Nappy is an adored pet of the McBeans. Mr. and Mrs. McBean love him and so do the twins. As you can see from his name, he loves napping but also enjoys meeting new people and being petted.
Growing up with the twins, Nappy sees himself as their playmate and protector. As far as Worda is concerned, Nappy is her hero, and he can do no wrong. One morning, about four years ago, when the twins were two, their mother was walking by the pool, hand in hand with them, when Worda let out an unhappy wail. Her doll had slipped from her grasp into the deep end. She could not be consoled.
Suddenly there was a splash. In under than a minute, Nappy had dived in, retrieved the doll, and gently placed it on the back porch. “Thank you, Nappy, for saving my doll,” Worda managed to say through tears of joy after hugging him and getting water all over her dress.
Although Nappy receives celebrity treatment from nearly everyone in the community, he does not let it get to his head. Whether child or grownup, every familiar face gets a tail wag and a “Woof, woof.”
He’s such a beautiful dog that all the passersby ask the McBeans for permission to pet him, hand him a treat or give him a toy. Nappy is truly everyone’s pet.
Ralph, the milkman, loves Nappy and the feeling is mutual.
Marie, the package delivery woman, always shouts, “Nappy, my boy!” as she alights from her truck. She doesn’t mind when he leaps and licks her hand.
On the days that Marie does not have a package for the McBeans, she still slows down her truck and greets Nappy. And he is quick to reply.
“Woof, Woof!”
“Nappy, you make my day!” Marie says every day, then drives away smiling.
When Nappy is not busy jumping onto Mrs. McBean’s lap or napping on the porch, he plays with Madison, the cat, and engages in his favorite pastime – chasing Tom, Worda, and Gina, their neighbor around the yard until they collapse, breathless in a heap.
Nappy looks forward to Tuesdays. That is when Lyle, the sanitation worker, feeds him treats. And it is a treat to see Nappy lick his lips after partaking of those special gifts of liver and meat cubes.
Nappy has even made an ally out of Phillip, the letter carrier. It is hard to believe, but there was a time when Phillip did not get along with dogs.
“Seriously, I am not a dog person,” he tells the McBeans, with a mischievous wink, recalling the many occasions when he had to sprint away from a mailbox.
“Woof, woof,” Nappy replies.
“On this job, I have had my fair share of run-ins with dogs,” he explains. But for Nappy, he makes an exception, petting him at every opportunity and growing to trust him more and more each day.
The children on Bramble Drive call Nappy by name. Some greet him with, “Hey, Napster!” or “Good morning, Nappiboo!” or even, “Napmeyster!”
“Woof, woof,” he says in return.
The truth is, Nappy never forgets a face. Once you greet him, you become his friend.
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