Archive for December, 2007

Doobins Scales Mount Chocolate


As long as I have known Garnet, she has kept her chocolates in a bowl on the highest shelf in the kitchen. There, it is out of reach of Sparkle Girl and Doobins.

In moments of largesse, she dispenses chocolate to them unasked.

At other times, they ask for it. If they have eaten lunch or otherwise met the requirements for a treat, she reaches up into the bowl and produces, say, a Hershey’s Kiss.

The other day Garnet and I walked into the living room to find Mr. Doobins standing behind the Christmas tree.

“What’s going on, Bud?” we asked.

When he emerged from behind the tree, we saw that he was eating one of those deluxe chocolate balls with a hazelnut at the center. (Whenever he eats one, he tosses the hazelnut once he has licked off all the chocolate.)

We both recognized it. Minutes before, Garnet had placed it in the bowl after giving everyone an officially authorized chocolate ball.

Theoretically, Doobins should have been in trouble for taking chocolate without permission.

But that thought didn’t even occur to me. Superceding it was the question “How on Earth did he lay he hands on that chocolate?”

Garnet was clearly thinking the same thing because, at the same time, we both said, “How did you get that?”

Sensing that our tone was inquisitive rather than disapproving, he became expansive and offered to demonstrate his technique.

We followed him into the kitchen where he showed us how he had dragged a stool over and climbed up on it. From there, he had used a drawer pull for a foothold and pulled himself up onto the counter. Once atop the counter, it was the work of a moment to reach inside the bowl and liberate the last chocolate.

I, for one, was impressed. Even after it occurred to me that he should be in trouble, I had nothing but admiration for his pluck.