So I took Sadie for a walk, right past the house where the pit bull lives. What else was I going to do — get her a treadmill? No, she’s a tracker. She lives to walk along sniffing things. And, anyway, you just can’t stay holed up. You’ve only got this one mongrel life, and you don’t want to spend it hiding indoors; pretty soon the menace is everywhere and you’re left worrying about what’s going to rise up out of the basement. You have to wear down the fear. You can’t kite yourself up over the places you wish did not exist. You have to suit up, show up, move on through. The good news is that the joy is on the other side of the dark stretch of sidewalk. Also, you can ask someone to walk along with you, someone or something you trust. So I decided to be that person for Sadie and help her take back her joy in the street. —- Annie Lamont