Tracy McCallum is the author of the poetry collection Fast Associations, winner of the Plumbers Ink Poetry Prize. He served as a librarian in Taos, New Mexico, for twenty-four years and lives in Port Angeles, Washington, where he also paints and turns wooden bowls.

Toby and Cooper

An iStory

by Tracy McCallum

There’s this guy who eats at a local diner here called Empossible Eden. His name is Toby. I know this because I heard Em, the owner of the place, call him Toby one day. She said, “Hi, Toby.” So when I went in to have lunch there today, I said, “Hi, Toby,” and he said, “Do I know you?” He’s also got this pug dog that sits under his chair, with a harness that says Service Dog on it. It’s kinda plug-ugly, like him, and I also heard someone say, “Hi, Cooper” to the dog, so I knew the dog’s name was Cooper.

People on couch
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