“What’s his name?” Ki asked, jumping the little dog back and forth across her Happy Meal box. “What doggy’s name, Mike?” And, without thinking, I said, “Strickland.” I thought she’d look puzzled, but she didn’t. She looked delighted. “Stricken!” she said, bouncing the dog back and forth in ever-higher leaps over the box. “Stricken! Stricken! My dog Stricken!” “Who’s this guy Strickland?” Mattie asked, smiling a little. She had begun to unwrap her hamburger. “A character in a book I read once,” I said, watching Ki play with the little puffball dog. “No one real.”
