A few blocks away, behind a restaurant, a dog urinated in an alley. The female mixed breed was a darkish brown, with no visible collar. When she was born, someone had called her Coco...but that was long forgotten. No one paid her any mind, except to give her a wide berth, as she stunk to high heaven and growled at anyone who came anywhere near her. Finishing her business, she began to chew on some discarded food that had fallen out when one of the employees had taken the trash to the dumpster.
It never occurred to the dog to even imagine anything else. Until Jeff hit enter on his keyboard. Suddenly, Coco dropped the food and looked around, as if suddenly confused as to why she was there. She left the alley and turned the corner, approaching the entrance to the restaurant. She was going to go inside and eat.
She pulled her tongue back into her mouth. Hungry or not, it wasn't right to salivate about the food before she even saw it. Lifting her front paw up, she grabbed the door handle and threw it open, walking through the door on her hind legs. She walked up to the sign that said, 'Please wait to be seated' and stood there, standing up straighter. Her pelt lightened several shades as the dirt vanished from it and it grew neatly coiffed. The smell of urine and feces was suddenly that of perfume.
Coco looked around impatiently. Where was the hostess? She peered around into the restaurant, then used her hands to smooth her dress, standing up even straighter. She looked at herself in a nearby mirror, then reached into her purse and pulled out a brush and quickly fixed her fur.
So many things were rushing through her mind...how much lunch would cost, where the hostess was....the fact that this mature adult had a few moments earlier been a dirty stray was the last thing on her mind.