us, the drill sergeant yanks the dog away and doesn’t let us visit. But Duke always seems hopeful that one day he’ll get to stop and play with us. Both Lilly and Lou look at me and I imagine they are thinking … we love our life.
The three of us venture to Aroma Café. My mom lets me get breakfast there two times a week and today is our day. We love Aroma Café. Everyone there is so friendly to me and especially to my canine companions. We enter my favorite patio area where bougainvillea is bursting with bright pink flowers.
There is always a table filled with people who work on movies. There’s a nice teenage girl named Cynthia with long brown hair who always says hi to me. She told me she’s an intern working with her brother Howie who is a really cool camera man. He rides his motorcycle here. Then there’s a lady with jet black hair, usually wearing big hoop earrings and colorful makeup. Actually, she is a hairstylist and makeup artist for actors and then there’s an older man who looks like the director of the group. They always have someone new sitting with them. It’s like an early morning club. Lilly and Lou have become very popular with this group so I make sure to pass by so that everyone can pet and greet them. “Hi, Lou. Hi, Lilly,” they chime in like a chorus. Finally, someone says, “Oh, hey, Alicia. How’s it going?” I feel like a special part of their club. Lilly and Lou love Aroma because everyone dotes on them.
As usual, Aroma is jammed. At first glance, there are no tables available. While I’m putting in my order, I see a table for two open up and I grab it. As I’m waiting for my number to be called so I can pick up my food, a lady walks towards me. When it’s crowded, strangers at Aroma will share tables. This woman is wearing an enormous lime green hat. The rim is so big; I think a flock of birds might build a nest on it. Her lips are bright red and shiny, and she’s wearing a dress with big flowers on it. I can’t figure out if she is talking to herself or singing. I wonder if she’s a little crazy or maybe just eccentric. I wonder if she is some over the top actress. The thought repeats in my head. Please don’t let her sit at my table; please don’t let her sit with me… She walks right past the movie people and clearly has her sights set on the empty chair at my table. What if people think she’s my mother or my friend? I look to see if the cool movie people are looking at me. I smile at them and see them laughing. I wonder if they’re laughing at me.
I hear my mother’s voice in my head. “Alicia, don’t judge a book by its cover.” Now, her voice is getting louder inside my head. “Remember how judgmental people were when your father had to wear that neck brace after his car accident? They weren’t very nice and you didn’t like it at all.”
Suddenly I was snapped back into the present when bird head lady moved right next to my table. I looked at my book and feigned interest when suddenly I heard a proper English accent. “Oh what beeaaauuutiful dogs you have. Wow, I didn’t know there were so many vowels in the word beautiful. “What kind are they, love?”
“I really don’t know,” I tell her, “maybe Shepherd mixes. I found them in a park in New York City.” The lady’s cherry red lips press together tightly and her forehead crinkles up. “Did you say you found them in New York City?” she said, puzzled.
“This is the only empty seat in the house. Do you mind if I sit here?” Do I really have a choice … I thought to myself … I wish you would sit anywhere other than here. But she seemed like a decent person and she expressed interest in the two beings in my life besides my mom and dad, who are closest to my heart, my dogs Lilly and Lou. I better take my mom’s advice… I thought and then said aloud, “Sure,” trying to hide my discomfort. She sat down and sipped her latte.
“My name is Ina. Can you tell me more about these sweet looking and very well-behaved dogs?”
I extended my hand to her. “Hi, my name’s Alicia. Well, do you know New York City at all?” I asked.
She smiled as if my question made her happy. “Actually, I do. I moved here to Los Angeles from the Upper West Side of Manhattan about five years ago.”
“Wow,” I said. “My mom, dad and I used to live on the Upper West Side too!”
I had never heard someone say no quite like this lady. “Noooooooo, what block?” she asked.
“Ninety-Seventh and Central Park West.”
She started to laugh. “My darling, I lived on Ninety-Fifth Street and Central Park West. I probably walked right past you on more than one occasion. Did your parents live there for a long time before you moved here?”
“After my parents got married and decided to live in Manhattan, they looked at apartments, but they were very expensive. My dad was a Professor at NYU and my mom was going to school for her Master’s degree in social work. They were excited when they found our apartment because the building had subsidized housing for people who didn’t make a ton of money.”
Ina nodded. “Yes, I remember when those buildings turned into condos and got doormen and fancy lobbies. Your parents were lucky. While I loved that they revitalized Central Park and made those buildings look nicer, they also converted one of New York City’s best jazz clubs, McHales, into a drab eating establishment.”
I laughed and said, “My parents complained about that too!”
“So, please continue. You said you found these dogs in the park?” she asked.
“Some lady threw them out of her car.”
“My heavens. I’ve never heard of such a thing. How awful that a person would abandon their pets in such a manner.”
I see Lilly and Lou hunker down and get comfortable, and they both look like they’re rolling their eyes and thinking … Oh boy, here she goes again, she’s going to tell this lady the whole doggoned story about us, get that lost look in her eyes likes she’s in some sort of trance, get sad, then happy and then she’ll be rushing to get to school… again.
Every time I start telling the story of Lilly and Lou, I feel as though it happened yesterday. I begin to tell Ina what happened… The morning of February 3rd I could not wait to get to Riverside Park with my dog Bella. It had just snowed again and I knew that Bella would love to play in the snow. Even though we were right next to Central Park, I liked Riverside Park better. It reminded me of the country. Since we didn’t have a country house, I would pretend that the park was the backyard of our country cabin.
I loved the blanket of snow that covered all the trees, the old fashioned lamp posts and the view of the Hudson River. But what I especially liked about Riverside Park were the people. There were so many people who let their dogs run and play safely; away from other people.
I always feel sad when I talk about Bella because she died not too long ago from a condition she had her whole life. But it makes me smile to think that my Doberman Boxer mix, Bella, was rescued from a junkyard in the Bronx. We had so much fun together despite her medical problems. She had short hair and would shiver if she got too cold. But it didn’t stop her from wanting to go out and play in the snow. We bought her a fleece jacket to keep her warm and cozy. She was always ready to romp.
Bella would get so excited watching the snow fly up in the air as she jumped in it. I would throw snowballs and she seemed confused when she tried to catch them. The snowballs would fall apart in her mouth unlike the firm toy balls she could hold in her muzzle.
We were having a great time. It was a perfect February day like many we had had before. Suddenly, out of nowhere I noticed two dogs running aimlessly through the snow. I looked around to see who they belonged to, but
