Fight Or Flight

by Amy Shojai

  They hurried back to the paddock, Lia put Karma back into a sit-stay, and again coiled the tracking line. More than a dozen different objects sat around the arena, but only four—a glove, a rag, a shallow bowl, and a shoe—were targets. She didn’t want to use the same search item each time, or Karma might think the prize was always a glove, for example.

  Lia had learned that the object wasn’t important, just the scent mattered, so she’d worn gloves to place all the objects except the targets. Those she’d handled and even spit on to imbue them with her scent. But some of the other items were toys Karma enjoyed, including her favorite stuffed wooly lamb that Lia had introduced when Karma was so abruptly separated from her littermates. These were distractions.

  Beneath each of the four targets was a dried liver treat that didn’t smell too strong so a dog could focus on human scent, not finding treats. The treats reinforced the notion that scent cued Karma’s “successful find” signal. Eventually, the scent of the find would prompt her to lie down, no treat reminder needed.

  Lia took a breath, offered Karma her hand for a scent to match, and then gave the search command. “Karma, such!”

  Karma took off, running from box to ceramic pot, around to a coiled garden hose and on to a stack of bricks with a glove on top. Her first platz announced the glove’s find. Karma nosed the glove off the bricks, and slurped up the liver treat without breaking her position.

  “Good girl, Karma!” Lia encouraged her, but didn’t offer the expected release word. The dog was used to a single target, but during trials there might be many such finds. Lia needed to keep Karma focused and her drive revved up, to continue beyond the first target. “Karma, such.”

  Karma sprang to her feet, and again hurried from spot to spot, snuffling and testing each for the next scented target. She quickly found the bowl, balanced on a fence rail. She knocked it over to collect the treat and in the same motion she lay down. Karma looked over her shoulder to Lia, and before such escaped her lips, the dog took off. She alerted to the rag and the shoe each in turn and completed the exercise in less than three minutes.

  The accelerated training schedule wasn’t ideal, but so far, Karma hadn’t missed a paw-step. “What a good-dog, you’re so silly. Mahalo.”

  Karma bounced up from her final find, tossing the shoe in the air, and then racing around the paddock as she had with Fury. Once again, she zeroed in on the long tracking line looped over the fence, pawing and mouthing it with determination.

  “Okay, okay. I get it, you want to keep going.” Lia knelt beside the pup, smoothing her silk-soft coat and marveling at the muscles. “Let’s get you fed and watered first, then I’ve got chores to do. It’s already hot, and I don’t want either of us stroking out. Patience, baby-dog, we’ll run the course this afternoon once it cools off.” She handed Karma her lamb-toy to carry home.

  ***

  Lia glanced overhead, grateful for the shade that knocked ten degrees off the temperature, even if the overhead leaves looked more brown than green. Wind made a rattlesnake sound through the brittle vegetation. She’d need another water break soon, Karma more than Lia. It had taken them much longer to get to the start point than when she’d walked Fury out to set up the trails earlier in the day. She wished she could afford a cooling vest for Karma.

  After the test, once Karma passed and proved her worth to Grandfather, funding for extras would be available. They could continue training with better equipment, while she rebuilt her business. Lia licked her cracked lips and smoothed long flyaway hair the wind combed free.

  The big pup tugged the tracking line in Lia’s gloved hands. The 102-degree August weather argued against gloves, but Lia had learned the hard way to protect her skin from the powerful dog’s pull. Rope burn on your palms took forever to heal.

  Wearing a bright purple collar with built-in GPS as well as the tracking harness, Karma led the way. She towed Lia’s slender form, weaving through lush stands of Johnson grass and the canopy of cedar elm and bois d’arc. Lia reminded herself to do a tick scan once they finished today’s exercise. North Texas swarmed with too many disease-causing parasites that sickened both dogs and people.

