Minor Characters
Zeriph
Zeriph was the camel’s original handler and was “imported” to Australia along with other men to handle and manage a camel. He died some time before the story begins. While he was alive, he loved the camel dearly and encouraged the camel to be good, proud, and polite.
von Stephanitz
“In Hundstage” (and in real life), von Stephanitz is the German scientist responsible for creating the German Shepherd dog breed. As the dog explains, he believed he was recreating a modern version of “Germanic wolf-dogs.”
The Lobster
In “Somewhere Along the Line the Pearl Would Be Handed to Me,” the lobster meets Muss and Sel in Pearl Harbor. He provides them drugs and trips with them. He dies instantly when Pearl Harbor is bombed.
Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy was a Russian author; he appears in “Plautus, a Memoir.” The tortoise Plautus desperately wants to be his pet—but when she arrives on his doorstep, she discovers he died three years previously.
The Matriarch
The matriarch is the leader of the elephant herd in “I, the Elephant, Wrote This.” She’s old and wise, and she encourages the elephant and her sister to stop idealizing death.
Owner’s Ex-Husband
The owner in “Psittacophile” marries her husband 30 years before her move to Beirut. Though not a bad man, he doesn’t think he should be expected to reciprocate affection or interest when the owner expresses it, which fuels the owner’s deep desire to be needed.
Owner’s Daughter
The owner’s daughter in “Psittacophile” is an independent young woman who doesn’t support the owner’s choice to deal with her midlife crisis by moving to Beirut.
Marty
In “Psittacophile,” Marty is an expat teaching in Beirut who enters into a relationship with Barnes’s owner. Barnes doesn’t say much about Marty, except that, like the owner, he’s a former New Yorker who thinks himself superior to everyone else.
Missy
In “Pigeons, a Pony, the Tomcat and I,” Missy was Colette’s former lover; she regularly dressed as a man.
Blondi
Blondi is the dog’s littermate in “Hundstage.” She becomes Hitler’s dog and eventually becomes famous amongst other German Shepherds.
Leonard
Leonard is Virginia Woolf’s good-natured husband in “Plautus: A Memoir.”
Officer
In “A Letter to Sylvia Plath,” Officer is Sprout’s daughter. She enters training to serve in the Navy alongside her mother and even serves in the same unit.
Toby-Chien
In “Pigeons, a Pony, the Tomcat and I,” Toby-Chien is Colette's bulldog. Toby-Chien is friendly with Kiki, and doesn't mind when Kiki gets a lot of Colette's attention.