{"product_id":"9781456726232","title":"Portrait of Betsy","description":"\u003cp\u003eShe wasn’t a dog anyone wanted. Bald from the nape\u003cbr\u003eof her neck to the tip of her tail, she was a scrawny\u003cbr\u003elittle black dog with little to recommend herself to\u003cbr\u003eanyone other than the little tricks she used to perform to\u003cbr\u003eamuse people. A loser dog.\u003cbr\u003eBut then, I wasn’t a person anyone wanted either. A loser\u003cbr\u003ein the eyes of the world. A ne’er do well named Jamie\u003cbr\u003eFairchild, who, at the age of forty-one, had tried his luck\u003cbr\u003ein many places and invariably had failed. For twenty\u003cbr\u003eyears, I had become a stranger even to the members of\u003cbr\u003emy own immediate family.\u003cbr\u003eI didn’t want a dog. I wasn’t even looking for one. But\u003cbr\u003eGod has a way of intervening, regardless of our hopes,\u003cbr\u003edreams, and personal wills, not necessarily giving one\u003cbr\u003ewhat one wants but what one needs.\u003cbr\u003e“Th ey ‘tole me you needed me,” Betsy told me.\u003cbr\u003e“Who told you?”\u003cbr\u003e“My superior offi cers,” she smiled, elevating her chin\u003cbr\u003etoward heaven. “Th ings hasn’t been goin’ so well with\u003cbr\u003eya these past twenty years. I hear tell ya had big dreams\u003cbr\u003eonce, but you went bust, was homeless jes like me fer\u003cbr\u003eawhiles. I also hear tell them folks of your’n ain’t much\u003cbr\u003eof a family. But then, mine tweren’t neither. I hears ya\u003cbr\u003elikes adventure, ain’t afeerd of takin’ risks. I ain’t either. I\u003cbr\u003ealso hear tell ya likes to perform. I does too. But ya lost\u003cbr\u003eyour confi dence along the way. Well, I’m here to give it\u003cbr\u003eback to ya.”\u003cbr\u003eBefore long, Betsy was putting me through my paces.\u003cbr\u003e“Ah-ten-tion!” she’d bark at me. “Th at’s what our\u003cbr\u003eC.O. always barked at the fellas I worked with in New\u003cbr\u003eGuinea. Saunders was his name. Man, he was a doll,\u003cbr\u003ebut he could also be one mean sonofabitch, let me tell\u003cbr\u003eya. When Saunders barked them orders, them guys all\u003cbr\u003eshot up straight as ramrods. Shoulders up, ass in, chest\u003cbr\u003eout. Now, lissen up, Pop. Ah-ten-tion! Git that chin up!\u003cbr\u003eWhat good’s it doin’ hangin’ down thataways on your\u003cbr\u003ecollarbone?”\u003cbr\u003e“Well, no one would be able to cuff me under it if it’s\u003cbr\u003ehanging down.”\u003cbr\u003e“Lissen, Pop,” she would say. “No one’s gonna cuff you\u003cbr\u003eunder the chin. And if they does, I’ll take care of ‘em so\u003cbr\u003egood, they won’t need to wear no shoes! No one messes\u003cbr\u003ewith a Marine. Not if they know what’s good for ‘em.\u003cbr\u003eNow lissen up! Chin up! Shoulders back! Ass in!”\u003cbr\u003eAwkward as these unaccustomed positions felt to me, I\u003cbr\u003ecomplied with her commands.\u003cbr\u003e“Yeah,” her muzzle widened into a grin. “Th at’s more like\u003cbr\u003eit, Daddy.”\u003cbr\u003eIf Betsy had set me onto the road of physical exercise,\u003cbr\u003eshe also corrected my posture. If it hadn’t been for the\u003cbr\u003edisciplines that she imposed upon me, I’d now be a\u003cbr\u003ewalking question mark.\u003cbr\u003e“Why are ya walkin’ with your shoulders down on\u003cbr\u003eyour chest?” she’d bark. “You wanna be a hunchback\u003cbr\u003eone day?”\u003cbr\u003e“No,” I said.\u003cbr\u003e“Th en stand straight and stop hangin’ your head,” she\u003cbr\u003esaid. “How are ya ever goin’ to see where you’re a-goin’\u003cbr\u003elookin’ down at the ground all the time?”\u003cbr\u003e“You look at the ground when you sniff ,” I’d say.\u003cbr\u003e“Yeah, but that’s only to get the smell of direction. It’s in\u003cbr\u003ethe dog world what you call a map in the human one. But\u003cbr\u003eya c’aint go nowheres by always lookin’ at the map. Time\u003cbr\u003ecomes when you’ve gotta keep your eye on the road.”\u003cbr\u003eTh is was the army now, and I had become Private Jamie\u003cbr\u003eto Sergeant Betsy. When I would slump down into that\u003cbr\u003eeasy chair, one of whose armrests she had completely\u003cbr\u003edisemboweled, and had sunk into those pointless\u003cbr\u003eruminations about what I should or should not have\u003cbr\u003edone so many years before, Betsy would approach my\u003cbr\u003efeet and deposit at them the tug o’ war rope, fall back\u003cbr\u003eon her rear haunches, her big brown eyes shining with\u003cbr\u003eexcited anticipation, her muzzle dropped open in an\u003cbr\u003eeager smile.\u003cbr\u003e“Come on, Dad, let’s play.”\u003cbr\u003e“Oh, please, not now, Betsy,” I’d say.\u003cbr\u003e“Oh yes, now,” she insisted. “Come on. What good’s\u003cbr\u003esettin’ there goin’ over things you c’aint do nuthin’ ‘bout?\u003cbr\u003eWhen you does stuff like this, you’re like me when a fl ea\u003cbr\u003egets on my tail and I keep tryin’ to bite it off of it, but\u003cbr\u003ethe more I turns around, that tail jes keep gittin’ further\u003cbr\u003eaway from me. Memories is like fl eas, Dad. You chew\u003cbr\u003eon ‘em too long, they gets your tail sore. Ya gotta keep\u003cbr\u003eyour eye on your star. Th ere’s one up yonder that’s your’n\u003cbr\u003eand your’n alone. Keep your eye on it, and it won’t be\u003cbr\u003eforgettin’ ya. You jes take a hold on my tail, Pop, and I’ll\u003cbr\u003etake ya to your highest dreams.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AuthorHouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47128825233648,"sku":"9781456726232","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781456726232_p0.jpg?v=1763863674","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781456726232","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}