Hunter stood quiet behind his hands.
“It’s all my dad’s fault,” he said. He uncovered his face. “Now she’s gone forever.”
“That’s not true,” Dr. Villalobos said. “When your grandma comes to pick you up, why don’t you bring her and the boys inside.” Dr. Villalobos put his hands on Hunter’s shoulders. “Listen, don’t lose hope. We can discuss next steps. Okay?”
Hunter shrugged. “Okay.” He walked out of the cat room into the reception area and slumped down on a bench. Lety joined him.
“I’m sorry, Hunter,” she said. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “On one hand, she’s my dog. I should get her back, but then I don’t want to separate other kids from their new dog. I don’t want to be like my dad.”
Lety stared down at her hands, unsure of what to say. She didn’t know his dad, but what she knew of him sounded nothing like Hunter.
“You deserve to have her back. She’s your dog.”
“What if they love her as much as I do? Maybe Gunner is happy with them. It’s been almost three weeks, going on four away from us. That’s not long to humans, but for dogs that’s a big chunk of their lives.” Hunter gazed out the window just as his grandma’s tan car pulled up. “My grandma is here. I have to tell her to come in. See you tomorrow?”
Lety shook her head. “Don’t give up, Hunter.”
“Thanks. Bye, Lety.”
Hunter rushed out the door toward his grandma’s car. He directed her to park. Lety’s mom showed up, too. Lety took her seat in the back with Eddie. As her mom drove away, Hunter waved to her. She opened her notebook and began to write.
The Bow Wow Zone buzzed with the sounds of children reading. Brisa and her classmates were back.
“I have an idea, Lety,” Brisa said, closing a picture book about dinosaurs. “You should start adding book recommendations to the animal profiles. Finn and Riley like books about sharks.”
“Good idea. I noticed that Solo likes to be read the newspaper — especially the sports section. She purrs and purrs when I read about soccer,” Lety said, pulling her profile for Solo out of her pocket. “Let’s add it and see what Dr. V. thinks.”
Brisa passed her a pen from her pocket. Lety added a couple of lines.
“What do you think?” She read the profile to Brisa.
Suddenly, Finn jumped from his bed and started barking at a man wearing a red baseball cap. Brisa and Lety looked up toward the man and realized they had seen him before.
“¡No puede ser!” Brisa gasped. She leaned in and whispered to Lety. “It’s the angry man from the store.”
At first, Lety wasn’t sure. His back was to her, but when he turned to face one of the little girls, she knew those blue eyes and strands of brown hair that strayed from under his red baseball hat. He walked by with two girls about Eddie’s age and didn’t notice Brisa and Lety. Lety stood there trembling and grabbed Brisa’s hand for strength. Meanwhile, Finn kept barking.
“Easy, boy,” Hunter said. “Who’s wearing a hat? Oh, that guy.” He glanced at Lety and did a double take. Lety’s eyes blazed into the back of the man’s head. “What’s wrong?” he asked her. When she didn’t answer, he turned back to the man and tapped his shoulder. Hunter explained Finn’s hatred for hats. The man laughed, which made Lety angry. But the man took his hat off and Finn settled down.
Lety felt a tug at her sleeve. She looked down. One of the man’s little girls was pulling on her sleeve and looking up at her with ocean-blue eyes.
“Why are they reading to the dogs?” she asked Lety, pointing at Gazi and Aziza sitting in front of Riley’s and Finn’s cage with books in their hands. The man turned around and faced Lety. He showed no signs that he recognized her.
“We started a new program here called Reading FUR Friends,” Lety explained.
“I like that name,” said one of the girls, shoving her purple-rimmed glasses farther up on her freckled face.
“It helps kids who are learning English. And it helps the dogs to not feel so alone in their cages.”
“I want to do that!” squealed one of the girls.
“Me, too!” shouted the other girl.
“Do you want to read to Finn?” Brisa added, looking directly at the man. Suddenly, his face twitched with recognition. He made a rapid head turn from Brisa to Lety. There was no denying that he remembered them now. Lety met his gaze. At that moment, everything she and Brisa had talked about telling the man pushed up against her heart and made its way to her mouth, but the words came to a halt at her lips when the little girl with the glasses spoke.
