A woman loses her friend to suicide and inherits his dog, by his wish. The dog is a Great Dane, the size of a pony, who grieves for its companion, the woman’s friend, steadfastly. It has none of the embarrassment that people can sometimes feel about their own grief, its depth and insistence, its noisiness. The dog lies on the woman’s bed, taking up space, and though the metaphor is obvious – a big grief, a big animal – it isn’t only a metaphor. Apollo, for such is his name, is real enough, and dog enough, to cause a mess.