I push the stroller up and over the doorstep.

The morning feels cooler than the past few days, different from Saturday last time around, which I spent in the basement, trying to stay cool, reading A Dog’s Purpose and crying. It’s still warm enough to enjoy the water, but a big relief from the previous weeks. If the temperature can change, maybe life will, too.

My eyes scan all the driveways as we pass. No Smart Car there, none there, nope, and nope. It has to belong somewhere. It’s probably on the road now. I tense up and glance at my watch, hoping the numbers have changed. But it flashes THU July 01 4:30.

When we are safe, the time counter will begin again, Diesel reminds me.

We’re going swimming — what could be more dangerous? My pulse pounds hard in my ears like the surf at the ocean. My breathing gets quicker.

After each block that Diesel walks close to Morgan’s heels, we stop, get him to sit, and then allow him a sliver of cooked wiener.

This slows us down. You should just give me all the meat, Diesel says.

You need to learn not to run into the street.

He answers with a whining single note.

And he’s right. It’s taking forever. And where is that Smart Car? I tense up whenever a skateboarder rattles by or we pass a bus stop, all the sounds and sights that set Diesel off usually. I watch Morgan, hoping she’s holding the leash tight enough.

Without the dog, we might have taken the bus because this house is all the way over in the university part of the town. Morgan tells me a professor lives there during the school year. A professor writing on the impact of biker traffic. “And he trusts a biker to look after his pool?”

“Well, yeah! Even rock stars hire bikers for security. No one messes with them. Here we are. Isn’t this worth it?”

The tall grey stone building looks like a castle. What I wouldn’t give to live in a house like this. I sigh. “Wow. Maybe.”

As we make our way through the black iron gate at the side, I can see the backyard looks posh, too. A patio made of grey and beige slabs extends from the door and surrounds the kidney-shaped pool. A cedar-shingled hut stands near the corner. Along the sides, ferns and grasses grow in a stone trough. The lawn between the trough and the fence looks spring green, so bright I can’t believe it lived through the same heat as the rest of the city.

I love this soft grass. Diesel barks as he lifts his leg against the fence.

Morgan shimmies out of her shorts and peels off her top. Then she runs to the other end of the pool. “Check this out!” She turns a tap at the back of a rocky wall and water tumbles over it. “Our own waterfall!”

Diesel paces, barking and leaping to snap his jaws at the little falls. There is wild white water here. Danger!