Page 195 - The Midnight Library

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Last Chance Saloon

Aer the meal Nora went back to Dylan’s house to watch the Ryan Bailey

movie. ey had a half-drunk bottle of wine that the restaurant let them take
home. Her self-justification regarding going to Dylan’s was that he was sweet
and open and would reveal a lot about their life without having to pr y too
deep.
He lived in a small terraced house on Huxley Avenue that he had

inherited from his mum. e house was made even smaller by the amount
of dogs there. ere were five that Nora could see, though there may have
been more lurking upstairs. Nora had always imagined she liked the smell of

dog, but she suddenly realised there was a limit to this fondness.
Sitting down on the sofa she felt something hard beneath her – a plastic
ring for the dogs to gnaw on. She put it on the carpet amid the other chew
toys. e toy bone. e foam yellow ball with chunks bitten out of it. A half-
massacred so toy.

A Chihuahua with cataracts tried to have sex with her right leg.
‘Stop that, Pedro,’ said Dylan, laughing, as he pulled the little creature
away from her.

Another dog, a giant, meaty, chestnut-coloured Newfoundland, was
sitting next to her on the sofa, licking Nora’s ear with a tongue the size of a
slipper, meaning that Dylan had to sit on the floor.
‘Do you want the sofa?’
‘No. I’m fine on the floor.’

Nora didn’t push it. In fact, she was quite relieved. It made it easier to
watch Last Chance Saloon without any further awkwardness. And the