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Yes

At the house, as Travis opened the door, Einstein turned away from him, padded across the back porch, and stood at the top of the wooden steps, taking one final look around at the yard and at the peaceful, shadowed, soundless forest Then, with a faint shiver, he followed Travis inside

Throughout the inspection of the defenses during the afternoon, Einstein had been s a great deal, nuzzling, seeking by one means or another to be petted or patted or scratched That evening, as they watched television, then played a three-way ga continued to seek attention He kept putting his head in Nora’s lap, then in Travis’s He seemed as if he would be content to be stroked and have his ears gently scratched until next summer

From the day of their first encounter in the Santa Ana foothills, Einstein had gone through spells of purely doggy behavior, when it was hard to believe that he was, in his oay, as intelligent as a ain In spite of his cleverness at Scrabble-in which his score was second only to Nora’s, and in which he took devilish pleasure for words that nancy- he was nonetheless, this night,than not

Nora and Travis chose to finish the evening with a little light reading- detective stories-but Einstein did not want the machine Instead, he lay on the floor in front of Nora’s armchair and went instantly to sleep

"He still seey," she said to Travis

"He ate all his dinner, though And we did have a long day"

The dog’s breathing, as it slept, was nor better about their future than he had for soiven him renewed confidence in their preparations, and he believed they would be able to handle The Outsider when it arrived And thanks to Garrison Dilworth’s courage and dedication to their cause, the governood, in its efforts to track thereat enthusiasm, and Travis had decided to use his real-estate license, under the nao back to work once The Outsider had been destroyed And if Einstein was still a little draggywell, he was certainly etic than he had been for a while and was sure to be hiht, Travis slept without drea, he was up before Nora By the time he showered and dressed, she was up, too On her way into the shower, she kissed him, nibbled On his lip, and mumbled sleepy vows of love Her eyes were puffy, and her hair was mussed, and her breath was sour, but he would have rushed her straight back into bed if she had not said, "Try ht now, the only lust in s, bacon, toast, and coffee"

He went downstairs and, starting in the living rooht The sky looked as low and gray as it had been yesterday, and he would not be surprised if rain fell before twilight

In the kitchen, he noticed that the pantry door was open, the light on He looked in to see if Einstein was there, but the only sign of the dog was the ht

FIDDLE BROKE NO DOCTOR PLEASE DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO LAB AFRAID AFRAID

Oh shit Oh Jesus

Travis stepped out of the pantry and shouted, "Einstein!"

No bark No sound of padding feet

The shutters still covered the kitchen s, and low frohts

Einstein was not there

He ran into the den The dog was not there, either

Heart pounding almost painfully, Travis climbed the stairs two at a time, looked in the third bedroom that would one day be a nursery and then in the room that Nora used as a studio, but Einstein was not in either place, and he was not in the master bedrooh to check, and for a one, and he stood listening to Nora singing in the shower-she was oblivious of as happening-and he started into the bathroo, which hen he thought of the downstairs bath, so he ran out of the bedroo the hall and descended the stairs so fast he almost lost his balance, almost fell, and in the first-floor bath, between the kitchen and the den, he found what he , ever considerate, had voth-or perhaps the clarity ofon the bathroom floor, on his side Travis knelt next to him Einstein was still but not dead, not dead, because he was breathing; he inhaled and exhaled with a rasping noise He tried to lift his head when Travis spoke to hith to ently, Travis lifted the retriever’s head and saw that those wonderfully expressive brown eyes were slightly e oozed froolden fur A sie bubbled in Einstein’s nostrils

Putting a hand on the retriever’s neck, Travis felt a laboring and irregular heartbeat

"No," Travis said "Oh, no, no It’s not going to be like this, boy I’ to let it happen like this"

He lowered the retriever’s head to the floor, got up, turned toward the door-and Einstein whimpered almost inaudibly, as if to say that he did not want to be left alone

"I’ll be right back, right back," Travis proht back"

He ran to the stairs and cli with such tremendous force that he felt as if it would tear loose of hi

In theout of the shower, naed and dripping

Travis’s words ran together in panic: "Get dressed quick we’ve got to get to the vet now for god’s sake hurry"

Shocked, she said, "What’s happened?"

"Einstein! Hurry! I think he’s dying"

He grabbed a blanket off the bed, left Nora to dress, and hurried downstairs to the bathroootten worse in just the minute that Travis had been away He folded the blanket twice, to a fourth of its size, then eased the dog onto it

Einstein made a pained sound, as if the movement hurt hiht"