D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A N E W YO R K B OTA N I C A L G A R D E N ’ S A N N UA L C O N S E R VATO R Y B A L L
Sarah Chilton and Sebastian Bland
diately ran right over to my car. And when I opened the car door, he hopped in as if it were his. (Coincidentally, my father loved cars. In his youth, cars were like the internet today.) Driving him home, I named him Rex. He responded to that instantly and forevermore. The following day, I took him to the vet to be checked over and then cleaned up. The vet found bloody wounds around his neck and suspected they were from chains; that perhaps 36 QUEST
Susan and Coley Burke
he had been a junkyard dog. The vet said was a young dog, maybe a year old or so. He cleaned him up and treated the wounds, and we were off to the dog groomer. After a good wash and brushing, the boy looked snappy. He had a very cheerful personality. He turned out to be a good watchdog also. He liked the outdoors, and even liked sleeping outside in wintertime by the front door, on the icy macadam. That was his choice,
Sharon Jacob
Georgina Bloomberg and Lili Buffett
Tina and Steve Swartz
not mine. (On the coldest nights, he preferred sleeping on my bed.) At the time he came into my life, I had five cats in residence (all rescued). It sounds like a lot, but the house was spacious and they also loved the great outdoors. Their initial reactions or interchanges with Rex were uneventful, and so was his reaction to them. One of them, a female named Nikki (who talked in her meows), became his constant compan-
Whitney and John Clay
ion and would often sleep next to him and even on top of him. This didn’t surprise me, as I’d had dogs and cats throughout my childhood and youth; they always got along. All of this came back to me while reading Elena Mannes’ book about the personalities and inner lives of animals. I’d recounted that story about Rex countless times, always referring to the possibility that he was the reincarnation of my father. But I’d regarded it
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Carrie Rebora Barratt, Maureen Chilton and Barclay Collins