Chapter Fifty-six

Pax has inspected every room in the house. He’s listened, sniffed, looked in every dark corner, taken a lick at a missed drip on the side of the stove, lapped at his water bowl, and stood over the heat register to enjoy the blast of heat. Like a good sentry at his post, Pax feels confident that this house is safe. Safe and empty. It is the first time in recent memory that the dog has been left all alone.

Pax eyes the living room sofa, leans against it a little, rubs his chops against the nubby fabric. One paw, then another, and suddenly he’s aboard. From the height of the sofa, he can sit and look out the window unobstructed. The neighbor’s cat pauses at the curb cut, stretches, and sits to wash her face, as if she knows he’s looking at her and she is taunting him. He has no quarrel with cats, but he doesn’t much like this feline’s attitude of entitlement. He barks. One full-bodied roof and the cat stops her washing and blinks. Moves on, question-mark tail in the air. Insouciant, but warned.

The people in this house aren’t where they belong, and the routine has been disrupted. But Pax has long since learned to cope with disruption, to be flexible and to be alert to what he needs to do. Right now, he needs to sit on this couch and wait for the sound of the car to return. Once he detects the singular sound of their car, he’ll jump down from the couch. Not because he knows he isn’t supposed to be on the couch, which he does, but because he always needs to greet them at the door; that’s part of his job. And, if a dog can hope, he’s hoping that all three of his people will be in that car.

But only Francesca and Keller got out of the car this day, and Pax knows better than to look behind them to see if somehow Rick has been left outside. He greets them with the same enthusiasm as he would have his missing Rick. They talk to him as if he’s supposed to understand all their language. The only words he understands are Rick and tomorrow. Not tomorrow as a concept, but the word always means “later on, not now.” Ergo, Rick, not now.