<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>Chapter 12.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>Three’s A Crowd<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>Three months before the wedding, Curt’s parents helped him finance a ten by fifty-five foot trailer for our first home together. He moved in and as wedding gifts arrived, they went into daily use. Each Saturday, I went over to clean and straighten up my new home to be. Curt hated to do dishes because one of his college jobs was as a busboy and dishwasher in a restaurant. Our eight place settings of dishes were piled in the sink, waiting for my Saturday visit!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>When we returned home from our wedding, Tammy and I moved into the trailer. On the first evening, I was putting things away when I started to feel decidedly unwell. As I finished tossing my cookies with Tammy anxiously watching from the bathroom doorway, the phone rang. Curt had just finished a dash to the lavatory at school. He had picked up the syllabus for his chemistry class and was headed home. We couldn’t figure-out whether it was flu or food poisoning, but we spent the second night as a married couple taking turns being sick. We decided that surviving our wedding and beginning our married life with a mutual bug meant that it presaged a happy marriage. No matter what the future held, it had to go smoother than the beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>After three years as a team, a very strong bond united Tammy and me. She had always liked Curt and began wagging and pulling me toward him whenever we met on campus. However, she made it quite clear that she thought he should go home after dinner. She lay on her rug in the corner of the kitchen and gave mournful sigh,s looking toward her food dish. As long as Curt remained in the house, she refused to eat. He had to go for an evening stroll in order for her to touch her dinner. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>One day when I took her out to relieve her, Tammy began digging a hole. She had never shown an interest in digging before. I checked to see what she was up too. She had carried Curt’s tennis shoes outside with her and was burying them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>She continued to greet Curt effusively when we crossed paths at school, but she turned her face to the corner and ignored him at home. I wondered if all those psychology classes she had seemed to sleep through hadn’t taught her a thing or two about behavior modification. Was my girl trying to use operant conditioning to train Curt to stay at school and leave us to enjoy our home without a third party?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>Poor Curt had run the gauntlet of my friends, who wondered how I could be interested in such a quiet person. My artistic uncle felt he was too dull for me because he was a science major. My music professor objected that I was too young to think of marriage. When I asked how old he thought I was he guessed seventeen. I pointed out that I had taken that first freshman music appreciation class two years earlier. Although reasonably bright, I wasn’t a child genius so must be older than he thought. Now, Curt had to convince a hardheaded Labrador that he wanted to take care of us both. He hoped to make her life and job a little easier. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>I don’t think she thought she needed any help taking care of me. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>Tammy always waited patiently for me to wake each morning to take her out to relieve her. She soon discovered that Curt couldn’t easily ignore her desire to go out if she stood on his side of the bed and stared at him at close range. She was too polite to make a sound or put her paws or head on the bed. Her anxious breathing and intent stare inches from his sleeping face never failed to wake him. Making this discovery mollified her a bit about sharing our home with a third person. She also liked strolling over to the trailer park office with Curt to get the mail. Since she didn’t have to guide on these trips, she accompanied Curt carrying her leash in her mouth to comply with the dog on leash rule. Being the well-behaved lady she was, she kept the correct at heel position on these walks. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>The people in the trailer park gave a potluck supper for us and decorated a money tree to celebrate our marriage. Our neighbors were very nice and I started to do some babysitting for some of them. Tammy enjoyed small children, but babies made her nervous. She stationed herself near the baby and if it began to fuss, she raced to find me. She grabbed my hand in her mouth and pulled me toward the baby. She seemed to be saying, “Quick, it’s making noises, fix it!” One four year old got so rowdy, that I was amused to hear Curt order, “Jeannie, sit! Rest!” I told him that only worked with dog guides. Although Tammy finally accepted that others would be part of our home, becoming tolerant toward them, She still felt that I was her special responsibility. The operative word here was “<b>hers!” <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'>Even out of harness, she felt she was on duty. If she thought I was about to trip over a lawn sprinkler in the yard or bump my shins against a coffee table indoors, she rushed to take my hand in her mouth to gently guide me around the danger. If she had been able to talk and was asked what her job was, I think she would hagve said that she was my keeper!<b> </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:200%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>