The Dogs’ Best Friend

At the top of the stairs, Dexter the pit bull is waiting exactly where Wendy DeSarno told him to sit when she went to answer the door. His pencil-thin tail is wagging, and he’s sniffing and licking me as I stand as still as a statue, but his cute little butt is glued to the floor until she gives the word. Wendy is a dog trainer. She has CPDT and CTC behind her name. But Dexter doesn’t know that. He also doesn’t know that CPDT stands for Certified Professional Dog Trainer and that…

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The Bouzouki Balladeer

Near the end of a residential street of attached row houses, there’s a small storefront whose plate-glass window proclaims “ALPHA SCHOOL OF MUSIC” in bright gold letters that are surrounded by a melody of dancing musical notes. The front door is adorned with a golden treble clef. In the waiting room, whose walls are lilac with dark purple trim, an eclectic variety of stringed instruments that range from the oud to the electric guitar are suspended from the ceiling like clothes in…

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The Hi-Tech Twins

“I’m Dom,” says the twin wearing the black T-shirt. “I’m Tom,” says the twin wearing the blue T-shirt. They answer the door in that order — Dom Tancredi, Tom Tancredi. They have their routine down to a T. In this case, Dom’s T has a bright blue pyramidal design that matches the color of Tom’s T. Different yet just enough alike to declare their common identity. There’s a reason the Tancredi twins go by Dom and Tom: It’s the rhyme. “We…

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The Starry-Eyed Tailor

It started in Cyprus with a little girl and a big dream. “I used to climb out on the balcony of our house and close my eyes and open my arms and say, ‘I’m going to fly away.'” Panayiota Pelengaris is used to putting her time to good use, so as she talks, she threads a needle. The beautiful buttercream cashmere sweater, soft as chick fluff, has a half dozen moth holes she needs to repair before the morrow. By the way, before we go any further, Panayiota says it’s best…

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