He understands what we found at Helen’s house. He knows what it means that Helen no longer fills the air with her breath. When dogs are separated from their people, they feel it, and their distress is clear and evident to any canine they encounter.

  To be severed in this final, absolute way means Helen is not coming back, not ever. Odin knows this, but I am not sure he accepts it. Will he, in time, learn to adapt to living with JayB?

  It doesn’t seem so. His grief is too profound. Plus, there is an unwillingness within JayB that Odin and I can sense, a reluctance to fully embrace Odin as part of the pack. For some reason, JayB doesn’t seem to want Odin to live with us, to become Odin’s person.

  I know this: when it comes to Kelsey, Odin is my brother. There’s nothing fun about his determined lunging at the cat—he wants to hunt her, rid her from our lives.

  At every attempt, JayB speaks sharply to Odin, who lives on the leash, even inside the house.

  Kelsey’s reaction is to flee in terror. She finally understands how to behave around fierce canines like Odin and me.

  “This isn’t good, Odin,” JayB says.

  Thus far, he’s been successful in keeping Odin and Kelsey separate.

  I’m wondering if I can change that.

  Love,

  Clancy

  Six

  Both JayB and the woman standing behind him seemed tense. I noticed that JayB had raised his hands into the air. There was a long, anxious silence. I wagged, but only half-heartedly, because I wasn’t sure what was going on.

  I hoped we could soon get back to doing something fun, meaning go to Phoebe’s house and take her to the dog park without Spartan.

  I regarded this new woman. She carried a flowery smell—much less attractive than Maddy’s. She was also shorter and thinner than Maddy, though her hair was similar, just off her shoulders. And she seemed equally angry. Of all the women we had met recently, I preferred Dominique.

  “Could I ask a question?” JayB asked.

  The woman did not reply.

  “See, if I turn around, how are you going to shoot me in the back? Wouldn’t you wind up shooting me in the front?”

  The woman seemed to think about this. “Are you trying to get smart with me? I’ll remind you, I’m holding a weapon pointed at you right now.”

  “Thank you for that reminder.”

  “I am going to call the police and if you try anything, I will shoot you.”

  “You’ve made that point, and I’m not going to argue. And I think it’s a great idea to call the police.”

  She frowned. “You do?”

  “Of course. I’m not here with any criminal intent.”

  “Then what are you doing in my mom’s house?”

  JayB looked surprised. “Helen was your mother?”

  “You knew Helen?”

  “Yes, I’m her neighbor. I live just a few houses down. Can I turn around? I mean, I really don’t have time to get shot today. Maybe if you could wait until the weekend, we could do it then. I have most of Saturday free.”

  “Okay, but very slowly and keep your hands in the air, and don’t try anything.”

  “Just for clarification, it seems like you’re asking me to try to keep my hands in the air. So I have to at least try that, right?”

  “What is it with you?” she demanded. “Can you not treat anything seriously?”

  “I think maybe I’m just a little nervous. This is my first attempted assassination.”

  “It’s not assassination. It’s the Make My Day law. You’re in the house, so I can legally shoot you.”

  “Not in the back, though. That’s not allowed,” JayB pointed out. “That’s the Go To Jail law.”

  The woman considered. “You’re right. Turn around.”

  “You know, I think now that we’ve decided you can only legally shoot me in the front, I’m more comfortable with our current arrangement. Didn’t you say something about inviting the police to the party?”

  The woman bit her lip. “Okay, if you turn around and keep your hands up, I won’t shoot you.”

  “You’d be surprised at how often people say that to me.”

  “What?”

  “I’m kidding. Okay, I’m turning around, and you’re not shooting me. Let’s focus on how friendly that makes this.” Carefully, awkwardly, my person pivoted until he was facing the woman, hands still raised. Then his shoulders relaxed and he dropped his hands. I wagged, glad he was no longer upset.

  “Hey!” she barked at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Well,” he replied reasonably, “you’re not really going to shoot me, no matter what I do.”

