The Lunatic Fringe

Unfortunately, it’s just dreaming as of Sunday night.

Now, when I started doing writing (other than journalism), something I was always told was “Don’t base your characters on real people.”  I broke the rule here.

April is a real dog, belonging to a friend of mine. (Seen here, mom and dog.  No, Mom is most definitely NOT Nyssa.)  I first met April when she was a pup.  I didn’t see her again until she was a year old, and she didn’t remember me at all.  In fact, she didn’t like me at all.  She’d just sit there and growl.  Real quietly.  No biting or barking, since she knew that Mom would be mad, but a lot of passive aggressive quiet growling.  And that when on for several months.

Now, I’m good friends with her mom, so I knew this couldn’t keep going.  So I decided to try and get her to like me by choosing a day out just for her.  So I tried to figure out something I’d enjoy that was just for her (this probably is why my dating life sucks).  So, Dog Days at the Giants game seemed like a great fit.

And it worked!  April can be a little shy at times, but she did great at the game.  She was shy at first, even doing her best to fit under the bench in front of us, and pulling it off. (Seriously, sit in the bleachers, look at the bench in front of you, and see how much room there is.  An 18-month old golden retriever slipped through that.)  But soon, she was into it.  Leaning on the bench in front of us, and enjoying the energy of the crowd.

Now, she can’t not run right to me whenever she sees me, even notably pulling off a perfect Snoopy dance on occasion).

I had to share April’s tale in this comic, and she’ll be around again.  And apparently, she’s getting more famous; reportedly, she got on the scoreboard at Sunday’s Dog Days, wearing her mom’s panda hat from last year’s playoffs.  (We were sitting under the scoreboard, so I can’t say I saw it.  Now I’m off to the Giants website to try and get the scoreboard video for $40.

Finally, please keep voting for us for the Best Local Cartoonist award in SFWeekly’s Best Of Web 2011 awards!  Voting ends Tuesday!  Click the logo below and find us in Category 15.

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