147 deadtimeson

          twenty-six
i hadn't been aware of being homesick , so i was surprised at how thrilled i was to be back in boulder .
when i walked in the the door of my house after my extended so journ in new york  the three dogs greeted me like a returning hero for about ten minutes  . at the point they realized thta it was oi who had deserted them . they cut the celebratory dance short and began to mope , the two larger dogs choosing places to sleep so that their butts , and nt their eyes , were turned in my direction .
i knew from experience that the older two , the bouvier and the miniature poodle , would come around again by their next meal .
with the puppy , though - the new havanese that adrienne had given jonas - i didn't know what to expect . after the joy of my arrivl home had subsided ,she'd departed the herd and isappeared toward the master bedroom . for a few minutes i listened for sounds of mischief coming from that di4ection , but discerned nothing worrisome . i figured she had sacked out on the bed .
pupies sleep a lot . although it had been a feew yuears since we'd had one , that's what i remembered .
my bagels- and coffee breakfast meeting with marty in manhattan had been folllowed later the same day by dinner with marty's family in white palins , jonas was there with hhis cousin , whom he seemed to adore . kim was a fine cook . i could tell she had gone to a lot of trouble preparing the meal .
i 'd taken the train to white palins  grom gand  central  . kim met at the =station in a honda minivan that was  , i couldn't think  of a better word , trashed . toys , balls , snack residue , clothes - lots of clothes - shoes , old newspaers , homework papers , school books . an ironi9c copy of real simple .
kim seeemed oblivious to th  fact that she was driving pigpen's car around town .
i pushed just enough stuff off the passenger seat to make room to sit . and accumulation of brown goo on the seat -belt latch worried me more than a little .
before dinner , jonas and i took a long walk so thta i would have a chance to convince myself that his heart wasn't torn about what he had decided he wanted to do .
at  chaotic bagel bar in mahattan that morning marty had told me that jonas had concluded that he was okay in whit palins by himself for the remainder of his stay , and that he didn't think he wante  to visit me in the city again .
to give narty credit - not my natureal inclination - hae had not been gloating while we had bialys and coffee in the city . still , i told marty i wanrted tio hear the news from jonas .
marty invited me to dinner so i would have an oppprtunity to do just that .
five minutes into my walk with jonas he told me i could go home to boulder .
 the sentiment felt real ." you're cool here ?"  i said ." you don't think you wanated to come to the city agaimn ?"
"i like it here . i can  see you bck home ," he said ."i'm having a good time ."
he wasn't looking at me when he spoke .
jonas was kicking a rock about the size of a golf ball . each swat carried it froward five or six feet . just before he told me  he'd see me in boulder , he kicked it two or three times , skipping it forward more than ten feet each time .