  Karma hesitated, and cast back and forth, sniffing deep and wiffering the air in and out. Lia held still, not wanting to offer an inadvertent signal which direction the track continued. She hadn’t said a word since giving Karma the such command at the beginning of the course, but now offered quiet encouragement. “Good-dog, Karma. Good such.”

  The dog turned and proceeded forward at a right angle to the previous route and Lia couldn’t quell a grin. The first object, a ball cap, rested behind a massive cedar tree just over a slight rise and to the left. Karma made a beeline for the cap. Lia trotted to keep up, letting the dog tug her forward. Lordy, it was hotter than chili peppers in Grammy’s special sauce.

  The Rottweiler ran to the ball cap, sniffed once, and flopped onto her belly.

  “Good girl, Karma! What a smart girl, good platz, you’re so good!” Lia hurried to reach Karma, smiling again when the young dog flipped the cap and snarfed up the hidden liver treat. Karma looked up at Lia, panting with a wide Rottie grin, but not at all relaxed. Her muscles bunched and twitched beneath tight black fur, and she whined under her breath. She was ready.

  Lia retrieved the ball cap, brushed the cedar needles and bugs off, and put it on. She’d hidden the last object, one of Karma’s favorite toys, only a short distance away. Lia wanted the dog to end on a high note, so beneath the Frisbee she’d hidden half a handful of liver treats. She gathered up the long line and repeated the cue Karma trembled with eagerness to hear.

  “Such! Karma, such!”

  Powerful haunches propelled Karma forward, and the explosive motion caught Lia by surprise. The energy, the drive, everything she wanted in the Rottweiler came alive. But Karma drove in the wrong direction.

  Hiding her deep disappointment, Lia trotted to keep up. She didn’t want to dampen Karma’s drive or delight. Lia remembered Abe’s words. “Trust the dog. Dogs always know things we don’t.”

  Like a squirrel, she thought.

  Karma stopped and flopped to her belly so fast that Lia tripped over her. The dog looked at Lia and whined. She didn’t bark. Rotties “grew into” their voice, and some didn’t become alert-barkers before two or three years old. But her wrinkled brow signaled Karma’s unease, as if she knew she’d disappointed Lia in some way. Karma turned back to her find and nosed the bundle of half-buried rags tangled in the space between her paws.

  Lia tried to stay upbeat but couldn’t deny her frustration. “Good girl, Karma. You’ve had enough for the day.” She’d rushed the dog, couldn’t blame the pup. At least she gave me a platz. Then Karma lifted her nose, and howled, sending chills down Lia’s sweaty neck.

  When Karma shifted, Lia saw the human hand.

  Chapter 32

  Karma whimpered again and nosed the cold hand. She flinched when Lia cried out but didn’t move from her position. Lia hadn’t said mahalo yet, so she knew the game wasn’t done. A good-dog worked hard to please her person. Treats were good and she knew treats awaited at the end of the other trail Lia meant her to follow. But this scent, this trail, this find compelled her to follow, and trumped any amount of treats. Now Karma wondered if she’d made the right choice. She’d trade them all for a smile and good-dog from Lia.

  She licked her jowls and panted, but the heat made it hard to cool off. Karma’s hackles still bristled in response to the scent around the body. The clothes reeked of girl fear, but also early changes of decomposition. She’d found dead animals before. Amazing rich and enticing scents clung to the road kill Karma retrieved as treasured toys, or even rolled on to perfume herself with a dead possum’s essence. She’d been the one to find Thor when he died. But this was different. This was people.

  People could stop breathing and die, too. The thought confounded Karma, and she whimpered again. She remembered when a bad man hurt Lia. If Karma hadn’t protected her, Lia m
ight be like this dead girl. Karma didn’t want Lia to be dead! She whined at the weight of new responsibility. It was a good-dog’s job to protect her person. Protect and serve Lia.

  Her brow wrinkled again when Lia shuddered. Had she done the right thing, finding the dead girl?

  “Mahalo, Karma. Come away, good-dog. Yes, you’re a good girl.” Lia’s voice shook.

