Carol: “Basie found herself in the mirror. It was pretty cute.”

Me: “So you guys decided on Basie?”

Carol: “Well, sort of. About ten minutes ago we almost changed it to Destin. I love it but Chris thinks it sounds like Desitin, and he’d rather call her Billie. Any thoughts?”

Me: “Thoughts? HOW ABOUT YOU DECIDE ALREADY.”

… (an hour goes by) …

Carol: “Basie it is.”

Me: “Jesus Christ, it’s like an effing soap opera over there.”

Carol: “Stop it. There are four really weird, hard-to-please people living with me.”

Me: “You are not one of those weird, hard-to-please people. AT ALL.”

Carol: “Who needs best friends when I have you!!!???”

Me: “Carol, that was three exclamation points and three question marks. Someone out there right now is trying to write a paper and can’t because you used up all the punctuation. Also, you give me the same shit, and I love you regardless. And I wish I was with you right now so I could hear you say REGARDLESS out loud.”

Carol: “Go tell the Internet, ‘Thank you.’ They were a huge help. Love, your best friend, Carol.”

Me: “Because it’s 1860 and we’re sending letters to each other via the Pony Express.”

…..

Four of you suggested this name (#1375 Jennifer, #1636 Goodfather, #2680 Carrie Jo, #3176 Michele), and I’d love to send you a little something in the mail as a token of our appreciation. If you could send your mailing address to dooce at dooce dot com I’ll stuff Coco in a box and drop her off at the post office package up a small gift and send it your way. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, Basie now has a name and a new life.