  “Oh, yes, I am,” she insisted.

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Am, too.”

  “See, that’s not a real gun.”

  The woman stared at him. “What do you mean? How would you know?”

  JayB pointed his finger and the woman took a step back from him. “That orange thing in the front, that’s on there so that if you ever were to point the gun at law enforcement, they would know it was just a toy.”

  The woman looked offended. “Nobody told me that,” she complained. “I’ve been carrying it in my pocket when I go for walks at night.”

  “You could always throw it,” JayB suggested. He focused his gaze. “I can see the family resemblance. You have Helen’s blue eyes and blond hair. Are you the doctor or the teacher?”

  The woman frowned. “I’m the bookkeeper. And you still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing in my mom’s house?”

  “I’m her dog walker. Well, I mean, I’m not actually a dog walker. That’s not what I do. It’s just that I would walk Odin as a favor that she insisted on paying me for, and then when your mom passed away … and, oh, by the way, I’m so sorry for your loss.… It must have been a real shock.”

  The woman lowered her eyes. “Yes,” she agreed quietly.

  “I took Odin to my house because no one knew what else to do. I think your mom’s friends, Cindy and Lindy, already called … is it your brother and your sister?”

  The woman nodded bitterly. “Right. No, they were called, but my siblings are both too busy to do anything about this, so it’s up to me. One’s a teacher and the other’s a doctor, so my job isn’t important. Did you say ‘Odin’?”

  “Yeah. Hey, Odin!” JayB called.

  I raised my head expectantly and heard the jangle as Odin came out of his person’s bedroom, wagging a little.

  “Oh my God, Odin,” the woman exclaimed, kneeling with her hands open. Odin ran to her, wagging. Now the woman was crying. She had her arms around Odin, who seemed a little confused. “You’re a good, good dog,” she murmured.

  Odin seemed to know who she was, but wasn’t reacting to her the way dogs treat old, trusted friends. He was hesitating, and I knew it was because he still really couldn’t accept that Helen was gone and was worried that this woman being here meant even more things were changing.

  “You can tell he’s met you before. I’m JayB Danville, by the way.”

  The woman wiped tears from her cheeks. “I’m Alana Knox. Hi.”

  “Hi, Alana.” There was a pause. “Well, I’m so sorry,” JayB apologized. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, though I guess you weren’t too frightened. After all, you had the gun.”

  Alana laughed a little. She stood up from petting Odin and looked around her surroundings. “I just got here a little while ago and was walking through the house. My God, my mom has all these boxes in the basement. I guess I’m supposed to go through each one and figure out what to do with everything. This could take months, if I let it.”

  “I’m sorry,” JayB repeated. “It must be hard.”

  Alana nodded, biting her lip. “Would you like to sit for a moment?”

  “Sure.”

  Odin curled up in the corner of the room on the carpet, and I lay down with him.

  “Is there anything you need, anything I can do for you?” JayB asked.

  The woman shook her head, “I don’t think so. I took an Uber from the airport and I’ve got my mom’s car keys, so I can go buy boxes and shipping stuff.…” Her voice trailed off. “It’s pretty overwhelming.”

  Odin was lying on his side and it occurred to me that this was how he positioned himself for a tummy rub. My thoughts flashed to Dominique and I realized I had the answer for how to get her to move in with us: I would sprawl out like Odin. No human can resist a dog’s offered belly. Dominique would rub my tummy and want to come to our house with Phoebe so she could do it again!

  “Um … Alana? Would you like me to take Odin with me to the dog park today?”

  We all looked at Odin at the sound of his name.

  Alana thought about it and nodded. “That would be nice.”

  “Okay, then.” JayB stood. “I need to go pick up a couple more dogs and head out. Want to go to the dog park with us? Odin?”

  I wagged excitedly. Odin peered at my person without enthusiasm.

