Waggit Forever by Peter Howe

warm smile and aslight wave of her hand. The car pulled to a stop and one of the policemen got out. The dogs on the opposite sidewalk froze under parked cars, barely daring to breath.
    â€œGood morning, ma’am,” the patrolman said to Felicia. “Do you have any ID on you?”
    â€œI certainly do, officer,” said Felicia. “If you’ll just hang on a minute.”
    She rummaged under her clothing and finally revealed a money belt that was hidden beneath several layers. Out of it she took a tattered driver’s license and passed it to the cop. He looked at it with a puzzled expression on his face.
    â€œYou’re a long way from home,” he said.
    Felicia leaned over and looked at the document as if she wasn’t sure why he’d said this.
    â€œAh, yes,” she replied. “Well, you see, I haven’t lived at that address for some time.”
    â€œWhat is your present address?” he asked.
    â€œWell, I guess pretty much where I’m standing right now,” she decided.
    â€œYou mean,” said the cop, “that you’re homeless, right?”
    â€œWell,” Felicia replied thoughtfully, “I suppose in atechnical sense you’re right, except that I am without a permanent residence as a matter of choice rather than necessity.”
    â€œThat may or may not be true,” continued the officer, “but the fact of the matter is that you are homeless, and there are certain vagrancy laws that apply to folks in your situation in New York City. If you have no visible means of support, I’ll have to take you into custody.”
    â€œBy visible means of support you mean money, credit cards, that sort of thing?”
    â€œThat sort of thing, right,” agreed the policeman.
    Felicia dove back into her money belt and extracted from it a small bundle of dollar bills and a piece of plastic. The cop looked at both in amazement, comparing the name on the credit card with the name on the license and the photo on the license with Felicia herself.
    â€œIs this your credit card?” he asked in amazement.
    â€œYes,” she said, “but I rarely use it. I don’t like living with debt.”
    The officer clearly did not know what to make of her.
    â€œWhy are you walking through here at this timeof the morning?” he asked.
    â€œWell, I’m making my way upstate and I wanted to get an early start,” she replied, not altogether truthfully.
    â€œLady, it’s three fifteen a.m.!”
    â€œWell, that’s early enough, isn’t it?” she said innocently.
    He gave her back her license, credit card, and money.
    â€œThis neighborhood ain’t the safest place for a woman to be by herself at this time of night,” he said. “If you’re going to travel like this, you should probably get yourself a dog or something.”
    â€œYou know, officer,” Felicia said with a smile, “I probably will.”
    â€œYou do that, and have a nice day.” And he got back into the car and drove off.
    Felicia sat down on the curb.
    â€œPhew,” she said. “That was close. I’m sorry to have exposed you to that kind of risk. Why don’t you go on ahead and I’ll keep following from the other side of the street, but I’ll hang back a bit.”
    Then Waggit had a good idea, which sounded as if he had understood what the policeman had beensaying, though of course he hadn’t.
    â€œYou know,” he said, “an Upright with nine dogs is strange, right? But an Upright with two dogs is nothing special. Why don’t two of us travel with you? That’ll make you safer, and it’ll be two less dogs who have to sneak along, which makes things easier for the others.”
    â€œI have an even better idea,” said Felicia. “Why don’t I put the board in my backpack and carry Lowdown? I can still walk with two others, and then that only leaves six to travel