Y'all wanna know somethin'? I don't call her. Never have to. I just look up and there she is — settled in right next to me, like she grew there.
Papers say American Staffordshire Terrier. I say: barely a year old and already built like she could take on the world, if the world ever gave her reason to. Big ol' head, jaw like she means business. First time folks see her, some of 'em get that look — the wary one. And I get it, I do. But hang around five minutes and watch her flop over for a belly rub, and that look's gone quick.
'Cause here's the thing about my girl — she ain't got two thoughts to rub together. Not one worry in that head. Don't matter what's comin' tomorrow, don't matter what happened yesterday. All she's got is right now, and right now is me. That's the whole of it for her. Sounds simple when I say it like that, but I tell you what — I've known grown men couldn't manage that kind of peace in their whole life.
And then there's the zoomies. Lord have mercy. Outta nowhere, like somethin' flips a switch in her, and she's off — tearin' round the room, ears flat back, tail whippin', bouncin' off the furniture like the floor's made of springs. Ain't no rhyme nor reason to it, ain't no warnin' neither. One second she's calm as a summer evenin', next she's a black blur rippin' laps around the couch like the devil himself's chasin' her tail. I just stand there laughin', 'cause what else you gonna do? That's just pure, undiluted joy, and she don't care one bit who's watchin'.
And loyal? Lord. I ain't never had a person stick like that dog sticks. Don't matter if I'm in a mood, don't matter if I got nothin' to give back that day — she's there anyway. Just there. Same spot, same steady, don't-ask-why kinda there.
She don't need reasons. Never has. She just stays.
That's my Bonnie, and I wouldn't trade her for nothin' walkin'.