a big water oak dominated the lot, no grass would grow underneath it,
just english ivy and leaves, two seasons worth at least. somebody made
a path to the front door out of random chunks of polishd granite, lookd
like leftovers from a tombstone factory. oh— and the red yugo was
parkd in the driveway.

max came bounding back, carryin a giant stuft animal— a
pink bunny rabbit almost as big as he was. dont be thinkin of a childs
toy, tho. it may once have been a childs toy, but this thing lookd like it d
been caught in a meatgrinder and dragd thru the mud, you could see
where maybe a dozen gashes had been hastily stitcht back together, the
right side of its face was missing entirely— grizzeld, i think is the word.
about as grizzld as a pink bunny rabbit can be.

max ran up to D, holdin the rabbit like a trophy.

dropt it at her feet.

—goodboy, you got hubert cumberdale, now go

get shakpox!

max headed back to the house [ the door was
open ] and came back with a giant teddy bear in about the same shape
as the rabbit. this time he brought it to me.

D seemd pleasd.

—tellin ya dude— he’s a fan.

max led us inside, then went strait to
his waterbowl, i couldnt see him but i could hear his lappin from the door.

D said—

—leme call andy realquick, then you

can hav the fone. meanwile make

yurself at home.

and she disapeard into the back.

While D went to make her call, i had a look around.

it was nice place, very homey, a little on the small side but well laid out. gave you a definat feeling of welcome when you walkd in the door. it smelld the way an old house does if its never been remodeld— old wood and mothballs and the residuals of years of gas heat. the front room was stuft full of grandma furniture and featured a beautiful but very dusty oriental rug. and bookcases, lotsa bookcases. the floors were in bad shape—they were good floors, oak—but the finish was completely worn away. if somebody didnt slap on some polyurathane soon there was gona be permanent damage, actualy there already was, there were grooves near the frontdoor, i’m guessin max nails, also a hole that indicated termites at some point.

max finishd drinking and joggd past me, pushd open the front door [ it made a squeaky sound ] and went out to the porch, where he plopt down in the middle of an old yellow couch. his water-drinking adventure was even more sloppy than i’d guesd, it almost lookd like he’d been swimming.

—khuh-khuh khuh-khuh.

[ this is the sound max makes when he pants ]

—khu-huh khuh-khuh,

and he smiles while he does it, he has a great smile cause it carries up into his eyes. he’s got these brown markings over his eyes that look like eyebrows, and they lift when he smiles.

he lookd like he was waitin for me to do somethin.

—hey boy.

smile. look at empty spot on the couch. look back at me. look at

the couch.

—you want me to sit with you?

—duh.

max took up mosta the couch, he left just enough space for me to squeez in. no sooner had i done that than he deposited his head in my lap. he rolld onto his back and lookd up at me, tung lolling, so content it was contajus.