I touched my rear end briefly to the ground and then leaped back into CJ’s lap.
She laughed more. “No, Molly, it’s okay. You sit. Molly, sit.” Reluctantly, I slithered out of her lap and sat. She stood up and I inched over without getting up so that I was sitting on her feet while she talked to the man.
“I’ve been so worried,” she said. “The gate to the backyard was open somehow. I’m sure I locked it when I left for school, but somehow it was open when I came home.”
“Good thing you had her microchipped,” the man said. “The woman who dropped her off said she was just running down the street.”
“That’s not like Molly,” CJ said, shaking her head. “I wish I knew what happened. Wait, what woman?”
“The lady who found her and brought her here,” the man said. “Some rich lady.”
“Rich?” CJ asked.
“Well, you know. She had a new car, expensive clothes. Lots of perfume. Nice hair. You could just tell she had money.”
“Blonde hair?” CJ asked slowly.
“Yeah.”
CJ took something out of her pocket. I perked up, checking to see if it was a treat, but it was just a flat box that smelled like metal and plastic. Nothing interesting there.
“Was this her?” CJ asked.
The man looked at the little box. “Hey, yeah. That’s her. You know her?”
CJ put the little box back in her pocket. “Yes,” she said tightly. And she wasn’t as happy as she had been before, which was very strange, considering that she and I were together again at last.
She and the man talked a little more, and then she took me out into the parking lot. As soon as we were out the door, CJ crouched down and put her arms around me.
I licked her face eagerly.
“Oh, Molly, Molly,” CJ whispered. “You silly schnoodle not a poodle. I was scared something awful had happened to you.” She felt sad, so I pressed close to her, letting her know that everything was fine now. “I’m so, so sorry,” CJ said. “I didn’t know she’d do something like this.”
CJ and I walked a little way down the street, and then we stood there for a while, as if we were waiting for something. Finally, a giant car pulled to a halt in front of us with a loud puff and some squealing. A door opened up, and CJ talked to the driver for a while.
“No, she’s not a service dog, but she’ll be good,” CJ said. “She’s really good. She can sit on my lap. Please let her on the bus; I have to get her home.”
When they were done talking, CJ took me up some stairs to a place with lots of seats. I sat on her lap and looked out a window. CJ pulled it down for me a little bit so I could press my nose to the crack and sniff as much as I wanted.
When we got home, CJ fed me. I was happy to eat even though I’d already gotten a bowlful of food in my cage. Then we sat together on the couch in the living room. It was wonderful to be so close to my girl again, smelling her, feeling her warmth, letting her hands scratch at my neck and rub along my back from my ears to my tail.
But I could tell that CJ was not as happy as I was. She was still worried about something. “Oh, Molly,” she whispered every now and then. “What are we going do to?”
I would wag hard and lick whatever part of her I could reach.
After a while, I heard the scratch of a key in the door. Normally, it was one of my jobs to run to the door when it opened, but this time I didn’t want to get off CJ’s lap.
Gloria walked into the living room and stood still, staring at CJ and me. She dropped her purse on the floor.
“The shelter called,” CJ said. She held on to me tightly and looked defiantly up at her mother. “They read Molly’s microchip. I went and got her.”
Gloria didn’t answer.
“I know what you did, Gloria. I know what you did!” CJ shouted. “How could you?”
After that there was a lot more shouting. Eventually, CJ pushed me off her lap to stand up. I leaped off the couch, too, and pressed against her legs. Gloria backed across the room.
“I’m not having that dog in the house. I’m not! She’s dangerous!” Gloria insisted.
CJ got quiet. She stood still, looking at her mother. I looked back and forth from CJ to Gloria and yawned with anxiety.
“Do you hear me, Clarity June? This is my house, and I don’t want that dog in it!”
“Fine,” CJ said quietly.
She was not shouting anymore, but I could still feel the tension that ran through her body.