  Alana stood as well. “What makes this really hard,” she said mournfully, “is that my mom and I weren’t speaking. I hadn’t spoken to her for two years or more. We got in this huge fight. She didn’t like my boyfriend and, well, we had words.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t dump that on you, we barely know each other.”

  “I think pointing a gun at me sort of broke the ice.”

  Alana laughed.

  At Phoebe’s house, I executed my brilliant plan and sprawled out for a tummy rub, but Phoebe, not understanding the strategy, went completely berserk and jumped on me, so Dominique was not lured into stroking my belly. I would have to try again.

  Bringing Dominique and JayB together was proving to be much more difficult than I expected. And then there was my other plan: to get rid of Kelsey.

  Being a dog takes a lot of concentration.

  After playing with Phoebe at the dog park, Odin and I dropped her off and returned to Helen’s. Odin picked up his step as we turned up the driveway, wagging in anticipation. His person might be gone forever, but he still drew comfort from his home.

  Alana opened the door. Her eyes were puffy, and she smelled different somehow.

  “Thank you,” she greeted quietly. “Would you like to come in?”

  JayB shook his head, “Oh, no, I don’t…”

  “Please,” Alana interrupted. “I could really use some company right now.”

  “Sure.”

  Odin and I found the same corner of the room. The people sat in the same chairs as before.

  “This is going to be so hard,” Alana lamented. “Like, look at this.” She held out what I recognized as a book, though it was larger than the ones JayB propped on his chest in bed at night. “It’s Mom and Dad’s wedding album. They were so young!”

  “Is your father still with us?” JayB asked delicately.

  Alana shook her head. “No, he died a long time ago. And you know I have a brother and a sister.”

  JayB nodded.

  “They’re older than I am. Mom was forty-three when I was born. It’s like my siblings are a different family. I was the baby and kind of an only child, if you think about it.” Alana opened the book in her lap and shook her head. “They look so happy,” she murmured. She smelled very sad. Her eyes were wet and she gave JayB a trembling smile. “I guess I won’t ever have a wedding album. My boyfriend—his name’s Guy, Guy Trulock.” She paused and waited for JayB to say something and then continued. “He doesn’t believe in marriage so much.”

  “I have a lot of friends like that.”

  “Have you ever been married?”

  JayB shook his head. “No. I lived with a woman for several years and right about the time we started thinking about getting married, we realized we weren’t really suited for domestic life with each other. That was back in San Francisco.”

  “And now you live here in Kansas City,” Alana observed, a question lingering over the statement.

  “Right. I bought a house out here almost on impulse. I have a half brother, Tim, who lives in Vancouver, whose job, as far as anyone can tell, is to ski and get government assistance. He never calls. My dad lives in this area—he recently came into some money and bought a place in Mission Hills. I thought about maybe moving somewhere else, but I don’t know where that would be.” He shrugged. “My dad and my mom got divorced when I was young. Her name is Celeste and she lives in Florida with her third husband. My dad’s name is Walter, but I was really raised by my stepfather, Howard. Just a few blocks from here, actually.”

  Alana gave him a small smile. “Howard and Walter: Celeste likes traditional names.”

  JayB laughed. “Well, now she’s married to a guy named Twain Wolfe, if you can believe it, so no.”

  Gradually, Alana’s smile faded. “I opened maybe three boxes the whole time you were gone. It’s going to take forever. My mom seems to have kept everything.”

  JayB inhaled. “Well, I hate to add to your burdens, but I’m hoping you’ll keep Odin here with you.”

  She sighed. “I didn’t realize that all this would include taking care of a dog.” Her eyes widened. “Oh! What happens to Odin?”

  I was hearing Odin’s name a lot, but not mine, and wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  “What do you mean?” JayB asked.

  “I can’t take Odin back to Marina del Rey with me,” the woman explained. “So…”

  JayB shook his head. “Odin’s a wonderful dog, but he’s mostly a breed called Treeing Walker Coonhound. He’s a hunter. His instincts tell him to attack my cat, so I’m having to spend all my time keeping them separated. Meaning, I have been watching him, but I can’t possibly adopt him.”

