Black Book, White Dog

There was once a billionaire named Bob.

He had inherited his money from the mob.

He was a lonely and tired and longing for love

. . . til it made him sick.

As a billionaire, women threw themselves at him, but it was for his money. 

He had a very close relationship with his dog, Sammy who was some kind of white husky mix, but so smart.

They had become best friends. 

One morning, Bob was in bed sick, and Sammy brought him something, in an attempt to cheer him up. . . . It was a little black book.

It was empty with nothing in it. 

Bob took the book and turned it over in his hands. Then an idea came to him. 



Sammy—he spoke eye to eye with his best friend. I need you to go on a mission for me. 

Sammy looked up compassionately, at his man friend.

Bob wandered around his house, pen in hand, with the little black book, with Sammy following him around from desk to counter, back to bedroom, back to kitchen and living room.

I need you to find a real woman, and give her this little black book. Inside the book, he taped 8 one hundred dollar bills on different pages. On the first page, he wrote, “please take care of this dog.”

He put the little black book in Sammy’s mouth, who gladly took it.

Sammy went trotting to the beach, one of his favorite places to visit, from Bob, his beloved owner’s house.

Sammy spotted Julia from across the beach.

Her body was round and full, her brown skin taught from sun bathing for pure pleasure, not because she needed a tan, she was born with her tan, she just had a love of the sun. She understood white girls sunbathing on the beach. What could be better than lying next to a live meditation music orchestra ,with the warm intelligence of creation shining down like a blessing. She loved to be in the sun, or under an umbrella at high noon, and read, stare at the clouds and listen to the waves tapping.

Julia rolled over and looked up from her book. Sammy was trotting over toward her. “Well hello there,” Julia said to Sammy, who did a sort of bow to her, and whose ears eyes and tail immediately let her know he was one of those dogs smarter than a human being. 



He had a little black book in his mouth. He gestured toward her. She took the book, and opened it up.

“Please look after this dog.” It said. Then she saw the 8 $100 bills taped inside. Los Angeles, the land of angels, you just never know what you’re going to find around here, Julia thought to herself.

Ok—she looked curiously at Sammy the dog. Well I guess you and I are going to be friends? Sammy gave her a warm look as if he understood they had a special arrangement. He followed her walking back to her home—just four blocks from the beach. 





Julia and Sammy really did become great friends. Sammy ran with Julia along the beach, another favorite pastime of his, was also one of Julia's favorite things. Julia was a good dog care-taker, and used some of the $800 to feed the dog, which was now this living mystery to her. Where did he come from. Julia had named him white boy, which sammy did not mind at all, as long as she was feeding him.

After day three, Julia got curious and went for the little black book again, in her kitchen junk drawer, where she had left it. She flipped through the blank pages where she had found the cash taped in there. In the back of the book, she noticed there was a page, sealed to the back of the book, that seemed to have a slight indent as if there might be something in there. She took a knife and opened it up. In there was a check. It had Bob's name on it. It was for $20,000. The note on the check said: Thank you for looking after Sammy the dog, if you would like to meet his original owner, please visit me at the following address: with an address, that was not that far from where Julia lived.

What to think of this? Well life had been becoming more and more out of this world, since Julia had left the job she hated, and decided she was just going to find herself in this world in a more pure way. She did not know what she would do but had managed some unemployment and bought herself some time to relax and tend to herself without thinking about money or work or a job for a little while. This was like a reward for her following what she thought was a path of grace, instead of a path of struggle. It seemed like maybe this grace path might be working.

She deposited the check into her account, wondering what this might mean for her life, felt grateful and curious, and meandered over to her dogfriend.

So your name is "Sammy." she said to "White Boy." He seemed to almost smile back at her with these loving eyes. If it were not for his soft intelligent eyes, she might not have gone along with this wild request delivered by her dog friend.

After her morning rituals, Julia walked the few blocks with Sammy to Bob's house and rang the doorbell.

Bob heard the doorbell ring from his bedroom. The place he had retreated to most of the time during this depression. The doorbell lifted his spirits. For a moment he felt like a renewed sense of wonder that he seemed to miss as a child. His family was such a struggle for him that he felt he lost the innocence of childhood before he was ever a child. As he moved toward the door, he felt the innocent stirrings of a curious childlike spirit that trusts that life has goodness in it, that dreams can come true, and that soemone, somoeone Sammy had met, was at the door.

