She is a horribly irritating dog, despite which she's her favourite among the others. Impossible to impress upon this dog that she mustn't behave as she does, so excitably, so spontaneously excitable. It doesn't help her morning moods one bit that this dog has developed the most impossible habit of leaping onto her bed to wake her in the morning, heaving herself over her chest and her folded arms to ensure she's up when she would appreciate a few more minutes in bed.

Of all the dogs, it's only this one that goes missing when they're put out and she doesn't feel like pooling them together in the big pen. This one is the mischievous one that goes off on a gambit, who knows where, to return an hour or more later when she feels like it. Just the other day she did it again, and when one of their neighbours came over to report he thought he'd seen a coyote in the distance and wanted to warn her because neighbours are helpful to one another living in the countryside, she remembered after he'd left how much Patsy looks like a wolf, from a distance.

That day, she had experimented with a skin-cleansing recipe she'd found on the Internet; mixed together oatmeal, honey and some water and plastered it all over her face. Patsy behaved impossibly badly, leaping up to lick it off her face repeatedly. She threatened to discipline her, but nothing worked. She would tell Mom when she got home from work. She couldn't wait for school to start, and then she'd get some relief from Patsy following her everywhere.

Patsy sat with her, early in the morning waiting for the bus to pick her up for high school, and was there when she returned in the afternoon. As for the oatmeal mask, it had worked fairly well. One thing, it tasted good enough for her to vie with Patsy in eating it off her face. And it certainly made her skin feel soft and smooth.