“Just leave us together for today,” CJ said. She sat down beside me and pulled me onto her lap. “Just one more day. Then I promise you’ll never see Molly again.”
14
The next morning, CJ fed me out in the backyard once more. Then she hurried inside. When she came back she was wearing her backpack, ready to do school. Again.
This time her backpack was bigger than usual, and I could tell by the way that she walked that it was heavy on her shoulders. And something wonderful happened next.
“Come on, Molly,” CJ whispered. “But be quiet.”
She snapped my leash on my collar and led me out of the gate, into the front yard, and down the sidewalk.
I was going to do school with my girl!
I was so happy that I jumped and leaped at the end of the leash. CJ kept saying, “Shhh,” which I supposed meant that she was as happy as I was. We were together! And the grass smelled fascinating! And there was a squirrel to bark at on a branch overhead!
“Quiet, Molly!” CJ insisted, and she pulled me around the corner. Then she seemed to relax, and we walked more slowly so I could sniff as much as I wanted.
We went to visit a dog named Zeke and a cat named Annabelle. They lived in a house with a nice big backyard, and Zeke, who was small and black and had short legs, loved to race around the grass and dart under the bushes. Of course I chased him. When I flopped panting to the grass, he would run over and bow with his rear end high, his wiry little tail whipping back and forth. So I’d get up and chase him some more.
It was wonderful!
Annabelle lived mostly inside, although she came out now and then to walk along the top of the fence, which was not fair at all, since Zeke and I couldn’t do that. When we met, she sniffed at me once. I loved her breath; it smelled delicious, like fish. So I licked her face from the chin to the ears.
Annabelle pulled back from me and then turned and walked slowly away with her tail high. I didn’t mind. If she wanted to play, she could come out in the backyard with me and Zeke anytime.
A girl named Trish lived at the house, too. She was quite good at belly rubs. Her parents stayed there, too.
We visited Zeke and Annabelle for two days, and then we went to a new house. This one had no dogs or cats at all. The next house had an old dog, who mostly slept, and a young dog, who didn’t like me to chew on his toys.
In each house there was a girl CJ’s age. And some other people, too.
It was glorious to meet all these new dogs! The people were usually friendly, too. And I loved it that CJ often slept on the floor, in a sort of sack that was made of silky, rustling material, very good for burrowing into. It was so easy for me to sleep next to her. No troubles about jumping up on a bed. I’d just walk in circle until the cloth was all squashed down, and I’d curl up with a happy sigh, pressed against CJ’s side.
I loved our new life. But I sometimes missed Trent and Rocky and wondered if we’d be going to see them soon.
One day CJ stuffed all her things into her backpack, and we went to a new house. There was a boy there, smaller than CJ, whose hands smelled like the two rats who lived in a cage in his room. He loved me instantly, which I could understand. He didn’t have a dog of his own, and rats just aren’t as good. Even if you do have two of them.
The boy’s name was Del, and we played Tug on a Stick and Chase the Ball in the front yard. Sometimes CJ watched, and sometimes she stayed inside the house, talking with a girl she called Emily.
This was a go
od house. I especially liked the space under the big dining room table. I would settle in with my tail near CJ’s feet and my head near Del’s, because the most delicious treats kept dropping from his lap down to the floor. Bits of buttered bread, wiggly strings of spaghetti, scraps of chicken skin, even a small round tomato once.
After we’d slept at this house for three nights, I was in my usual spot under the table, licking up a shred of roast beef that had just dropped onto the floor, when CJ pushed her chair back. “Excuse me for a minute,” I heard her say, and then she left.
I was busy with the roast beef, so I didn’t follow her right away. I figured she’d be back. Who would leave the table for long when those delectable smells were floating around?
“Emily. How long is she planning to stay?” asked Emily’s mother.
“I don’t know, Mom. But she can’t go home right now.”
There was a silence. I licked Del’s ankle so he’d know I was still there. He giggled.
