Man's Best Friend

at approximately noon last saturday the willard house began to plot and plan on bringing in a new member to the household. we had been toying with the idea of getting a dog for a long time, but we had never been serious. then for some unknown reason, could have been extreme boredom on a rainy saturday, the thought became serious, fast. within ten minutes a majority of us were on our computers looking at craigslist and the humane society websites. james was the most serious about this idea, we caught him multiple times day dreaming about cuddling with a puppy by the fire while he read. none of these things actually happen but james claimed that if we had a dog they would. we found multiple dogs on craigslist that fit our needs and sent out emails telling the people we would come pick the dog up immediately. our one and only returned email was concerning this mut by the name of toby. the current owners did not know what kind of dog he was or how old, but he looked so adorable in the pictures it was impossible to resist. during some more day dreaming and discussing we realized that on our lease in bold lettering it states no pets. this would be out biggest obstacle. our loving landlord michael powell has been very gracious and helpful to us over the past year we figured he would just say yes. however, we were all nervous and none of us actually wanted to call and pop the question to him. after an hour of annoying and persuading james he finally made the call. james was apprehensive but had this excited tone in his voice as he made the call. james politely asked mr. powell if we could have a dog, with no hesitation mr. powell said no... we could not hear the response as bystanders but the tone in james' voice dropped and he may have shed a tear. we all sat in silence for about 3 seconds and then decided to go on with our rainy boring saturday. so next time youre over at willard, dont bring up dogs, its still a sensitive subject for some. attached is a picture of toby.