obscures mine. To the people we meet in other vehicles—oncoming ones on two-lane roads and passing ones on four-lane highways, it looks as though the dog is at the wheel of my Mercedes.
Some people see the humor in the situation, honking or laughing or giving us a thumbs-up. A few drivers have been so astonished that they’ve come close to losing control of their own vehicles. I suppose I could put Lucy on a lie-down command and keep her completely out of sight. No doubt she’d do as she was told, but as I may have mentioned earlier, I’ve never been very good when it comes to maintaining discipline with children or dogs. Besides, I like the idea that we’re offering folks a little lighthearted cheer as we travel Washington’s highways and byways.
I had told Alan that we’d be at the Silver Cloud by ten thirty, and we were. When I called to let him know we were out front in the parking lot, he sounded completely frazzled. “I’m having some trouble getting packed up. Athena is in constant meltdown mode, and I’m at my wits’ end. Would you mind coming up and holding her for a few minutes while I finish pulling things together?”
“No, problem,” I said. “I’ll be right up. What room?”
“Three-sixteen,” he told me.
After taking Lucy for a brief but necessary pee walk, I left her in the car and headed upstairs. The Silver Cloud evidently didn’t have a bellman on duty. On the third floor, I found a partially loaded rolling luggage cart parked outside Room 316. The door was ajar, and the earsplitting wails of a squalling infant flowed out of the room and echoed up and down the hallway.
I tapped on the door. Alan opened it the rest of the way with a bawling Athena cradled in one arm. Her little face was screwed up in anguish, and her tiny clenched fists were flailing as though she were a boxer prepared to take on all comers. I found it astonishing that something so small could make that much noise. As for Alan? The poor guy looked completely done in. His eyes were bloodshot, and the dark circles under them were more pronounced than they’d been the day before. It was the morning-after look of someone who’d really tied one on, but I was quite sure he hadn’t.
“How are things?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what’s the matter with her. She was up most of the night, and so was I. We’re probably driving the other poor guests on this floor nuts. As for getting packed? I’ve been trying, but with her like this I haven’t been able to get my act together.”
“Hand her over,” I said, bravely holding out my arms. “I’ll take Athena downstairs with me and get her out of your hair. That way you’ll have a moment to yourself.”
“Where will you take her?”
“Down to my car. It’s parked right out front.”
“All right, and thank you,” Alan said gratefully. “I’ll be down as soon as I can.”
Self-conscious about the racket we were making, I carried that tiny, wiggling, and very noisy bundle back down the hallway. When I needed to operate the elevator buttons, I put Athena up on my shoulder and balanced her there one-handed. By the time we made it back down to the lobby, she had managed to produce a very unladylike burp, which left a distinctively white, telltale stain dribbling down the front shoulder of my newly dry-cleaned sport jacket. My mother always insisted that I never leave home without a freshly washed and ironed hankie in my pocket. Thankfully, that advice remained one of the guiding principles of my life, and the hankie I had with me that day came in very, very handy. Handy, yes. Altogether successful? Not really, and as I cleaned up the mess, I couldn’t help but remember that old song from the fifties—“The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane.”
Still, the burp itself must have done the trick, because whatever was bothering Athena suddenly disappeared. By the time I finished mopping off the jacket to the best of my ability, she had quieted down. As we exited the front lobby, Athena was already asleep in my arms. Once I opened the car door and started to get inside, Lucy saw the baby and promptly went nuts. If Athena and I were going to be in the front seat, Lucy wanted to be there, too—all ninety-plus pounds of her. She was half