by Nancy Krulik
Alana frowned. There was something in his tone that was incredibly condescending, as though high school were actually kindergarten or something. She had a sudden urge to remind him that just three short months ago he’d been in high school too. But she didn’t really want to leave on a bad note. She was afraid to push it. Those girls in there were awfully pretty, and Alana bet there were more where they came from.
“It’s almost the weekend,” she assured him. “My curfew’s one o’clock then.” She frowned as the words left her mouth. Curfew. Oh man, that sounds so babyish.
“You need me to walk you home?” Sammy asked her.
Alana shook her head. “You go back inside and celebrate that A-, okay? Have one for me.”
“You got it,” Sammy said. He kissed her quickly and then disappeared back into the crowd of college kids inside The Hole in the Wall.
As Alana headed back toward home, she pulled out her cell phone and hit number three—Stella’s speed-dial digit.
“Hey, Alana.”
It was such a relief to hear her best friend’s voice. “Hey, Stel. Did my ’rents call you?”
“Nope. No one’s called all night. You’re in the clear.”
Well, that’s a relief, anyway.
“How was Sammy?”
“Happy,” Alana said. “And a little drunk. He was celebrating with his friends when I got there.”
“Ooh, college kids,” Stella said. “Anyone there I might like?”
Alana considered that for a minute. That Hank kid was kind of cute, but she wasn’t sure he was Stella’s type. “I don’t know. Next time you’ll have to come and pick one out yourself.”
Stella laughed. “You make them sound like puppies in a pet-store window.”
Alana giggled, suddenly picturing all the kids at the table jumping up and down and banging on the glass, the way the puppies at Puppy Palace did whenever people stopped to peek in.
“So what was it like?” Stella asked her.
“Weird,” Alana told her.
“Sammy was weird?” Stella wondered.
“No, not Sammy,” Alana insisted, although she thought maybe she was trying to convince herself, too. Sammy had been acting a little different tonight. But there was nothing she could put her finger on, so she decided to just let it go. “It was his friends. They were a little odd. Not like us, you know?”
“Well, Sammy’s new friends are college kids,” Stella said. “It’s a different kind of life.”
Alana sighed. Sammy’s new friends. She hated how that sounded.
“Did you like them?” Stella asked.
“I think the question is more, did they like me,” Alana said. “I was the one being judged tonight. You know, Sammy’s high school girlfriend and all that.”
“That you have nothing to worry about,” Stella assured Alana. “There isn’t a person in the world who wouldn’t like you.”
Alana’s thoughts shot back to the way everyone at the table grew so quiet and uncomfortable when that Joe guy stopped by. At least they hadn’t behaved that way around her. In fact, they’d been perfectly cordial. Maybe Stella was right. Maybe she didn’t have anything to worry about at all.
Three
Not that Alana would have had the time to worry, anyway. Her Thursday schedule was insane! The minute school was over, she had to rush over to the El Dorado to pick up Noodles for his afternoon exercise at the dog run in Riverside Park. It would have been so much easier to have taken him to a dog run in Central Park since the El Dorado was right at Ninety-sixth and Central Park West, but Noodles’s owner, Mrs. Parker, had made it clear that she wanted Noodles in the dog run at Riverside Park. Apparently another woman in her building had told her it was a much better class of dogs at the Riverside dog run. Far more purebreds.
Alana grinned, remembering Stella’s reaction when she’d told her about Mrs. Parker’s orders. “Dogs don’t care whose butt they’re sniffing,” Stella had joked at the time. “They all smell the same.”
Still, Alana had to do what her customers wanted. And on Thursdays her task was to take Noodles to Riverside Park. So she stopped at the front desk in the big Art Deco lobby of the El Dorado and asked one of the doormen for the key to the Parkers’ apartment.
“May I have your name?” the doorman asked.
Alana sighed. She’d been picking Noodles up for his walks for nearly six months now, yet the guards here never seemed to recognize her. “Alana Marks,” she replied.
The guard checked his list, nodded, and pulled out the plastic card that passed for a key at the El Dorado. “Please return this—”
“On the way out,” Alana finished his sentence with a grin.
