give your slower readers time to prep, our Book of the Month Club discussion on Terms of Enlistment will convene Monday, March 3rd!
In that time, I will undertake to read all seven books in contention for our new and improved BotMC discussion and let you know if we, in my humble opinion, made the right choice.
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