AGNI’s tags for this story are “aging,” “loss,” “relationships.”  (Of course!)  The story was originally told in 100 fragments, and it was called “Fifty,” which is the age of the protagonist.  But 100 fragments was too many, and I couldn’t successfully winnow it down to 50 fragments. In working with the brilliant editor Jennifer Alise Drew, I decided to name the previously unnamed dog “Lou,” and change the title, so that the reader wouldn’t expect the number 50 to line up in any way with the numbered fragments.  When I allowed the fragments to combine and coalesce more naturally, I arrived at 71 total.  Kind of arbitrary.  But, Jennifer pointed out, Lou Reed died at 71, so maybe that’s a tie-in?  I believe it is.