Pugs and Kisses

by J. J. Howard

  “I think a hundred will work just fine as a carrot,” Phoebe said, and went back over to the table. One of the organizers got up and made another announcement that the finder’s fee was now one hundred dollars, and she said that the pug might be outside the park.

  The same woman came over to us then and told Calvin how sorry she was about his dog getting out. An older man with a white beard came up to us and offered to give Calvin his dog for one hundred dollars.

  “Thanks. We’re looking for the one specific dog,” Phoebe told the man.

  Tali spotted us and waved, and she and her friends Ella and Haley came over to us. I explained what Phoebe had done and suggested we all keep looking.

  “I think we should cover the perimeter of the park,” I said, and Tali nodded.

  “I’m so sorry about your dog,” Haley said to Calvin.

  I kind of wanted to yell at her not to say that, since we were going to find Pancake.

  “Haley and Ella, how about you guys take the Broadway and Canal side of the park? Tali, you head over toward the library.” Phoebe was talking very fast, as usual, but for once I didn’t mind. “Ana and I can cover Hester Street. Calvin, I think you should stay here in case someone finds her.”

  Calvin nodded, looking grateful. “My dad’s on his way with reward money—should I send him somewhere to look when he gets here?”

  “I think he should just wait with you,” Tali told him.

  “Will you hold Osito while I search, then?” I asked Calvin. “I hate to ask, but he’s getting really heavy …”

  “It’s okay. Sure.” He accepted the dog from my arms.

  “Maybe have your dad talk to the event people,” Phoebe suggested. “Adults are always more helpful to other adults.”

  “And have him say their fence was broken!” I added as I started to follow Phoebe. I turned back to Calvin. “Will you be okay?”

  He nodded once. Clearly, he wasn’t okay, but I knew that the only thing that would really help would be finding Pancake.

  Phoebe and I looked all around the park on our way out. Once we stepped out of the park, I started calling Pancake’s name and Phoebe joined in. Calvin’s creative name for his dog made it seem a little weird, I decided, since now my best friend and I were walking down the sidewalk yelling “Pancake!” and everybody kept giving us strange looks. Phoebe asked passersby if they’d seen a pug. Everyone either ignored her or shook their heads.

  I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were missing something—that maybe there was some other way to find Pancake. And then I thought of the treats that had been inside the dog eggs. What if Pancake hadn’t gone all that far after she chased the squirrel? What if she was crouched down hiding somewhere, just out of sight in the bushes, too scared to come out? Maybe, though, if she smelled treats …

  “Just stay here for one minute while I run back into the park, okay?” I asked Phoebe, and she nodded.

  I ran up to the registration table. “Hi,” I said to the woman in overalls. “I’m trying to find the missing pug? Can you give me some of the treats like you had inside the eggs? If she’s hiding, maybe the dog would come out for treats.”

  “We have a bunch of kinds, but these are my dog’s favorite,” the woman said as she handed me a small bag. “Good luck.”

  I ran back to Phoebe and handed her some treats out of the bag. Then I shook some into my hand. “Let’s see if we can try to lure her out,” I said.

  I crouched low and held out my hand near the bushes. I hoped that no bold city squirrels would come steal the treats. Squirrels, I figured, had caused enough trouble for one day. I continued to call Pancake’s name more softy. Nothing.

  I was about to stand up when I heard a small whimper. And then I saw what looked like a swath of tan fur.

  I moved closer, and saw first an ear, then a flat pug face. It was Pancake! I’d found her! I felt a rush of relief.

  Moving carefully, so as not to frighten her, I picked her up. She ate the treats out of my hand and snuggled closer to me. Her tiny heart was pounding so loud. She was dirty, but other than that she looked okay.

  “Phoebe!” I yelled. “I found her!”

  When Phoebe reached me, I had her call Tali and tell her to stop looking. “Do you want me to call Calvin?” Phoebe asked.

  “We’re almost back to where he is,” I said. “Let’s just let him see.”

  Calvin’s back was to me when we walked into the park, so I called his name.