  “I have a cat, too,” Alana informed him in a small voice.

  “Oh, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Odin will be hostile toward it,” JayB advised. “Kelsey, my cat, runs away—she’s a literal scaredy cat. She runs, so his instinct is to pursue. A cat that stands its ground is always a different story.”

  “Yes, that’s her,” Alana acknowledged with a rueful laugh. “She’s backed down whole packs of dogs.”

  “Problem solved, then,” JayB offered with a smile.

  Alana regarded him, a troubled expression on her face. “My boyfriend—we live together?—he doesn’t like dogs. He would never agree to take in Odin.”

  “Oh.” JayB and Alana both turned and gazed at Odin. “So I guess we’re back to your question,” JayB concurred. “What happens to Odin?”

  Both Alana and JayB seemed restless and sad. “Well, I don’t need to do anything right now,” she decided after a long moment. “I have a million boxes to go through first. Like, I found a reel-to-reel tape recorder. I don’t know if I should donate it or try to sell it.”

  “I think something like that you could sell. Maybe on eBay?”

  “I don’t really know how to do that.”

  He shrugged. “Well, I could help you.”

  Alana gazed at him steadily. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I could, you know, help you go through the boxes. Personal stuff, obviously, you’d need to make a decision on. But like, old electronics, things like that, I could sort them out, decide with you what needs to be sent to a charity and what you might want to try to sell, like in a garage sale or something. Garage sales are very big around here. Your task would go faster with two people, I think.”

  Alana smiled at him. “That’s so nice. I would like that, thank you.”

  “Okay, my schedule. Most days I get a much earlier start. I walk a dog named Phoebe.” I glanced up sharply at her name. “And sometimes a dog named Spartan. And your mom’s friends have two little dogs named Millie and Tillie. But I usually take care of them for just a few hours, and then I’m free the rest of the day. So I could come by and help in the mornings, and some afternoons.”

  “That would be great. I’ll go for a run,” Alana speculated, “and be ready when you get here.”

  They smiled at each other. “It’s a deal,” JayB declared. “Do you want to start now?”

  “Honestly, I’m completely drained, and right before you got here, I realized somebody cleaned out the refrigerator. All there is is ketchup and mustard, stuff like that.”

  JayB brightened. “Oh! Why don’t you come to my place for dinner, then?”

  Alana shook her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that.”

  JayB raised his hands, palms up. “Why not? You’re going to have to eat eventually. Please, it’s the least I can do.”

  “All right. Thank you. So, is everybody in Kansas City as nice as you are?”

  “No,” he told her. “It’s pretty much known that I’m the nicest person here. I’ve won awards.”

  JayB and Alana each held a leash as Odin and I escorted them to our house. When we arrived, a grinning man was standing next to an automobile.

  It was Walter.

  Dear Diary:

  Most days, Spartan’s person shows up, panting, on the front steps. Rodney shoves Spartan through the front door. “Thanks, bro!” he shouts.

  I can feel JayB’s disgust when this happens, and can only assume it has to do with Spartan’s appearance. A dog’s eyes are not meant to be hidden under the collapsed skin of its forehead. Dog’s mouths are meant to convey a variety of expressions, but Spartan remains solemnly blank no matter what we are doing.

  Other days, instead of Rodney bursting through the front door, we walk to Spartan’s house to retrieve him.

  I am agonized over the fact that Phoebe doesn’t see Spartan as an intrusion into our relationship. She wags and play-bows in Spartan’s presence. Is she doing that to torment me?

  Surely my feelings are as obvious to her as hers are opaque to me. Phoebe is a happy, guileless, fun-loving canine, so full of life I have trouble getting her to pay attention to anything important.

  Spartan’s presence only adds to the distraction.

  To a dog, every day is worth living and no day can really be ruined, but for me, a day at the dog park with Spartan is practically pointless.

  Love,

  Clancy

  Seven