The Pursuit of Happiness

I walk Frankie the dog every day for about an hour. Seven days a week. She seems to enjoy leashing me up and hauling me around. I find the time okay, too. I often spend it thinking about how animals along our various evolutionary chains differ, and how we’re the same. 

For example, when we happen on a fire hydrant, Frankie stops and sniffs and adds a little something to the social mix hydrants afford our canine friends. Later that day, I’ll stop into Facebook and sniff around and add something to the social mix it affords human beings. Fire hydrants and social media are, obviously… well, you get the drift.  

We almost always walk by State Senator Bob Ballinger’s house. When we do, Ballinger’s dog – some kind of German Shepherd mutt – rushes over to the yard’s high walled privacy fence and barks and snarls like a maniac. This is the highlight of Frankie’s walk. She rushes to her side of the fence and barks and snarls and barks back – like the 12- pound maniac she is. The dogs can’t see each other over the fence, but they have a hell of a good time pretending to be fierce creatures. 

During their 60-second conversation, I stand on the sidelines and wonder why Republican primary voters traded Bryan King, a successful businessman and farmer – and a devoted family man with impeccable evangelical Christian and Conservative credentials – for a nincompoop like Bob Ballinger. And… just as I’m about to reach a remarkable and profound insight into what goes on in the hearts and minds of Arkansas’ voters, Frankie finishes her conversation and insists we move along.  

When we get home, we share carbohydrates and licks and pats. The boss, who is sitting on the porch drinking a cup of cream and syrup (with a little coffee thrown in), archly observes our arrival and rituals therein.   

“That dog has you wrapped around her little paw,” she sneers. “She’s like a Queen, and you’re her fawning subject.”  

“It takes one to know one,” I (might) reply. But, recognizing my link in the evolutionary chain, I fawningly nod and smile instead.   

Happy Easter.