The Story of a Dog in a Fire Pit

40 kids from three different high schools crammed into my basement by the light of some tinted party bulbs screaming at the top of their lungs. Siena White came in, pulled by her enormous labrador-doodle, and went straight into the kitchen where Donna's husband Kevin was ladling chili into paper bowls. There were faces lit by firelight and the heavy smell of wood smoke from burning cedar which had been used as kindling. It smelled like a Middle Eastern restaurant. A guy named Mark told a long, boring story about his gutters, how they clogged, how he cleaned them. Rachel was in the mosh pit when she got shoved and fell and landed on