I want a puppie for my birthday

The Tube was busy this morning but I still managed to find a seat for myself. I put my wet umbrella between my legs, opened my collection of short stories by Alice Munro, and just disappeared into that rumbling metallic worm. It would have been nice if the train kept going and going for hours, days even, and just never stopped. I love Alice Munro's stories - they made me wish for that train to travel all the way to Canada and drop me outside Montreal's downtown station.

When the train arrived in Charing Cross, I noticed a blind man sitting a few seats away. He had a beautiful golden retriever by his legs. The dog had a perfectly round skull and the shiniest coat I've ever seen on a dog. He also had really sad, black eyes.

Kevin told me that golden retrievers aren't much fun because they slobber everywhere and they will do whatever you want - they have no personalities. I don't see why I should want a dog that's hard to handle... for that I already have my daschund in Brazil and her two puppies. Kevin keeps thinking about his little devil-looking pug, and I keep wondering when we'll have a house that fits all the dogs we want to keep.