She squatted and whispered, “Pee!” again, but Crispy only looked at her and tugged on the leash.

“Ugh, fine, you stupid dog,” said Jillian.

They walked around the block.

“You dummy dog,” said Jillian.

Crispy wagged her tail and eventually peed and pooped. When this happened Jillian said, “What a good girl, come on! Come on!” and then tried to get Crispy to walk even faster back to the apartment. The poop bag thing still wasn’t happening. Crispy tugged Jillian away from the apartment and got in the play position.

“Silly doggie,” said Jillian. Jillian was no fool. Jillian read Crispy’s body language, and furthermore knew she wouldn’t want to be in the bathroom all day if she were in Crispy’s shoes.

“Ok, Crispy,” she said when she was getting Adam ready to scoot out the door. “Can you be a good girly?” Crispy stood in the middle of the living room. “She went pee and poop,” Jillian said to Adam. “I think we’re going to try leaving her out today.” Jillian turned on the tv and said, “Be a good girl, ok?” Crispy cocked her head.

It was a 20-minute walk to the church, which wasn’t so bad. She didn’t feel like there was any use in taking the bus, and the rates of cabs in the suburbs were outrageous and way out of her budget. They walked and they saw people working in their yards and playing on the sidewalk, driving their cars and getting in and out of their cars. Jillian breathed deep of this beautiful morning air, then accidentally burped a little.

“I love where we live,” she said.

Adam was silent, but she interpreted his enthusiastic dance walking as agreement.

The church was on a main drag, but there was a nice big lawn in the back, and the street wasn’t all that busy, even though it was large. Jillian and Adam made their way through the parking lot, through the front doors, and down the stairs to the basement where the party was to be held.

Elena was standing to the side of the room, staring at a card table. Her arms were crossed and she had one hand on her chin.

“Hi, Elena,” said Jillian.

“Hi, Jillian. Why don’t you drop him off in the kids’ room and then come back down here.”

“Ok.”

They crossed the basement rec room and went up the back stairs, through a hallway, and into a room that looked out over the back lawn.

“Oh, you’re here early,” said Susie.

“Elena told me to get here early, I hope it’s ok that I drop him off.”

“Oh, sure, I’m just getting everything all set up for this afternoon. Hey, Adam, you want to watch some tv and have some crackers?”

“Yeah,” said Adam.

“Ok, we’ll be fine up here,” said Susie.

“Great!” said Jillian.