“What I am trying to say,” said the mom in a quieter tone, “is that I know CJ has a difficult home situation, but…”
“She can’t live here,” the father said.
“She’s not! It’s just for a little while!” Emily said.
“I like her,” Del piped up.
“This isn’t about liking her, son. It’s about what’s right,” the father said.
“And Molly,” Del added. I wagged and pricked up my ears. CJ’s footsteps were headed back into the room.
“It’s not about Molly, either,” the mother said with a sigh. “I like her, too, Del. I like CJ. But this isn’t her home.”
Nobody sounded happy, which I didn’t understand at all. They were all up there with the wonderful food on top of the table. How could they be worried or sad?
“No problem!” said CJ brightly from the doorway. “I was just … I mean, I heard from my aunt today. I’m going to stay with her.” She pulled out her chair and sat down at the table. “Pass the potatoes, please?” she asked.
“Your aunt?” Emily said. “I didn’t know you had an aunt.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” CJ said as a big blob of buttery mashed potatoes landed on the floor.
I squirmed over to lick up the treat, hearing CJ’s voice. “I’ll get paper towels. I’m sorry. Don’t bother, I’ll do it.” Her chair scraped back and her footsteps pattered in and out of the room. Then she dropped down to her knees beside me, under the table.
I wagged, happy to see her, as she used a wad of paper to rub at the damp spot on the wood floor where I’d licked up the potatoes.
After the people had finished eating and were carrying plates and bowls to the kitchen, CJ slipped away to the room where she usually slept with Emily. Even though the kitchen still smelled marvelous, I could tell that my girl needed me. I followed her.
There were two beds in the bedroom. CJ flopped down on one of them. I jumped up with her and she held me, and I felt some of her sadness going away.
Helping CJ be less sad was my most important job. I just wished I were better at it. Sometimes the sad feelings felt as if they were buried so deep inside her they’d never go away.
In the morning, Del and Emily and CJ all put on their backpacks. The mother picked up a purse, and the father took a briefcase. Then everybody went to do school, and I was left alone in the backyard. CJ filled my food and water dishes before she went, so I had plenty to eat, but I missed my girl. When she finally came back, I was so glad that I danced and jumped in a circle all around her.
She had my leash, which meant we were going for a walk! How exciting! “Okay, Molly. Easy, girl,” she said, holding me still enough to clip the leash to my collar. Then she took me around the front of the house.
She still had her backpack on, I noticed. And it was full and heavy again, like it had been the first day we’d gone to visit Zeke and Annabelle.
Del came out into the front yard to pat me. “Good-bye, Molly,” he said. He was sad. I licked his face.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Emily asked. She was standing at the front door.
“No!” CJ said quickly. “I mean, don’t bother. My aunt said she’d pick me up on the corner. She’ll be there any minute.”
Emily sounded a little worried. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until my mom and dad get home from work?” she asked.
“I can’t,” CJ said firmly. “But tell them thanks for me. Really, Emily. I mean it. They were super nice to let me stay.”
“Okay. See you at school?” Emily asked.
“Sure thing. Bye, Em! Bye, Del!” CJ called. “Molly, come on!”
I gave Del’s face one last swipe with my tongue and hurried after CJ. How great to be on a walk with my girl!
We got to the corner and CJ tugged at my leash. “Come on, Molly. She’s waiting!” she called loudly.
Then we turned the corner, and CJ’s steps slowed.
A slow walk was my favorite kind, because it meant I could stick my nose into every clump of grass and check on what had been there before me. Other dogs? Cats? Rabbits? Squirrels? Raccoons? Possums? It was all so interesting! Then there were also ants to investigate, scurrying in and out of those little mounds of dirt. A few crickets whirred up from under my paws, and I snapped at them, but missed.
It was a wonderful walk.
After we’d gone a few blocks, we ended up in a tiny park with a few benches and a swing set. CJ sat down heavily on a bench and eased the backpack off her shoulders.
“Oh, Molly,” she said. “What are we going to do now?”
