When we moved to Landers on Christmas Eve 1983, we brought with us my Christmas present. A black lab mix (dumbest animals on the planet. Why is it that you take a smart dog like a lab, mix it with any other dog, including other smart ones, and you get a stupid mutt instead of a smarter one?). I named her Mimi after my best friend Noemi. A little boy at our church a Wells Road Baptist Church, Sean, called her Mimi since he couldn’t say Noemi.
Mimi was a fun and playful pup like most. She grew into quite a character. You see, we didn’t allow animals in the house when I was a kid. It just didn’t happen. This is important to this story.
Once it got hot, we’d leave the sliding glass door open to get a breeze through the living room. It helped cool the house and the fresh air was always nice. Especially after a rain. There is nothing like the smell of the desert after rain. If they could bottle that, I’d spritz it through my house daily.
Mimi wanted in. She just knew that life would be grand in the house. I could see it in her eyes. She was also the world’s most patient dog. I kid you not.
She’d lay there next to the slider on the cool arch covered concrete and wait. After ten or twenty minutes, she’d flop one paw in. We’d pretend to ignore her as we read or worked on whatever projects we had going. Her head came next. Whap. Down on the green carpeting. You could almost see the sheer bliss in her eyes. “Soft green stuff. I wonder if this is what grass is?” Another ten or fifteen minutes later, we’d see the next paw.
Here it got interesting. She was laying parallel to the door but now she’s twisted awkwardly. Over the next ten or fifteen minutes, she’ slowly inch around so that her head and paws were laying exactly where they were but the rest of her body was now perpendicular to the doorway. The game was afoot.
She’d inch. Minutes and minutes would go by with each tiny crawl inward. It took hours sometimes. But eventually, the last paw would end up inside the door and mom would say, “Mimi,” in a low warning tone.
She’d jump up and rush back out. Seconds later she’d be laying on the cool concrete parallel to the door.
Minutes would tick by. Then a paw flopped on the inside of the door.
