Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Usually when a dad returns to the site of the sleepover, the hosting parent has called with the news that the kid in question wants to sleep in his own bed, after all. This past Saturday afternoon, I returned to fetch our 12-year-old without being called. One of the assembled boys asked, “Why does Truman have to leave?” The eyes of the hosting mom were misty as we walked to the car.
During the drive to the South Davis Veterinary Center, we talked about illness and death. I reminded Truman that while all creatures die, some come to the point in their illness when they can or should be offered a “good death” (from the Greek: “Eu” for good, as in “euphoria,” and “Thanatos” for “death”). Euthanasia spares a pet unneeded suffering at the end of his or her life.
Truman endured the lesson unwillingly. From his perspective, the car couldn’t move fast enough along Covell Boulevard towards South Davis, and by the time we pulled up to the vet, he jumped out of the car and ran into the empty lobby of the veterinary office, not knowing in which direction to run to find and embrace his bulldog, Dilly.
Daffodil “Dilly” Jones joined our family in March of 2012, having been improbably discovered at a kill shelter in Modesto. Seeming full-pedigree English bulldogs are not often found in such shelters – we’ve often wondered if she had escaped from a puppy mill – for breeding bulldogs is an expensive and difficult enterprise. We were on a rescue list for a French bulldog, but the kindly woman who saved Dilly told us of this particular dog’s angelic disposition, a necessity for this family eager to meet her. We didn’t know if Dilly was one, two, or four years old, but we loved this wheezy and jowly gargoyle immediately, welcoming her to our home and into our hearts.
Although thinner and with a forlorn look in her eyes, the version of Dilly with whom Truman reunited Saturday afternoon looked not much different from the one we adopted all those years ago. Half in my wife Kate’s lap, and half comfortably stretched across her favorite maroon blanket, Dilly was repositioned into Truman’s arms as soon as he sat next to her on the floor of the examination room.
“Is today her last day?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
The four of us used up a box of Kleenex before Kate, Jukie, and Truman said their last goodbyes, reminding Dilly that she was the best dog our family could ever have hoped for, and that we would keep her alive in our hearts.
Then I alone was left to comfort our family’s first dog, and, as Truman told us, our only dog ever. Dr. Mueller and Angie the vet tech had stayed after closing hours to attend to Dilly, a longtime favorite patient, for the last time. She could not have asked for better care.
Dilly was already calm, so not much sedation was necessary to help her relax further and into sleep. I thought she had quickly fallen asleep when a distant and unanswered office phone began to ring. Hearing the fourth ring, Dilly looked up at me, seeming to ask, “Are you going to get that?” The ringing continued, echoing in empty offices, as she drifted away.
I told Dilly that she was loved, that we were grateful for the affection and devotion that she shared with our family. The last thing she heard in this world was that she was a good dog.
Afterwards, the darkness in the hallway of the South Davis Veterinary Center matched my demeanor as I clutched Dilly’s blanket and strode uncertainly towards the exit, and then stepped, blinking and diminished, into the late afternoon sun.
The next day I told my son Jukie that Dilly would not be coming home, that she was gone. Our non-verbal boy signed “all done” to me, and then fetched one of his favorite books, Elmo’s New Puppy, leafing through the pages while holding his plastic bulldog.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the following: privacy laws, Avengers, words that end in Z, Katie Couric, great Americans, people in holes, skeletal calcium, Rolling Stones, Washington Post headlines, islands, private emptiness, authors with monosyllabic first names, Circulation magazine, Canada, variants, principal photography, the difference between micrograms and milligrams, Netflix and Uber, urchins that have been bitten by the Oscar bug, Gertrude Stein, actors who can’t help but work for Disney, 11% margins of error, prominent mothers, languages other than English, people named Washington, vitamins, karate, colds, abecedarians, not sake, transportation costs, people born in Germany, freedom, profound thanks, the age of Love’s loss, movies with short names, food science, a question of trust, subjects of Suzanne Vega songs, and Shakespeare. Sadly, “Be Best” came too late for today’s pub quiz. Sorry, Melania!
I hope you can join us tonight, for I look forward to catching up with some friends. Speaking of friends, if you and your team can convince the largest number of friends to sign up for this free newsletter, I will reward your team this evening with a bread pudding. Remember to bring this to my attention before the kitchen closes!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Classic horror movies. What movie franchise debuted in 1980 and went on to have nine sequels between 1981 through 2001, a cross over movie in 2003, and a reboot in 2009?
- Countries of the World. Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister of Canada, but who is its head of state?
- Actors and Actresses. First name Joan, what Chinese-born actress who now lives in San Francisco came to prominence for her work on the film The Last Emperor?
P.S. Thanks to Quizmaster stand-in James, whom I hear did a spirited and effective job substitute-hosting the Pub Quiz last week. It helps to entertain such many talented people when one is looking for substitute quizmasters. Thanks also to the team Quizzers with Attitude for giving up one of their strongest players. See you this evening!