“I want to read to the dogs, Dad. Can I?”
“No, we’re going.” He grabbed both girls’ hands and rushed them out of the room. Hunter shook his head at the suddenness of the man’s departure.
“What the heck? Did he get a call that his house was on fire or something?”
Lety and Brisa stood there, shocked.
“He has daughters,” Brisa said. “Sweet muñecas.”
“How is it possible that someone like that could have sweet girls?” Lety asked.
“What’s going on?” Hunter asked. “Did you know that guy?”
Brisa and Lety nodded simultaneously.
“Unfortunately,” Brisa said.
“Remember that guy I told you about?” Lety said. “The one who yelled at us to speak English because we were in America?”
“No way,” Hunter said. He looked toward the door where the man and his daughters had exited. “He can’t leave. He needs to apologize right now.” Hunter dashed out after the man.
“Hunter! What are you doing?” Lety yelled after him, but he was gone.
The man in the red baseball hat was long gone. Lety sat in the reception area, between Brisa and Hunter. Dr. Villalobos hovered over them, worried about how quiet Lety had become. Spike sat on her lap and licked her folded hands.
“Are you okay, Lety?” Dr. Villalobos asked her for the third time that morning after Hunter had told everyone what transpired in the Bow Wow Zone.
“You’re not mad that I couldn’t catch him, are you?” Hunter asked.
Lety shook her head and then giggled, imagining Hunter demanding an apology from the man outside in the parking lot.
“I cannot believe you chased him,” Brisa said.
“All the way out the parking lot,” Dr. Villalobos added. “That guy was in his car and I spotted Hunter out there, waving his arms trying to get him to stop.”
Brisa laughed. “Estás loco, Hunter.”
“I know what that means, and I guess it does seem a little crazy. I just wanted to say something to him. I don’t know why. Does it make me crazy?”
“It makes you a good friend,” Lety said. If there was ever anything bad between them, she knew now it was 100 percent gone. It felt good.
“I’m very proud of you girls,” Dr. Villalobos said. “You could have really gone off on that guy. I know you wanted to, but instead you took the higher road.”
“When they go low, we go high,” Brisa said. “It’s my favorite English expression.”
Lety stared down at Spike and gave him a few gentle strokes.
“You’re awfully quiet, Lety,” Dr. Villalobos said. “What are you thinking about?”
Lety wasn’t sure she should say, but Brisa gave her a gentle nudge.
“I thought I’d never want to see that man again. But I’m glad that we did.”
“Why?” Hunter asked.
“After all of his yelling and bullying at the store, I’m glad that he knows now that none of that stopped us. We didn’t run and hide. We didn’t lower our eyes to him. His words didn’t stop us from living and doing what we love. Now he knows.”
“It almost stopped me,” Brisa said. “If it wasn’t for the reading program, I wouldn’t have come back to the shelter.”
“But you’re back now,” said Dr. Villalobos. “That’s what matters.”
Brisa hugged
Lety and Spike joined in, licking them both on their happy faces until an older couple walked in. One of the men held a paper in his hand. Spike greeted them with a friendly bark.
“Welcome. Can I help you?” Dr. Villalobos asked.
“We would like to adopt this precious cat, Lorca,” the man said, dipping down to pet Spike, then handing the printout to Dr. V. “We loved his online profile and we’ve been looking for a cat to join our family.”
“Lorca is a great cat,” Brisa said.
Dr. Villalobos quickly escorted them toward the Feline Friends room. As he opened the door, he flashed thumbs-up to Lety.
Lety’s heart pounded with joy. Lorca was finally going to have a family.
“You did it,” Hunter said. “I told you your profiles were awesome. Maybe you can help me with Riley’s?” Hunter pulled out a piece of notebook paper and pen from his back jeans pocket.
“Don’t forget to add that he likes books about sharks,” Brisa said.
Lety read through the profile. It was perfect as it was. She rearranged a few sentences to slip in Brisa’s book recommendation, but that’s all. She passed it back to Hunter. He read through it.