I sat at her feet and peered up at her face, confused. We were together, out for a walk, on a sunny day. How could my girl be sad? I pressed close to her knees, and she bent down to rub my ears with her hands.
“I wish we could just go to Trent’s,” she said quietly. “But Gloria would find us in a minute.” She sighed.
I licked her nose.
We sat there for a while, until some younger kids came to swing on the swing set and their mom sat down on the bench beside CJ.
“Nice dog,” she said with a friendly smile, and she reached over to pet me.
Her hands smelled of cheese and salt and crackers. I licked them.
“Thanks,” CJ said. Then she got up and slung her backpack over her shoulders. I followed her out of the park.
That was the longest walk CJ ever took me on. We never went back to Emily and Del’s house. Or our own house, or Trent’s, or Andi’s place. Or anywhere.
After a while I was even too tired to sniff at the grass or investigate what had been happening under the bushes we passed.
I sat down and looked hopefully up at CJ. Wasn’t it time to go home now?
“Oh, Molly,” CJ said wearily. She sat down, too, and leaned back against the trunk of a tree.
I lay next to her with a long sigh.
She dug around in her backpack and pulled something out. “Here, Molly,” she said softly. “I saved something from lunch.” She tore half of a sandwich in half again, and gave me one piece. Bread and baloney! I gulped it down. She offered me a handful of salty pretzels, too, and then she pulled out a banana for herself.
“Yuck,” she said, looking at it. It had several brown spots and looked a bit dented. But she peeled it and ate it, tossing the skin under a nearby bush.
She took a bottle of water out of her backpack and poured some in her cupped hand for me to lap. She drank some, too. Then she put the cap back on the bottle and stowed it in her pack again.
“We’ll save some for tomorrow,” she told me, pulling me onto her lap for a hug.
I lay there, panting a little bit. The treats CJ had given me had dulled my hunger a bit, but my stomach was nowhere near full enough. I hoped we’d go back to a house soon, where there would be a bowlful of cool water for me to lap, and another one full of food for dinner.
A man was walking along the street, wearing jeans and high tennis shoes. “Hey, there,” he said when he saw CJ and me sitting together. “You d
oing all right?”
His voice was friendly. I wagged.
“We’re fine,” CJ said. She hugged me more tightly. “My dad’s going to be here to pick me up. Any minute.”
“Okay, cool,” the man said. He started walking again.
CJ gave a sigh that was almost a groan. She dug into her pack again and found a sweatshirt, which she pulled over her head. And then she heaved herself to her feet. “Come on, Molly,” she said.
Her voice sounded as tired as I felt.
We began walking again, much more slowly than before. The sunlight was starting to fade, and with it the warmth was stealing from the air. The air began to get chilly.
When would CJ decide to take us home?
15
All of a sudden, CJ stopped walking. “There, Molly. Do you see?” she asked.
Even my tail was tired, but I still looked up and wagged when she said my name. She was not looking down at me, though. She stared at a house on the other side of the street.
“Come on, Molly,” she said. We started across.
I thought maybe we were going to visit some new dogs. I’d even have been happy to see a cat. But we didn’t walk up to the front door of the house. Instead, CJ led me up the driveway. The garage door was open.
CJ made that “shhh” sound again. We went inside.
There was a car there, and some big plastic garbage cans, and a lawn mower, and cardboard boxes stacked up against one wall. CJ hurried over to those boxes and sat down beside them, patting the floor so that I huddled beside her. The cement floor was chilly and uncomfortable, like the floor in that cage where I’d stayed for a night before CJ came to get me. I leaned into my girl for her warmth, and she put an arm around me.
The boxes and the car hid us from the view of the street. But it seemed like a cold and boring place to stay. What were we doing here?
Across the garage from us, a door creaked open.
CJ tensed, her arm clamping tightly around me. I could tell she was afraid. I looked around alertly, ready to growl and bite if my girl needed me to save her.
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