Very Much Alive, Thank You

After several rounds of emails about a summer house-sitting situation in Mill Valley, I arranged to meet the folks this Sunday pre-brunch date.
They were in front of the place as Belle and I pulled up in our convertible, and as she bounded out, they stared at me bewildered, finally saying, “Oh … you have a dog?”
I wasn’t sure if it was a good fit for a bunch of reasons, anyway, but part of the deal of house-sitting this more rural property was that there were two dogs involved.
The thing is though, I had not only written to them about Belle –– even answering one of their questions about including other dogs by giving her weight.   They also told me they read the bio on my website, one of which mentions Belle.  Plus, the thing is that the first image of me on this site, is the b&w photo of me and the little dog.
I casually reminded her about all that and she muttered something like, “Oh, I guess I thought your dog was dead” –– which beyond being a total projection/misreading, would make me more than a little creepy to have created so many images of her as some kind of bizarre Online Shrine.
“No,” I replied, realizing that this minimally-desired possibility had instantly evaporated.   “She’s very much alive.”
And with that, we drove off to brunch at Cavallo to share my art with friends.