A Three Dog Life (14 page)

"What else?" I have to keep the balloon in the air. If it touches the ground, the conversation will be over.

"Nothing else really. I don't even remember that it was raining because I would have suggested we skip the rain because it was very hilly."

We sound like two people having a normal conversation.

"You can ask me questions and I can answer them," I tell him. Rich doesn't say anything so I continue. It is suddenly terribly important that he know this: "I was upstairs when it happened. Pedro called and I ran to where you were."

"You gave out a scream?"

"I did. Many screams."

We both fall silent. I realize that what he wants to remember I am trying to forget.

A minute goes by. I ask Rich if he knows how long we've been married.

"About a year," he answers.

I shake my head. "Seventeen years," I say, "we got married in 1988 and it's 2005."

"Abby," he says, smiling, "our life has been so easy that the days glide by."