that’s what I should do with Ian! He’s been sitting in an urn at home gathering dust. Dust unto dust, as they say, but—”
Someone asked dryly, “Wedding bells in your future, Sylvia?”
“You never know,” she replied, “although marriage isn’t exactly what I’ve been thinking about.” Smiling, she hummed a tune that everyone must have recognized: “There’ll Be Some Changes Made.”
It always irks me to hear someone hint at some drastic change without going on to specify what it’s going to be. So what if Sylvia sounded hostile? What could she do that would have any effect on me? Nothing! If she dyed her hair chartreuse, moved to Brazil, and married two men, her green-coiffed South American bigamy would have no impact on me, except that I’d be able to accompany Ceci and Quest to the park without the risk of having Zsa Zsa attack Rowdy. Preoccupied with this senseless resentment, and still monitoring Zsa Zsa, I didn’t notice the pretty, petite young woman in black spandex until she’d practically hurled herself at Sylvia.
“Dear God, Pia, what’s the matter now?” Sylvia said. “Pia panics at everything. She always has.”
The runner looked genuinely distressed. Her hair contributed to her startling and startled appearance. It was short and dark, and stood up in locks and tufts, almost as if it were standing on end. She probably just hadn’t brushed it before going for a morning run. Exercise could have reddened her face. But her expression was anxious and aggrieved. “Mother, really! A lot of help you are! Where’s Wilson?”
A couple of people started to tell the young woman that Wilson had left a while ago. Ceci, however, responded to her obvious disquiet. “Something happened to you,” she said. “What is it? It wasn’t that foolish man again, was it?”
“Yes, it was! Miracle of miracles, someone finally noticed. Thank you! Yes, it was the same one.”
“In the ski mask?” someone asked.
“Yes. And the trench coat. Corny, huh? But let me tell you, when it happens to you, it’s not very funny.”
“No one said it was,” Noah told her.
“My mother did.”
“She didn’t mean that,” Noah assured Pia. “Did you, Sylvia?”
“Pia, grow up!” Sylvia ordered. “These things happen. There are a lot of sick people in the world. This exhibitionist is one of them.”
“If you’d had a dog with you—” Noah began.
“It’d still have happened,” a woman finished. “It happened to me three weeks ago, and Pasquale was with me”—she pointed to yet another black Lab—“and he didn’t deter this guy one bit.”
“Did you report it to the police?” someone asked her.
“Yes, and all they did was put it in the Crime Beat column in the paper. Big help that was. At least they didn’t print my name.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Ceci said, “since after all, you were the victim of this deviant person, and it isn’t as if you had done anything except just take Pasquale for a walk, speaking of which, my sister will wonder where on earth Quest and I have gone to, we’re usually not this late. Holly?”
As I drove Ceci and Quest home, she lamented Douglas’s absence, but said how glad she was that I’d solved all the problems with Zsa Zsa and had a chance to meet all of Quest’s friends at the park. “And their mommies and daddies, too, of course,” she added.
When Rowdy and I were finally alone in the car driving home, I said to him, “Rowdy, I’m your best friend, and I’m Kimi’s, too. I’m your owner, your hired help, your trainer, your handler, your groomer, nutritionist, nursemaid, and partner. I am all things to you. Except one. I am not your goddamned mommy.”
Chapter 10
Subj: Re: Your Rowdy
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
[email protected] writes:
<
My males are too young or too old or too closely
Someone asked dryly, “Wedding bells in your future, Sylvia?”
“You never know,” she replied, “although marriage isn’t exactly what I’ve been thinking about.” Smiling, she hummed a tune that everyone must have recognized: “There’ll Be Some Changes Made.”
It always irks me to hear someone hint at some drastic change without going on to specify what it’s going to be. So what if Sylvia sounded hostile? What could she do that would have any effect on me? Nothing! If she dyed her hair chartreuse, moved to Brazil, and married two men, her green-coiffed South American bigamy would have no impact on me, except that I’d be able to accompany Ceci and Quest to the park without the risk of having Zsa Zsa attack Rowdy. Preoccupied with this senseless resentment, and still monitoring Zsa Zsa, I didn’t notice the pretty, petite young woman in black spandex until she’d practically hurled herself at Sylvia.
“Dear God, Pia, what’s the matter now?” Sylvia said. “Pia panics at everything. She always has.”
The runner looked genuinely distressed. Her hair contributed to her startling and startled appearance. It was short and dark, and stood up in locks and tufts, almost as if it were standing on end. She probably just hadn’t brushed it before going for a morning run. Exercise could have reddened her face. But her expression was anxious and aggrieved. “Mother, really! A lot of help you are! Where’s Wilson?”
A couple of people started to tell the young woman that Wilson had left a while ago. Ceci, however, responded to her obvious disquiet. “Something happened to you,” she said. “What is it? It wasn’t that foolish man again, was it?”
“Yes, it was! Miracle of miracles, someone finally noticed. Thank you! Yes, it was the same one.”
“In the ski mask?” someone asked.
“Yes. And the trench coat. Corny, huh? But let me tell you, when it happens to you, it’s not very funny.”
“No one said it was,” Noah told her.
“My mother did.”
“She didn’t mean that,” Noah assured Pia. “Did you, Sylvia?”
“Pia, grow up!” Sylvia ordered. “These things happen. There are a lot of sick people in the world. This exhibitionist is one of them.”
“If you’d had a dog with you—” Noah began.
“It’d still have happened,” a woman finished. “It happened to me three weeks ago, and Pasquale was with me”—she pointed to yet another black Lab—“and he didn’t deter this guy one bit.”
“Did you report it to the police?” someone asked her.
“Yes, and all they did was put it in the Crime Beat column in the paper. Big help that was. At least they didn’t print my name.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Ceci said, “since after all, you were the victim of this deviant person, and it isn’t as if you had done anything except just take Pasquale for a walk, speaking of which, my sister will wonder where on earth Quest and I have gone to, we’re usually not this late. Holly?”
As I drove Ceci and Quest home, she lamented Douglas’s absence, but said how glad she was that I’d solved all the problems with Zsa Zsa and had a chance to meet all of Quest’s friends at the park. “And their mommies and daddies, too, of course,” she added.
When Rowdy and I were finally alone in the car driving home, I said to him, “Rowdy, I’m your best friend, and I’m Kimi’s, too. I’m your owner, your hired help, your trainer, your handler, your groomer, nutritionist, nursemaid, and partner. I am all things to you. Except one. I am not your goddamned mommy.”
Chapter 10
Subj: Re: Your Rowdy
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
[email protected] writes:
<
My males are too young or too old or too closely
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