When the Chimera Speaks

"Thanks, Tuvia," Tawny said quietly as she got out of his sports car. He draped his arm over the passenger seat and leaned over.
"Hey, it's ok," he said.
"I come back and ghosts start haunting me already. Now I see why I left this place. Well, thanks for taking me home." She closed the car door and, fishing around for the house key in her little handbag, she fumbled with the lock. She wasn't used to keys and locks.
After she had changed out of her dress and into pants and tank top she poured a little iced tea she had made earlier into a glass and sat down on her couch. She stared at the family pictures that covered the wall, faithfully dusted by her friend. Circling her finger on the bottom of the glass she looked at her mom, then her dad, then her brother. Her stomach constricted with sadness and she got up quickly, wandering around the house aimlessly, memories drifting around with her.
Going out into the little garage, she sat down hard on the steps as she remembered the hot rod under the tan canvas she and her dad had been working on before he died. It was a candy apple red Diamond, a little powerful thing. It was halfway finished when she left; she didn't know if it was still fixable by now.
Setting the glass down back inside the house she got up and pulled the canvas off. It glittered in the harsh white light, as if it was happy to see her. She patted it with a little smile. She could smell Dad's cologne mixed with oil and gasoline and grease. And the smell of her cigarettes. Daddy hated her cigarettes, but he tolerated them because they had had too many fights over them, and his little girl was old enough to choose for herself.
She hadn't had a cigarette since she had boarded the Titanium. But she wanted one now. Maybe it would drown out Daddy's scent, and his memory too. It was too painful.

She pushed the garage door button as she flicked the wheel on her new cigarette lighter, lighting the cigarette between her lips. It was a nice night, and Daddy and her liked to work with the garage door open at nights. She popped the hood of the Diamond and looked down into the little engine, trying to remember where they had been working on on that last night.
Slowly she reached down, then pulled back and grabbed a tool from her back pocket and went to work.
Slowly she became aware of a presence behind her, and finally she straightened, wiped off her hands and turned around.
A shepherd dog sat in the center of the open garage door, panting quietly. He wagged his tail as he saw her eyes, and the corners of his mouth pulled back and he smiled at her.
She leaned against the Diamond, cocking her head and looking at the dog. "Are you lost?"
The dog didn't move.
"Are you visiting? Do you live nearby?"
The dog kept on smiling and wagging.
"Are you homeless? Do you want a home?"
After a pause the dog got up and trotted to her feet, then sat down again and looked up at her, still smiling.
"Hey, you," she said, reaching down and petting his head. "Stay right here."
She went inside and got two bowls, putting some chicken she had gotten from the deli for lunch in one and water in the other. Going back outside, she found the dog lying under the car. She put the bowls by the metal support pole and beckoned to the dog. He lifted his head, his nose quivering as he smelled the chicken. He crawled out from under the car and trotted to the bowls and buried his nose in the chicken, his tail wagging.