Timi and her boyfriend Chaba live in a recently constructed condo in the ninth district. Their apartment is very well decorated. Though the Moraccan/African motif is not to my taste, everything complimented each other. Of course Edina fell in love with the orange walls. Timi is slim, pretty with jet-black hair. Chaba is muscular, has a quick smile and talked a mile a minute in both English and Hungarian. Neither of us could keep up. Timi and Chaba bought their apartment in January and in April got a little puppy, Nuna. Edina and I were a little jealous and remarked that we could not wait to have a house and a dog together.

We sat and drank the Pinot Noir we brought. We talked about traveling, about politics and about the difference between the United States and Hungary. It seems Chaba has traveled just about everywhere. We watched a bit of the opening day of the World Cup in Germany. It was a prefect, relaxing moment after our day of running around from appointment to appointment.

Before we sat down to dinner we took Nuna for a walk. It was Nuna’s third time being outside and the little puppy curiously scurried about sniffing all she could. As we rounded the third corner of the block, the leash slipped from Timi’s hand and Nuna bolted under a fence. I lunged for the leash but was unable to get control and it slipped from my grasp. Nuna, terrified of her surroundings darted down the sidewalk and across the intersection. Timi ran towards her but it was too late. We heard two yelps and ran towards the car stopped in the middle of the intersection. We reached Timi holding Nuna in her arms. The small puppy was miraculously alive but when Chaba put Nuna down to walk she was clearly was not the energetic dog we saw only moments ago. When we got back inside the apartment we were all in shock. Chaba set the dog down and noticed blood on the carpet. They quickly decided to take her to the vet but insisted we stay there for dinner.

Moments later they were gone and Edina and I were alone in their apartment with a chicken in the oven and the World Cup in the background. We didn’t know what to do. We began to really check out the apartment. We started with the bathroom. Their toilet had two flush buttons but it seemed like they both did the same thing. Edina took pictures of me while I posed like it was our apartment. We checked the chicken. We were starving. I popped a roasted potato in my mouth. It was pretty good. We checked the refrigerator and each had a pickle. We turned off the TV and took our wine out onto the balcony. We sat there for a while enjoying the Budapest twilight but it didn’t last. We just didn’t feel right. Edina had not seen Timi in five years and we just witnessed their dog get hit by a car.

We ended up calling them to say we were leaving but they were already on their way home. The dog was left at the veterinary clinic and might have to go into surgery. Timi told Edina on the phone that the next six hours were critical. We wondered why they didn’t stay with Nuna. When they came home they did not even make eye contact. Both their faces were flush. Edina told Timi that she wished there was something we could have done. Timi just apologized and packed us a bag of chicken, roasted potatoes, pickles and cake. Thirty seconds later we said our somber goodbyes. Ten minutes later we were in the subway and twenty minutes later we were a world away eating delicious chicken and cake.