Page 561 - WhyAsInY

sWeet sixteen
a bit more detail below, I was around the house a fair amount in 1991 and three months or so in 1992, and, when I was home, I was generally seated at the desk in the library. During that period, Francis and I became friends. She would come into the library and curl up on the small blue couch, sometimes next to me if I was seated there. Francis was a calming influence.
Not so Gus. Gustav Meyer Yaverbaum—Gus, the wonder dog— came into our lives on Labor Day weekend 1991 and was a powerful presence in, and a beloved part of, our home for the remainder of our stay in Scarsdale. In fact, you could almost say that the house revolved around him. We purchased him as a two-month-old pup from a breeder in Rockland County, and he was thoroughly adorable out of the gate. He was cream-colored, unlike the rest of the Labrador retriever puppies with whom he was cavorting when we first laid eyes on him, and he was undoubtedly the pick of the litter. My first dog!
Well, not really. It’s unfair to say that he was my dog. He was first and foremost Kathy’s, and second and next-most the boys’. Kathy did most of the feeding and walking, and the boys played with him after school and almost whenever they had the opportunity. They also brushed him, hugged him, petted him, and generally tussled with him. Each school day afternoon, hearing the rumble of the school bus, Gus would position himself just inside the front door and not budge until the boys would enter and greet him. I neither fed nor walked him. I did, however, pet him and throw a tennis ball for him in the backyard, off the Vineyard porch, and in the Scarsdale field where other dog owners came to play with their pets during what Kathy referred to as “doggie play group.” He was always there, close at hand. And I fell in love with him over time. (As I did with Francis; I cried like a baby when we had to put her down. Moussika was not as appealing as his mother, and one day he just upped and ran away, never to return. No tears were shed for him.)
Gus had his strengths, but obedience was not at all one of them. Kathy, in fact, took him to obedience school, where Gus thought it appropriate to sleep during class. I believe that he failed out, leaving the first black mark on his permanent record. When Kathy walked him, it
• 543 •