For once the doorman grinned back. “Exactly,” he said. “Glad you’re here. Some of the neighbors have complained that Noodles had been crying at the door this morning. I think he’s lonely.”
Alana nodded. Of all her clients’ dogs, Noodles was the one who most hated being alone. He was always so grateful whenever Alana entered the Parker apartment. So it was no surprise that the bulldog came running as quickly as his chubby little body would allow the minute Alana opened the apartment door. He rubbed against Alana’s leg and then looked up at her with a big, goofy smile on his squished-in face.
“You might look scary, but you’re just a big mush, aren’t you, Noodles?” Alana teased as she bent down and petted his soft, short fur. Noodles gave Alana a good sniff. A second later he opened his mouth and licked her face. Alana laughed, stood up, and turned around slightly before wiping her face with her hand. She wasn’t sure dogs could get insulted, but she didn’t want to take the chance of letting him know that wet, sticky dog spit wasn’t the nicest thing to have all over her face—especially since she knew Noodles’s licks were a total act of love and gratitude.
“Okay, Noodles, let’s go to the park!”
At the sound of the word “park,” Noodles began jumping up and down and barking excitedly. It was a tough job getting his leash on when he was so excited, but somehow, Alana managed to hook it onto the loop around his thick, black leather collar.
A few moments later she and Noodles were outside, on their way to Riverside Park. Noodles walked patiently by Alana’s side as they traveled west to Riverside Drive and then headed south to Eighty-seventh Street. He stopped once to sniff the rear end of a shy, chocolate and white springer spaniel, and unfortunately decided to “do his business” right outside a coffee-shop window on Columbus Avenue, but other than that, he was perfectly behaved and completely nonplussed by the hustle and bustle of New York City streets. Maybe that was why Alana felt a real kinship with Noodles and the other dogs she cared for. New York City living, with its stacked apartments, crowded sidewalks, and honking horns, probably wasn’t the natural habitat for any animal or person. And yet, it was home. Neither Alana nor her dogs would ever be happy living anywhere else.
The Riverside Park dog run wasn’t overly crowded by the time Alana and Noodles arrived. Only a handful of dogs were running around the fenced-in square of sand. Their owners were seated on benches nearby, clutching their cups of Starbucks and gossiping. Alana walked Noodles into the run, locked the gate behind herself, and unhooked his leash. Noodles looked up at her for a moment, unsure.
“Go ahead and play, Noodles,” Alana said in her calm, dog-friendly voice. That was all it took. With a loud “woof,” Noodles ran off, anxious to sniff any dog he could get near.
As she glanced around the run, Alana had to admit that Mrs. Parker was right to send her all the way to Riverside Park with Noodles. The Eighty-seventh Street dog run was an awfully nice place for a dog to play. For starters, it was really pleasant to be surrounded by the trees and grass of the park. This dog run also had a fountain, so there was always enough cool water for the dogs to drink. And the neighborhood dog owners had installed a hose that squirted long streams of water, which was a great way for the dogs to keep cool—especially on hot days like this. In fact, several of the dog owners were taking a
dvantage of that right now. Alana wiped a couple of beads of sweat from her forehead. It certainly was an unusually warm September day.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alana spotted Leo, a sophomore at NYU who was a dog walker in his spare time, sitting on a bench across the yard, not far from the second, smaller fenced-in area. The one reserved for antisocial dogs. At the moment, the smaller dog run was empty. Alana was glad. She really hated when the dogs in there growled too menacingly or barked too loudly. Alana loved dogs, but even she had to admit that some of them could be a little scary sometimes.
“Hi, there,” Leo greeted her, moving over to make room for her to have a seat. “You just have Noodles today?”
Alana nodded. “Yeah. And tomorrow I’ve got all four of them at once. It sort of changes from week to week.”
“I have Princess and Morpheus this afternoon,” Leo said, pointing to a gray schnauzer and a small, cream-colored pug. “We’ve been here awhile.” He glanced at her face. “You look kinda tired.”
“Gee, thanks a lot,” Alana joked.
