Is Freckles Home
And We Are Well

ERICA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

S

everal children in our
neighborhood think of us
only as Freckles' family.
Three-year-old Isaac, next
door, refers to me as Freckles'
Mommy, my daughters as
Freckles' sisters and my son as
Freckles' brother. He makes it
clear: In his eyes, the cocker
spaniel is the critical resident of
our house. We're lucky she lets
us live here.
Freckles is an older dog, ex-
ceedingly tolerant of children,
ambitious only about getting her
chest scratched and mooching
occasional cooking scraps. She
has come to expect the doorbell
to toll for her. No matter how
distant she is from the front of
the house, how sound asleep she
is under the kitchen table, how
late at night it is, she greets
every ring or knock with wild en-
thusiasm. She dashes to the
door, barking and jumping.
At first we thought this was a
sign of great guard-dog instincts,
but now we know better. Ws just
that she thinks it's for her.
I respond to the doorbell. A
couple of children stand on my
front steps looking at me as if

She is a dog
of great
sweetness.

surprised that a grown-up lady,
not a small dog, has opened the
door.
"Is Freckles here?" one asks.
Well, yes. She didn't have any
major appointments today.
"Can Freckles come out and
play?"
Well, sure, if she's done her
homework and cleaned up her
room.
Actually, I only think slightly
sarcastic answers. There's no
point in engaging these kids in
conversation, particularly in con-
versation with any hint of hu-
mor. It would only pain them to
try to respond, given that they
had to overcome vast doses of
shyness just to ring the bell. I
smile and hand over the leash.
I don't have to hand over Freck-
les; she's already out the door do-
ing a full body wag.
She greets each kid as if no
one in her entire life has ever
taken her for a walk before, as
if she had never even been out-
doors before, not once. Because
she is a dog of great sweetness
but not much mental acuity (her

family nickname is Dim Bulb),
every experience seems to be
brand new to her. This gives
each child the impression that
he or she is the one bright spot
in her dull drab life; I'm sure
these kids think we keep her
locked in a dungeon between
walks.
In our neighborhood, only a
few of the religiously-observant
families have dogs. I don't know
if there is some halachic com-
plication Pm not aware of but we
do feed her all beef dog food in
the laundry room to isolate her
chow from our kosher kitchen. I
don't know if infrequent dog-
ownership is a cause or an effect;
but some of the more observant
mommies regard dogs with fear
because they are unfamiliar
with them.
When their kids want pets,
they tend to get fish or, at the
most, hamsters. But Freckles
has cured many a dog-a-phobe.
She is small, very unthreaten-
ing, and extremely pretty, with
long, floppy ears and a ginger
and white coat. She is easy to
deal with, so the moms get ac-
customed to her over time. They
don't have much choice because
their children keep showing up
with her in tow. One mother
even encouraged her kids to
walk down the block to play with
Freckles a couple of times be-
cause she didn't want them to
share her excessive degree of
fear. She doesn't come with
them, but I thought it was a big
step for her just to send them
over.
Being the family who provides
the neighborhood with a dog has
many positive aspects. For in-
stance, it is never very difficult
to find a small boy who is will-
ing to feed and walk her when
we are away for a couple of days.
And, it is always easy to draw a
crowd: just take the dog, the
hose and the shampoo in the
front yard and, voila, enough
kids to start a baseball game.
Sounds tempting? You don't
even need to ask. I've checked
her date book and cleared her
agenda. Yes. Freckles can come
out to play.

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The normal deadline for local news
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prior to issue date; out-of-town
obituaries, 10 a.m. Tuesday, three
days prior to issue date.

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