I was just out of college and owning a dog was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't need a dog, especially one that had skin and eye problems and wasn't the brightest beacon in the dog kingdom. The idea of becoming attached to the animal, then returning it to the owner wasn't appealing either.
But Sarah pleaded for months, promising to pay for Sophie's room and board, vet bills and anything else that cropped up. Then she hammered me with my weakness.
"I have a great vet-you will love him," she said breathlessly. "He is great with animals. He is single and very good-looking.
"But the best part is that he is a wine collector. You guys will have a great time talking about wine."
Shot through the heart, or palate, in this case.
"How do you know he collects wine?" I asked her suspiciously. Sarah had a tendency to over exaggerate at times. A wine collection to her could be two bottles of over-oaked Chardonnay in his refrigerator.
"He came to our Merlot party last month," Sarah said, referring to her annual wine-tasting event.
Each year, participants at the party try to out-do each other with the best bottle of Merlot for the least expensive price. The bottles are covered and rated by everyone. (Surprisingly, the winner this year was produced by Francis Ford Coppola's diamond label series-a nice bottle of Merlot for about $14 to $16.)
I was out of town during her party. Sarah and her boyfriend Gabe offered to change the date, but invitations were in the mail and the change would have been a royal pain.
I grudgingly agreed to keep the dog, who was barely housebroken and had the personality of a pet rock.
Sophie and I became roommates for a year and settled in the Greenlake area in Seattle. Because of her skin and eye problems, she would be a regular visitor to the local veterinarian clinic.
A week after Sarah and Gabe left for Italy, Sophie began scratching herself in a frenzied manner that told me she needed professional assistance. The receptionist knew the pup well and scheduled an appointment with her vet, Scott, later in the afternoon.
"Sarah convinced you to take the dog," said Scott, smiling when he saw Sophie in his office. "She told me she was working on someone-someone who had an appreciation of wine."
