Uptown Girl

If I had known that yesterday, I and a remarkable woman I've never met in Illinois, would inadvertently drive a hundred people over to this blog, I might have planned to tell you this a little sooner. I was hoping for exactly that sort of traffic when I began lobbying my friends and co-workers, some twenty hours ago, to donate money (for Stella's second surgery).

It was originally Barney's idea (same guy we visit - from the previous post) that I should have a fundraiser for a dog. The conversation started a few weeks ago with him wanting to give me money from his Social Security check. Man lives on eight hundred dollars a month, he's wanting to pay my vet bills with it. Yeah, okay Barney, I hear you. I politely refuse his money. The trouble is, he drinks, so if I try to argue with him, he just digs in and gets in the zone. The only way to win is to hope he forgets, which happens, but it's temporary. I was over there recently tending to (what I call) his junkyard garden and he launched off about how we were going to pay for Stella's (first) surgery.

"How many people have you met in this town over the last twenty years?" he demanded to know.

"Many", I said, rearranging his flower pots and trying to figure a way out.

"So, if everybody you know and all them people you talk to on the computer was to pitch in ten dollars, how much would it be?"

"Barney," I said, "if everybody I know pitched in ten dollars, I could pay for both surgeries and get Stella her very own inflatable swimming pool to do water therapy in this summer."

There was a pause while he took a long draw from his cigarette. Then he stood up, tossed what was left of the butt in a coffee can and shook his cane at me for effect.

"I'm gonna' need a pitcher of that", he announced, "so get busy and you're takin' the money 'cause I love her too you know."

For reasons I'll explain another time, his words made it much easier for me to sit down and create a donation page. It is for anyone who might see fit to invest in the future happiness of a dog. You can pledge as little as ten dollars. Those pledging twenty-five dollars or more should send along their snail-mail address (she is a carny dog so naturally, we've got prizes). There's a link in the sidebar too, in case you get lost. I might add that I am terribly impressed by the number of people who have already made a contribution to her cause, whether online or in person. I'll be sure to let you know if we get anywhere near that inflatable swimming pool.

Barney's garden, May 2009)