Meg was walking through the mall; each step she took was one of confidence and certainty. She was wearing a cardigan that Lois had got her to help improve her image, from the looks of things it wasn't working, for no one really noticed Meg even when she looked nice. Meg didn't care, for she wasn't looking to be noticed, she wanted to disappear and dressing like everybody else was one way of doing it.

She was heading for the ice cream shop to start her new job that she had gotten the week before. The only thing that she had to do was take orders, it was simple and easy enough and she got to meet people, another plus. Meg didn't have the required uniform yet, a pink shirt with black pants with the logo sprawled out in the front. The ice cream shop, Sweet and Low, was a rectangular building with black and white checkerboard tile on the floor and pink walls with a horizontal black stripe in the middle. The counter, for the ice shop was one of those places, was in the middle of the room, three tables and chairs were on the right bottom corner next to the door. Behind the counter from the door, a bathroom and a small kitchen could be seen, as well as a back room. The wall that faced the mall was mostly made up of windows, to make shoppers feel more open and not closed off as if they were in a cage.

Just as Meg entered the store, her boss, Steven McNealy, a portly man, 46 came from the back room. He was dressed in the store uniform; the only difference was that on the back of his shirt was the word "manager" in big black bold letters. Steven was many things, but if it was one thing he was not, it was good looking. A large wart, about the size of Meg's fist was up against his left eye, making Steven look like the fat version of Quasimodo. In addition to this, Steven had the worst dental plan in the entire world; for his teeth went every direction expect straight, the worst of these being his two front teeth, one of them went extreme right, the other extreme left. Because of his teeth, Steven spoke with a lisp and a strong spit. His hair, which was a dirty brown, was in a bowl cut and parted in the front, making him also look like a rejected and deformed Beatle.

Steven stared at Meg and screamed at her, "Where the hell have you been?" he began, "You were supposed to be here two hours ago!"

"Sorry sir" Meg said as she made her way behind the counter, "But traffic was backed up for blocks and there was no other way here. I tried calling you, but my phone kept dropping my calls."

"You and your excuses" Steven huffed, "One more slipup like that and you're out of here Griffin, now get to work and stop wasting my time!"

Meg nodded as Steven went back to the back room and wiped her hands off before touching the cashier register.

Ten minutes later the bell at the door went off, Meg was stooped down towards the ground, retrieving some change that had fallen out of the register when she heard the voices of two costumers.

"Let's see" the first said to itself, "What sounds good?"

"How about Rocky Road?" the second one suggested

"Too much chocolate for me" the first one replied, "What about Mint Chocolate Chip? That has a nice balance."

The second voice stopped in thought, Meg stood back up and placed the change in the register without looking at either of them.

"Let's ask her" the second voice exclaimed

"Come on really?" the first voice said annoyingly, "We're picking out ice cream flavors not buying a car. It's simple."

"Really?" the second said sarcastically, "Which one do you want then?"

Silence.

"Exactly" the second one continued, "So it can't hurt to get a professional opinion."

"But on ice cream?" the first declared, "That's just-ridiculous."

Meg, who was busy going over inventory, disregarding the customer service rule in How to Keep Your Job 101, finally looked up at the customers and began the usual greeting that she was required to say to every customer that walked in the door.

"Welcome to Sweet and Low, my name is Meg Griffin how may I help you?"

The two customers were two dogs; both of them had white fur and were collarless. The owner of the first voice, who appeared to be composed and intelligent, had a face that looked as if it had experienced laughter and pain in equal amounts, was shorter than his companion, but only by an inch. His teeth were a little yellow, but only because he hadn't been around a sink in a few days and thus brushing and flossing were temporarily out of the routine, he covered with excessive amounts of Listerine mouthwash, it was mint flavored.

The first dog was wearing a small black backpack on his back, the second was wearing a red one of the same brand, from the looks of things they had been on the road for a long time for the fur on both of them was shaggy and needed to be cut, their faces reminiscent of goats.

"Yes" he began, taking over the situation, for he wanted nothing more than to get this over with, "Which flavor would you recommend?"

Meg shrugged and gave an honest answer, "That depends on what you want. Are you looking for chocolate, candy or something in between?"

