“He’s big. How old is he?”
“He is three years old, his name is Dodger and he has a mate,” Regina said as a second huge dog walked up to her and stood by her side. “This is Priscilla, called Prissy for short. Prissy and Dodger came as a package.”
Lilly was speechless. The dogs were intimidatingly huge. “Where on earth did you get them? Were they at the dog pound?”
“No. I ran into the woman who owns the little junk shop on the corner. She was walking these two beautiful babies. Actually, it was more like they were walking her. I fell in love with them and she offered them to me for free. It seems her boyfriend split, went back to his wife in Minnesota. He left his two dogs. She can’t afford to feed them and doesn’t want to take care of them. I was glad to take them.
“Wow, what a...a...a...great deal!” Lilly stuttered.
Regina frowned at her, “What is with you, have you never been around a dog?”
“Sure I have, just never one, uh two this big.”
“Don’t worry, Lil, you’ll get used to them. I grew up with Dobermans. I love big dogs. I feel safe with these babies in the shop and sleeping on either side of my bed.”
Lilly nodded and agreed they would be great protection.
Once Raven Moon was locked up for the night, Lilly and Regina, Dodger and Prissy went up to the apartment. The two dogs filled the living room, waging tales knocked over lamps and thrashed against Lilly’s thighs. Regina got the two dogs settled on blankets in the corner of the room and went into the kitchen to open a bottle of wine.
“How was your day, Lil?”
“Good, I now have a telephone in my apartment.”
“Let me get a pen and write your number in my address book,” Regina said as she disappeared into the bedroom and came back with a pen and a leather bound address book. She sat down, then immediately jumped up and slipped into the kitchen. She returned with two wine glasses brimming with red wine.
Regina opened her address book, “Ok, I’m ready, give me your new phone number.”
Lilly had to think for a few minutes before she replied,”Twinbrook 7-2219.” She took a sip of wine and leaned back on the sofa. “Call me often, I am having trouble being alone.”
Regina frowned, “Are you bored? We can spend as much time as you like together.”
Lilly gave a weak smile, “As long as I’m staying busy I’m okay. As soon as I have time to myself, I feel the loss of Roland like a knife in my heart. I can’t believe he left. The only thing keeping me going is knowing he is trying to get back. I am grateful I met you and Claude. Spending time with you is wonderful and I can’t wait for you to meet Roland.”
They emptied their wine glasses and Regina headed to the kitchen for refills. Returning to the red velvet couch, she suggested a toast, “To the return of Roland,” she said. Lilly smiled as she lifted her glass and drank the sweet red wine.
Within minutes Lilly’s vision blurred and her chin fell forward onto her chest. She tried to sit upright but her head was spinning. She looked at her glass, how much did I drink? Wine was swirling in the bottom of the glass as it slipped from her hand onto the floor.
Regina finished her glass of wine before dragging Lilly’s legs onto the sofa. She ran into her bedroom and returned with a pillow and a blanket. “Poor dear,” she said softly in Lilly’s ear, “you’ve had too much. Yes, you’ve had too much.”
~
Moonlight was pouring through the living room windows when Lilly woke. She looked around the room and made out the shadowed figure in the wing backed chair across from her. One side of Regina’s face was silvered with moonlight, the other was hidden in shadow.
“How long have I been here?”
“You’ve been here since sunset. You passed out and I let you sleep on the couch. I thought you drank too much wine. You were vomiting. I don’t know, maybe you are coming down with something.”
“I didn’t drink too much wine,” Lilly said weakly, “I can’t remember ever being so sick so suddenly.”
Regina made a soothing sound as she stood and headed for the kitchen. She returned with crackers and a cup of herbal tea. “Try to nibble on these Lilly, and sip the tea slowly.”
Lilly ate one half of a cracker and drank half of the tea before falling back on her pillow and passing out again.
Gray water lapped the lake shore. Huge black birds darted overhead, their piercing eyes glowing yellow in the twilight sky. Wet sand squished between the toes of her bare feet as she walked along the shoreline. She wrapped her arms around her trembling body as a dank cold sank into her bones. The search for shelter drove her onward.
She saw torch light glowing in the distance and stopped, wary of the tone of the voices traveling down the beach. She ran to an outcropping of rock with scraggly bushes at its base. Peering through the sparsely leafed branches she watched as several men gathered around a small boat with something tied to the mast.
The men pushed the craft out onto the lake. The boat drifted on the receding tide as flaming arrows arced across the sky thudding into the small wooden boat. A woman’s scream filled the night, as the craft burst into flames. The scream stopped abruptly.
A growling voice rose to a bellowing threat, “I told you not to shoot her. She was to experience the full horror of the fire. Now you have given her a short cut out of her punishment. I have a strong urge to put you in her place.”
A whimper answered the growling voice. Lilly remained motionless, watching the fire on the water as it drifted and sank into the cold gray water.
~
She struggled through a
