Tip
He came into my life as a carefully guarded secret in the middle of the night. He came suddenly, unexpectedly. His arrival was the kind of surprise you didn't know you were waiting for, but once it comes you can't remember how you lived before. My mom smuggled him into the house. I didn't even get to see him that first night. Everyone was sleeping as I welcomed the midnight guests, and we didn't turn on the lights. We put him in my bathroom, closed the door, and went to sleep ourselves. I first saw him the next morning, big eyes on a shivering, nervous, tiny ball of white fluff. He had long, floppy ears, and soft silky hair. His tail, normally curled high over his back, hung stiffly down. This was Tip, my mom told my girls and me, as we gathered around trying to contain our squeals and giggles and excitement. My mom had called the day before she came, and asked if I could keep a secret. She told me that if I could, she would bring something really ...