A true story about a boy,
a mom, and a very,
very bad beagle
fixing
freddie
paula munier
Copyright 2010 by Paula Munier
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any
form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are
made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published by
Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 10: 1-4405-0230-7
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0230-9
eISBN 10: 1-4405-0736-8
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0736-6
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Munier, Paula.
Fixing Freddie / Paula Munier.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4405-0230-9
1. Beagle (Dog breed) Massachusetts Humor. 2. Human-animal relationships
Massachusetts Humor. 3. Dogs Behavior Massachusetts Anecdotes. I. Title.
SF429.B3M855 2010
636.75370929 dc22 2010009952
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From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
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Advanced Praise for fixing freddie
Rounding the hard corners of single parenthood and loss, Fixing Freddie is nevertheless an upbeat account of how love and courage are found in unexpected places and lives are changed by the most unlikely heroes.
Susannah Charleson, author of the New York Times bestseller Scent of the Missing
Who let this dog out? Put your paws up and howl for Paula Munier's hysterically funny tale, an incredible journey of the heart. To say the leash, she loves Freddie, and you will too!
Julia Spencer-Fleming, Anthony and Agatha Award winning author of One Was a Soldier
If you love impish beagles, growing boys, a charismatic heroine, and a darn good story, you'll relish every line of Fixing Freddie, a breezy memoir that crackles with humor, wit, and infectious optimism. This pet memoir stands heads and tails above its competitors, and left me panting for more.
Susan Reynolds, author of My Dog Is My Hero
Move over, Marley! Fixing Freddie delivers laughter, tears, and an abundance of joy.
T. J. MacGregor, Edgar-winning author of Out of Sight
You don't have to love dogs to love Fixing Freddie. It's hilarious, poignant, and totally irresistible!
Hallie Ephron, author of Never Tell a Lie and The Bibliophile's Devotional
I love this book. It's hilarious. It's heartwarming. It's honest. And it's absolutely charming. One mom's battle with a beagle becomes an inspirational journey for all of us teaching us about life, loyalty, and the power of love.
Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha-winning author of Prime Time
When a talented comic writer combines a dog, a cat, and a bright preteen boy with attitude, you've got a book full of joyful reading ahead of you.
Cynthia Riggs, award-winning author of the Victoria Trumbull series
In prose as brilliant and fluid as quicksilver, Fixing Freddie weaves a rollicking, revelatory story of redemption that all single mothers and single women make that all women and all mothers need to read over and over again to remind ourselves that, yes, life is full of mistakes and miseries, but it's also full of triumphs and joys and it's all fixable.
Colleen Sell, editor of the bestselling A Cup of Comfort book series, coauthor of The Everything Kids Gross Cookbook and 10-Minute Zen
A funny, soulful look at what it means to be a family: Fixing Freddie made us sit up, roll over, and beg for more.
Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Sam Barry, authors of Write That Book Already!
A heartwarming, refreshing tale of love human and canine that will appeal to anyone who loved Marley and Me.
Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Vanished. and Paranoia
Dedication
For my father, who got me my first dog, and my mother, who let me keep him.
And for Alexis and Corkie, Greg and Rambo, Mikey and Shakespeare and Freddie
proof positive that a life without kids and dogs is really no life at all.
Note to Reader
There are three sides to every love story: his, hers, and the dog's.
This is her side, and while as true as a howl, the names of various curs, bitches, littermates, pack leaders, and pack followers have been changed to protect both the innocent and the unruly.
My dogs know more about me than I know about myself.
ABIGAIL THOMAS, A Three Dog Life
Fixer-Upper: noun, something that needs fixing up
chapter one
Meaning what you say is just as important as saying what you mean.
JENNIFER BRIDWELL, The Everything Dog Obedience Book
WE DIDN'T NEED A DOG. WE HAD A PERFECTLY NICE DOG, A BIG, loveable, huggable, shaggy black mutt from the pound we called Shakespeare. And a cat, a beautiful tabby named Isis. We were a family, me and the dog and the cat and Mikey, my youngest child and the only one left at home. His siblings were grown and gone. His father was just gone.
It was moving day. We'd had many moving days since the divorce a few years before too many. From Las Vegas to Massachusetts to California and back to Massachusetts once again. And now, from the North Shore of Massachusetts to the South Shore. Only forty-four miles and a lifetime away.
You said no more moving, Mikey had said when I told him about the new job I'd been offered. My dream job, really, as the idea person for a trade house that published some two hundred nonfiction books a year, books that showed readers how to plan their weddings and breastfeed their babies and train their dogs. But that's not why I wanted to take it so badly. The salary was the reason I wanted to take it so badly.
It means more money, honey. We were sitting outside on the small balcony of our Salem apartment on a cool May evening, watching people walking their dogs and jogging along the crooked and cracked sidewalks below. Our flat took up the middle floor of a tired Victorian-era triple-decker in a neighborhood crowded with tired Victorian-era triple-deckers. Enough money for a house of our own.
I like it fine right here. My eleven-year-old son stared out over the rooftops of the city, where a jangle of wires, cables, and antennas met the darkening sky.
You'll go to a better school, I said. A safer school.
Mikey looked at me. My friends are here.
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