"A memoir and elegy to the author's deceased dog, The Speckled Beauty"-- "Speck is not a good boy. He is a terrible boy, a defiant self-destructive, often malodorous boy, a grave robber and a screen-door muncher who spends his days playing chicken with the FedEx man, picking up livestock, and rolling in donkey manure, and his nights howling at the moon. He has been that way since the moment he appeared on the ridgeline behind Rick Bragg's house. Speck arrived in Rick's life at a moment of looming uncertainty, as he stared down a litany of physical ailments straight from the Old Testament, and a creeping sadness from deaths in his great family. Speck helped, and he is helping, still, when he is not peeing on the rose of Sharon. Written with Rick Bragg's inimitable blend of tenderness and sorrow, humor and grit, The Speckled Beauty captures the extraordinary sustaining devotion between two damaged creatures who need each other to heal." -- From book jacket Provided by publisher.

"This is a Borzoi Book" -- Title page verso.

Introduction: Guilty as sin and one eye shining -- The dog I had in mind -- Squirrels beyond measure -- Tough guys -- Pandemonium -- Geraldine -- Jackasses -- Big deal -- In a lake of fire -- Tumbling, tumbling down -- Magic dogs -- When dogs will fly -- Dog days -- The return of Henry -- Of mules and men -- Quarantine -- Boomers -- Epilogue: Light sleeper.