I do not know what to say to this and just keep petting the dog. So they will not think I am ignoring them I lean closer to it and put my ear against it and feel the warm fur and pet him and talk to him. The woman leans over and begins talking to Mom, and though Mom seems nervous and cool towards her at first, after a while they start laughing over something. It turns out she is older than I thought because her son goes to Saint Dominic’s. He is a few grades below me—I don’t know him—but still, she doesn’t look like she could be over twenty-five, though I guess she must be. Actually, she has lines at her mouth and eyes when she smiles, which is often, and faint blue veins on her hands. At first I do not pay attention to what my mother and the woman are saying, but only watch the way the man seems to be able to be a part of this conversation without saying anything. He has a slight relaxed smile and cups his fingers beneath his chin, nodding attentively but calmly. I try this look out in my mind, though I am shy to do it in front of him. It is something I will try later. I do try the attentive look in his eyes—watching the women closely—and start to notice what the woman is telling my mother. She says she has a car pool going—a few mothers—and asks her if she would like to join them. Mom hesitates for a moment, no doubt thinking about the rusty little Tercel, since these are the sort of people who drive Land Cruisers, and she says maybe. She will have to think about it. The woman gives my mother her number and sets her finger on her hand and after a while they say goodbye and I let the dog pull away from my cheek, patting him softly, and they leave. Mom watches them. When the woman touched my mother I could tell it made her stiffen, but now she looks at the woman for a long time. For three years she has picked me up herself, even though it meant working strange hours at the shoe department, because she did not know anybody else’s mother.

I try watching people at the tables without being too obvious. They appear comfortable and talkative, though I notice a few people sitting alone. They seem at ease and look like everybody else, and peer around and observe each other. One girl, who is pretty, looks at a couple and they catch her doing this, and instead of smiling at them or even just nodding, she lowers her eyes. But she does not seem bothered about it. Not at all.