As Dog Is My Witness by JEFFREY COHEN Page A

Ethan did something
really, really wrong tonight, but we never even got to discussing what set him off. You know as well as I do that
Dylan baits him, and Ethan’s hardly well equipped to deal with it.
We’re supposed to help him. But instead, you were so busy kowtowing
to your brother that you weren’t willing to stand up for your
son.”
    Her voice dropped an octave and her eyes narrowed.
“Aren’t you the one who told him his punishment would be no
PlayStation for three days? Aren’t you the one who got red in the
face yelling at him? You can’t blame all this on me because you
don’t like my brother, Aaron.”
    “So you’re being reasonable and I’m the one with a
chip on my shoulder?” I said. “You haven’t changed the way you’re
acting at all? You’re not distracted?”
    “No.”
    “Then why did you forget to walk the dog tonight?”
Abby walks the dog after dinner practically every night. It’s a
daily ritual that she actually enjoys doing. Forgetting to walk
Warren is tantamount to for-getting her husband’s name, something
Abby probably wished she could do right then.
    She stared at me for a long moment, then stood up and
walked to the closet. “You might have said something before,” she
said.
    I stood up and put on my pants. “I forgot myself
until this moment,” I told her. “Abby . . . 
    She looked at me. “What?”
    “I’ll go. I’m faster than you, and it’s late.”
    I had most of my clothes on, and she hadn’t taken
anything out of the closet yet. “No,” she said. “I wouldn’t want
you to feel like I’ve forced you to do something you didn’t want to do.”
    “ Neither would I. ” I put on my shoes and
walked out. But first, I reached into my top dresser drawer and
pulled out a small plastic bag.
    Passing by Leah’s room, I looked in and saw the
little feet, sticking out from under her blanket and still moving
around.
    “Little girl?”
    She sat up. She hadn’t been crying, but no matter how
much Leah and Ethan battle each other, she hates it when he gets
into trouble. Leah loves her brother, and feels that any punishment
of him should come from her.
    I reached into the bag and pulled out the small
stuffed horse I had bought the day before. “This is for you,” I
said, handing it to my daughter.
    “Horsey!” she said in what she calls her “Baby Leah”
voice. It is deliberate exaggeration for effect. “What’s it for,
Daddy?”
    “It’s because you deserve it,” I said. “You’re a good
girl, a good daughter, a good sister, and a good niece. ” She
nodded, understanding what I was saying.
    “Thank you, Daddy,” she said. Leah held out her arms,
and gave me one of her therapeutic hugs. But this was a rare
occasion where it didn’t take.
    Outside in four sweatshirts, a coat, gloves, and a
hood (I look stupid in hats), I walked Warren to the corner, and
turned left toward the park.
    Edison Park, named after the guy who made it possible
to see Edison Park this late at night, closes after dark. The irony
makes it foolish to walk around down there at this hour. So I stuck
to the streets, waiting for Warren to remember the purpose of the
walk.
    I’m not often angry with Abby, and I don’t enjoy it.
Worse, she was angry with me, and I hate that. But she was
being unreasonable, I thought, and I hadn’t stepped out of line
pointing that out. Isn’t a good marriage supposed to be based on
honest communication? Don’t they tell you that in all the
sitcoms?
    I wasn’t going to apologize. I hadn’t done anything
wrong. Okay, so maybe she was just trying to reach out to her
brother, realizing that their relationship hadn’t always been all
that warm, and she wanted to improve that. But I felt she was
reaching out at the expense of her family, and it was okay to raise
that possibility. Wasn’t it?
    On the other hand, was this actually about her not
wanting to make love while they were in the house? Was I really
that petty? Okay, sure, so I was that