Chapter 9: FACING THE CONSEQUENCES

After thinking about it today, I'm beginning to look forward to living a solitary life as the crazy old woman living with four dogs. I'll live in the house on the corner of your block and you and the other neighbors will give up trying to be nice people in visiting me and bringing me various casseroles. I'll work in my garden a lot, primarily in the back yard, and wear a lot of scarves on my head. I'll also totally elude the mystery of orthopedic shoes by going barefoot all the time. My life there will be a happy, quiet, barky life. I think some names like Mable, Vertimer, Sir Charles, and Jack will suit the four mutts. After slipping into a life of complete anonymity, my own name will no longer serve a purpose. I'll possibly write a check for the vast amounts of dog food I wheel out of the crummy grocery store on the east side of town (what a deal!), but there will be no outside recognition beyond that. The world will have forgotten me and I it, content to sit in the sun with dogs at my feet.