THE LOST DOGS OF LANGSTON.

Entry 23.

So. It's been a little bitty minute since I posted but I had to help someone else (or really, a couple of someone elses) with their literary endeavors which are greater than mine. That's how you learn.

So now there is Cinderella 2.0 who was first called Nancy but is now called Annie Belle. And she is very sweet but I'm gonna need all y'all to pray and cross your fingers that I can get her into the car on Monday morning to haul her 90-pound persona to the vet's to get spayed. Because we need to do that, and that pretty lady with the fluffy blonde hair and the Town Car is gonna have to help me feed all these big dogs because I don't want to be the sole provider for even just three large-size homeless animals in Langston. Aside from it being a huge chunk of food to hand out, it's a lotta haulin' and plus water and I don't have a hose pipe in the front of the house. My aim is to get the homeless population down to Roscoe and Little Chocolate Roscoe as Annie Belle is almost adoptable and could conceivably be a real good goat or sheep dog for someone, if I could find a rich farmer who can take good care of her.

And then later, nobody. Zero homeless dogs. All living dogs in Alabama having good and loving homes for absolute ever is the aim and the wish and the primary desire.

Oh lord I get so tired of hearin' about all your white girl problems. I mean I really do. Cain't you talk about somethin' else for a change? Over and over. I mean it's the same damn thing, over and over and over. Don't you get tired of all that rattling bullshit in your mind?

Well yes I do. Sometimes. And you do the very same damn thing, if you'd just wake up and realize it. Which you will soon.

Well no I don't because this is what I'm into and I have to talk about it because I just read the story about the genie coming out of the old lamp the other day and before we take all this junk to Tac-O-Bet to sell it, I'll be polishin' me some old rusty lamps awhile so's I can get my wishes because lordy honey you know I have some. And you never know, you just never know.

So here are my wishes:

All living dogs in Alabama having good and loving homes for absolute ever is the aim and the wish and the primary desire.

Hollywood (ALL OF HOLLYWOOD THAT'S ANYBODY) to come out here and get some attention for this situation and for poor ol' Alabama and for these dogs so the nation can see what kinda rural mixup we got out here with all due respect to poverty and ignorance bein' all mixed up with a bunch of rich people in their boats and their retirement homes. And tryin' to get it more equal for everybody out here and maybe some better employment opportunities, I don't know how exactly this would work but I'm just sayin' it would be nice.

The foundation fixed on the house so we can keep it standing for quite some time or at least do the best we can with that so my friend can finish his book about Paralee Jackson and get famous for havin' a best-seller all writ up in The New York Times and such so's everyone will buy the book and we can get this house on the Southern Literary Trail. Which is my aim. And to get the documentary done, The Lost Dogs of Langston, and get it to Sundance to get even more attention. Because people need some hands-on projects that they can actually do, because helping people with things that need help is the way America started, the good parts anyway, and that's what we need to get back to doing if we're ever gonna have a country here instead of just a bunch of moaning minnies fighting back and forth with each other about nothing.

(Oh god if we get on the literary trail then I'll have to have this house party-ready for just whenever and I truly don't know if I am up to the task but the universe does know so there goes more trust issues for me to deal with, with which I will have to just deal. Which I'll discuss in the next few sentences.)

Myself to trust people enough to be able to tell my wishes out loud. But if you don't do that you'll never get what you want, because you have to trust the universe enough to at least SAY what you want and so here it is. Right here in black and white. And besides, Madonna says if you don't say what you want, you don't get what you want, so you have to say. You just have to.

A raised gazebo in the front yard so I can see the sunset anytime I want to. Well not anytime I want to, obviously, but when it's sunset time. Then I'll have a place to sit and watch it. Some people say gazebos are stupid but not here, not here they aren't. Here, gazebos are the very thing.

A perpetual motion water fountain alongside the west side of the house, something like an Alexander Calder machine, so it won't have to be electric. It has to be something that the cats won't mess up and small enough for safety. And all that would entail a hose pipe also to be placed in the front yard, piped in or what-have-you, so that we can at least get some fresh water into it on a regular basis so that the mosquitoes don't breed and I realize this will be just one more chore I/we will have to do but a fountain is a fountain and that's just the sacrifice you have to make if you want one.

Protection.

Folk hero status for helping the community and getting a statewide program put in place with the help of some very influential people so that people have access to veterinary care for their dogs at little cost or either cost-free. And to get notices for this all over the radio stations these people I'm talking about listen to because that's the only way we're ever gonna get the word out. Like they probably do in some other more progressive country which we should be modeling stuff after because if it works for them, then why not try it in your own country? Better get off your damn high horse then and get crackin'. You don't get folk hero status from not gettin' your hands dirty.

But I have been getting my hands dirty and I have to go out and feed a dog that's covered with ticks and keep her from barking at night which I am not very well able to do because she's big and in heat and there are big male dogs all about and it was also a full moon. Maybe they'll get tired and quieten down as the moon recedes. One may hope. And the folk hero part is gonna probably come when I get her into the car and actually haul her ass to the vet's on Monday which I need y'all to pray about, pray the biggest prayers you ever prayed in your life because this is the biggest dog I've ever had in my life. We threw her some hot dogs in yesterday, into the back of the car, and she jumped in, she don't like the kibble we give her too much so if I use some steak maybe it will work again, the getting-her-into-the-car trick. Still I'm not gonna get cocky about this so fingers crossed and prayers going up.

Safety.

Some sunny days and some rainy days, with only gentle rain in the proper amounts. You know what I mean by this and I don't have to elaborate further even though that's redundant but anyway.

Something to help Maja feel better since bless her little kitty heart, she don't feel too good these days, she's lost weight and isn't grooming herself and just lays around all day and I can't get her to the vet's until May 6 which is my next appointment on the chart after the party with my sister on Saturday and it's not a very big party but it's at least a step forward in the right direction, I'm convinced. Elsewise she wouldn't have asked to come here.

A trainer for Sophie and Tinky so Sophie can learn manners and so Tinky won't kill anybody.

I wish you'd talk about something else besides your white girl problems. I truly wish you would.