The Duke of Georgetown (Part 1) (18/30)
The Duke of Georgetown (Part 1) (18/30)
I gotta see about a dog.
Duke is the result of a date.
When I was a sophomore in college, a girl I liked told me that she loved animals. My nineteen year-old brain reasoned that the logical thing to do would be to take her to the local animal shelter. None of the possible externalities of this idea occurred to me, of course. I figured we’d meet some cute dogs and have a great time and fall in love and go on with our lives.
The first dog we met was a two month old black lab mix with a white spot on his chest and the kindest, most knowing eyes of any earthly being you’ll ever meet. He had the puppy equivalent of that rare magnetic charisma that all of us envy and aspire towards. Everyone wanted to be around him; when he was in your presence, the rest of the world faded away.
We saw other dogs that day. And frankly, I feel bad for them. We hardly paid them any mind, constantly glancing back at the black puppy to see what he was up to. Though neither of us said it out loud, it was a foregone conclusion that that dog had a new home.
After we made our rounds we visited the front desk to ‘casually inquire’ about some of the dogs. We learned that the black puppy’s name was Mork, evidently a reference to the late-seventies sitcom Mork and Mindy. If this wasn’t reason enough to adopt him — to save him from this cruel mismatch of moniker and character — it also happened to be the week of my birthday and Free Adoption Week. Ha.
At nineteen, the male brain has developed just enough to be adept at devising clever arguments for doing what you’ve already decided you want to do while conveniently avoiding the realities of the situation that might render your decision a bad idea. This worked out well in this particular instance; I lived in a fraternity house, had no source of income aside from student loans and my parents, and had virtually no free time. Adopting a dog made about as much sense as buying a boat.
Luckily I wasn’t going to let minor details like insolvency get in the way of fate.
Stay tuned! This limited series will continue tomorrow with part 2 of The Duke of Georgetown…