Part V: The Just Reward

I felt that this entire trip had been hard on Lily. She'd been anxious at my parents' house whenever I left her sight. She was a long way from anything familiar, and half of her family was absent. Now I had just subjected her to about an hour of milling about in hot sunlight on unforgiving, heat-radiating pavement. She has never done well in the heat of summer.

She had done me a great service by being my ambassador of good will. I believed that she had more than a little to do with the success of the trip. I felt that I owed her the reward of some time in the type of environment which would make her happy.

I took her to Mellon Park, a beautiful, hilly, tree-filled park not far from Homewood. I let her off of her leash, fully prepared to accept a civil fine should I be caught red-handed. I let her roam and sniff, roll in the grass, and chew on a stick. She seemed happy, and I let her enjoy it while she could, because we had a long hot ride ahead of us before she could return to her home in Ann Arbor.