We ended up not taking either of the puppies, though we came close. They were brother and sister, we were told, from a litter of nine. Four of them had already been adopted. The other three were in quarantine for something the attendant referred to as ‘kennel cough.’ Of the two we were meeting, A. was partial to the sister, and said that if we got her we would name her Flannery, after one of my favorite writers, Flannery O’Connor. I liked them both but liked the brother a little more because of his coloring, which was darker, or richer, I’m not sure how to describe it. However, they both had identical personalities, and behaved the way all puppies seem to behave, which is happily and excitedly, and without trepidation or intelligence.