That afternoon when Lolly got off the bus, neither Max, Mitzi or Grandma Toady were home. Fluff sat in the window seat grooming himself. He gave Lolly a quick glance and a little, “meow,” before he resumed his ablutions. On the kitchen table was a note. She picked it up and read in Grandma Toady’s messy scrawl, “Over at Jessie’s. Having Pizza. Come join us.”

Lolly, followed by Fluff, went into her room. Her feet hurt from wearing clogs all day. She changed into baggy shorts, a pocket t-shirt and sandals. Fluff watched her every move. He suspected he was about to be left again. And he was. Aunt Jessie had chocolate pit bull, named Bruno. Fluff was not a fan, but Bruno loved Fluff to the point of distaction. It was a mystery to everyone involved. Aunt Jessie blamed it on the slightly botched neuter job Bruno had gotten last year. Before Bruno got neutered, he treated Fluff like anyother cat in the world. He chased him. Now, when he saw Fluff, he broke out in the most long winded, deep rumbling bark, Lolly had ever heard. It sent tremors through a body when he got going.

Bruno was Aunt Jessie's baby and she treated him like one. He went everywhere with her. Originally he was supposed to be a guard dog, but he never met a person he did not like. There were however a lot of people who were afraid of him because he was, duh, a pit bull. Because of this, Aunt Jessie took him to work with her. Working the night shift at a gas station was not a safe job for anybody, especially a woman. Lolly did not understand why Aunt Jessie chose to work the nightshift at Pensky's Gas Station. She had the same gold hair, as Max and Mitzi had, she was smart and funny and yet she did what she did. At least once a week Grandma Toady would ask, “So is any body else hiring?” Aunt Jessie never answered. She would sit quiet and polite like she hadn’t even heard the question.

Followed by Fluff, Lolly went back to the kitchen. She opened her backpack and pulled out the Get Well card Max's friend, Jenny had passed around school. The way Jenny gushed and turned red when she gave Lolly the card, made Lolly suspected the little cheerleader had a crush on Max. Poor thing, she was one of many.

Lolly headed for the front door. Fluff had disappeared, but she knew where he was. He was hunkered under the couch, positioning himself for a break out. The last thing she needed was for him to run off. She got down on her hands and knees and lifted the couch's skirt. Fluff looked back her, his eyes held feigned innocence, but his tail swished slowly from side to side. With one swift motion, she scooped him up. He gave her a most charming look. "You don't really want to go see Bruno do you?" Fluff batted his eyes at her. He purred loud and long, untl she opened his kennel and shoved him inside. He let out a long mournful yowl. She told him, “I’m sorry Fluff," and locked the kennel. He gave her a dirty look and turned his back on her.

Feeling a little guilty, Lolly went out the front door and locked it. Above her, the ball had begun its turn toward the western horizon. In an hour or two the moon would rise in the east. It was supposed to be full tonight. She loved the silver white light of the full moon. There was magic in it. She headed down Hart Street and turned on Gnu Street. All the streets in the trailer park were named after aminals in the Bovidae* family.

She saw Aunt Jessie's trailer. It was new, shiny and double wide. It was way bigger than Grandma Toady's. The instant Lolly stepped onto the porch, Mitzi swung the front door open and said, “Its about time you got here." Behind her stood Bruno. His great big brown liquid eyes gazed up at her. His stubby tail began to rotate. His entire body shook with anticipation. Once Lolly was inside he plastered her with a very wet, sticky, huge gooey lick right up her nostrils. It was disgusting! Mitzi said, “He only kisses people he loves.”

Lolly wiped off her nose with the hem of her t-shirt.

Mitzi said, "Daddy's here." She lead her into the front room. Seated on the couch beside Grandma Toady, was her former Uncle Luke. He smiled at Lolly and said, “Hey Lolly.”

She wasn't sure what to call him these days, so she just, "Hey." Now that he was no longer married to Aunt Jessie, legally and technically he was no longer Lolly's uncle, but in her heart he still was.

Grandma Toady said, “Max is in his room, go on in and say hi.”

