Summer was almost here and Mindy was lonely. Her most recent romance with a computer programmer named Wilbur had ended when she found out the new laptop he was spending so much time with was not a computer. Her constant scanning of the newspaper personals was leading nowhere. “I’m gainfully employed and have all my own hair and teeth,” bragged one budding Romeo. Terrific, she thought as she slathered cream cheese on her bagel and offered a bite to Harvey, her bulldog. The next one had looked intriguing. “Handsome, successful entrepreneur, mid-forties, still searching for soulmate,” it read. After dialing his number and finding out he was an ice-cream man who lived at home with his mother, her interest waned. This one sounded good: “Attractive professional, great cook, loves rollerblading, skiing, scuba diving, art films, deep conversations and romantic walks on the beach.” Mindy got excited, especially about the beach part, until she read the rest - “Children OK but no pets, please.”. She wiped Harvey’s spittle from her jeans and sighed.
She had heard that the grocery store was a good place to meet a mate but the last time she visited the produce section, the clerk gave her suspicious looks as she hung around pinching the melons. The only one who had spoken to her was an elderly woman who informed her, “Those cantaloupes are overpriced, dear. You should have been here last week when they were on sale.” She signed up for a night course to help learn the rules of football but the instructor politely asked her to leave when her snoring distracted other class participants. “That’s it,” she sniffled as she drove home. “If I never get invited to another SuperBowl party, that’s just fine with me!” “Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree,” she thought. “Maybe I should try to meet another dog lover! At least we’d have one thing in common!” Her search began at a dog show but when she sidled up to a tweedy type who was showing his Borzoi, his snooty attitude rebuffed her. She thought she caught a wink from a Poodle handler who was as handsome as a movie star but soon realized it was intended for the guy standing behind her.
When she dropped in at the obedience school, the most attractive man on the premises was a muscular blond named Helmut but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to sign Harvey up for his course in Schutzhund training. A visit to the vet was no less successful. Harvey got into a fight in the waiting room with a great-looking guy’s wire fox terrier. “I’ll pay for that,” she said weakly as the vet technician bandaged the little yipper’s ear. “Bring Your Dog In!” said the sign in the pet supply store window. It was full of good-looking men without women when she stopped by that Saturday morning. Like a private eye, she followed one neat-looking guy but thought better of it when she saw his eyes glow with pleasure as he played with the spiked prong collars. Before she could pick another prospect, Mindy was asked to leave when Harvey lifted his leg on the cat feather toys. “You have no manners,” she scolded the unrepentant bulldog. “Maybe we better stick to the great outdoors.” Armed with a bag of granola, some liver treats, a water canteen and a reluctant Harvey, she hit the trail at a popular state park, eagerly scoping the terrain for suitable suitors. Except for a gaggle of Girl Scouts, the place was deserted. A quarter-mile into the hike, Harvey was panting profusely and Mindy was picking ticks off her socks. After carrying him bodily back to her car, the exhausted pair went home and took a long nap.
Her luck was no better when she and Harvey tried participating in field trials. “The dummy! DUMMY!,” she screamed as Harvey ignored her throw, lying down to rub himself in the dirt. ‘You really should be ashamed of your attitude,” said the woman who was stewarding. “No wonder your dog doesn’t respond!” A week later at the park, Mindy sailed Harvey’s frisbee in the direction of a smiling Fabio lookalike. She got stuck with a sizable dental bill when a sudden gust of wind propelled the disc directly into the man’s gleaming teeth. To heck with these trophy types, she thought as she and Harvey headed for a coffee house where an intense-looking poet was taking the mike for a poetry slam. His imagery was a bit hard to follow but that’s not what made the audience lose interest. “This really stinks!,” shouted one disgusted observer. Harvey’s severe attack of flatulence cleared the room before the guy began the second stanza. “I give up,” thought Mindy. “I’m going down to the shelter to adopt another dog. At least Harvey will have a pal and it will be somebody new for me to love.”
The heartrending barks of lonely dogs echoed through the cavernous building as Mindy and Harvey entered. Most prospective adoptees looked too large and rambunctious for her but in a crate far to the back, Mindy spotted a terrier cross with the saddest eyes she had ever seen. She knelt before its enclosure and spoke gently as the adorable mongrel nuzzled her hand. Harvey whimpered approvingly and stuck his tongue through the chain link fence. At that moment, a longhaired man wearing a biker’s leather jacket walked up accompanied by a shelter worker. “I want this one,” he said, pointing to the Benji clone. “We just got him,” said the worker. “We haven’t even had time to give him a name.” “I was going to take him,” protested Mindy as the attendant opened the gate. The man took off his bandanna to place it lovingly around the dog’s neck. “Maybe we should let the dog decide,” said the puzzled worker. “Okay, little fella, who do you want to take you home?” The mutt whined and flopped down on the cement, resting his sad little face on his shaggy paws. “Obviously, he can’t decide either,” laughed the man. “Let’s take him out for a walk. Maybe that will help him make up his mind.” As the sun went down over the hills behind the shelter, Mindy and her new friend Mike were still sitting on a bench, smiling and chatting as Harvey and his new buddy romped in the grass.
On any given Sunday, you can see them walking on the beach. If they’re not tossing a tennis ball, they’ll be holding hands, an obviously happy couple with their two dogs, a chubby bulldog named Harvey and a shaggy little guy who finally got a name. “It had to be Kismet,” they both agreed.