Favorite Fictional Character --- Harry, The Dirty Dog

I'm going to assume from the outset that we all have characters that for whatever reason have stuck with us since we were little kids.  They are characters that we may have only came into contact once or twice, but for whatever reason they never seemed to let go of our imaginations.  For me, most of those character come from the books as I read as a wee small lad.  And I read a lot as a kid.  I think I devoured any book that was put in front of me.  One of my favorite books was a about a white dog with black spots named Harry.  And even though I only read two other books he starred in, Harry has been with me ever since.

Harry was a dog that really liked to stick to his own guns.  He hated baths and would do everything he could to avoid them.  But once he decided to hide the scrub brush and go off on his own, he learned that being clean may be worth it after all.  Now don't get me wrong, Harry had a lot of fun on his adventures that day.  He got to play in the dirt, frolic along the railroad, play with other dogs, and even slide down a coal chute.  I think most dogs or even little boys for that matter, would have a grand old time doing those same things.  Of course by the time he goes home, Harry is no longer the white dog with black spots, he's now a black dog with white spots.  How much dirtier can the poor guy get.  Now because of the difference his family doesn't recognize him, despite all the tricks he does for them.  Then just when everything seems to be lost, he gets the scrub brush out of hiding and gets the family to give him a bath.  I don't know if Harry ever got that dirty again, but if he did, I'm sure he made sure that scrub brush was standing by.

As a kid, how could you not fall in love with that story.  Harry appealed to that part of us who wanted to do the exact opposite of what our parents told us to do.  Of course he almost had to pay a huge price for his freedom, but in the end, family and home won out.  It's the same thing with real life.  We want our freedom, but in the end all we really want is the love and safety of our families and the security of our home.