So, ok— this morning it was a puppy.

I went outside to feed Mrs. Moustache and a stray puppy was sitting on the step by the front door almost like someone had told it to go to our house and stay by the front door and wait for La Duena de la Casa to come out. She was a very dirty little white dog, and looked like a leggy cross between a Scottie and a Miniature Schnauzer. There was a broken bit of filthy white yarn about 6 inches long dangling from her neck, a sort of a collar and leash in one that she had apparently chewed through. I tried to ignore her while I wondered what guard had let her into the yard and shut the gate behind her. Esperando and I both agreed later that she looked too big to get through the gate by herself. I went over to feed Moustache and the puppy politely sat and waited on the step in the same spot, as though it wasn’t polite to introduce herself first.

I went into the house and told Esperando that we had a puppy in our front yard, and then went back out with some food and water for it. She was still rooted to the same spot. Although she looked a little skinny, she had a very sweet personality and once I fed her, she acted like she had never met anyone as nice as me before. She writhed and wiggled all over. Esperando came and looked at her and said, “what a mess—you can’t keep it.” Then he went out to look and see if the guard might know about whose it was. In the process he discovered that his main all-around Lad, Francisco, who is helping with the construction of Casa Abeja, wanted the dog, sight unseen. And 10 minutes later the Favorite Maid wanted the dog for her sister. Uh-oh, a competition.

The cook and the maids whisked the puppy off to the laundry and gave her a bath. Señor Jueves who is married to Favorite Maid’s sister (who I will henceforth call Señora Jueves) just came to take the puppy back to their house. All-in-all it was a pretty painless fostering experience for me, but after all these recent puppies and kittens, I am beginning to wonder if I have animal magnetism.