  Leaping to her feet, Karma raced to Lia. She’d been right! Lia’s gasp just testified to her surprise. Karma filed away the experience for the future. People could die. And sometimes a good-dog knew more than people. Karma leaned against the girl’s thigh, relishing the comfort of Lia’s hands.

  Lia sank to her knees, trembling and voice shaking. “Got to call the police, baby-dog. Tell them somebody died.” Karma tipped her head from side to side when Lia fumbled in a pocket for the phone she liked to talk to, and then slurped the girl’s face. That always made Lia laugh. This time it didn’t.

  “Stay with me, girl, no more games. Settle down. Need us both to stay calm.” Lia poked the phone with one finger, and waited.

  Karma glanced over her shoulder and then back at Lia. She wanted some water from the bottle Lia carried. But more than that, she wanted Lia to say such again. The game wasn’t finished. Maybe Lia didn’t know? People couldn’t hear all the wonderful sounds surrounding them, and missed out on delicious aromas good-dogs sniffed. Sometimes Karma felt sorry for people. Her ears twitched and nose wrinkled. Over there, in the brushy thicket only a few yards away. . . Karma could feel the other’s eyes watching them.

  The game wasn’t done. Lia called Karma good-dog for finding the dead person, even though it made her upset and Karma tracked the wrong trail. Karma whined. The dead girl couldn’t be helped. The other, though, watched and waited. And Lia didn’t know. Just like ignoring the Frisbee and choosing a different trail, Karma had to decide.

  Karma stood, shook herself, and bounded forward past the dead girl’s body to reach the watching stranger.

  “Mai ho`opā mai ia`u! No, no!” The watching girl screamed, tried to run. With delight, Karma played the trip game to stop her. It just seemed to be the right thing to do. Then Karma assumed the platz-down position, announcing her find.

  Chapter 33

  Lia whirled as the long tracking line snaked through brittle grass past her feet when Karma dashed away. What now? Unflappable and stoic, Karma rarely broke a cue until released. Granted, these were unusual circumstances. And she hadn’t asked her to stay. Mixed signals weren’t fair to the dog.

  “Mai ho`opā mai ia`u!”

  Lia didn’t understand the words, but the terror in the scream needed no translation. “Hurry, send the police ASAP. There’s someone else here.” Lia disconnected from the 911 operator. “Karma, come!”

  When she ignored the request, Lia went to her. She found a cowering girl not much bigger than Karma herself.

  Karma slicked back her ears and lowered her head in a classic appeasement gesture, the “guilty” look designed to diffuse Lia’s disapproval. The dog yawned and looked away from the hysterical child, as if the gesture that calmed other dogs would do the same for the girl.

  The child—young woman?—shuddered in a fetal pose, her long black hair curtaining her face. She wore a shiny pink sports bra, and skin-tight bicycle shorts. No shoes, though, and Lia winced at the raw crisscross wounds on her callused brown feet. Her arms sported fingerprint bruises, sticker-vine slashes stitched her legs, and bug bites polka-dotted her back. A high-pitched keening whispered from her lips as she rocked back and forth in the dirt.

  “Hush, you’re safe. My dog, she won’t hurt you. It’s okay.” Lia didn’t know what to say or do. She reached out a hand, then withdrew it without touching the girl. Those bruises said touch meant pain, not comfort. “Karma, come!” The big pup instead scooted closer to the girl, ignoring the command. Yawning again, Karma settled her big head on the stranger’s bare, bruised thigh, and let out an audible sigh. Almost magically, the girl’s shudders calmed.

  Lia knelt beside the slight figure, and brittle weeds crunched beneath her knees. “I’m Lia. This is Karma.” She placed a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Are you hurt?”

  Stupid. Obviously she’s hurt. And doesn’t speak English.

  But the girl shook her head. She opened her eyes, peering through the dark curtain of hair, and slowly sat up. A silver heart pendant bordered with flowers—Lia recognized them as plumeria flowers—glittered at her throat. “He kill her.”

