Meet Carl the Dog

Oh how you can tell after reading this that we’re the parents of small children!

My wife last week went on her first business trip since our twins were born nearly three years ago. She was only away two days but oh how our daughter has punished both of us for mommie’s “betrayal.” Temper tantrums from a normally well-tempered girl. Screaming, hissy fits, crankiness and all around sourpussedness. We just can’t get either of them to stop whining when they hardly ever whined before this.

Last Saturday, despite a lashing rainstorm I decided we needed to maintain our morning routine of hitting the University District farmer’s market to pick up our favorite Honeycrisp apples and delicious Belle’s Epicurean desserts. It turned out to have been a miserable decision. Belle’s didn’t come–though the chocolate truffle lady was there (yum). Both twins were surly. If it wasn’t the rain it was something else.

I was looking for any excuse to distract them: a cookie, a honey stick…When before my eyes I saw a dog with its master who was the spitting image of Carl the Dog, the famous Rottweiler hero of a popular children’s book series. So I said “Hey everyone, it’s Carl the Dog!” It didn’t get the desired effect from the kids who were trying desperately to maintain their surliness. But the dog’s master looked at me and said: “It IS Carl the Dog.” The man in question had a little twinkle in his eyes and I thought he was kidding me, so I said (and probably made a bit of a fool of myself in the process): “You’re kidding, right?” To which he replied: “No, it really IS Carl the Dog.” And it was. Despite the fact that I’m not wild about Rottweilers, I have to admit that Carl was a handsome specimen (much more impressive than as portrayed in the book artwork), all muscle and brawn but with a gentle manner. Carl’s owner told me he was a sweetheart of a dog and I believed him.

In kid-friendly Seattle, this news is something like a Brad Pitt sighting in Beverly Hills (it shows you how far outside the glamor circuit Seattle is). I had no idea that Alexandra Day, the book series author, lived in Seattle. You wouldn’t really know she lived here from the book drawings which I suppose are done by another artist. My wife knew all along that the author lived here and was surprised I didn’t.

All I can say is: “I’ll be!”