Leo blushed beet red and nervously pushed his black horn-rimmed glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I mean, you look really nice, just a little wiped. Like you have something on your mind.” He was stepping over his words now, trying to make things right.
With a friendly smile, Alana was able to let Leo off the hook. “I am tired,” she admitted. “Thanks for asking.”
Leo relaxed almost immediately. “So, what’s up? You have a heavy date last night or something?”
“Well, yeah, I was out last night, but not late or anything,” Alana explained, leaning back on the bench. “I just had a rough day at school. I had a pop quiz in French, and I have a ton of homework waiting for me when I get home. Mostly English and physics.”
“I had only one class today,” Leo said. “Astronomy. It was pretty far-out.”
Alana giggled. “Very punny,” she teased.
Leo smiled. “I am nothing if not amusing,” he said, pulling the brim of his Yankees cap down low over his eyes. “The great thing about college is you mostly take classes you’re interested in.”
“That would be nice,” Alana mused. “The idea of a physics-less college career immediately springs to mind.”
“I know what you mean,” Leo agreed. “I try to steer clear of the science building as much as possible. Actually, I’m thinking of declaring journalism as my major. That’ll mean a lot of writing classes and not so much math and science.”
“We are definitely birds of a feather, Leo,” Alana told him.
“More like dogs of the same breed,” Leo replied with a grin, glancing out into the dog run.
Alana laughed. “Exactly.”
Leo leaned back and took a little breath. “You know, I was thinking, if you’re not doing anything Saturday night, this band I know is playing at the Knitting Factory—you know, that club in Tribeca. They’re really hot. Sort of a mix between grunge and emo. The lead singer is a cross between Kurt Cobain and Eagle-Eye Cherry. And the guitarist totally kicks butt. I kind of produce them, and I could get you in for free.”
“You’re producing bands now?” Alana was genuinely impressed.
Leo blushed. “Well, not producing exactly. Just setting up their equipment, making sure the soundboard is working right, stuff like that. It’s not as glamorous as it sounds.”
Alana smiled kindly at him. It didn’t actually sound glamorous at all, more like being a glorified roadie or something. But Leo was such a nice guy, she couldn’t stand to let him seem uncomfortable about anything. “I think it sounds awesome!” she exclaimed. “And I would love to hear them. I have a thing for Eagle-Eye.”
Leo nodded excitedly. “I know. You were telling me that a couple of weeks ago.”
“Wow! You have some memory,” Alana replied. “I can’t remember things my teacher told me today.”
“It’s different,” Leo said with a chuckle. “I’m interested in what you have to say.”
“As opposed to me and my teachers,” Alana added with a laugh.
“Exactly,” Leo said. “Anyhow, the show starts at nine….”
“Do you think you could get Sammy in too?” Alana asked. “He’s my boyfriend. I think I told you about him. He goes to Columbia. I know he would totally freak to see a band at the Knitting Factory. College students don’t have any cash, so he’s been kind of deprived in the music department these days.”
Leo bit his lip slightly and glanced over to where Morpheus was happily sniffing the butt of a cute little Maltese. “Uh, yeah, Sammy, sure,” he said quietly. “Whoever you want.”
“Awesome! Thanks!” Alana exclaimed. “This is going to be so great. Finally I have plans for us that are mad cool. Usually it’s Sammy who comes up with things to do.”
“Glad I could help,” Leo muttered.
Alana looked at him curiously. Now it was Leo who seemed kind of tired and withdrawn. “You okay?” she asked him.
“Sure, sure,” Leo said. “Just keeping an eye on the dogs. You know how nasty Princess can get when someone sniffs her for too long.”
“She is the definition of bitch,” Alana agreed with a grin. “Female dog, right?”
Just then Bridget Mulroney, a heavyset, middle-aged redhead with a passion for ill-fitting spandex running shorts, came hurrying over to where Alana and Leo were sitting.
“You two aren’t going to believe it. I just found out some amazing news,” Bridget told Alana and Leo.
Alana rolled her eyes slightly. Bridget always had news. It was rarely amazing. Just gossip from the dog-run set. But for some reason Bridget found the day-to-day relationships between dog owners—or even between the dogs—fascinating. Alana figured it was because she didn’t actually work or have kids or anything. The only thing in Bridget’s life was her dog, a golden retriever named Goldie (how original!) and a mysterious husband whom no one at the run had ever met.
