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Still holding Dolly, I whispered in her ear. “Guess what? I have the next seven days off!”
She looked up at me with wide eyes, tilting her head as if saying, ‘Now what?’
I replied, “That’s a great question, Dolly. Let’s ask my virtual assistant for the answer.”
“Virtual assistant,” I had yet to come up with a name for my robotic voice to answer to, “What’s a good activity to do with dogs?”
“Activities with dogs: see dog park. There are two within your preferred radius of three miles. I’ve sent the details to your phone.”
Buzz buzz.
“Okay, Dolly. It looks like there is asmall dog parkright up the road! Should we go explore that now?”
I started to notice that she reacted cute every time I asked her a question. She would cock her head, wiggle, and slightly wag her tail. I looked outside—not raining, but a little overcast. I went to her bag of things that I still hadn’t organized yet, which was out of my nature as I was usually very neat and tidy. I found the thicker pink sweater we had purchased yesterday. It took me several minutes tofigure out the harness went on first,thenthe sweater, with the loop for her leash having a built-in hole in the sweater. Dolly was very patient, and I apologized to her for the delay, laughing at my ignorance of how to dress a dog.
Once she was in the getup, I snapped a quick picture of her because she looked so tiny with her brown curls almost static against the sweater. I sent it to my mother who immediately replied.
Lolly Doll looks pretty in pink (dog emoji) (pink bow emoji) (heart emoji).
Before I could reply, actually—before I could blink, three more texts came through from my helicopter mother.
Where are you going?
Give me an address.
Isn’t it getting dark soon?
From the Pages of Katie’s Dictionary:
Sleuth
sloo?th
Noun
(Insert photo of Katie’s mother here.)
It was 5:27 pm.
We are going to the Bark Park at 613 Ave W. Sun will set at 7:13, according to my weather app. I’ll be sure to call the police on any suspicious bags left unmanned, but they may just be (poop emoji).
She video-called me. I answered it to find the screen zoomed in on the bridge of her glasses.
“Mom, hold the phone away from your face, please. I can’t see you.”
“Oh, sorry, hold on.” She pulled the phone outward, and I saw that she was outside in a lawn chair. It was sunny and flowery around her. “I just got a notification that your package was delivered already! I just ordered it yesterday. So cool! Anyway—since you're going out, Dolly’s going to need to wear the rain boots I sent. Also, let me know what she thinks about her knitted hats.”
I peeked out my door, and it wasn’t sitting on my step yet. “It must be in the front office, but they close at five. I’m sure they will bring it up tomorrow.” I turned the camera to Dolly. “She can’t wait to see her new clothes. I don’t want to cut you off, but we were just leaving.”
“I better get back to my case anyway. We just got new details.” She would say, “we” as if she wasactuallyinvolved in solving a crime. “Have fun, you two! Don’t talk to strangers and text me when you get there and again when you get home. I’ll be tracking your location regardless. Bye-bye!” She hung up.
I really wished I could ban her from the mystery channels.
I loaded up a small backpack with one of Dolly’s cookies, the foldable water bowl I saw at the checkout stand yesterday, and some waste bags and a water bottle. My stomach growled, and I realized I had forgotten about dinner, so I grabbed a small bag of almonds and a few wrapped chocolates and settled on getting somethingconvenientafterward.
Picking up Dolly, we waltzed to the car as I whispered in her ear that we were off on an adventure. I saw she was not shaking in the evening coolness, and it seemed the sweater was doing its job.
The Bark Park was less than a mile from our apartment, but I was surprised that it was behind a small, wooded area. There was a large parking lot with a handful of cars.
