Danielle was sitting on her living room couch watching Million Dollar Baby with her stepdad when the dog came into the room. She was continuing to watch despite the fact that her stepdad had fallen asleep in the first three minutes; at the dog's entry, she was contemplating getting some more food. The English springer spaniel unexpectedly howled, and Danielle put the movie on pause.

"Where's the wolf?" her stepdad mumbled comically, stirring from sleep. Danielle got up, unperturbed by the dog's interruption; it was a dull film.

"Come on, Winston," Danielle called, making her way toward the front door. She picked his leash out of the basket and jangled it; Winston came running. He stopped on a time in front of her, and sat, his tail thumping the floor. Danielle affixed the leash, and stood up, facing the mirror. She had a heart-shaped face spattered with freckles, and short auburn hair; right below the mirror was a black-and-white picture of Winston Churchill, the dog's namesake. Giving the leash a perfunctory tug, together Danielle and Winston walked out into the balmy summer night.

"Down to Warinanco and back?" Danielle asked Winston, in the same way she would ask a human. The dog, in reply, pulled his owner onward on the leash, tracing the familiar route from his two-family house through the gritty neighborhoods of Elizabeth toward Warinanco Park. Winston was an uncommonly intelligent dog, from his genteel and friendly treatment of guests, to the way he would "ask" for his food and walks, to his composed, elegant face.

The air was warm in the fading days of summer, but as always, the faint trace of pollution lingered on the air from the factories of Elizabeth and Newark, all down the turnpike to Rahway and Carteret. It was humid, and clouds hang low overhead; Danielle was beginning to ask herself if they should really go this far. Danielle and Winston were in a fairly suburban area after a few minutes of walking, but if they were caught in the rain, it would be a pain to get back.

From a side street, a young man walked toward Danielle's path. He was peaky, with long black hair, wearing jean shorts and a black Pantera shirt—Danielle recognized him at once. Kevin Kvilesz, from her high school. He was in the advanced classes, the best of the school; she was in the less prestigious regular classes. They recognized each other enough though, and his face was full of surprise as hers was—they were friends in elementary school.

"Kevin," Danielle said simply.

"Danielle," Kevin replied. "How you doing?"

"I'm doing alright...it's been a while..." Danielle said, settling into stride next to Kevin. Winston licked his hands eagerly, and Kevin stroked his head. "How's your summer?"

"Eh," Kevin said dismissively. "It's okay. What's his name?"

"Winston," Danielle said.

"After Winston Churchill?"

"Yep."

"Good. I would be a little shocked if you named your dog after the cigarettes."

"Hey, I'm a good girl," laughed Danielle. "Actually, my parents caught me...this is week number three coming up that I've been grounded. I only get out to walk to work, and walk the dog."

"Shit, I hear you," Kevin said. "Are your parents together?"

"Well, my dad died when I was little, but my stepdad's pretty cool. He's a nice guy," said Danielle. "Why do you ask, parent problems?"

"Ah, you're lucky," said Kevin. "What did your dad die of?"

"AIDS. Don't apologize, everyone apologizes. It's nobody's fault but his own."

"I wasn't going to apologize," said Kevin. After a short pause, he said, "Know any good AIDS jokes?"

Danielle laughed, and said "Asshole. I remember when you gave the Sunday school class report on sexual assault and used the line 'if you thought the Catholic Church was bad, wait 'til you hear about this!'"

Kevin laughed. "It really has been a while. I can't believe we never...you know...kept in touch. Or whatever. I don't know what I'm talking about."

"You always made me laugh," said Danielle. "Drawing weird shit in that space on the GEPAs that said 'do not draw in this space.'"

They laughed, and kept walking on. The park was a little closer ahead, straddling the border between Elizabeth and suburban Roselle.

"So what are you doing out this late?" Danielle asked. Kevin's face fell.

"Do you really want to know?" Kevin replied.

"Yes. Got an invisible dog?"

"I...I don't want you to think I'm a bad person," Kevin said, and this time, he looked shaken. Danielle was taken aback; she wondered what could he be going to do.

"What, going to pick up some hookers?" she said jokingly.

"No. You know...shit, I don't know...I feel like my life is a waste, like I'm a disappointment."

"You're not," Danielle said, clasping Kevin's hand. "You never disappoint me."

"I always thought you were cute," Kevin said, seemingly out of the blue. "You weren't like those other girls, the ones with blond hair who talked about Justin Timberlake and Lady Marmalade or whatever. Those girls who always had their little cliques and catfights, and all their bullshit. You know who I'm talking about...Jennifer and those ones."

"Thanks," said Danielle smiling. "You always made me laugh. I wish we had a few more classes together...I'll give you my screen name and number. Jennifer had an abortion, by the way, it was supposed to be a secret, but considering she's as loose as a jar of mayonnaise by now, it's not going to be her first."

"Easy as bribing a Republican, huh?" Kevin said.

"Oh, you slay me," said Danielle.

"Sluttier than Paris Hilton on rohypnol at a nudist camp, huh? Trashier than Madonna?" Kevin continued.

"Ha, ha. You're gayer than the writhing naked gay black men Madonna uses as backup dancers."

"And you're bitchier than Rosie O'Donnell on her period after finding a centipede in her bloody twat. When are you scheduling your first abortion, and can I have it?"

Danielle burst out laughing in spite of herself. They were turning onto the street leading into the park. "You're so gross. My stepdad would kill you if he heard that. Seriously though, where are you going?"

The laughter faded from Kevin's face, and he said "You'd think less of me. I wish you would go now, just so..."

