From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus)
Subject: Re: Yow... a Form Letter!
Organization: Data I/O Corporation
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1992 16:00:28 GMT

In article <8404.20132@stratus.SWDC.Stratus.COM> jane@soave.swdc.stratus.com (Jane Beckman) writes:

>Jilara grins.  "Someone pointed out to me that Barry has
>actually been cribbing his wisdom from elsewhere, or possibly
>echoing it.  I got an email saying "Yes, but Einstein said it
>first."  I'll drink to that!"  And she does.

Liralen laughs and drinks as well.

>And then she impulsively gives Liralen a BIG hug.  "I've
>missed you.  It's good to have you back.  Though I have the
>feeling I'm missing more than you.  There's a chunk of posts
>that I don't seem to have seen, from last week, and this one
>is dated the 21st and just showed up today (the 24th).  There
>is a saying about "better late than never, though."  

"I was wondering where you'd been." Liralen says with a smile after the
big return hug, "And, yes, I appreciate the late rather than never.  I'd
been thinking that I was invisible..." She grins.

>She fishes a crumpled napkin out of her pocket and unfolds it
>to disclose some crumbs.  Cautiously, she lays it on the floor
>slightly out of range.  "Yo, Fezzik!  Muffin crumbs!"  And
>watches a large black dog romp madly toward the napkin,
>skidding to a stop that has overshot slightly, turning back to
>gobble the treat.  "Missed him, too."

The big black dog does overshoot the mark, and scramble a bit to 
get back to his treat, but, unlike most dogs, Fezzik actually stops 
a moment to sniff at what's offered, and then, not-quite-delicately,
licks the crumbs off the napkin and looks quite pleased with himself.

Liralen laughs and pats his broad back, "Yeah, he's a bit hard to 
not notice.  And, sometimes, he reminds me more of a cat than a dog. 
Just the other day a cat owner came over and played with him, and, 
after getting over the sheer size of him, they noticed that he's a lot
like a cat.  He won't play fetch for more than two throws, he won't 
play tug-of-war for long, and he gets bored by things easily.  He also 
loves just lying in the sun, and loves hunting things like mice and frogs.  
He can spend hours 'playing' with a frog or hunting a mouse, and he's
terribly independent.  He won't listen to a command unless he really 
feels that it's a good thing to do anyway."

For a long moment Liralen just rubs Fezzik behind the ears, and those 
sitting close might notice that the dog is making soft noises in the
back of his throat.  Not even close to a purr, but more just a soft snort
with both in breaths and out breaths... 

She looks up at Jilara and smiles.  "How has life been?" she asks and 
looks at the number on the table and grins, "Life for me has gotten so
stable, at the moment, that I'm actually just me, for the first time
in a long time."  Liralen looks into the eyes of probably one of the few
people that would actually know what that means.  "It's weird, a little,
and very nice to have my headspace and know that it's mine, all mine; and 
to know that I have the capabilities of all those where were me at my
fingertips as well without having to suffer their self-limitations as
well."  Liralen looks down at the dog under her hands.  "It's a little
scary as well, knowing I no longer have the excuse of 'well 'they' did
it'." The smile is a touch wry. "But that goes along with always being able
to say 'I did that.' to something fun or praiseworthy, too..."

"It's been nice..."

She trails off and for a while all there is is the sound of Fezzik's 
breathing.

---
Liralen Li - li@inigo.Data-IO.com