Luna has been living with my girlfriend and me -- rent free -- for nearly four years.
Me: Luna, you had a fairly inauspicious start. We purchased you from an Amish family who lived on a farm and gave us their word you weren't the product of a puppy mill. Despite your seemingly healthy appearance, we were given a $25 discount on your total price because you didn't have all of your shots. Do you ever feel self-conscious about your background?
Luna: That's an interesting question, Mr. Jared. If you're asking me whether I ever feel less worthy as a pet because I don't have a prestigious American Kennel Club registration number, then absolutely not. I know who I am, and I'm proud of it, goddamn it. I think the question you really should be asking, Mr. Jared, is, "How do you feel about the people who adopted you, and are you happy with your current home?"
Me: Fair enough, Luna. How do you feel about Liz and me, and are you happy with your current living situation?
Luna: To be honest with you, Mr. Jared, I still harbor some resentment about the way in which you and Ms. Liz went about adopting Buna*. Being ripped away from the warmth of my mother Nancy and my brothers and sisters in the middle of the night without warning no doubt left me with some deep-seated psychological issues. Those issues have manifested themselves in a number of ways, such as: following you two everywhere you go (including the bathroom), occasionally snacking on the contents of the cats' litter box, collapsing my crate as a puppy and Buna's blatant aversion of all people with brown skin. However, given your limited means and poor planning, I do believe you and Ms. Liz are doing the best you can. Besides, any time I start to feel angry about my situation, I wait until you take me outside. Then, when I'm done my business, I wait til you bend down to pick up that steaming pile of Buna shit, and I kick grass right in your face.
Me: OK, I'm not sure how being adopted at night made you a racist, but we'll just move on. So is it safe to say that the overall adoption process is the number one thing you hold against Liz and me?
Luna: Oh no, Mr. Jared, that doesn't even come close to the anger I have about my surgery. I mean you took my ovaries out without even asking me. How do you know I didn't want to have babies? Did you ever think to ask Buna about such a permanent decision? Goddammit, fuck you, Mr. Jared! And fuck Bob Barker, too.
Me: Wait a minute, why Bob Barker?
Luna: Because as much as I love "The Price is Right," that asshole had a lot of nerve going around telling everybody to get their pets neutered and sprayed. If it wasn't for that pervert, there's no way that sadistic, medieval practice would be nearly as popular today, and Buna would probably have a liter of pups suckling on my teat right now. Get your pets neutered and spayed ... fuck that. It's the humans that need to be neutered and spayed. Have you ever been to the Midwest, Mr. Jared?
Me: Well, I once had a long layover at the Minneapolis airport, and it was quite lovely. Anyway, Liz seems to think that you love going to "school" at Karen's K-9, but I'm not so sure. Every time I pick you up, you smell like piss and sleep for day's on end. What goes on over there?
Luna: Oh yeah, well, I think Ms. Liz means well, I really do. But here's the thing: It's very difficult for humans to understand what goes on over at Karen's. Much like prison, there's a unspoken but clearly defined hierarchy, and a complex network of allegiances among the different breeds. When Buna first showed up at Karen's, there were very few Bostons, so things were very difficult form me. I had to give the Retrievers my treats in exchange for protection from the Rottweilers, the Labs my dries to keep me safe from the German Shepherd contingent, and the Pit bulls everything else because, well, because they're Pit bulls. It was very traumatic for a young and impressionable, Buna. I mean, imagine what was going through my head when, on my second day of "school," a Bull Mastiff cornered me in the yard and said: "You have two choices, little dog: You can suck my dick ... or you can suck my sick and like it. What's it gonna be?"
Me: My God, Luna. What did you do? Never mind, don't answer that. Do you want us to find you a new daycare?
Luna: It wouldn't matter, Mr. Jared. Once you spend a day at Karen's, you're never the same again.
*Note: Throughout the course of the interview, Luna alternated between answering questions in the first person and referring to herself as Buna.
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