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the
sun on my face.
    When I’ve devoured everything on my plate, I
put it on the ground and pour some of the water in it for Lila to
drink. Not the world’s best doggy dish, but it serves its
purpose.
    The strip mall is small. There’s a
convenience store, a Dollar Store, and a Laundromat. The door of
the Laundromat is propped open and lets out the rolling sounds of
the dryers and the industrial hum of the washing machines. It’s
been ages since my clothes smelled like lemony detergent. It’s been
ages since I had deodorant, too. At least I had a shower yesterday.
Most of the time I can find a gas station bathroom to clean up in,
but a full shower?
    Let’s just say it was a long while before I
ended up in the shower in Paul’s hotel room.
    None of the stores here look promising, so I
ask the hot dog vendor. “Do you know of any places around here that
sells clothes?”
    The man looks up from his book, squinting at
me. “Clothes? Huh. Not much of a shopper myself. There’s a Walmart
up to Kirksville, that’s where I go for pretty much
everything.”
    I’ve got no clue where Kirksville is, but if
the town is anywhere near as spread out as this one, it’ll take two
days to get there.
    (unless I hitch a ride and I don’t want to do
that)
    “Do you know of anyplace closer?” I dig the
toe of my sneaker into a crack in the pavement. “Like a secondhand
store or something?”
    “Sorry, son.”
    He looks like he’s going to go back to his
book and I turn to walk away, then he says, “I’ve got some extra
clothes at my house, belonged to my boy. I usually head home after
the lunch rush, if you don’t mind waiting. If you’re
interested?”
    My senses strain to decide if this offer is
some kind of proposition. “Doesn’t your son need his clothes?”
    I bring myself to look at his face and I’m
surprised to see his eyes glassy and far away.
    “No, he doesn’t need them anymore.”
    I don’t ask anything else about his son.
Instead I look away, scratch my neck. “Yeah, okay.”
    Leaving the man to his book, I walk over to
the Dollar Store and browse through their outside display. Lila
follows me, sniffing at the things I pick up.
    “Stay,” I tell her, and head inside the
store.
    I walk up and down the aisles, taking in all
the cheap things I could actually buy but don’t need. I don’t like
to be weighed down with things when I could black out and wake up
with all those things gone. I do find an aisle with stuff like
socks and underwear and I buy a pack of each.
    The end of one aisle has all kinds of pet
care products. I pause, looking over the collars and leashes and
chew toys. There’s a tan-colored collar that would match her fur,
but no matching leash. I pick out a sturdy blue one and then a
small box of dog treats.
    “Five twenty-one,” says the bored kid at the
register. He doesn’t look much older than me but he must be, if
he’s working during the school day. Or is it Saturday?
    I grab my stuff before he can put them in a
bag and head outside, shoving the underwear and socks into the
front pocket of my sweatshirt. Lila’s sitting beside the hot dog
man, and he’s scratching her ears. Can’t say I’m not a little
jealous, but she jumps up as soon as she sees me.
    “I got you a present,” I tell Lila as we walk
back over to the curb.
    I give her a doggie treat first, and while
she’s occupied with that I try to put the collar on her.
    She yips and jumps away, leaving her treat on
the ground.
    “What? It’s just a collar,” I say. “All the
cool dogs are wearing them.”
    She watches me warily from a few feet
away.
    Never having a dog, I have no idea how to
convince one to do something she doesn’t want to do. I try holding
the collar out to her. “You can sniff it if you want.”
    No dice. She stretches her neck out a bit to
get a scent of it but doesn’t move forward.
    “Come on. It’s not that bad.”
    She stares at me with something like betrayal
in her eyes. The man is