Pure Joy by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page B

back, the size of a thumbprint. She is so constantly being loved and cuddled that I thought maybe someone with dirty hands had picked her up when I wasn’t watching. I meant to wash off the spot but was busy and forgotabout it. A few days after that I noticed a second tiny smudge. Who was picking up Minnie with dirty hands when I wasn’t around? I washed the spots, and they didn’t come off, which was even more annoying—what did that person have on their hands when they picked her up?
    And the next day I was really upset. There was a fine dusting of pale, pale beige spots on one hip—someone had obviously spilled café au lait on her (coffee with
lots
of milk, which the French often drink for breakfast). Who could be that careless around Minnie? I hoped the coffee hadn’t been hot when they spilled it, but she seemed perfectly happy. (And let’s face it, like kids, dogs never care how dirty they are. A little dirt never hurt anyone!) But it still bothered me that she was being handled with dirty hands, and now someone was spilling coffee with milk on her. I mentioned it to my assistant, who loves her and she loves him, and he had noticed the spots too. But since Minnie was hanging out in the kitchen, having something spill on her could happen. We were puzzled.
    But the day after, the café au lait spots were darker, and there were more of them, and over the next few weeks, suddenly Miss Minnie had acquired a whole bunch of small beige spots, dusted across her side and part of her back. They still looked like pale coffee spots, but now we knew that they weren’t fingerprints or coffee drops, she actually had palebeige spots. They seemed funny looking at first, but now we’re used to them. (I was highly insulted when a friend said jokingly, “You should have called her ‘Spot.’ ”) Over a period of several weeks, the spots came out and darkened a little, and they are indeed a kind of pale beige/tan color. She is still mostly white, but she does have these spots. The next time I saw the vet, he told me that white Chihuahuas almost always get those pale beige spots somewhere on their body, not all over, although they are invisible for the first few months. It explained his description of her as “white and tan.” And to his discerning experienced eye, he had seen the first hint of them long before I did. So Minnie does have a dusting of pale beige spots and is no longer pure white. She is just as cute, they are almost rose-colored in places and very pale. But it’s a good thing I didn’t name her Snow White, or I might have had to add “with spots.” Needless to say, I love her just as much with spots!
    Thus far Minnie’s international life only includes Paris. Theoretically, to go there she needs detailed paperwork that we have to apply for in advance
every
time she travels and leaves the country. It’s a nuisance to redo it each time, but it can’t be avoided. Customs officials are supposed to look at her travel documents and health certificates when she enters France, and returns to the United States, and I carry themdiligently. But so far no one has ever looked at them in France, they just wave her through, and occasionally they look at her documents when we re-enter the States. But you always need the papers in case they want to see them.
    The only problem I have had, and not a big one, has been with airport security in the United States. Each time they tell me to “strip” her, take off her collar, harness, leash, and all her clothes for a security check so they can “frisk” her. It always annoys me. Frightening-looking men saunter through security, and meanwhile they are frisking my trembling Chihuahua, who is terrified of them. And they actually do frisk her. Please. One of the security guards actually asked if she would “attack” them. Are you kidding? Being afraid of Minnie is like being afraid of a hamster—and in fact, the hamsters we had years ago were a lot fiercer than Minnie. But