“Okay.” Lolly expected Mitzi to go with her, but she didn’t. Bruno came instead. When she reached Max’s room, she thought Aunt Jessie would be with him, she wasn’t. Where was Aunt Jessie? Lolly hesitated before she crossed the threshold. Max was propped in bed with a black shoulder sling. His eyes were closed and he had dark circles under them. If he was a sleep, she should come back later. She turned to leave, but Max groaned a little and opened his eyes. Panic rushed through Lolly, it had been a LONG time since she had been alone in the same room with Max. It had been even longer since they carried on any kind of conversation that did not involve bickering. Her mouth had gone dry and she was suddenly very thirsty. To steady herself she placed her hand on Bruno’s head. Her voice cracked a little when she asked, “How are you doing?”

Max winced and said, “I am still alive.”

“Well that is something.”

“I guess.”

She handed him the card and said, "Jenny sent you this card." He took the card but he did not read it. Lolly continued, "All your friends at the bus stop and everyone on the bus asked how you were. Mrs. Anderson told me to tell you she is praying for you.” Lolly proceeded name off every person who had asked about him on the bus, except one. She did not tell him about Trevor. When she finished, she noticed Max looked a little less forlorn.

He said, “Thanks Lolly.”

Stunned by his gratitude Lolly was silent for several seconds before she said, “You are welcome.”

Aunt Jessie came into the room. She too had bags under her eyes. The smile she gave Lolly was tired. “Hey Lolly would you mind ordering the pizza. If Luke orders he will put pineapple on it and I cannot abide pineapple.” There were many things that Aunt Jessie could not abide.

“Sure. Pepperoni?” Lolly asked.

Aunt Jessie nodded.

Max said, “Just cheese with no sauce for me.”

“Okay.” Bruno followed Lolly out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She picked up the receiver of the rotary phone. Just as she was about to dial the number to Joe’s Pizza House, Mitzi came into the kitchen. Sweetly she said, “Puccini wants sausage pizza. He loves sausage pizza.”

“Oh really?”

“Yup and Daddy said he could have some.”

This was not true. For the most part Mitzi was a very honest little girl, except when her daddy was around. She played him. She got just about everything and anything she wanted, but not always, like now. Lolly said, “Oh, so your daddy forgot you puked on Puccini the last time you had sausage pizza. Even if he has forgetten, I am sure Puccini hasn’t.” Lolly looked at Puccini and asked, “So you want another spin in the wash old fellow?”

Mitzi hugged her bear hard and hung her head. She mumbled, “No neither one of them forgot.” She tilted her head back up and said, “I’m sorry I lied. It’s just sausage pizza tastes so good, but it hates me.”

“Yup, it does.” Lolly dialed the number and ordered.

When the pizza arrived they all ate in Max’s room with Max. He didn’t eat much and he barely said anything. He looked like he was about to cry as his eyes wandered from his mother’s face to his father’s face. It had only been a year since Uncle Luke and Aunt Jessie got divorced. Once they had seemed happy. Lolly didn't know what went wrong.

Grandma Toady rose from the lawn chair she was sitting in and said, “Lolly and me will be going.” She went over to Max and gently kissed his forehead. “Love you, Honey.”

Max actually said out loud, “I love you too.”

A big smile broke across Grandma Toady’s face. She reached down and squeezed his hand. “I will be over in the morning to make you an egg in the hole, okay?”

“Okay,” Max said. He looked passed Grandma Toady and smirked at Lolly. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he actually smiled at her. Miracles never ceased.

After hugging and kissing everyone, Grandma Toady was finally ready to go home. When they stepped onto the front porch the full face of the moon shone down on them. The world had been turned to silver.

Grandma Toady slipped her arm through Lolly’s and said, “I wish those two had stayed together.”

“Me too.”

“I worry Jessie is going to regret this someday. I think they could have tried harder.” There was something in Grandma Toady’s voice that made Lolly wonder if she was referring to her own marriage too. Did she miss the man, Lolly had never met? He was supposed to have a second family in San Antonio.

As they made their way to the trailer, they did not need a flashlight, the moon was so bright. The trailer park was transformed by its shine. Every surface that could reflected its round face did. When they reached their trailer, Grandma Toady tilted her head back and gazed up. Softly she began to sing to the moon,

“Did it take long to find me? I asked the faithful light.

Did it take long to find me? And are you gonna stay the night?”**

There was sadness in Grandma Toady’s voice. When she finished the song, she said, “Whew, well I got that out of my system. Let’s go inside and let the tiger out of his cage. He is going to be some pissed.” And, Fluff was.

*Bovidae is theanimal family made up cloven foot-hoofed, ruminates like antelopes, bison, sheep and goats.

**Moonshadow by Cat Stevens, 1971