  His face when he saw that I was holding Pancake went from relief to joy to falling apart in the space of just a few seconds. I handed her to him; Pancake was trembling just a little bit, but she went crazy with happiness when she got to Calvin. She started licking his face, and he was laughing. I saw that Mr. Palmer had gotten there, and he patted his son on the back and swiped once at his eyes. Calvin wasn’t crying now, but it looked like maybe he had while we’d been searching for his dog. I didn’t blame him at all.

  Mr. Palmer was holding Osito’s leash and the little bear was dancing around Calvin’s legs. I picked him up and right away he started trying to claw his way out of my arms, which he’d never done before. After a few seconds I decided that maybe he was trying to get closer to Pancake. I stepped closer to Calvin, and my suspicions were confirmed as Osito started licking his new friend all over her face.

  “Aww,” I said.

  “I think he was worried, too,” Calvin said.

  When Osito had finished licking Pancake’s face, I pulled him close to my chest and looked into his wise, dark eyes. His soft, furry body felt solid against mine. For a few seconds I didn’t think about anything else except for how much I loved him, and how much I would miss him if he weren’t there.

  Calvin looked over at me. “Thank you, Ana,” he said. Ella, Haley, Tali, and Phoebe were crowded around him now, petting Pancake’s head and cooing at her.

  I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything—just got lucky and found her.”

  “I saw you go get those treats. That was a really good idea.”

  “Phoebe’s idea was better—about the reward.”

  “Oh! I brought the reward,” Calvin’s dad said, reaching for his wallet.

  I put a hand up. “No! That was for if a stranger found her.”

  Mr. Palmer smiled. “Of course. But you’re still going to be regarded as a hero in our family for all time. In fact, you’ve got to come over for pizza this week. I bought a new stone for the oven, and I think I’ve perfected the crust. I’ll put it up against any New York pizza.”

  Calvin grinned. “Yes, you—and Osito—have to come soon. To hang out with me … and Pancake,” he said.

  I saw Tali give me a curious look. But the sight of Tali made me remember something I’d forgotten in all the chaos of losing Pancake.

  I pulled my phone out to check the time. Five minutes after four. I was over an hour late for dress shopping with Mom.

  “I was supposed to meet Mom at three!” I cried, turning to Tali. “To find a dress.”

  “We gotta go,” Tali told everyone, and before I’d had time to say anything else to Calvin, or do more than wave to Phoebe, we were on our way out of the park and headed home.

  I looked down at Osito, who’d been carried at top speed more today than probably anytime in his doggy life. I thought he gave me a long-suffering look.

  “Just be glad you’re not a human,” I told him. “It’s really very complicated.”

  I was afraid of being grounded, but it turned out my actual punishment was worse: Since I’d missed meeting Mom at the store, she’d gone ahead and picked out a dress for me. It was very white, very ruffled, and Mom proudly held it up as soon as I walked in our front door with Tali. My sister had, helpfully, already called Mom to explain that my friend’s dog had gone missing so we’d all needed to pitch in and that’s why I hadn’t made it to the store. Mom wasn’t even mad. She was just focused on the dress.

  “Isn’t it perfect?” she asked me.

  “It’
s very … ruffly.”

  “I know, so pretty!” Mom said. She bustled ahead to my room and I followed her, watching as she hung the dress on the back of my closet door.

  “Now try it on!” Mom ordered.

  My only hope was that it wouldn’t fit, but Mom had done her homework and checked the size of the dress I’d worn for Christmas just a few months ago. I stepped into the dress and Tali zipped me up. It fit like a glove. A very white, very ruffly glove.

  “Wonderful!” Mom said, clapping her hands. She left the room, clearly pleased that she could check this item off her endless list.

  * * *

  Still wearing the Ruffle Monster, as I had already named it, I turned to Tali. “I like how on Wednesday she thinks I’m nine years old, but today she can buy my exact size no problem.”

  “Sorry, sis,” Tali said, sitting on her bed and checking her phone.

