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floor to
    pet them, and they piled around her in the warm glow of the colored sunlight that streamed through the
    stained glass.
    Einstein, the big sheepdog, flopped down beside her, but Heisenburg, the walking mop, and Maxwell,
    the little miscellaneous dog, both climbed into her lap to lick her face and burrow under her hands. She
    gathered them all to her, loving them and the warmth and color of her beautiful old house and, for once,
    herself.
    “I beat up a mugger today,” she told the dogs. “He attacked me and I beat him up. Iwon.” The dogs
    looked suitably impressed. That was one of the many great things about dogs. They were easy to
    impress. Not like Tina.
    But even Tina would be impressed with this. Carefully tipping the little dogs off her lap, Lucy stood and
    went inside the house.
    Her house. Every time she walked into it, she felt safe. The living room was papered in huge flowers in
    shades of rose and edged with wide oak woodwork, and the floors gleamed in the soft sunlight that
    filtered through her lace curtains. The fat, worn, upholstered furniture was splashed with flowers, too, in
    roses and blues and golds, and the mantel and tables were crammed with pictures, and flowers in vases,
    and books. She sank into the big blue overstuffed chair by the wobbly piecrust phone table and looked
    through the archway into her dining room, warm with the glow of the stained-glass windows there.
    Her house. She felt all the tension ease out of her. Her home.
    Einstein barked at her for attention, and she remembered Tina. She dropped her purse and the bag from
    the drugstore on the floor and dialed her sister’s number, absentmindedly scratching behind Einstein’s
    ears while she listened to the ring.
    “Tina?” she said when the ringing stopped, but it was Tina’s machine, so she left a message. “This is
    Lucy. I wanted you to know, I just beat up a mugger. I really did, and it waswonderful. And don’t
    worry, I’m okay. In fact, I’m great. You were right. I love you!”
    And then she hung up and relaxed into the threadbare softness of her chair, hugging herself.
    She really did feel wonderful. Sort of tired, but wonderful. Good tired.
    Her gaze fell on the drugstore bag where she’d dropped it, and she stood, swooping it up as she
    straightened.
    “Look at this,” she told the dogs. “I went to the store to get disinfectant for my cheek, and right there, in
    the checkout line, was a big display that said ‘On Sale! Discontinued! 1/2 Off!’ and it was this!” With a
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    flourish, she pulled a box out of the bag. “So I bought it.”
    Einstein squinted at the box, decided it wasn’t biscuits, and collapsed with disappointment. Maxwell
    contemplated the air. Heisenburg rolled over onto his back.
    Lucy ignored them to study the photo on the box: the model’s hair was a rich cloud of midnight curls and
    she looked sultry and provocative. “This is the new me,” she told the dogs. “It’s time I changed. I just
    made a mistake with this blonde mess because I didn’t think it through. I’m not the blonde type, you
    know?”
    Maxwell and Einstein looked at each other. Heisenburg stayed on his back.
    “Oh, you may laugh. But I’m changing my hair and I’m changing my life. No more mousy, timid brown
    or brassy, tacky blonde. I’m going to change into a whole new Lucy. I’m going to be a brunette. Dark,
    fascinating, dangerous. Independent. All men will desire me. All men will fear me.”
    Einstein sighed, Maxwell scratched, and Heisenburg stayed on his back.
    Lucy looked back at the picture on the box. “Well, maybe not. But they won’t ignore me or stare at my
    hair in disbelief. AndI feel tougher with this hair. I’ll take chances. I’ll date exciting men.” She
    remembered the last exciting man she’d been attracted to, the one who had mugged her in an alley.
    “Well, maybe not. You know, I don’t have very