Since choosing to remain here to wait for Justine, Buddy/Mack has not slept. He has only dozed, and the lack of deep sleep is beginning to wear on him. Afraid that he’ll miss hearing Justine’s arrival, and a little nervous about being in the care of strangers, he hasn’t allowed himself the healing sleep of the content. He has not dreamed running dreams. He hasn’t dreamed chasing dreams. He sleeps the primordial sleep of his ancestors when hunting alone, always on the alert.

Today is the first day that he feels himself go into a deep sleep. Buddy/Mack isn’t conscious that he’s entered into REM sleep; he just knows that he is in a safe place and that he can finally slide into the relaxed sleep of a sheltered dog.

Buddy/Mack sighs, letting go of all the tension of the past few days. He tucks his nose deeper beneath his tail and falls asleep, his new stuffie tucked under him.

He is certain now that if Justine comes, she’ll wake him up.

Chapter 25

25

Alice walks through the kitchen door and Buddy greets her with a little dance of happiness. She barely has time to put down the green sack of groceries as he dashes around her in circles, making a little yipping noise of welcome, demanding her attention. “How’s my boy? Did you miss me? I was gone a whole five hours. Did you think I wouldn’t come back?” Alice says all this in a baby voice, the same voice she used to soothe her baby; the same voice she also used to mock her bad moods when Stacy was half-grown. “Who’s a good boy?”

“Buddy’s a good boy.” Ed appears in the archway between the kitchen and the dining room. He’s got a streak of something on his cheek, something automotive. Every now and again he decides to do his own servicing. “We visited Stan’s today. I left the snow blower.”

Alice shrugs off the light jacket she’s wearing. “Looks like you might have thought about doing it yourself.” She points to a spot on her cheek that corresponds to the streak on Ed’s face.

“Huh? Oh.” Ed wipes the streak with a finger, then wipes his finger against the leg of his old green work pants, which have been softened by years of abuse. “Did I get it?”

Alice wets a paper towel, beckons Ed close, and rubs hard against the smudge. Buddy watches with herd-dog intensity as the two of them face each other. “That’s it. Don’t you dare sit down with those pants on.”

“I won’t.”