The Lollipop Bank

Garnet and I use different banks.

Recently, I had an exasperating experience with my bank. After a merchant charged the wrong amount on a debit card, I went online to file a protest. After I filled out the online form, I went to the Web site to make sure that everything was under way only to find a notice saying that the online protest didn't count.

I had to print out another form, the message said, and mail or fax it to the bank. I printed it out, filled it out and faxed it only to get another message saying that I the faxed form didn't count either and that I would have to call an 800 number.

There's more but you get the drift.

The other morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table ranting to Garnet about the bank's poor customer service. Sparkle Girl was sitting opposite me.

When I finished, she smiled the sweetest smile and said, "My bank gives lollipops."

Mr. Doobins and the Raindrop of Badness

Mr. Doobins has been known to get into trouble at his preschool. So we get into the habit of checking with his teacher when we picked him up to find out whether there was anything we needed to follow up on later.

He has gotten to the place, though, where he is a pretty reliable source. So, unless the teacher makes a point to say something, we just check in with him as we walk to the car.

The other day, when Garnet picked him up, she asked how the day had gone.

It had gone well, he said. "I wasn't even a nibble of badness."

More recently, as he and Garnet were walking out, he volunteered, "I was a really good boy today."

"You were?" said Garnet.

"Yeah, I was really good today," Mr. Doobins said. "Well, maybe I was just one raindrop of badness."

Dee Luster and Donna Martin

On April 12, a story that I wrote about Dee Luster, who lost her daughter, Sonia, in a traffic accident, ran in the "Winston-Salem Journal."

In the story, Ms. Luster talked about sleeping with the red shirt that her daughter wore the day before the accident because it still smelled like Sonia.

After reading the story, Donna Martin sent me the following e-mail. I asked Ms. Martin whether it would be OK to post it on His Dogness. She said that would be fine.

Here it is:

Dear Kim,

You don't know me, but this morning I was reading the article on Dee Luster losing her daughter in a car crash and I started crying for her. You see, in 1995, I also lost my 19-year-old son in a car crash. He was living in Fargo, Georgia at the time with his girlfriend, and they were planning to get married that summer.

He was on his way to work that morning and it was very foggy. He got to an intersection and when he pulled out, a truck hit him twice and knocked him into a bank. I was working at a restaurant in Jonesville when I got the call from a hospital in Fargo. They told me I needed to get to Fargo right away, but he died before I could get there.

When I walked into that funeral home that night and I saw my son laying on that table with a white sheet covering him and a red rose laying on the sheet, I went to the floor.

His girlfriend told me to take anything I wanted that belonged to him and you know what I took. I went straight to her clothes hamper and got his dirty clothes, just so I could smell the scent of him.

To this day I still have his dirty clothes and have never washed them. I would love to talk to Dee and tell her my story. You see, it helps to talk to someone who has been through the same experience.

I know my story won't mean much to you, but it made me feel so much better just to share it with you. Thanks for listening anyway.

Donna Martin
Hamptonville, NC

Wonderful World

Garnet and I have a new book coming out in September.

It's called the "Wonderful World of Sparkle Girl & Doobins." It has five stories about Sparkle Girl and Doobins and the people in their world - Garnet, Mr. Chundy, Jerome, Bonnie, the Man on the Moon and the fairies.

Mr. Chundy is the owner of Mr. Chundy's Magic Mart, which sells both regular and magic versions of milk and pretty much anything else you might need.

Jerome is the giraffe who drives a convertible.

Bonnie lives in Loch Ness but always makes it to the annual picnic.