Two years later, after they'd moved to Dillon the Taylors went to the county fair, where Eric made the mistake of taking Julie past the ring where some dogs were being judged.
Soft coated wheaten terriers to be specific.
From Ireland. Well, the dogs at this particular show were from Texas but the breed originated in Ireland.
On the drive home Eric could feel the pain start creeping out from behind his eyes and spreading out to his ears as Julie kept jabbering on and on about the damn dogs. At least she hadn't said she wanted one, but he knew that was coming. As did Tami, who was strangely silent, just looking out the window at the landscape rolling past. Finally Tami said, "Lady Bird was right."
"What? Who was right and what were they right about?"
"Lady Bird Johnson. She was right about the wildflowers."
"What?"
Julie's voice came from the back seat. "The Highway Beautification Act also known as Lady Bird's Bill. It was supposed to cut down on the billboards and signs and stuff on the side of the road and bring back the wildflowers."
"Well some of those billboards were kind of funny, like the Burma Shave ones."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," Tami glanced at Eric, then turned in her seat and looked at Julie, "You'd be driving down the road and there'd be this sign that said…let me think for a minute… okay, I remember one. It was actually a series of five or six signs. The first one said, 'No matter,' then 'how you slice it,' 'it's still your face,' 'be humane,' 'use,' 'Burma Shave.'"
"Ewww, that's gross!"
"Oh, they weren't all like that, that's just one I remember. I think there are still some out there on the roads somewhere. But I like the wildflowers, especially the ones that are that pastel purple color. Those are kind of soothing." Eric glanced back and saw Julie looking out the window and smiled.
That night Tami was rubbing Eric's shoulders when he said, "Thank you for today, on the way home. Distracting Julie. Felt like my head was gonna blow up with her going on and on about those dogs."
"That's why you're so tense? It's not like she said she wanted to go to the movies with a boy, she was just talking about a dog, she didn't even say she wanted to get one."
"And you don't think that's gonna be landing at our feet and in our ears in the next couple of days. You see what she was looking at on the Internet? Pictures of wheaten terriers and breeders. Breeders." Eric shook his head and muttered, "And what's this about her and some boy and the movies?"
"I just made that up. Why are you so sure she's going to start asking for a dog?"
"Because they've got her hooks in her, at least that breed does the wheaten. Her eyes lit up when she saw the puppies. I'd almost prefer if she said she wanted to go to the movies with a boy, because I could have some control over that, like going with them."
"Eric! That would be mortifying for her."
"Well, isn't that sort of the point?"
Tami stopped rubbing his shoulders and took his face in her hands. "You will do no such thing. It's bad enough what she has to go through at school during football season when the team loses."
"A'ight, a'ight….I'm just nowhere near ready for that….stuff," he waved his hands "to start up." And I thought you were against us getting a dog, anyway."
"And I still am."
"Well, we have to present a united front on this, like we did with the rabbit."