  I got changed back into my normal clothes and then hung the Ruffle Monster back up onto my closet door. I snapped a shot of it to send to Phoebe. She responded immediately with the crying-while-laughing-face emoji, and then in all caps:

  GET THE SCISSORS.

  I laughed and typed back:

  If I cut up this dress Mom will END me

  Phoebe texted back:

  Lol not 2 destroy it—maybe we can de-ruffle?!?

  “Phoebe says we should de-ruffle it,” I told Tali.

  “Geez, that’s a scary idea I want no part of.” Tali walked over to where I’d hung it on the front of my closet door. “I mean, it’s not that bad.”

  A loud snort was my only response.

  “Okay, it’s not great.”

  I flopped back onto my bed with a sigh. “I guess that’s what I get for not meeting Mom at the store and picking out my own dress. But if I had to choose between finding Pancake and this dress, I’d wear this dress for a month. Today could have been so much worse.” I sat up. “Just remind me I said that when I actually have to wear the dress, yeah?”

  “I will,” Tali promised. “Though I’d pay real money to see you wear it for a month.”

  * * *

  School on Monday felt almost like a relief. I was anxious to get away from the party preparations, which were reaching a fever pitch—not to mention the Ruffle Monster just hanging there in our small room. Mocking me.

  In coding class, though, Ms. Vasquez passed out the scoring rubric for our big project, and I felt a flood of panic. Usually I would have a project like this halfway done, at least. After all, it counted for 20 percent of our grade.

  I didn’t really have an excuse. Ms. V had announced the project at the beginning of the semester. I’d thought of a few different ideas, but none of them seemed perfect. But now, I knew, I was just going to have to pick one and start coding the site. In addition to creating a working website, we also had to give a presentation to the class using multimedia. I was counting on Phoebe to help direct a video presentation for me. But first, I had to have a concept, and a script, and all the rest.

  Ms. Vasquez told us we were going to have the rest of the class period to work, and Calvin turned to me.

  “What’s your project going to be about?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” I said. I realized that I’d been so distracted by Calvin and Osito and Pancake, and getting tripped up in more and more complicated lies about Osito, that I hadn’t been focusing as much on school as I usually did.

  “How was the rest of your weekend?” I asked Calvin as I logged in to my computer. “I bet you didn’t let Pancake out of your sight.”

  “You’re right. I stayed home with her the whole time. I only left to go to my aunt’s house on Sunday. I thought about bringing her, but I felt like she was safer at home.”

  “Osito and I missed you at the park,” I said.

  “I’m still a little freaked out after the escape, I guess,” he said. “But, hey, I wanted to just say, I mean—thank you again for finding her. I can’t even explain how much I …”

  “You don’t have to thank me, or say anything like that,” I told him, trying to spare us any embarrassment.

  “Has Osito ever run off on you? My mom said that every dog runs away from their owner at some point or other. But maybe she was just trying to make me feel better.”

  I felt the next lie bubbling up in my brain right away. “Oh, sure, he ran once, when he was younger. He’s crazy about squirrels. You know how much trouble those darn squirrels can be,” I added.

  “That’s weird. He didn’t even seem to notice the one in the park that Pancake ended up chasing. He was just standing there stock still, and then you picked him up.”

  Oh man, Calvin was right. Osito clearly wasn’t crazy about squirrels. “Nah, that was just my lightning reflexes,” I lied some more. “I knew he would have chased it, but I can’t help it. I’m basically a ninja.”

  Calvin was looking at me like he was trying to see the hidden ninja. “Okay. I’ll have to watch out for that side of you.”

  “So what’s your project going to be about?” I asked quickly, hoping for a change of subject.

  “I’m thinking of doing something like tips for new New Yorkers. You know, like a site for people who just moved here? I figure I can use all the advice I gather for myself, too, especially after Friday.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Calvin frowned for a second. “I was basically useless. I didn’t know my way around. Or have any idea what to do.”

  “You’re being too hard on yourself. I didn’t know anything, either. I mean, I know the neighborhood, but I grew up here. Phoebe was the one who thought about offering the reward. She’s really good at thinking fast like that.”

