“Looks like we picked the wrong night to walk down Maple Leaf Drive,” I said to Rocky, who wagged his tail. We moved past Jess’s house; she was strolling around her first floor without a bra on. Again. She grew up on what was essentially a hippie commune made up of former groupies of the singer Wavy Gravy in the north woods of Wisconsin. Some habits were apparently hard to break.

As we got closer to Liz’s house, I saw that Tim had set their W flag on the front porch. He put it outside whenever the Chicago Cubs won a baseball game, but it was to remind the neighbors that he had season tickets more than to remind them he had team pride.

The smell intensified, and Rocky started whining and pulling at the leash, wanting to go home. Finally, he stopped on the sidewalk and sat, refusing to move, his eyes shifting back toward our house.

“Really? It’s not that bad. Let me just drop this off for Liz.” But even as I said the words, the smell filled my nose, swirling into my mouth, and I gagged, bending down toward the sidewalk. “Never mind.” I started to turn around to head the other way, back toward my house, when a flash of light from Liz’s made me turn back.

It was a quick blaze of light coming from her bedroom window, and it happened so fast, I thought it might be lightning. I looked up at the sky and saw a spray of stars above me. Not lightning. I watched the house, waiting to see if another flash would come, and saw a dark figure move across the bedroom window. It was too big to be Liz or Tim, and it was angular, like it had sharp edges. From her house, I heard Bucky begin to bark, before he stopped with a yelp.

“What’s going on in there?” I lifted my foot to take a step toward the house, to make sure everything was okay, but Rocky whined and refused to move, an immobile statue. I thought about tying him to the street sign on the corner to go over and check on Liz, but he started shaking in fear. So I pulled out my phone and texted her instead.

I waited for a moment, the night air seeming to pause, and my pulse quickened as I stared at her house, hoping for a sign of my friend.

Rocky started frantically pulling at his leash, snarling in the effort. I bent down to soothe him, and he maneuvered away, desperately trying to go home.

“Okay, you win.” I gave one final glance toward Liz’s house, which was dark again. Darker than I had ever seen it. “The exterior lights must be out,” I muttered as I let Rocky steer me.

Liz didn’t respond until Rocky and I were inside the front door and I was unclipping his leash.