If anythinghappens to me—and it won’t, I promise—but if anything happens to me, pleasetake gentle loving care of Maya.

Let her stayin whatever safe place she finds, even if she stays there for hours. She willlove that. Just curling up. Safe.

Take her fora walk every single day, even if it rains a little. (She has a raincoat.) Shewill hate that. The world, after all, is a very scary place.

But if youcan, walk her before the first rays of the sun bring with them activity andnoise and human interaction. Walk in the stillness of almost-dawn. She willlove that.

It’s a chore,I know, but please clip her little nails once a month. If you’re slow and gentle,she will let you. She will hate every minute of it. But she will let you.

Once a week—ormaybe twice, if you don’t mind—please give her two small pieces of cheese. Orpart of your fried egg. (No pepper, please.) She will love this.

Once a year—eventhough she’s almost always inside and never exposed and no one will ever comelooking to see if she’s had her rabies shots—please take her to a soft-spoken,slow-moving vet to get her vaccinations. She will hate being touched by astranger, just as most of us do.

On occasion,if you can, please take her out to the hills for her walk. Use the long lead soshe can enjoy the sensation of running free, even though you will be on the otherend, hurrying to keep up as she trots along the trail with wild abandon, unfazedby the scent of coyotes or bobcats. She will love this.

If visitorsor repair persons must come, please shut her away in her safe place, preferablybehind a closed door, preferably with a large, soft blanket to tunnel under,preferably with Charlie, her favorite stuffie. She will hate the intrusion, andmaybe she’ll be reluctant to eat her dinner for many hours afterward. But Ipromise by the next morning, she’ll be okay again. If she ever missesbreakfast, you will know that something is terribly wrong.

At night,before she goes to sleep, please rub behind her ears and massage her back andstroke her beautiful face and head. She will lie still, and you will never seeevidence that she loves this, but she does. You will never see evidence thatshe loves you. But she does. Trust me. If you feed her treats and keepher safe, she will love you, even if you do nothing else for her.

And, if you’llindulge me, I have just one more request for her if something should happen tome. Which it won’t. I promise. But if somehow it did…. Please keep her with herbest friend, Maudie. Because as humans, we can keep her safe and keep herhealthy, and she will love that. But for her to be truly joyful in the way onlydogs can be, she will need her bestie by her side to let her know that shenever has to face the scary world alone again. That’s what we all need, isn’tit? After we are fed and safe? A friend to assure us that we will never have toface the scary stuff alone. We are fortunate, we are blessed, we are downrightjoyful as only humans can be, when we have a bestie like that.