The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Carol Lea Benjamin Page A

slapping me on the back and nearly knocking me through the wall.
    I put Lisa’s shoes back where they belonged and, with Dash trailing along after me, met up with Janet in the hall changing to her thick-soled, multicolored cross-trainers. Was she figuring we’d run to the restaurant?
    â€œYou like Chinese?” she asked. She’d covered her short hair with a baseball cap, worn backward.
    â€œWho doesn’t?” Actually, I’d had a yen for it for days now.
    â€œGreat. We’ll go over to Charlie Mom’s. Did you ever try their vegetable dumplings? They’re fab ulous.”
    The waiter’s erased blackboard of a face never changed as he regarded Dashiell’s credentials and his yellow Registered Service Dog tag. I was pretty sure he had no idea what they meant, or what the law said, but he let him in anyway. We were led to a table in the back. Dash slid to the floor right behind my chair and fell immediately asleep. As usual, no one else in the restaurant seemed to notice he was there.
    Janet ordered soup and dumplings for both of us. By the time we’d unfolded our napkins, the soup was in front of us.
    â€œIt’s so cheap here. I come every chance I get.”
    â€œSo why the fuss over Avi teaching me t’ai chi, Janet? He must teach lots of people. It’s what he does, isn’t it?”
    â€œBut there’s only one apprentice,” she said, picking up the baseball cap and placing it back on her head.
    The waiter brought the dumplings even though we hadn’t touched the soup yet.
    â€œWhat’s the big deal?”
    â€œIt means he thinks you have special ability. And so he gives you lots of time. What else do you think we’re talking about? Sure, the man teaches t’ai chi, we get to work with him in class . It’s not the same. His special student gets to spend time alone with him, I mean, hours at a time. That he doesn’t do with everyone. And that’s what this is all about, time with Avram. The man goes, Get that, will you? when the phone rings, and he changes your life. It’s not what he does. It’s what he is. And just being around him, I don’t know. It does things to you, Rachel. The man’s amazing.”
    â€œHe sure is,” I said, dipping one of the crispy noodles in duck sauce, then just hanging on to it. “Janet—”
    She looked up from her soup.
    â€œWhat do you make of the note?”
    â€œThe note?”
    â€œYou know. The one Lisa left?”
    â€œOh, that note. Here’s how I see it,” she said, taking a handful of noodles and tossing them into her soup bowl. She leaned forward. “We had talked, me and Lisa, what, a month ago. I mean, I was pissed.”
    â€œAbout Lisa being Avi’s apprentice instead of you? But you were both at the school for years , weren’t you? Why did you wait so long to tell her?”
    â€œIt wasn’t that ,” she said. “I mean, in the beginning, when she came, well, I knew it wasn’t her fault that Avi spent the time with her, not me. It was his decision, so how could I blame Lisa for taking a wonderful opportunity?”
    â€œOf course. You couldn’t,” I said.
    But of course, you could.
    â€œSo, what was it?”
    â€œA few months ago, something changed. Lisa changed.”
    â€œIn what way, Janet?”
    â€œShe got real la-di-da, like she was more important than the rest of us. So finally one day I got her alone, and I went, What got into you, and she goes, What are you talking about, Janet, and excuse me, but can’t you see I’m busy here? and I went, This won’t take long, it’s just when are you going to stop being such a bitch, woman?”
    â€œWhat did she say?”
    â€œNothing at first, you know. She just looked, well, shocked. I mean, we had been close, me and her,” Janet said, holding up two fingers that appeared to be glued together at the sides. “So