Chapter 14

Bozo looked a lot better with the blood washed off. He did have a scratch about an inch and a half long that was a little over a quarter inch wide near the middle, but it wasn't very deep. Of course, he was perfectly willing to lie in my lap and have me hold him.

Jack came back after getting rid the bloody washcloth sat down next to me. He reached over and scratched Bozo behind the ear. Bozo half opened his eyes, saw who it was, thumped his tail a couple of times, then closed his eyes.

"I figured you'd use your karate on the other dog."

"That would make me a hypocrite, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'd be guilty of the same thing Sara is. Using too much force for the situation."

"Oh, I think a vicious attacking Bozo is a little worse than some kid trying to cop a feel."

"You'd be surprised. There are a lot of women who would call for a guy's castration for even thinking about copping a feel."

"No comment. So why the spoon?"

"Oh, come on, Jack. Don't tell me Mom never threatened you with a spoon when you were a kid."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"It's a woman thing. That or a rolling pin, although rolling pins are more for husbands. It's kind of like a nun and her ruler. Anyway, it was the first thing I saw and it was just right for the situation. If he'd had his teeth on Bozo like Bozo did on him later, things would have been different. Somehow I don't think Ernie would have been satisfied with making him cry 'uncle' like Bozo was with him. And if Bozo hadn't come to my rescue when Ernie was coming at me, all bets would have been off."

Mary came over to us. "How is he?"

"I'm sure he'll live. Of course, you wouldn't know it to look at him. Poor Baby. My hero." I squooshed him to my face and he ate it right up.

Mary said, "I saw Sara run across the front lawn towards Mrs. Simpson when Mom was coming back up the driveway. Looked like she tore her a new one."

"Yeah, she was coming down on me, too. That's why Mom kicked her off the property."

"No, not Mrs. Simpson. Sara. She was telling her she had no right to bring those dogs over here if she was too lazy to teach them some manners. Mrs. Simpson got really pissed off and left."

"Hmm. Good for Sara."

"Old Lady Simpson's fine if you do what she wants. But she'll suck you dry if you let her."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's why everybody stayed away from her when we were kids. She'd be all friendly and then the next thing you know, you're doing chores around the house for her and could never get away."

"Oh, you mean like Chris."

"Exactly. Just let him question anything she wants him to do, and he'll be out the door with Old Lady Simpson telling him how ungrateful he is. She can play the guilt trip better than anyone."

"I've known people like that. Good riddance."

A shadow came over me and then I felt a hand on the top of my head.

"Hi, Daddy."

"Hi, Princess. What's wrong with the mutt?"

"He's not a mutt. He's a hero. He saved me from being attacked by a vicious dog."

Daddy knelt down in front of me and reached out and grabbed Bozo's snout. Bozo lazily looked at him, thumped his tail some more as if it was a real effort, then sighed and shut his eyes while Daddy lifted it up and inspected the wound. My father knows bodies. When he handles one, it may look rough, but he's actually the most gentle person you'd want to meet. He poked around, prodded and bent legs for a minute or so.

"Hmm. Doesn't look too bad. He may end up with a scar, but the hair should grow back. He doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere else."

"Do you think I should take him to the vet and get some stitches?"

"Honey, it's just a scratch. Stitches would probably do more harm than good. Did he bleed a lot?"

"Some. I think it looked worse than it was."

"So, I'm sure this phony has just been playing it to the limit, hasn't he?"

"That's OK. He deserves to be pampered after putting his life on the line for his mama."

"Well, he should. God knows you've spent enough feeding him that designer dog food you get him."

"Come on, Daddy. You know he's worth it. And you love him."

He patted him on the side. "Yeah, I do. Keep the wound clean and pick up some antibiotic ointment if you don't have some. If one of the other dogs starts to lick it, let him, as long as it doesn't make a career of it. They're pretty good about helping each other out."

He stood up and Wanda came up to me. "You OK, Jill?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Except my leg's about ready to fall asleep because of this lazy dog lying on me."

I shook him. "OK, Bozo, time to get up. Go see if you can get some pampering from the kids."

After he got up and headed toward the back yard, I held out my hand to Jack. He pulled me up and I wrapped my arms around him until my leg felt better. Hey, it's a good reason.

In the meantime, Mary had taken Wanda in tow and Daddy had gone over to talk to Alex. Jack and I were holding each other, my head on his left shoulder, facing away from him. He turned his head and nuzzled the back of my head with his mouth.

"Uhhmm. That feels good."

"Good."

"So, were you bonding with Rudolfo?"

"Huh?"

"When you went to get the stuff out of the car."

"Oh. I don't know if you'd call it bonding. He just wanted to know what I thought about him taking Mom to live with him in Spain."

