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Devi had thought she had faot the res and sliced fruit from the day before, put them on a plate, and sat down at the breakfast table to eat I barely tasted anything I kept thinking of Devi’s face when she saw hed, the way she always knew exactly what to say…

The way she talked about her bulldog, Minneapolis, as probably sitting at ho to be cos I’d been in the process of chewing suddenly tasted like ashes I forcedelse, or I was going to be sick Even if my implant still needed food, I just couldn’t

Sometimes people who don’t want to think about what their ianisenetically tailored to live inside the hulect the nutritional needs of their implants, and that can be bad There are ined to need less in the way of caloric support, but they’re limited in their distribution to places with bad fa medical treatment Low-calorie implants don’t do as much, so they’re reserved for places that can’t support anything else

I put my plate down on the floor and whistled The expected black Lab didn’t appear I frowned and called, "Beverly! Food!" She still didn’t appear

That wasn’t norh aat my heels to ask for her share It was unheard of for her to actually ignore food when it was offered

"Beverly?" I started toward the back door, tuggingout night a hole under the fence and was running loose so for the way home But hoould she knohere home was? Would she run for the house where she used to live, the one where no one aiting to let her in? I knewmy fear for my own That didn’t make the fear any less real

"Beverly!" I stepped onto the back porch, and stopped, frowning

Beverly was still in the yard That was a ate, stiff legged, ears pushed all the way forward, and the hair on her spine was standing up Her tail was tucked low She looked like a dog that was getting ready to charge into battle against ato lose, she was going to do it anyway It was her duty

"Beverly, come," I called She didn’t come It was the first time she’d ever refused a co erous animals in Colma, but rattlesnakes weren’t outside the realed to corner a snake, I wanted to pull her away froot closer, I realized that she was growling, a low, deep sound that seemed to start in her paws and work its way all the way up through her body before ru that would have been terrifying if she’d been directing it atit at the fence, it was scary in a different way I sped up, trying to see as in front of her

There was nothing there but grass Whatever she was growling at was on the other side of the fence

"Beverly?"

She didn’t respond I stepped forward and let go of my robe in order to lean down and take hold of her collar She kept growling Whatever she was growling at didn’t ed on her collar She dug her feet into the soil and held fast, refusing to be e It was like I was trying to --only concrete doesn’t usually growl "Beverly, come on!"

She turned to look at me for the first time since I’d joined her in the backyard It wasn’t a full turn, just enough for her to see , filled with the anxious need of a good dog to protect her person If she’d been human, I would have interpreted that look as "let o of her collar, stepping away Beverly’s head proinal position, all her attention fixing on the fence She never stopped growling

I wasn’t a stupid actress in a horroroutside in ; noat, I wasn’t going to open the gate and find out But there were other ways Feeling suddenly very exposed, I turned and ran for the back door I didn’t shut it--Beverly would need a way back into the house--but I still felt better once there was a wall betweenso upset

I wanted to call the police, but I needed a better reason than "so" I sed hard, and started for the living rooive ate I’d be able to see whatever it was that Beverly was growling at I wasn’t sure I wanted to I was absolutely sure that I needed to

II had a weapon, or any idea how to use one I would have felt better There were probably lots of things that could be used as i room, but I didn’t knoould work, and so I didn’t reach for anything I wasn’t a fighter I did, however, have a pane of glass between ht firmly at the front of my mind as I inched around the couch and peered out the