-17-

Virginia woke up the next day with a raging thirst and a cramp forming in her leg. Anax pressed hard against her side, resisting the push Virginia gave her so she could get up and rub the pain away. She forced her eyes open, dragged on a robe, and made her way to the kitchen.

Amanda was putting her breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. “How was your date?” she asked.

Virginia grabbed a cup. “I can’t remember.”

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me.” Amanda studied her. “You look like a wreck.”

“I shouldn’t have gotten stoned. I really don’t remember. Is the car in the driveway?”

“No, it’s in the street. But you couldn’t have been too out of it if you managed to get home.”

“Oh yeah,” said Virginia, rubbing her eyes. “it’s starting to come back to me. I knocked over a traffic cone. That has never ever happened to me. Remind me not to drive stoned.”

“Mom! I can’t believe you did that. He didn’t offer to let you spend the night?”

“Of course he did! I just wasn’t—ready.”

“I actually didn’t expect you to come home last night.,” said Amanda. “Things seemed to be going so well.”

Virginia sat down and sipped her coffee. “We had ‘the talk.’ And decided to wait until we both had more recent negative test results. He was the one who insisted. I guess he doesn’t really trust his ex-wife. That being the case, I’m not sure why he waited until the scene was set so thoroughly. But the important thing is that we acted like rational human beings when it came right down to it.”

“Maybe he was just saying that about his ex-wife.”

“Could be. It’s more polite than saying he doesn’t trust me. But enough about me. Are you going to see—what’s his name—again?”

“Bob? I don’t know. Maybe. If it’s up to me the whole thing will probably wither on the vine, but if he wants to go out again, I won’t say no. I did get a nice text from him already this morning. Which I have to say, not everybody does. Old-fashioned courtesy, I suppose.”

“Oh no.” Virginia couldn’t help but laugh. “There is nothing old-fashioned about a text.”

“You know what I mean. Some guys expect you to make all the moves.”

“Not in my generation. You were supposed to sit back demurely and allow yourself to be courted. And in my mother’s day, the guy was expected to declare his intentions to the girl’s father as soon as they knew what he looked like.”

“No! Did he have to say how many cows he would pay for her?”

“For all I know, people who raise cows still do that. You know we’ve still got a long way to go. Anyway, you don’t have to be in a hurry to make up your mind. Some people grow on you. And others don’t show their true colors until you’ve taken the plunge.”

“You know what?” said Amanda. “We should make a deal. You check out my guys, and I’ll approve yours. But only when it becomes serious. Neither one of us is there yet.”

“That’s a great idea. It never hurts to get a second opinion. Brian and Ginny can chime in too. Although I don’t think they should have the final say.”

“No, that should be Anax,” said Amanda, nodding at the dog.

“True, she has keener senses—and more of them.”

Anax, hearing her name mentioned, raised her head and thumped her tail. Obviously hoping it was time to go out, she got up and stuck her nose between Virginia’s knees. Amanda picked up her bag and headed for the door. “I need to get going. Pork chops for supper?”

“You got it.” Virginia reached for the leash.

She tried unsuccessfully to remember whether she and Steve had made any firm plans to get together again. Then she called after Amanda, “What’s the name of your PCP?”

Amanda stopped and pulled her phone out of her bag. “Here, I’ll send it to you. Tell them you’re my mom.” She hesitated. “Or maybe you’d rather not. Why not just go to an Urgent Care center? There’s one on every corner. And you don’t need an appointment.”

“Thanks, sweetie. I know you’re in a hurry. I’ll be okay. Have a good day.”

While Virginia went to put her shoes on, she muttered to the anxious dog, wanting to reassure her that she hadn’t forgotten about her, “Here I was planning to hit the ReStore today to shop for used furniture, and instead I have to plan my day around producing proof I’m STD-free. I guess I really am experiencing a return to my youth. Somehow I managed to miss this part, though. Just barely. Thank goodness I have a daughter to give me advice.”

It had rained during the night, and as she stepped out the door Virginia had to stop and stare at the mountains. Surging up behind the foothills was a line of crisp white peaks glinting in the sun. Soon that snow would creep all the way down to where she and Anax were standing. She wasn’t in any hurry, but it was glorious to gaze at.

She wanted to take a few pictures too. Maybe she could take the dog up to Mt. Falcon in the afternoon. It wasn’t too far, and the views were stunning. She could try one of the trails she hadn’t explored yet. Anax would love it. Maybe it would clear her head a little to look at something that had been there longer than people. Come to think of it, there must be a way to express that thought in a photograph. Would it help to have a person in the picture for scale? Stand way back, so the person was tiny, with the mountain filling the field of vision. She would have to try it, if she stumbled upon a cooperative solitary hiker.

She took Anax for an abbreviated walk, promising her a longer one later. They hurried past couples chatting with other couples about one, the weather (“When it’s like this, I could walk all day!”), two, their dog’s personality (“She’s such a sweetie.”) or three, their diagnosis (“So then he said not to worry about the cholesterol; it’s the triglycerides that count.”) For years she had been side-stepping “senior jokes” about mild memory loss and minor physical ailments. Now she felt as if she was looking at her future. She would lean on her cane and say, “Anax is such a sweetie. She could walk all day. She never worries about cholesterol.” It was disheartening.

Back at the house she sat down at her laptop to look for the nearest urgent care center. Unable to make up her mind between the two or three closest ones, she decided to chuck it and go for a hike. She made a quick sandwich and took Anax out to the car. Anax was wriggling with delight. This was a dog who had never been to the vet often enough to know that she was supposed to fear car rides. Virginia didn’t let her stick her nose out the window, but she did roll the window down a crack to let in the scents.

She began to relax as the road climbed and they wound their way toward the park. They managed to get one of the last parking spaces in the lot near the trailhead, and Anax swirled around Virginia’s legs while she unpacked her hiking poles, daypack and water bottle. How sad it must be to be hiking alone when you could have a companion even more enthusiastic about the outing than you! Of course Anax was more interested in the random smells and other dogs than the panoramic views, but you couldn’t feel lonely when you had a dog along.

After the hike, she stopped at a supermarket to pick up some lettuce. Amanda’s car was in the driveway.

“I called Aunt Bonnie today,” Amanda said as she set the plates on the table. “She even answered, which most of the time she doesn’t. And she seemed happy to talk. I asked her how she liked the food there, and she said her only complaint was that they didn’t put out bananas and peanut butter for breakfast. And then she started explaining how sometimes when she went down to the dining room she had the strongest feeling she had just been there and just done all the exact same things. She said it was as if time had folded in on her. I thought that sounded like an amazingly sharp description.”

“Sort of a deja vu feeling?” Virginia suggested.

“Yes, only more intense, and it lasted longer. Maybe when you get old your sense of time kind of slips, do you think?”

Virginia shrugged. “Or then again, maybe that’s the way time really is, all folded over. They keep saying time’s not the way it appears, that it doesn’t actually move forward at all, but I haven’t yet heard a really convincing explanation. I want to think about that one a little more before I dismiss it as an old lady’s ramblings.”