Well, it was all over and done with now, and the likes of Jonny Gains, up and coming performer, could never know the joy, love, and companionship that little puppy had grown up to bring her. Of the few possessions they had jointly owned when after four years she had decided to bury the corpse of their marriage, Carol had asked for only one, Sultan, and had gotten him … plus a meager alimony which was always late, when it came at all. If only she were skilled at something to get a good job, but she wasn't, not even simple office work … and that she could thank Jonny for, too. Against her parents' wishes, after high school she had foregone college to run off with her bright lights- dazzled lover to the gambling city where they'd nearly starved before she had found waitress work in a casino, then lost the job because she was underage.

Eighteen years old she'd been, and living like a wife in a grubby trailer for six months before she'd landed the clerking position in the department store! God, what had she ever been thinking of? Three years of that before she had finally shanghied him into one of the local wedding chapels, childishly believing that a piece of legal paper was going to change everything for them. She hadn't even had a decent ring. Seven years of her life wasted … twenty-five and divorced … thank God there'd been no babies …!

Sultan's whimpers brought Carol back to the present. He'd gotten his nearly chewed-up rubber ball and brought it for her to play with him. Smiling warmly, she took it and tossed it into the air for him to catch and fetch.