Best Actress
林恩·阿尔科克/Lynn Alcock
萨曼塔是我丈夫杰克的狗，或者更确切地说，他是她的主人。而我则是喂养她、领着她散步并照顾她的人，但对萨曼塔而言，连太阳都是围绕杰克转的。她爱慕着他，这种感觉是相互的。当她送给他一个温柔的“妩媚眼神”时，他整个人都融化了。
我们居住在西北地区一个名叫耶洛奈夫的地方，距北极圈有三百英里远。杰克在部队，很少回家。我独自一人生活，值得庆幸的是我有我的那些好朋友，还有一个非常愉快的工作环境，尤其还有萨曼塔，她会在夜晚为我取暖。她在毯子下面慢慢地蠕动，蜷缩在我的脚边——真是幸福极了。
北极的冬天极其漫长，萨曼塔耐心地等待着阳光和温暖天气的到来，急切地想要出去。她是一种独特的猎犬，喜欢奔跑、追赶兔子和松鼠以及在湖里游泳。在那年春天终于来临的第一个温暖的日子里，我们外出散步。萨曼塔精力充沛，总是很夸张地做一些事情——以极快的速度跑过那些岩石，而这正是耶洛奈夫的美景。到了该回家的时候了，她走起路来却一瘸一拐的，好像还忍受着巨大的疼痛。医生诊断出她是韧带拉伤，命令她静静休养，几个星期之内不许跑动。对于萨曼塔来说，这可不是个好消息。现在，当我去工作的时候，她就被限制只能在门廊下面活动，我在家的时候会带着她慢慢地走一小段路。几个星期过去了，她虽然走起路来还不稳当，但已经好多了，看着她逐渐康复，我也感到很高兴。
这期间，杰克从周一到周五都没在家。周五晚上，他回来了，我们相互拥抱、亲吻着，萨曼塔紧紧地贴在他的腿边。整个周末，她都形影不离地跟着杰克，并因自己的伤痛而心安理得地接受着他的关怀。而我很清楚地知道，她跛行显然是因为杰克在家里。
夏末的时候，她的腿伤已经痊愈，她完全康复了。一个星期里，她奔跑、玩耍，追赶着她的球，一玩就是几个小时。当杰克回到家里，她的伤痛又神奇般地出现了，整个周末都卧在沙发上，她得到了大量的拥抱、一条毛毯以及悉心的照顾。
我告诉杰克她的这些行为只是想要吸引他的注意。“这当然不可能了，”他说，“你没有看到她的腿伤仍然困扰着她吗？为什么不像兽医说的那样会复原呢？”我叹了口气，不再追究这件事。
像大多数人一样，我和杰克都喜欢在星期日的早晨相互依偎着睡个懒觉。我们聊着过去一周发生的事情，再盛满咖啡，聊聊更多的事情，打个小盹，懒散地度过一天。萨曼塔躺在床下，也同样享受着这个特别时刻。最后，我们起床、沐浴，一起到厨房做早餐。我们也总是会给萨曼塔煎一个鸡蛋。她通常会在**等着我们做好后叫她吃饭。那天早晨，早餐已经摆好了，因为萨曼塔受了伤，所以杰克打算抱她下床吃饭。
“不，”我对他说道，“站在她看不到你的地方，看她接下来会做什么。”
我喊着萨曼塔，我们听到她跳下床，跑到餐厅。她的速度之快就像再也看不到明天似的，很奇怪，她的腿也不痛了，直到看到杰克。她停顿了一会儿，立刻又瘸了。我们看着她走了几步，你可以想象在这只猎犬的脑海中反复思考着：是这条腿还是那条腿呢？然后，她的另一条腿瘸了起来，接着，她被绊倒了！
我和杰克笑了起来，笑萨曼塔，也笑我们自己，萨曼塔本应该被授予“最佳女演员”的称号。相反，我们为她写了一张“西北地区最受欢迎猎犬”的奖状，并颁发给她。看起来她为自己的表演以及获得的奖励深感骄傲。事实上，我们都知道她是西北地区唯一的猎犬，但是我们不会告诉她——我们不想打破她的梦境。
Samantha was really my husband Jack's dog， or more accurately， he was her human. I was the one who fed her， walked her and took care of her， but as far as Samantha was concerned， the sun rose and set on Jack. She adored him. The feeling was mutual； when she gave him that soft beagle "googly-eyed look"， he melted.
We lived in a place called Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories， three hundred miles from the Arctic Circle. Jack was in the army and away a lot. I managed on my own and was thankful for good friends， an enjoyable working environment and， especially， Samantha to keep me warm at night. She would crawl under the blankets and curl around my feet—what bliss.
It had been a long arctic winter and Samantha had waited patiently for the sunshine and warm weather to come and was raring to get out and about. A typical hound， she loved running， chasing rabbits and squirrels， and swimming in the lake. When the first warm day of spring finally arrived that year and we went out for a walk， in her exuberance， Samantha overdid it—running at top speed over the rocks that are the landscape in Yellowknife. By the time we reached the house， she was limping quite pronouncedly and appeared to be in significant pain. Her injury was diagnosed as sprained ligaments， and she was ordered to keep still： no running for several weeks. It was not welcome news for this beagle. Now she was confined to the porch while I was away at work， and then took short， quiet walks on a leash when I was home. As the weeks passed， her limp slowly but surely diminished； I was pleased with her progress.
During that period， Jack was away from Monday to Friday. On his return Friday evenings， there were hugs and kisses all around， and Samantha would be plastered to his lap. She followed him everywhere all weekend， lapping up the attention she received because of her "hurtie". It was clear to me that her limp became even more pronounced when Jack was at home.
By the end of the summer her leg was all healed and she was back to normal. She ran and played and chased her ball for hours on end—during the week. When Jack came home， her hurtie mysteriously came back， and she was placed on the sob for the weekend with lots of hugs， a blanket and treats.
I told that this was just an act for his attention. "Of course it isn't，" he said. "Can't you see her leg is still bothering her？ How come it's not healing like the vet said it would？" I sighed but let it drop.
Like most people， Jack and I love to sleep in and snuggle on Sunday morning. We chat about the events of the past week， reload our coffee cups， chat some more， nap and generally laze around. Samantha lies at the bottom of the bed enjoying this special time as well. Eventually， we get up， shower and head to the kitchen to start making breakfast. It was our routine to cook an egg for Samantha， too. She usually waited on the bed until it was ready and we called her to come and eat. That morning when breakfast was ready started down the hall， intending to lift Samantha off the bed and carry her into the kitchen because of her hurtie.
"No，" I told him. "Stand where she can't see you and watch what happens next."
I called Samantha. We heard her jump off the bed and run down the hall. She was running like there was no tomorrow， and surprise， no hurtie—until she saw Jack. She stopped on a dime and immediately began limping. We watched as she took a few steps. You could see the wheels turning in her beagle brain： Was it this leg or the other？ Then she started limping on the other leg. Caught in the act？
Jack and I laughed， both at Samantha and at each other， Samantha would have been given an award for "Best Actress in a Leading Role". Instead， we wrote "The Best Beagle in the Northwest Territories Award" on a piece of paper and gave it to her. She seemed so proud of her performance and the award. Actually， we knew that she was the only beagle in the Northwest Territories， but we didn't tell her—we didn't want to spoil the magic.