A Dog in a Bag

But Fortunate to Have a Pen

Cody on his way to Boston

I have been in too many dark places. The first thing I remember of my short life so far is that I was lying in the dark and bouncing about. I do not know how long this went on. Sometimes it was uncomfortably warm, sometimes it was unpleasantly cold. I could hear well enough, and sometimes a tiny bit of light would come through what I later learned was a shipping box, but it was very lonely. And somewhat frightening.

Then a week ago I stopped moving. Paws, very unusually shaped paws, had opened the box and brought me out into full light. It was so bright I could not see at first but I heard laughter and squeals of excitement. I felt myself pass from paw to paw — No! These were not paws! These were hands, the hands of children. As my eyes adjusted, I saw them clearly. Young humans, though I have no idea how I knew that. Perhaps being an Intelligent Dog comes equipped with knowledge like that.

The children were in what is called a Kindergarten class. There was an adult human holding me at first. She was telling them about me. She said that my name was Cody, which it most assuredly is not, but being uncertain of my actual name, I let that go. A rose by any other name will smell as sweet, I knew. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did.