I stood up and looked at him. "You're kidding!"

"Yeah, I am."

"Jack! You turd. Don't do that to me."

"Oh, I see. It's OK for you to tell me she's going to get married but I can't tell you she's going to move."

"That's different."

"Right. One of these days you're going to have to explain the difference to me."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Lots of things. He told me how he likes working for Alex, how he misses his home. You know it's been almost ten years since he was home? He asked permission to date Mom."

I looked him in the eye. "You're serious, aren't you."

"About not being home for ten years? Sure."

"Not that. About dating your mother."

"Uh huh. He wanted to talk to me first because I'm the oldest. I told him it was up to Mom but he said he was still going to make sure it was OK with Mary. I thought it was pretty nice of him."

"It's sure different. Most people could care less what the kids think."

"I know. And then they wonder why the kids don't want to have anything to do with them later."

"I see that a lot at school. Heck, I see it with Wanda and her mother's boyfriend."

He licked my nose. I backed up and wiped it off with my hand.

"Quit that!"

"Yes, Dear. Are you done acting like Bozo? We do have guests, you know."

"I know. But I wanna hold you."

"You can hold me later. Right now we need to thank all the people who put the roof over our heads."

"OK. But I'm not going to forget what you said about holding me later."

"I said you could hold me."

"Same diff."

"Yes, Dear. Come on."

He got my hand and led me back to the tables at the back of the yard with all the food on them. There was only one bowl left with any guacamole in it. I grabbed it, then got a plate and put some tortilla chips on it. I noticed both punch bowls of potato salad were getting low, too. Jackie filled a bowl with some.

There was a lot of food on the tables that I'd never seen before. You can tell a lot about people by what they bring to something like this or even if they do. Everyone was told that there would be plenty of food and there was no reason for anyone to bring anything. But there were salads, casseroles, a couple of baking dishes of enchiladas, a huge basket of tamales and a big Pyrex dish with homemade lasagna in it. Over by the barbecues was a collection of meats that people had brought. There were hot dogs, which I realized I forgot, but they were the good ones, too long for the bun and ready to burst when they got cooked. There were meats that had been marinated, chops and ribs and a pile of really nice steaks that I bet my father brought.

The thing is, none of the food looked like it was food that was picked up at the grocery store just because someone felt obligated to bring something. The three bean salad didn't come out of a can. Like Mom's potato salad, and to a lesser degree, my guacamole, it all had taken some care and more than a little skill from the person who brought it. As if they'd put a part of their heart into what they brought.

Looking at all the food, thinking of all the care and the pride, I realized how lucky we were to have all these people, many of whom I never met, care about us. I wondered if something similar had occurred a couple of thousand years ago when a few thousand people gathered to hear a man speak of their relationship to their god, and he pulled out some bread and fish and probably a jug or two of wine to pass around, after asking his father to bless the food and the people who were about to eat it. Would it have been any less a miracle?

I dipped one of the chips in some guacamole and held it out to Jack. He opened his mouth and I swiped his nose with it to pay him back for licking me.

"You don't really want to start that, Jill."

"Yes, Sir." I leaned into him and took the tip of his nose in my mouth, cleaning off the guacamole, then wiped the wet off his nose with my hand. "There. All better."

I held the chip up and he held my hand and guided it to his mouth, taking a bite.

"Uh, oh. You got some on your mouth."

I used my lips to take care of it. There seemed to be more inside, so I did my best to get that, too. I had to use my tongue for some of it.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, then Wanda said, "Hey, you two. Get a room."

I looked over at her. "Can't. We've got company."

She said, "Looks like you two made up."

Jack just smiled and took my hand.

"Is Daddy behaving himself?"

"He's being real good."

"Ooh. How good?"

Jack took me by the elbow. "Jill, knock it off."

"Lighten up. I'm just kidding."

"Like you were kidding with my sister earlier?"

"OK. I'll be good."

He took my elbow and nodded to the people sitting at the tables. "Notice anything?"

"What?"

"Look at them."

I took a closer look at the people. There were some conversations going on, but they seemed... I don't know, muted. Stifled. The kids were playing with the dogs but they weren't screaming and laughing like real kids.

"They all look like they're on their best behavior. Almost like they're afraid of bothering us."

"Like they don't feel welcome?"

"Yeah."

"Let's do something about it, then."

"You think we should go around and introduce ourselves?"

He squeezed my arm. "Unless you can think of something else."

I thought a second, then pulled him over to the barbecues. I leaned up to Alex, put my arm around his waist and kissed him on the cheek.

"Wow. What did I do to earn that?"

"I want you to introduce us to your friends."

He put an arm around loosely around my waist. "Good idea. You know that most of these people are in awe of you."