CHAPTER 7 "SIX-THIRTY"

A month later, Elizabeth is walking back to her house from a trip to the grocery store when she is followed by a dirty dog. Elizabeth and her boyfriend Calvin give the dog the name "Six-Thirty" because that is the time they first noticed him. They make numerous attempts to find his owner but are unsuccessful; regardless, it appears that Six-Thirty prefers to remain here.

Six-Thirty is a dog with exceptional intelligence who has picked up a large number of words in a short amount of time. In spite of the fact that Calvin and Elizabeth are unaware of it, he formerly worked as a canine bomb-sniffer trainee at a camp located at the nearby marine base. Even though Six-Thirty had the ability to locate the bombs using his sense of smell, he was so terrified of getting close to them that he was unable to pass his training.

After this, Six-handler Thirty's had dumped him in the middle of the highway, and eventually, he had made his way to the alleyway from which he had followed Elizabeth home. Calvin and Elizabeth start bringing Six-Thirty with them to Hastings, and no one dares to complain directly to Calvin about bringing a dog into the apartment complex where they are living.

Elizabeth eventually gets into the kitchen and starts preparing all of their meals. For her, it is more like chemistry than "some preordained feminine duty"; she records and executes all meals and recipes in the same manner that she would an equation in chemistry.

The two of them make the decision that Calvin will instruct Elizabeth in how to row. In the beginning, she was adamantly opposed to the idea, but later on, she changed her mind so that she could demonstrate that rowing is not exclusive to men.

Elizabeth is instructed on how to properly use the erg by Calvin, who leads her to the lower level of the boathouse. Calvin tells other people at the boathouse that Elizabeth is his new rowing partner; everyone who hears this looks at Elizabeth in new wonder, which leads Elizabeth to realize that Calvin is considered brilliant in this field as well. Despite Elizabeth's apprehensions, Calvin tells the other people at the boathouse that Elizabeth is his new rowing partner.