He nudged Lisbet for another, and I nodded. The second one also disappeared without any demur.
“Why are dog biscuits colored if dogs are color blind?” Lisbet asked.
Instead of telling her that dogs aren’t completely color blind I said, “That sounds like a Stephen Wright observation.” And then imitating Wright’s deadpan voice, I added, “I have an inferiority complex, but it’s not a very good one.”
Lisbet was busy tearing at a saltines package with her teeth, but stopped her shredding for long enough to laugh. After devouring those, she also finished the oyster crackers and then picked up the box of dog biscuits and started looking at the ingredients.
“These don’t look that bad. The primary ingredients are wheat flour and wheat bran, and they also have wheat germ and brewers’ yeast.”
“Go for it.”
She turned her head to me, made eye contact and regarded my smile-well, sneer.
“I double dog dare you. Come to think of it, I double dog biscuit dare you.”
“One of these is supposed to be peanut butter flavor,” she said and pulled some of the biscuits out of the box and started doing a sniff test.
The hairy beggar in the backseat took her inspection as an invitation to plead his case and was rewarded with another treat.
“This one is the peanut butter,” Lisbet said, brandishing it at me.
“
She didn’t hesitate but bit into it and started eating. After swallowing she said, “It’s possible that was the bacon flavor.”
Her poker face didn’t tell me anything else. “I hope you’re not looking for a second opinion.”
“You think I would share with you?”
Lisbet opened one of the hot sauce packets and lathered the remaining half of the dog treat in it. She popped it in her mouth and started chewing. The more I laughed, the more she looked at me as if to say, “What’s so funny?” That, of course, made it all the funnier.
Despite the presence of dog biscuit crumbs on the side of her mouth, I wanted to lean over and kiss her. I didn’t want to rush it, though, so instead of reaching with my lips I used my index finger to lightly brush the side of her mouth and said, “You might consider having a few of those dinner mints now.”
She hit my arm and I pretended to be in pain. It was great to feel like I was in second grade again.
For a time, Palm Springs was known as a place for the newly wed and the nearly dead, but nowadays the oasis in the desert is home to a diverse population. As we entered the city I followed the directions I had been given and surprised myself by not getting lost.
Before decamping from the car, I opened some windows and poured some water. “I hope you don’t mind,” I said to Lisbet, taking the box of dog biscuits from her and pulling out two more to give to Sirius.
“Are you planning on holding that over me?”
“For a long, long time,” I said.
Instead of objecting, she smiled.
The Europa Restaurant was located in the middle of the Villa Royale Inn. Fountains gurgled and planters spilled over with flowers. Trellised bougainvillea was everywhere. Overhead, the night sky was thick with stars that looked almost close enough to touch, and in the distance the shadow of Mount San Jacinto appeared as an impressive backdrop to the property. As we walked by a pool with glimmering lights, it almost felt as if we were in some villa in the Mediterranean.
At our approach the hostess looked up from her stand, and for just an instant her welcoming smile faltered at the double whammy of my scarred and bruised face before regaining its full wattage. She asked whether we had reservations, and I said, “Yes, Donner, party of two.”
Lisbet nudged me, and I gave my real name. The hostess rewarded my honesty by seating us near a glowing fireplace. For once, I didn’t worry about fire. The heat from the fire offered comforting warmth, and in Lisbet’s company I could forget all the bad things that had happened to me in the past twenty-four hours.
I ordered the rack of lamb with the tapenade of dates, and Lisbet had the salmon in parchment with wild mushrooms drizzled with creme fraiche and sprinkled with dill. The food was wonderful, but even if I’d been served MRE rations, I would have been mightily pleased. This wasn’t a date where I was going through the motions and was out with someone because I was supposed to be getting on with my life; I was where I wanted to be and Lisbet seemed to be enjoying my company as much as I was hers.
Our server came around, and although there wasn’t much left on our plates, both of us asked for a doggy bag. “I told Sirius that he’d be getting a treat tonight. That usually means a stop at In-N-Out Burger and a Flying Dutchman cooked rare.”
“I’m no stranger to In-N-Out,” she said, “but I’m not familiar with a Flying Dutchman.”
“It’s two meat patties and two slices of cheese with no bun, but you won’t find it on the In-N-Out menu. They have a secret menu, even though I think half of southern California is in on the secret. All the employees know the code words. They never blink when I order my burgers
“How come I don’t know about this secret menu?”
“You haven’t been hanging around with the right people.”
“Or the wrong people?”
“I resemble that remark.”
The warmth from the fire made me too comfortable; my grin turned into a yawn. “Excuse me,” I said.
“After what happened to you last night, you probably shouldn’t even be out.”
“After what happened to me last night, this is the best medicine I can think of.”
“Any leads on those men that attacked you?”
I opened my mouth to tell her about my morning in the Bay Area but then decided not to talk about it. Ellis Haines wasn’t going to spoil my evening. I shook my head.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Her face told me she knew I was being evasive. “Someone once told me that when you’re in the presence of a real friend, you can think aloud.”
“It’s hard enough for me to think in silence.”
Lisbet offered only a hint of a smile, prompting me to say, “I think there’s a lot of truth in that saying. I used to think aloud with my wife.”
“What was her name?”
“I never settled on just one. In the course of a minute I could call her Jenny, Jen, or Jennifer.”
“Do you mind my asking how she died?”
“I don’t mind, even though most people think the answer is anticlimactic. She died of the flu.”
In a voice that was little more than a whisper, I repeated an old rhyme: “I had a little bird and its name was Enza, I opened the window and in flew Enza.” In a normal voice I continued, “Out of the mouths of babes, you know. That rhyme was popular with children during the Spanish influenza pandemic. There was a ghoulish quality to those words, because around the world forty million people were dying from the flu, and they weren’t mostly the old and young but healthy adults between the ages of twenty and forty.
“We’ve forgotten that, of course. People usually do a double take when I tell them my wife died of complications from the flu. Nowadays, the flu isn’t supposed to be fatal to a healthy and athletic twenty-nine-year- old woman. It was probably that thinking which killed Jen. Even though she was sick, she kept pushing herself. Instead of bed rest and fluids, she dragged herself into work. She downplayed her symptoms. What she called a chest cold was actually pneumonia; what she described as a little fever turned out to be a dangerously high temperature. I shouldn’t have let her keep reassuring me that she was all right when I knew she was sick, and I shouldn’t have let her keep working. By the time I talked her into going to the hospital, her system was already in meltdown.”
“I am sorry.”
There was a moment of contemplative silence, but it was broken by the server who swooped in to ask, “Can I interest the two of you in some dessert tonight?”