  “Oh, hey—where is Phoebe, by the way?” Calvin asked, looking around.

  “Her grandparents are in town so she’s absent today.”

  “Oh. So, you didn’t tell me what your project was going to be about.”

  At Calvin’s mention of Phoebe, I’d automatically checked my phone, to see if she’d texted. There was no text from Phoebe, but I did see my save screen, which was an adorable picture of Osito.

  And that’s when the kernel of an idea came to me.

  “It’s going to be a site for dog owners!” I declared, inspiration hitting me. “To help them with things they need. Like, people to help walk their dog when they can’t.” Kind of like I do for Mrs. R and Osito, I thought, but didn’t add.

  “Cool idea,” Calvin said.

  “I hope so,” I said.

  I needed to get my head back in the game. I had a lot riding on my GPA at the end of this year.

  “Are you going to the park this afternoon?” Calvin asked.

  “Yes. Are you going to bring Pancake?”

  “I was thinking I should take her back. I have to get past the escape. But that was probably our last egg hunt.”

  “I get that.”

  The bell rang then and we both logged out of our computers and stood up. “So I’ll see you later? Maybe you and Osito could come over for dinner?”

  “I’m on kitchen duty,” I heard myself lie. I barely even had to think about it. Was this what happened with lying—did it get easier? Was I getting good at it?

  “Okay. But my dad wants to make you his pizza so we’ll have to find a night that works.”

  “I’ll ask tonight,” I promised, already thinking of reasons that Osito might need to visit Phoebe’s imaginary dog so I could get Mrs. R to let me take him out at night yet again.

  “My mom said to ask you about dog licenses,” Calvin said when we met up later at the park. “Where do I go to get one? Pancake’s still got hers from Westchase right now.”

  I felt the now-familiar rush of heated embarrassment that came along with getting tangled in my web of lies. I had no idea where to get dog licenses or if Osito had one.

  My phone buzzed and I saw it was my sister calling.

  “I should get this,” I told Calvin. Tali almost always just texted, so I was worried.

 
; “Hey, sis,” Tali said. “So, the thing is, Mom just remembered about the piñata that got ruined. I was planning to not mention it—it seemed like maybe she forgot, which was one hundred percent okay by me. I don’t need one at the party. But then she just remembered it, and she started getting all worked up, and I, well, I may have accidentally …”

  “Tali,” I broke in. “Just spit it out, okay?”

  “Well, Mr. Levy can’t special order another one this late. So, the thing is, I accidentally said you were going to get a new one. I said you already knew of a place.”

  “Tali!”

  “I know, I know! But she started complaining about how you let the other one get ruined …”

  “Yeah, how dare I do something so awful as get caught in a storm! Geez, sometimes I don’t even understand what Mami wants from me.”

  “I know, sis. And that’s why I jumped in and, well … lied and said you had a line on one. But do you think you could actually find one? I mean, you’re such a whiz at web research.”

  I gave a sigh. “I’ll find one. No biggie.”

  “I’m really sorry, Ana!” Tali said, and I could hear the wobble in her voice. My poor sister had just been trying to calm Mom down, but now she’d dragged me into the problem. “Mom’s especially wound up today. Cousin Javier just came to stay for a couple days, which I think she totally forgot about, and it’s all a mess …”

  “Ugh, Javier?” I asked with a groan. Of all my many cousins, Javier was far and away my least favorite. Unfortunately, he was also the one who came to the city and stayed with us every few months to participate in his karate competitions.

  “Yeah, he’s here. And he keeps practicing ‘his moves.’ He’s kind of just the worst,” she added in a whisper.

  I sighed.

  “Will you be home soon?” Tali asked in a hopeful voice.

  “On my way,” I said with another sigh. I couldn’t leave Tali alone with wound-up Mom, party madness … and Cousin Javier.

  “Okay, sis. See you in a bit.”

  I hung up and turned to Calvin. “Sorry. Another party crisis.”