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Show 373 She went back into the house and came out a moment later carrying her purse. "I haven't got much here," she said, rummaging inside while Lorin looked out at the street. A small dog was walking across a patch of lighted asphalt. He could hear its toenails. "Could you get by on ten dollars?" "Yes." He watched the dog jump onto the curb and sniff at a tuft of grass, then lift its leg. He became aware that Gloriana was holding something in front of him. To his peripheral vision it seemed to be the size and shape of a stick of gum. He took it and stood up. "Thank you," he said. It was folded in fourths and stiff. He put it in his left trouser pocket. The dog darted up a driveway and disappeared. It had been square and shaggy, probably a scotty. Lorin wondered if it lived there or was going to leave its pile in a stranger's back yard. He took his suitcase off the retaining wall and balanced his sleeping bag on a shoulder and walked around Gloriana's car, smelling the hot engine. He heard her say "I'm sorry, Lorin," just as he stepped into the street. The shadows were deeper on the sidewalk on the other side of the street because there were more trees there, as well as a tall hedge lining the driveway where the scotty had gone. He hoped it wouldn't come trotting back out and start barking just as he got to the other side. He hated yappy little dogs. He wondered whether Gloriana was going to put her car away before she went back in the house or just leave it out all night. It was probably a safe neighborhood. She could probahly just leave it out. * * * * * * He slept that night in his car, which he parked off a canyon road in a debris-filled cul-de-sac where a model home was under construction. It was late by the time he found the place and he slept badly and dreamed |