I mean, it’s one thing to have to spend a week or two in a place where bad things happened, but to stay indefinitely is quite another.”
“Actually, right before you called, I was sitting at the kitchen table and remembering some of the good times. You remember me telling you about Finn? He stopped by and we caught up a little bit. It was fun.”
“You sound good,” Janice replied, relief in her voice. “You’ll call me if things get rough.”
Mariah smiled, thanking her lucky stars for such a friend. “You’re on my speed dial.”
“You know, I’ve been meaning to take a vacation. I could come out there and help you with the house.”
“Janice, if you’re going to take a vacation, go to Mexico or to Hawaii. Don’t waste it coming here to work,” Mariah replied.
The two spoke for just a few more minutes, then hung up. The rest of the day passed quickly. Mariah moved from the kitchen to the living room, where she took down draperies, swiped at cobwebs and scrubbed woodwork.
Kelsey and her new pooch, officially named Tiny, moved from her room to the kitchen so Kelsey could work on dinner. Kelsey kept up a running monologue directed at the dog, whose cast clunked on the floor each time he took a step.
Mariah had agreed that the dog could sleep in Kelsey’s room at night, but during the day he would be relegated to the kitchen. An old screen propped across the kitchen doorway provided a workable barrier to keep the dog in the room.
It was after six when they sat down to eat the steak that Kelsey had prepared. Tiny sat next to Kelsey’s chair, looking up to her with big brown begging eyes.
“Don’t you dare give him anything from the table,” Mariah said. “You don’t want to start a bad habit. He has his own food in his bowl.”
Kelsey cast a sympathetic look at Tiny. “Sorry, baby, you have to eat your own food.” Tiny cocked his head to one side, then clumped over to his own food bowl and began to eat.
It didn’t take long to realize that although, according to Jack Taylor, Tiny had been running the streets for several weeks, he was surprisingly domesticated. He responded to simple commands and after he was finished eating went to the back door.
“I think we need to put up some flyers around town about Tiny,” Mariah said when Kelsey came back from taking the dog outside. “It’s obvious he’s been trained and somebody might be missing him.”
Kelsey held the dog in her arms and sighed. “I guess you’re right. But if nobody claims him, then I get to keep him, right?”
Tiny barked, as if to add his two cents to the conversation. Mariah laughed and scratched the dog behind one ear. “That’s right. You can print the flyers on your computer and tomorrow we’ll put them around.”
Kelsey nodded and placed the dog on the floor and then together she and Mariah cleared the table.There was no dishwasher in the old kitchen and as they washed dishes, they talked about what they’d do when they got back to Chicago.
After dinner Kelsey went up to her room and Mariah moved into her father’s study and sat at his desk. She’d picked up several empty boxes while they’d been at the grocery store and she began to empty the contents of the desk into one of them.
She’d worked about an hour when Kelsey found her and gave her the flyers she’d made. “I think I’m going to go to bed,” Kelsey said. “I don’t know why, but I’m pooped.”
“It’s all this fresh country air.” Mariah got up from the desk and wrapped her arms around her daughter. “I’m going to work a while longer, so I’ll just tell you good night now.” She kissed Kelsey’s forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
As Kelsey headed back upstairs, Mariah returned to the desk. She turned on the desk lamp against the encroaching darkness of nightfall. The sound of crickets drifted in through the open window, a familiar sound from her childhood.
Most of the contents of the desk were trash. Old bills
Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Etgar Keret, Ramsey Campbell, Hanif Kureishi, Christopher Priest, Jane Rogers, A.S. Byatt, Matthew Holness, Adam Marek
Saxon Andrew, Derek Chido