April 19, 2021

White Dog sat with Steve on the couch semi-privately enjoying leftovers from the other night's seafood feast. We had repurposed the scallops into a lovely salad with spinach, avocado, and tangerine segments for the humans. The White Dog Army shared a couple of fish planks and each had a shrimp. 

No pup complained but I looked down at Bella's bowl as she finished and noticed her shrimp remained. "Sweet Girl, you love shrimps. Why is it forgotten in your bowl?" She looked at her reflection in the stainless steel of the dish. "I don't want to be a weirdo?" was her reply. I bent over and cupped her face in my hand. "A weirdo? How would shrimp make you a weirdo?"

Bella looked earnest and sad. "Bailey told me the story of how flamingoes are made to be pink...by eating shrimp. She said a little girl like me would not need to eat many shrimp to have that happen to me. Since she was bigger and darker she told me that she could tolerate more shrimp without changing so I am going to let her eat it so I can stay a White Dog."

"Tiny Dancer," I told her. "Enjoy the shrimp. While Bai was right about shore birds, she was quite wrong about beautiful Eskies ladies. I promise you will enjoy this infrequent treat without loss of your lovely color."

Really?" Bella asked. I glared at Bailey waiting in the doorway to swoop in on the shrimp. "Really, crunch it up right now!"