Surprise in Store!

Beverly, star of Follow the Dog Home, outside Wellesley Books

Ever bump into someone you know, but you totally don't recognize them?  It's kind of embarrassing and it happened to me the other day.

I was in Wellesley Books, shopping for gifts for friends, and books for me.  I had just finished talking with the owner, Bill Kohli, and was browsing around the register area.  In came a customer, dog in tow on a leash, on a mission.  "Do you have a dog book about home?  It's written by someone from the area."

My ears perked up and Bill gave me a nod from behind the counter.  "Are you looking for Follow the Dog Home?" I asked the woman.

"I guess that's it, my husband told me about it.  There is a German Shepherd in it."

"Yep.  That's my book.  I wrote it.  Beverly is my dog.  She's a German Shepherd."

I suddenly recognized the woman as someone I had met earlier in the day at church.  But you know when you see someone out of their element, in place or uniform, and you just completely space out? That's what happened.

The same was true with her dog, Matilda, who I actually wrote about in Follow the Dog Home under a pseudonym.  I hardly recognized "Matty" at the register because I was so used to seeing her at the dog park with her dad.  Swap a dad for a mom, and a store for a dog park, and there you go.  I was totally befuddled.  Matty and I quickly reconnected with a few whiffs and few pats.  Matty went home with a biscuit, and her mom with my book under her arm.

Later I took Beverly to Wellesley Books to kinda sorta relive the Matty Moment.  We didn't go in for a snack, instead settling for a picture outside.  Someday soon, we'll bring Bev inside the store.  And  I can't wait for the day when someone with their nose buried in a book with three silhouettes walking across the cover says, "You know that looks like the dog from the book I'm reading now."