Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
18
Wag
I had a dog once. Wag. One of the seven great dogs. At any one time, you know, there are only
seven. Did you know that?
—Peter O'Toole as Fisk Senior,
Dean Spanley
, 2008
Solo wasn't the only aging beast in our house. The rest of us were getting sore and creaky; sil-
ver crept across the tops of our heads, though Solo's head remained rich red and black. Only
his muzzle had grizzled. Megan's entire head was a mixture of white and faded mahogany, her
eyes increasingly bleary, as though a fog had descended and was slowly encasing her. She was
thirteen, ancient in setter years. Although she was no longer as strikingly beautiful as in her
youth, we still used her nickname, Scarlett O'Setter, since she remained as self-centered and
spoiled as ever. She continued to demand royalties and obeisance from us. If Solo lay sacked
out on a soft dog bed, she would totter over and collapse on top of him, looking reproachful
if he startled awake and leaped away from their colliding bones. Her days of tearing my ro-
tator cuff by running out the end of her Flexi lead were gone. Seeing a squirrel would send