“Much better,” he said.
Later that morning, Lety and Hunter kissed Lorca good-bye and headed to the food pantry to finish food bags for the Wags and Whiskers Community Fest. Spike followed them. In between scoops, Hunter and Lety would toss a beef kibble, sending Spike leaping into the air to catch it in his mouth.
“I really like what you said about standing up to that man and how it made you feel,” Hunter said. He stopped scooping and watched Spike for a long time. Lety wondered if he was thinking about standing up to his father for giving away Gunner. “I want to feel like that, too. This whole Gunner thing is in my head. I’m just so mad about it.”
“I don’t blame you,” Lety said.
“Even if I did get Gunner back, that doesn’t change things with my dad, you know?” Hunter said, his voice losing its softness and sounding deeper than she’d ever noticed before.
“I understand,” she said.
“He purposely tried to hurt me by giving Gunner away. The truth is he hurt himself, because now I don’t trust him. My little brothers don’t either. My mom won’t take him back. She says she’s done.”
“What does your grandma say?”
“She says we need time and that someday we will have to forgive him. I don’t know about that.”
“And Gunner? Is she coming back?”
Hunter shook his head.
“I told Dr. Villalobos,” Hunter started to explain, drifting into the soft voice that Lety liked so much. “I can’t take Gunner away from that family. I just wouldn’t feel right.”
Lety looked at Hunter, clutching a scooper full of pet food. He met her gaze.
“Are you sure, Hunter?” she asked. “She’s been your dog since you were five.” Lety couldn’t believe he had made such a hard decision. She wasn’t so sure she’d make the same one. Hunter threw another kibble to Spike, who leaped for it. “I wish there were more boys like you,” Lety said after a few seconds of silence between them. “More boys like you means less men like the one that bullied us at the store.”
“And less guys like my dad,” Hunter added. “I’m not going to be like either of them.”
Both of them quietly returned to scooping, determined to finish their punishment, which no longer felt like punishment to them.
A bright yellow banner touting WAGS AND WHISKERS COMMUNITY FEST wafted high between two oak trees outside the animal shelter. As families streamed onto the shelter grounds, Lety and the other summer campers spread out, helping at various stations. Hunter and Mario were at the pet food pantry table with the coordinator and other volunteers. They handed out bags of pet food that the kids had assembled over the last few weeks.
Kennedy was with the cat heroes, showing families how to make their own affordable cat toys at home. Lety and Brisa were with Alma, accepting book and blanket donations for the Reading FUR Friends program. They also signed up new readers for the program. In just an hour, ten new readers signed up to help out on Saturday mornings and a pile of new books had been donated.
Mrs. Camacho arrived with her husband, looking to adopt a third cat to join their other two rescue cats. Brisa’s parents arrived with Lety’s family. Eddie raced up to Lety with their parents trailing behind him. It was a rare treat that her father had Saturday off, and she was anxious to show him all around the shelter. Especially because she wanted him to meet Spike.
“Summer heroes! Time for the group picture!” Dr. Villalobos yelled into a bullhorn.
“Go ahead,” Alma said to Lety and Brisa. “Dr. Villalobos loves group pictures. I can watch the table.”
Brisa and Lety rushed to where the campers gathered on the grass between the trees. Hunter and Mario joined Brisa, Lety, and Kennedy.
As parents snapped and clicked shot after shot, Kennedy’s mom was guiding Lety’s and Brisa’s moms over to meet some of the other parents. It made Lety feel so good that their moms were finally brave enough to talk to other parents and that the other parents were talking to them, too.
“Attention! May I have your attention, campers?” Dr. Villalobos shouted over the kids talking. “Before we continue with today’s activities, I have an important announcement.” The kids settled down.
“This has been one of the best camps we’ve ever had, and it’s because we had some really phenomenal participants,” Dr. Villalobos said. “One summer hero in particular stood out. She started a new program here that I believe will help lots of animals and kids in our city.”
Every camper turned to Lety.
“He’s talking about you,” Hunter whispered. Lety blushed.
