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By Roxann Roche
3-1-2002


When Fidley is uncertain or guilty he looks at you with his ears hanging down on each side of his head like puffs of hair on a little bald man. A little man waddles and moves from side to side when he walks. Fidley waddles and sways from side to side when he walks. When you look at Fidley from the front, his face becomes I dimensional and you can’t see the longness of his nose, in this way Fidley looks like a little man with wide nostrils. When you hold his paws and pretend to dance with him, he looks like an awkward midget standing on his tiptoes. In all these ways Fidley looks like a little man.

When Fidley is Macho and self-assured, he walks with his head high like a fancy horse and he moves his bottom from side to side like a pregnant cow. Fidley’s long eyebrow hairs stand up straight like little sprouts of black grass growing from the top of his eyes. His tail sticks straight up like a happy cat’s, when he is macho. When Fidley is confident his ears stand up like scalene triangles on each side of his head, and his gaze meets with nobody, in a way that reminds me of snobby sovereigns. Fidley is all these things when he is self-assured. When Fidley is confident he makes me confident too.

When Fidley is happy he rolls in the grass like a pig
in mud. His legs shoot in the air in every direction it’s hard to keep track of which leg goes where. When Fidley is happy he makes you laugh like he was Forrest Gump. When Fidley is joyful he throws his ball in the air and catches it like a circus seal. When Fidley is happy he makes me happy too.

When Fidley is worried, he wrinkles his brow like a businessman under stress. Fidley makes a high-pitched whine like a hungry puppy. When Fidley is worried he paces from one side of the room to the other, like Popeye in old movie, where Olive Oil has a baby. Fidley gets worried, if part of his family leaves and he can’t watch out for them; in this way he reminds me of a worried mother. Like a sentry he guards the door, and lets no one harm his family. When Fidley is worried he makes me worried too.

Fidley is like a Fat little man when he walks. Fidley is like a snobby sovereign when he holds his head high. Fidley is like Forrest Gump when he makes me laugh. Fidley is like a protective sentry when he guards his family.

Fidley is my best friend.

If you are wondering, Fidley is a dog.