“And even if I could somehow magically take Ajax on the bus, I won’t take him anywhere near that place. They hate street people with dogs. If they had their way—”

And she is off on another tear.

Just then, Mrs. Bailey comes out to move her car. She stops dead in her tracks and quickly takes in the scene on the sidewalk. Her eyes narrow, her fists punch into her hips. “What’s going on here?”

I take a deep breath and plunge into the story of Baby and Jewel. Toward the end of my telling, Mama and Dylan come back from the library.

Dylan waves at Ree. “Hi, lady,” he says with a big smile.

“Is this about Baby?” Mama asks.

When Mama hears about Baby finding his way back to the hospital and being taken away by animal control, she shakes her head. “Lord, lord.”

“What are we going to do, Mama?” I ask.

“I don’t know what we can do, Piper.”

“But they might kill him, Mama.”

“No!” Dylan wails. “They can’t kill Toto!”

Which starts Ajax howling and Ree cussing up a storm and Mama trying to quiet Dylan down.

“Everybody calm down!” Mrs. Bailey holds up her hands like she’s trying to stop a freight train.

“Now,” she says, pointing at Ree. “Did they tell you at the hospital which Humane Society they took this lady’s dog to?”

Ree nods. She pulls her sleeve up and shows the inside of her arm to Mrs. Bailey. “I wrote down the address.”

She nods. “Did you tell them that the dog belongs to a patient in their hospital?”

Ree shrugs. “I tried to, but, well, I got pretty upset and . . .” Her voice trails off.

Mrs. Bailey turns to Karina. “Go get my purse.”

She points again at Ree. “You, you’re coming with me so we can get this straightened out.”

Before Ree can go into all the reasons she can’t, I say, “Mrs. Bailey, I don’t think that would be the best idea.”

She studies Ree. “Probably not.” She eyes me for a second, then says, “You know the whole story, don’t you?”

I nod. “Pretty much.”

She looks at Mama. “Is it okay if I take Piper with me to the animal shelter? So she can explain the situation?”

Dylan jumps up and down. “Bring Toto here! He can live with us, right, Mama?”

I look at Mama too, hoping against hope.

Both Mama and Mrs. Bailey shake their heads. “Dogs aren’t allowed here, Piper,” Mama says.

“But he’s so little,” I say. “I bet no one would even notice him. I’d share all my food with him and—”

I see Mama set her jaw. “Absolutely not. If they found out we had a dog, we’d be right back out on the streets.”

I look at Mrs. Bailey with puppy-dog eyes. She sighs. “Your mother’s right, Piper.”