Chapter Nine
What's In A Name?




The next day, the O'Connells had breakfast in the parlor to be near Seti and the new puppies. Alex kept marveling at how tiny the puppies were; their eyes weren't open so they crawled around on their bellies whining and nursing. Seti watched each one carefully and gave them baths every ten minutes.
"Seven puppies." Rick muttered as he counted them over again. "You know we can't keep all these dogs." Rick said to his wife and son.
"Why not Dad? They're so cute." Alex said, he petted one of the puppies with his index finger.
"Well for one reason, no one has eight dogs. And when they grow up they're all going to be as big as Seti. We can't have eight big dogs in this house." Rick answered.
"Well, they're too young to go away from their mother now." Evelyn said, smiling down at the dogs.
"Alright then, when they are weaned and old enough to leave their mother, we'll give them away. Since we're going to give them away I don't think we should name them." Rick suggested.
The family finished their breakfast in silence.


In the next week the puppies opened their eyes and got bigger. They still had no names, as Rick had made clear wasn't going to happen.
In the month or so, the puppies were old enough to go around the house by themselves. There were four girls and three boys; this pleased Evelyn, she said, "for the first time in this house, the girls out number the boys." Which was true. However, the naming of the puppies was a constant issue; finally the O'Connells sat down with the dogs in the parlor and decided to name them. Alex picked up his favorite puppy, the most rowdy of all the puppies and probably the first-born. "I'll name this one…" Alex paused, he couldn't think of a good name for the puppy. The puppy yipped and nibbled painlessly on Alex's fingers as he stroked the puppy. "Nibbler, I'll name him Nibbler." Alex said proudly.
Evelyn nodded, that was a good name for the puppy. She picked up her favorite puppy, a little girl dog that was the smallest. When Alex asked why she was smaller Evelyn explained that was because she was the "runt" of the litter. Evelyn liked the little runt and in turn the runt liked her back; she curled up in Evelyn's lap and licked her fingers. "I'm going to name this puppy Julia." Evelyn said and scratched the puppy behind the ears.
"Julia? Why Julia?" Rick asked, hoping he hadn't hurt his wife's feelings when he asked.
Evelyn shrugged. "I like the name; she looks like a Julia." Evelyn answered. Julia yipped and wiggled in Evelyn's lap.
Rick picked up his favorite puppy -though he denied liking the dogs-, which was the second rowdiest and the bravest out of all the dogs. The puppy wrestled in Rick's grip, barking and kicking his paws, trying to prove he was tough. Rick laughed at the puppy's antics. "I'll name you Tiger." Rick said.
Tiger barked and growled and turned in circles; he liked his new name.
Together the O'Connells named the rest of the puppies. The remaining boy they named Hieroglyph because he had strange patterns on his foot. The other three girls were named Bobbi -short for Roberta, Evelyn said-, Caramel because she had caramel colored fur, and the last puppy had a white left paw. They decided to name her Powdered Sugar, after the woman's dog that was missing.
Once the naming of the puppies was done, it was lunchtime. The O'Connells had lunch and Evelyn served eight bowls of dog food. Regretfully, it was time to begin weaning.