SO NOW WE HAVE RUFUS

There are several reasons why we bought Rufus, but the primary one was that I wanted some company at home after I retired. With the genius still working full time, I didn’t want to be too lonely all day while he was gone. After all, I had not really had that experience since we first married. From the time that Ashley was born, eighteen months to the day after we married, either I was raising the kids, going to school, or teaching. So I wanted a “baby” to keep me happy.

The thing about Rufus is that he’s not a dog. Now hear me out (or read me out) on this before you judge me to be completely over the top. There is a rationale to what I’m saying. Number one, he doesn’t shed like a dog. I have never found any hair on the furniture or my clothes or the car. Number two, he doesn’t smell like a dog. Even when he needs a bath, the odor is not unpleasant and it’s never a dog odor. And Number three, he doesn’t look like a dog. When my friend, Felix, first saw him he said, “That’s not a dog; that’s a stuffed animal!” So I maintain that he is at least part human.

He also understands what I’m saying. This morning I told him that Jesse (Jim’s dog) was coming for a visit and he promptly got onto his perch on the back of the sofa where he can see everything outside to await her arrival. He stayed right there for thirty minutes until she got here. And then of course, he went wild, jumping down and running around and crying pitifully until she came in the door. Then he was ecstatic. Jesse was excited too, but much more ladylike about it.

I compare having Rufus in the bed next to me to the time when the children were babies. For the middle of the night feeding I always put them in bed with me and we would both doze for a while before I put them back in their own beds. Oh, I know, everyone told me that was dangerous, that I could roll over on them and smother them. They said the same to me about Rufus, but I never smothered the babies and I’m not going to hurt Rufus either; he’s a part of my sleep time now.

And the last reason that I know he is part human is because of his name. He is named after the genius and that’s bound to make him a very smart little man.