Bob opened the door to see one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Hello, he said, . . . . I see Sammy met a beautiful friend. He looked at Sammy lovingly as Sammy ran inside. "Well I guess he is at home here," said Julia, watching Sammy's familiarity with the house.

"Hi, my name is Juila." she held out her hand to Bob, who took it. "I am sorry I am not wearing a mask, do you need me to?"

"No, Please I would hate to miss your smile." Bob responded. He had given up, but this women, this motivation, seemed to him to come from something beyond life itself, some kind of divine sacred grace that he felt as if it came directly from his heart, flying past his linear mind at the time it came in he knew it was a special impulse becuase he didn't usually do things like this.

"Please come and have a seat and I will make us tea." Bob gestured toward a small table with two chairs by a large window.

"Tea sounds great." Julia looked around to see what seemed like a bachelor pad with a few plants that were barely alive.

Julia settled into the bright spot next to the window. Sammy followed her finding a spot nearby.

Bob brought a teapot over. "I hope you like Peppermint tea."

"Who doesn't like peppermint?" she replied

After some friendly interchanges about life, work and how Sammy found Julia on the beach, and how it took her a few days to find the check. She was still curious why he did this. And she wondered why her ?

Bob shared more deeply: I came from a very dark family. They pay off politicians to manipulate the public and they do it for their own sinister purposes. Not to aid the people. These politicians are supposed to serve, but to play unkind games that gamble with people’s lives. So I’ve left the family line of work, asked for a kind of severance pay, and here I am, a free, but heart-broken man.



Julia stared at the man—his pale skin almost glowing in the sun, as it danced across his skinny face.

Bob continued. The other morning, Sammy brought me the little black book with nothing in it, and something came over me. I felt as if I didn't do something, to find love, that I might wither away forever. Since Sammy is the greatest love of my life, I just thought I would try something unusual. I am dying of depression, so I have very little left to lose. Bob smiled at Julia across the table with a tear in his eye.

Julia sat there in awe. This was not like anything she ever expected or asked for. She found herself oddly drawn toward this sad man. Something about how honest and raw he was. Something about his trust in his dog. She could not pinpoint why she was drawn to him. She was not someone to be moved by money in that way--so it wasn't the $20,000 check, she was not a prostitute.

He did not ask for anything more than her friendship in that moment. She felt moved by the unusual friendship she was forging with this unusual man and his smart dog.

Julia stood up to stretch from the table and this trance-inducing conversation. She felt like she was in another world. "Bob, " she said, with her piercing soft eyes looking deeply into him. "I am happy to meet you. I assume I can leave Sammy here?"

"Yes." Bob returned.

"Thank you for everything, I am going to go back to my house take care of some things. How about we meet at this time next week, and start meeting weekly for tea. This time works for me, if it works for you."

"Yes it does." Bob was feeling peaceful. His depression was lifting. He felt like some unusual blessing had been bestowed upon him in Julia. He looked at Sammy with gratitude and allowed himself to breathe more deeply than he had maybe ever in his life.

He thought to himself. "It is possible to have a childhood in old age." . . . It is possible to find wonder again. It is possible that love might happen here. Or it already has in its own gentle way.

Julia continued to return for tea on Tuesday afternoons at 2pm each week. She grew fond of peppermint tea and they found they liked vanilla and spearamint and hibiscus too. Hibiscus had a red color that was as bright as blood.

When it came time for Julia to decide return to working from her retreat, because she had depleted her savings, that day she told Bob she was on the hunt for a new job. Bob had a warmth overtake him.

"Will you move in with me and let me take care of you financially?" he paused. "then you don't need to find a new job." You can just explore the rest of life wtih me and we can discover what there is for us to discover together.

Julia paused. "was this real?" She asked herself. The friendship had been so gentle and uninvasive she had hardly noticed that she had grown fond of this man. She was comfortable and felt free in his presence. He had never asked her for anything more than her time and attention.

"I would love to move in with you Bob." Julia heard herself speaking and wasn't sure where it came from but it was her, just it surprised her, to hear her own voice saying yes.