"Tell me. I won't think any less of you, I promise."

Kevin's face changed, and he was immediately more grim, with a macabre smirk on his face. He reached into his waistband behind him and drew out a silver gun. "I'm going to the park to shoot myself in the head."

Danielle's heart leaped, and she blurted out, "You can't!"

"I shouldn't have told you. I didn't want you to see me as some kind of suicide loser. I wanted to do it in the park so my parents wouldn't have to clean up."

"This is serious, Kevin," said Danielle, clutching onto his arm. "You can't do this. The people who love you—"

"—Would be better off without me." Kevin said. They were walking toward a copse of trees leading to a plastic jungle gym and playground. Warinanco Park was vast and sprawling with a track, baseball fields, and a lake.

"Can we at least talk about this? Put the gun away just for a second."

Kevin replaced the gun in his pants and resumed walking silently toward the jungle gym. The raindrops were starting to fall, and they blended in with the tears on Kevin's face; he looked back as they approached the covered plastic slide.

"I can't stand being alive anymore, because I know that no matter what I do, there's always going to be someone better than me." Kevin said, climbing up into the shelter of the slide. Danielle tied Winston by his leash to a bar underneath the playground structure, and climbed in with him. "I feel like I I don't deserve anything but death, that I'm unworthy of every good thing that happens to me. Because it's all luck, isn't it? Nothing good that's happened to me in life is a result of my own talents or ability or whatever. It's a crap shoot."

"That can't be true," Danielle said. "You've done good things in your life."

"My future is barren. I might as well quit school and start applying to see which McDonald's crushes my soul the least." He spat out these final words, and turned away from Danielle.

"As barren as an anorexic's womb, huh?" Danielle said, trying to lighten Kevin's mood.

"Fuck you."

"Please, don't do it," begged Danielle.

"I've messed up everything else in my life, you're not going to take away the one thing I have control over. My future, my family, even my chances with you back in junior high."

"It's not too late for me," Danielle pleaded.

"Don't you hear me?" Kevin hissed, clutching his gun through his pants. "I'm going to blow my head off! Please, for Chrissake Danielle, turn away! I don't want you to see this!"

Danielle lunged forward and kissed Kevin fiercely on the mouth, as if glued to him. He paused awkwardly for a moment, but slowly intertwined his arms around her and laid back with her on the floor of the slide. She kissed his neck and face, and Kevin nervously did the same, bumping cheeks in his rush. With no words exchanged they shed their clothes; Kevin took the gun out of his waistband and placed it by his head, on the other side from Danielle. He ran his hands up Danielle's soft white stomach, across her plump breasts, and onto her face where he kissed her lips, and she hugged him tight to her.

They looked at each other, wondering what was to come next. Danielle smiled at him, and for a moment, all the pain in Kevin's heart ceased, and he clambered anxiously on top of her, biting her neck and letting his stomach come into full contact with hers. She guided him into her, and they made love, Kevin awkwardly thrusting, their hips bumping and the two of them giggling and kissing as if they were back in elementary school six years before.

The rain came down heavily outside, and the dog began to howl at the thunder. Danielle, still pressing Kevin's body close to hers, wondered for a moment if her parents would be wondering where she was. With a choking, stuttering gasp Kevin finished, and stopped, looking at Danielle in the eyes. They embraced fully, and he rolled off of her, his languid penis resting like a flower on his abdomen.

His expression was quizzical, as if questioning Danielle as to why she had done that. Danielle smiled to him, stretching her arms across his chest, and calmly and carefully picked the gun up from his side and held it away from him. He kept staring at her, his expression unchanging. The thunder rolled ominously. Winston cowered under the tree, afraid of the rumbling sky.

"Danielle," Kevin said warily.

"I'm not letting you do this," said Danielle. "Look at everything you have to live for—"

She never finished speaking. Kevin leapt across of her, groping fiercely toward the gun, crushing Danielle's breasts. He grunted and strained, but Danielle slapped his leg and tried to push him away. They fought there for a few moments, grappling, their naked bodies running with sweat, the gun in the air above their heads. Kevin seized Danielle's wrist, blocking his unprotected scrotum from her other hand.

She jabbed his ribs, but he overpowered her, slamming her to the side of the slide. They groaned, and heavy breath escaped their mouths, but no word was spoken. He held her down, the gun shaking in both their hands, their fingers fighting through the trigger guard.

Instinctively, Danielle pulled back, and in a flash a long rope of blood splattered against the inside of the slide, dripping down across Danielle's naked stomach, getting lost in her pubic hair. Kevin fell across Danielle, his shattered skull pouring its contents out onto her neck and chest. Flecks of blood that had fallen in a fine mist joined the freckles across Danielle's stunned face.

Winston howled again, afraid of the noise of the gun. The thunder boomed again. Danielle let the gun drop down the slide, and she pulled up her pants and replaced her shirt. She did the same to Kevin, pulling his boxers and jeans up, sliding his shirt over his bloody, fragmented head. She looked into his brains, and didn't blink a tear back. The shock and pain would hit her later, when the police questioned her.

She stepped out of the slide, allowing the soothing cool rain to wash over her, to cleanse the blood from her pores. Winston looked troubled. He had always been a very intelligent dog. The blood gathered in a pool of water below her.

She pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket, and opened it up. Danielle paused in hesitation, droplets of rain hitting the screen of her cell phone. She typed in the numbers 9, 1, and 1, and with the realization that life would never again be the same, the realization that she didn't know if it was herself or Kevin who had pulled the trigger, she raised the phone—

And she dialed the number.