Paws before dying

of a cheap rubber toy from the intestines of a collie.
    “So they were plastic,” I said. “I know that’s what Rose used, because someone was asking about whether the PVC ones were any good. Someone said Rose used them, and she liked them.”
    “And they’re what? PVC pipe?”
    “For the high jump and the bar jump. And the broad-jump hurdles are—I guess it’s PVC. Some kind of plastic. I’ve seen them. In fact, I need to get some. They’re totally plastic, except for the canvas used instead of boards on the high jump. They weigh practically nothing. You just throw them in the car or under your arm and go practice wherever you want. There’s not a nail in them, nothing metal at all. PVC wouldn’t do anything, would it? Even if lightning had struck.”
    “So we’re back to—”
    “Yeah, we’re back to,” I said. “And I suppose the easiest way to get a good look at one is to buy it.”
    He looked unhappy, but I went to my study, rummaged around, and found some catalogs. The cover of one showed an array of my favorite breeds: a malamute, a border collie, two pointers, and a golden.
    “This is the one I hate most,” I said. I opened it to the order form. “There’s a thirty-day trial period,” I said, looking up. “One of us could rush-order one or go to a dealer and buy it, and then we could take a look at it and return it.”
    “Which one of us did you have in mind?” Steve asked placidly.
    “Does it matter?” I said. “Whichever one of us has the money, I guess.” Depending on the breed, you can buy one or two purebred dogs for the price of a fancy high-tech shock collar. “You don’t have an extra person to feed for the summer, so you’re probably less broke than I am.”
    “You know, Holly, the truth is, I just don’t feel comfortable about it.” His wonderful, tired eyes looked straight at me. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not do it.”
    “If you order it, you don’t have to put D.V.M. after your name, if that’s it,” I assured him. “Or don’t use your own name. Or pay cash. And we are going to return it. They give you all your money back. It’s not as if they’d profit from it. We won’t be supporting the industry.”
    “But, uh, it indicates interest. It’s a statement that it’s okay-Doesn’t it seem like that?”
    “So you’d rather I...?”
    He shrugged.
    “Well, the truth is, I don’t feel like it, either,” I said. “But we do need one, if we want to be really sure. I mean, how easy are they to tamper with? The other things we can try with a regular collar, I guess, if we have to. We can figure out how to fasten it to the gate. And see if we can rig it so we can retrieve it from far away, or if we have to go back and get it.”
    “Any chance of borrowing one?”
    “I guess. We must know someone who has one. Well, Heather does, although Abbey was the one who told me about using it. I mean, she didn’t say outright that they have one, but she all but did, and I could ask one of them. In fact, I can ask around tonight, at Nonantum. So what’d you find out about Don Zager? Did he call you back?”
    Serious people smile better than the rest of us. Lines appeared around Steve’s sleepy eyes, and the pupils glittered.
    “What does that mean?” I asked. “What does he sound like?”
    “The question is where,” Steve corrected me. “The answer is California.”
    “Ah, acupuncture. Alternatives. Okay. It’s Cambridge enough, though.”
    “He isn’t. Cambridge is not, uh, mellow.”
    Cambridge is quick and sharp. It is less strident than New York, but there is nothing soft, gentle, or ripe about it.
    “Is Newton?” I said.
    “No. But the rents are better.”
    “So you did get to that! Great. And what did he say?”
    “He wasn’t too articulate. He doesn’t exactly rush to the point of things. He proceeds real slow.” This from a person who customarily leaves a two-second pause after every word.
    “He sounds brain-injured,” I said. I grew up in Maine, but I’m acclimating myself to the intellectual climate here, where any sign of relaxation is considered pathological or lazy. If you don’t take work with you on vacation, people eye you as if you ought to see a neurologist.
    “He’s just, uh, calm,” Steve said. “He’s had good conventional training. I don’t know if there’s anything in the rest, but he’s real sincere. Friendly. He doesn’t sound like a bad guy. Just, like I said, California.”
    “So what about