Willie the Wiener had come to me via the local animal shelter two years ago. He had settled in and instantly made friends with the blue jay who hung out in the back yard. They took turns chasing one another and he was so welcoming, the mailman brought him biscuits. 

He was a treasure. I was not taking a chance on someone hurting the little guy. I knew he wouldn’t bite but I wasn’t sure about the class of people hounding me. 

After a few months of turning the hose on the curious, I gave up and sold my house. Let the new owners deal with it. I had enough.

My house sold the day after I listed it. 

Can you believe it? Alice, the realtor, called me at ten o’clock to tell me. The buyer didn’t even try to bargain, agreed to full price and was bringing a sizable down payment this very day.

The buyer also asked for a thirty-day escrow, which meant I needed a place to live. Conveniently, Alice also had listings for a few other homes, one of which she assured me, would meet my needs. That gal knew her business.

The next morning, she picked me up before nine and we set off to look at her other listings. She extolled their various virtues while she drove. Truthfully, I quit listening about the third one and just enjoyed the day. 

I nixed the first two and refused to even get out of the car at the third – a mobile home in a Senior Park, where there was about two feet of yard front and back, and the people next door would bless me if I sneezed.