“Have either of you noticed how Sally Kane hasn’t been here the past few weeks?” Bridget asked.
Alana thought about that for a minute. The only person she actually looked for when she brought her dogs to the Riverside run was Leo—he was the only sane person there usually. But now that Bridget brought it up, Alana hadn’t seen Sally Kane or her beagle, Persephone, lately.
“Well, I thought Sally had to be on vacation or off showing Persephone,” Bridget continued, without waiting for a response from either Alana or Leo. “But it turns out, she’s dealing with a major trauma.”
Alana sat up straight. A trauma. Now that sounded bad. “Is she okay?” she asked Bridget.
“Nothing a little therapy won’t help,” Bridget assured her.
“What happened to Sally?” Leo asked. He also seemed more curious now.
“Not to Sally. To Persephone,” Bridget corrected him. “Apparently Sally took her to another dog run—one all the way downtown, where she didn’t know the dogs that well. And the next thing Sally knew, Persephone was doing you-know-what with a schnauzer behind a tree!”
Alana struggled to keep from laughing. Leo was not nearly as successful. He burst into absolute hysterics. “I never knew Persephone had it in her,” he said between chuckles.
“It’s not funny,” Bridget told him. “Persephone’s pregnant—with mutts!”
“Schnauzer-beagle mixes,” Alana mused. “I bet they’ll be adorable.”
“But Persephone is a show dog. An absolute purebred,” Bridget explained, apparently amazed that Alana and Leo were not grasping the seriousness of the situation. “If word gets out in the beagle world that Persephone has been compromised…”
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Leo asked, bursting into a fresh round of laughter. “‘Compromised’?” Bridget glared at him.
“Is Sally ever coming back to the dog run?” Alana asked, trying to distract Bridget from Leo’s hysterics.
“I don’t know,” Bridget said. “She’s going to have to get all of t
hose puppies adopted before she can show her face again, don’t you think?”
“I’m sure she’ll have no problem,” Alana assured Bridget. “Some people actually prefer mixed breeds. They’re usually healthier and smarter.”
“I hope you’re right, for Sally’s sake,” Bridget said. “I mean, imagine if she actually had to keep them.”
“Imagine!” Leo exclaimed. “The shame of it all.”
His sarcasm was totally lost on Bridget. “I know,” she agreed. “I feel so awful for Sally. I wish there was something I could do for her. Maybe send a card or something.”
“I doubt Hallmark has a card for this occasion,” Leo said, practically choking on his laughter now.
Bridget nodded. “I guess you’re right,” she agreed, once again missing Leo’s sarcasm completely. “It is an unusual occurrence.”
“Oh, yeah,” Leo said, rolling his eyes. “There are hardly any mutts born in New York.”
Bridget didn’t reply. Instead, she turned slightly and spotted a man with a large, chocolate Lab entering the dog run. “Oh, there’s Joe!” she exclaimed. “I’ll bet he hasn’t heard about this yet. I’d better tell him.”
As soon as Bridget was out of earshot, Alana allowed herself to laugh along with Leo. “I think that was her best story yet,” she giggled.
“Oh man, yeah,” Leo agreed breathlessly. “That was a classic. Can’t you just see the card she’d send? ‘So sorry your pup’s preggers. Hope you get over your nervous breakdown soon.’”
That did it. Alana was suddenly overcome with a round of unstoppable giggles. “Leo, you’re like an island of sanity in a sea of crazies,” she said between gasps for air. “I am so glad you’re here.”
Leo smiled. “Back atcha.”
About a half hour later, Leo left the park to take Morpheus and Princess home. Alana didn’t really relish the idea of hanging out at the dog run without him, but Noodles was obviously in no mood to move on. At the moment, he was happily chasing a playful pug around the dog run, barking joyfully as he circled the trees and crouched beneath the benches. She couldn’t make him leave now, when he was having so much fun and getting the exercise he needed after being cooped up in the apartment all morning.
