The following morning Viv lowered the brim of her white baseball cap over her eyes as she stepped out her front door. She was ready to start a new day. It had helped to talk with Rex by the pool.
She felt better in his company, knowing that he could be a good listener. Plus once she'd told him about facing involuntary retirement, it didn't seem that terrible. Sometimes keeping things to herself only made her feel worse.
A bump at her knee brought Viv back to the present. Kevin scrambled toward her, wagging his tail furiously in greeting. "I always know what Kevin wants," she said, reaching down to scratch behind his ears.
"Walks, food, and the occasional toss of his bedraggled brown bunny." Rex came next. "Men and dogs have a lot in common. We aren't that complicated."
"I'll remember that." She stepped out on the sidewalk.
Rex clipped the leash on Kevin's collar. Kevin moved ahead as they walked side by side, until he stopped to investigate the base of a flower bed. As he considered his options, one sniff at a time, Viv and Rex waited.
"Just when I think this is the most boring landscape I've ever lived in, something like that iris blooms and I'm surprised." She pointed to the flower that had captured Kevin's interest.
"They're kind of dainty." Rex gently tugged on the leash. "Come on, Inspector Clueless. Don't take all day." Kevin stopped to lift his leg. When he was finished they picked up their pace again.
Approaching the first intersection, Viv noticed a woman with a baby carriage coming from the opposite direction. She wore a pink baseball cap pulled over her eyes. The wheels of the oversized buggy bounced along as she pushed from behind.
Her loose-fitting gray sweatpants dragged against the pavement. A matching top fell over her front and backside. She stared ahead without a greeting.
"Isn't she a bit young to live here?" Rex commented as they passed the woman. "Fifty-five and up. Those are the rules."
"Maybe a granddaughter of a resident," Viv speculated.
"Could be," he agreed.
A cry of a young baby alerted Viv.
"Somebody's hungry," Rex commented. "Or needs a diaper change."
Viv felt herself launch into a familiar lecture. "Babies only have a few needs, at least at first. It's when they get older that they become really complicated. I usually don't tell parents that because I don't want to scare them. But in my experience infants are just the beginning of the parenting demands."
"Is that so?" He grinned down at her.
"Oh, sorry. That wasn't necessary was it. A teaching reflex." She kept walking, only to realize that something about the young woman wasn't right. And then the wails of the child stopped as quickly as they'd begun.