“Lety Muñoz, will you come here and stand with me?”
Everyone started to applaud as Lety walked over to Dr. Villalobos. Hunter shouted a few “woos” and Kennedy and Brisa whistled. Lety was joined by her parents and Eddie.
“What’s going on?” Eddie asked. “Are we going to get ice cream?’
“I don’t know,” Lety said, feeling suddenly nervous at being the center of attention.
“We are so thankful for everything you’ve done at Furry Friends Animal Shelter, Lety,” Dr. Villalobos said. “I’ve already spoken to your parents about your amazing work and they agreed that you deserve something special.”
“We’re going to get ice cream!” Eddie shouted.
Dr. Villalobos gestured behind them. Lety turned around. Walking toward her was Alma holding Spike on a leash.
“Do we get a dog?” Eddie yelled excitedly, and jumped up and down. “Whoa! So much cooler than ice cream!”
Lety couldn’t believe her eyes. Was Alma adopting Spike or was she bringing Spike to her? Lety still wasn’t sure.
“Lety, I can’t think of a better person to adopt Spike,” Alma said. “He’s all yours!” She passed the leash to Lety and gave her a hug.
“Thank you!” Lety gushed. Her parents huddled closer to her and gave her kisses on her cheek. “Are you sure, Dr. Villalobos? We meet all of your strict qualifications?”
“Absolutely.” Dr. Villalobos smiled. “You’ve proven to me over and over that you don’t give up. When you weren’t sure you could write animal profiles, you wrote your heart out. When your friend Brisa quit the camp, you found a way to bring her back. When Hunter lost his dog, it was your idea to talk to me so that we could contact the shelters. You never give up. Spike needs someone exactly like you.”
Lety swooped Spike up into her arms and gave him a smooch on his muzzle.
“I’ll never give up on him,” she said. She couldn’t believe Spike was hers.
“¡Gracias, Papá! ¡Gracias, Mamita!” Lety cried.
All of the kids gathered around Lety to congratulate her. Hunter gave Spike a kiss on his head.
“Since I don’t have a dog anymore, I’d be happy to help you with Spike, you know,” Hunter said, giving Spike a good scratch b
ehind his ears. “I can walk him with you and read to him if you want,” he continued.
“Thank you, Hunter,” Lety said. “Spike and I would like that.”
“Group picture!” Dr. Villalobos roared again. The kids gathered around Lety with Spike in her arms and snapped more shots. As cameras clicked away, a family entered through the gate of the shelter’s back lawn. A boy held a large white dog on a leash. Lety had seen this dog before. It looked just like Sawyer, but it wasn’t. That’s when it hit her.
“Hunter!” Lety yelled, but he had already seen them and was bolting toward the dog.
“Gunner! Gunner!”
“Gunner, this is my friend Lety,” Hunter said, in between Gunner’s excited licks. “Shake hands, girl! Shake hands!” The white fluffy Great Pyrenees held up a paw and Lety shook it. “Wow, she still knows everything I taught her.” He directed a gaze back at his grandma. She nodded and wiped her eyes with a tissue.
“You taught her well, baby,” she said. Hunter’s younger brothers kept their arms flung around Gunner protectively, as if afraid to let her go. Gunner wailed excitedly and licked them all over their faces.
“She’s super smart, just like you said,” Lety said. More campers began to gather around to see what was going on. “She missed you.”
“She’s so cute!” Brisa squealed, running her hands through Gunner’s fur. Gunner turned over on her back and exposed her belly, which made the kids laugh some more.
“She wants her belly rubbed!” Kennedy cried. “Please tell me you get to keep her.”
“We get to keep her forever? Right, Hunter?” asked one of Hunter’s brothers.
“I think so,” Hunter said, looking off toward where Dr. Villalobos was talking to the family that had brought Gunner. The older boy pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back jeans pocket and showed it to Dr. Villalobos. Dr. V. excitedly gestured toward Lety. Soon the family and Dr. Villalobos were walking toward them.
“Please let it be good news,” Brisa said, crossing her fingers.
Lety Out Loud Page 10