"Candy" the second answered, "Something that's not too much, not too little in terms of candy to ice cream ratio and-"

"Come on!" the first screamed, "Are you really going to do this now? You can't keep doing this to me Jasper, you can't! Do you have any idea on how annoying it is to listen to you go on and on about ratios and how everything in your life has to be perfect? It pisses me off!"

Jasper backed away in fear, "I'm sorry Brian" he said rather meekly, "I didn't mean to. It's just that-"

"That'll be $2.50" Meg said as she sat two cups of ice cream next to the counter.

Brian and Jasper stared at her with a confused look, not knowing how to respond to the situation. Brian eventually recovered himself and fished out five dollars from his wallet that he kept in the backpack while Jasper took the ice cream and walked over to one of the tables in the corner of the room.

The dogs sat down and began eating their ice cream while Meg took the order of the next few customers, none of them stayed in the store. Eventually it was just Meg, the dogs at the table and Steven who occasionally appeared from the backroom to check up on things.

"So where are you guys from?" Meg asked, trying to make ideal conversation.

"Don't really know" Brian answered, "We've never really been anywhere, living off the road, going from town to town. The longest we've ever stayed in one place was Harrisburg, Virginia for about three months."

"What happened in Harrisburg?" Meg pressed

"It's complicated" Jasper replied, "We might have accidently set the mayor's house on fire. That and Goat Face over here impregnated a bitch that was supposed to be saved for a pedigree racing dog. Cost the mayor $50,000 that we couldn't pay, so we got run out of town."

"Who you calling a Goat Face?" Brian asked curiously, "You're just as rough looking as me, if not more."

Jasper laughed, thankful that Brian was slowly getting over the episode from earlier. "Needless to say" Jasper concluded, "We've been through a lot. More than any canine should ever go through."

Meg walked out from behind the counter with a rag and began wiping the other tables down. Looking at the clock on the wall Meg breathed a sigh of relief with the realization that her shift was almost over, it was now 2:30 in the afternoon.

"Did you ever think of settling down?" Meg exclaimed, "Find someone to take care of you?"

Brian shook his head, "I'm not exactly on what some would call a 'people person', too many bad experiences, too many risks and too much hassle. Better if I just stay where I am."

Meg looked towards Jasper, who was lost in his own mind staring at the pink wall. Brian turned towards Meg and smiled a bit

"Sorry about that" Brian explained, "He has...problems. Don't really know what it is yet. Every doctor I've taken him to says it's something different. One guy says schizophrenia, another says autism and a third says that it's a mild social disorder. I honestly don't know who to believe anymore."

"Maybe you should take it up with God" Meg suggested

Brian laughed at the suggestion, "Ma'am if there was a God who could help him he would've done it already. No, God...there is no such thing. Why would do we suffer so much if that is the case? The world is a dark and dangerous place, full of many horrible things. I should know. If God is so great and powerful, if he is so righteous then why doesn't he take all the bad things and make them disappear?"

"Because that's not His job" Meg replied, "God isn't a policeman. He's...God."

Jasper began swaying side to side as if a song were in his head. Brian and Meg smiled at this and quickly changed topics. The conversation went from religion to likes and dislikes, places that they would like to visit but knew that they never could and places that they never wanted to visit again. They laughed, told each other stories and when Jasper snapped out his phase he joined in on the conversation and laughed along with them.

Meg looked at the clock and noticed that she had overshot her shift by an hour and she also remembered that she was expected to be home in twenty minutes to help with dinner.

"I got to get home guys" Meg said as she made her way out the door.

Just as she was about to leave she had a thought. Looking back at Brian and Jasper, who were getting their packs on their backs ready to head out, Meg felt almost guilty at the fact that she got to go home to people, to a house with everything that she could ever need and yet Brian and Jasper were stuck on the road with nothing but the literal things on their backs.

"Do you guys want to come to my house for dinner?" Meg asked hopefully

Brian turned towards Jasper, who shrugged, for he was not one to pass up on free food and potential lodging.

Brian smiled and ruffled Jasper's fur playfully, "Come on" he said enthusiastically towards his cousin and then to Meg, "We'll gladly take the offer...What are we having by the way?"

Meg shrugged, for she honestly had no idea, "Don't know" she answered, "We'll just have to wait and see won't we?"

Brian and Jasper nodded, "Welcome to the club" they said in unison.

Meg laughed and held the door open for them to pass through, the three of them then walked out of the mall towards Meg's car.