She shakes a sock at me. “Well, let me tell you,” she says, the freckles on her face popping, “I’m working from sunup until sundown and after.” She crams the sock into a drawer and slams it closed. “And I don’t get paid!”

Dylan and I look at each other with big eyes.

Mama brushes her hair out of her eyes. She holds out her hand. “Come on, Dylan. Bath time.”

While Mama gives Dylan his bath, I pull out the photographs from Jewel’s suitcase and lay them out in two rows on the bed. I touch each one.

A small house with blue shutters and a big tree in the front yard.

A grainy black-and-white photo of a man with a little girl on his shoulders.

Another black-and-white photo of two girls playing with a dog.

A teenage girl sitting straight and perfect at a piano on a stage.

Two not-very-old women, arms thrown around each other, legs kicked out straight, laughing their heads off.

A tiny black and brown puppy with white paws and a white patch on his head.

I add the photo of the fall recital too.

The fall recital! Jewel had written that on the back. Maybe she’d written on the backs of the others. I flip them over, one by one.

Home

Daddy

Sis, me, and Joe

Audition

Sisters

Baby

Baby. Sis. Home. Family. All the most important things in the world.

39

The Wind

Baby walks on the end of a leash,

out into the warm fall sun

across dry grass and

fallen leaves,

something he has done before.

Baby walks beside someone else,

someone not Jewel,

something he has never done before.

He lifts his black, wet nose

and searches the wind,

something he has done many times.

Baby searches the wind

for answers.

Where is his home?

Where is his Jewel?

Why are they apart?

The man at the other end

of the leash

sits down on a bench,

pats Baby’s small, fine head.

The hand is gentle.

It is the same hand that sets out bowls of food

every morning

up and down the rows of kennels,

always the same.

Every day, the same.

The same light,

the same smells of

Food

Water

Poop

Pee

Soap

Baby misses every day being

a new day

with his Jewel.

Baby turns his back to the man

and his hands

and the bench

and the big building filled with barking,

desperate dogs,

and sniffs.

The wind brings no answers.

He scratches at the collar around his neck.

It twists and slips up toward his ears and,

just for a moment,

Baby tries to work it over his head.

If only . . .

The man stands and

gives the leash a little tug.

“Let’s go,” he says.

Baby’s heart leaps. His two favorite words!

He wags his tail and starts an

all-over wiggle

until

the man turns toward the building that is not

in any way