  Lia sucked in a breath. Murder. “She was your friend?”

  Again, a head shake. “She make me do things. She bad. But Boss make her do it.” She fingered the pendant.

  Lia struggled to make sense of her words. She didn’t recognize the accent, although her dark complexion and hair suggested a Hispanic heritage common to North Texas. None of that mattered. The police, when they got here, would take care of the details. If Karma hadn’t found the girl, she would have died in the heat.

  At that thought, Lia reached for her water bottle. “Thirsty?” She unscrewed the top.

  The girl stared at Karma’s big head, but didn’t try to pet her or move away. She reached past the dog for the water bottle, fingers trembling. “Mahalo.”

  Karma raised her head. Her stumpy tail twitched as the girl drank deeply.

  “You’re Hawaiian.” Lia stopped her from chugging the entire bottle. “Not too much. What’s your name?”

  “Boss call me Melanie. Don’t like it.” She tossed her head with defiance, and for a moment, the girl she was born to be shone through. “I’m Mele.”

  “How old are you, Mele? And who is Boss? The one who hurt...” She looked back over her shoulder toward the dead woman.

  “I old ‘nuff to make a man happy, Boss say. Boss is jus’ Boss. Vicki, she show me what t’do.”

  Lia’s stomach lurched. “You’ll be safe now, Mele.” Her cell phone rang, and she saw 911 calling back. “The police are on the way.”

  “No!” Mele bolted upright. “No māka`i! Boss say no cops. I get dead like Vicki!”

  “Mele, the police will protect you from this Boss person.” The phone kept ringing. Lia needed to give them directions.

  “No, no, no, no!” Mele struggled to her feet. The whites of her eyes shined, her nostrils flared, and the pulse in her throat thrummed so fast Lia expected the girl to pass out.

  Karma sprang to her feet, dancing around the pair. Her tracking line swished in the grass in a herky-jerky rhythm.

  Lia grasped the girl’s arm and Mele screamed and yanked free. She ran, waist-length hair a tangled cloud, covering the uneven terrain quickly despite her limping gait.

  “Dammit!” Lia thumbed her phone to answer the 911 operator.

  “Don’t hang up again. Are you still with the body? Stay on the phone and wait until the police arrive.”

  “I can’t talk. There’s another victim here, a Hawaiian woman, a kid. Dammit, she’s running.” Lia stamped on the end of the track line to keep Karma close. The dog trembled, eager to give chase, but conflicted about what to do.

  “Stay where you are. Do not pursue. The police are on the way.”

  “But she’s hurt. Says she knows who killed the other woman.”

  Karma’s whine turned into a warble of concern.

  “Settle! Karma, platz.” The dog downed, but continued to complain.

  Lia’s frustration rose as Mele tried to disappear into the brush. It wouldn’t be hard. The sun-blasted stands of winter rye stood higher than the girl’s shoulders, with encroaching native cedar trees giving way to occasional bois d’arc and mountain ash. “She’s going to die of dehydration or heatstroke if we don’t get her help. How soon will the police get here?”

  “Ten minutes out. Sit tight. And stay away from the body. You understand, you are not to disturb the area any further.” The dispatcher spoke by rote.

  Lia bit her lip. Ten minutes? Mele would be who-knows-where by then.

  Karma rolled onto her side
, pawing the ground, maintaining the letter if not the intent of the cue. Her whine turned into an escalating Rottie grumble of discontent.

  “Okay, right, I won’t move.” Lia bent to unhook the tracking line and remove Karma’s harness. “Graduation day came early, baby-dog. Keep her safe, Karma.” She pointed the direction Mele ran. “Achtung!”

  The massive dog sprang to her feet, nosed Lia’s hand, and raced after Mele. Lia watched, praying she’d made the right choice by telling Karma to guard the girl.

  Chapter 34

  “Macy-cat, time for your meds.” September rattled the bottle, and the big Maine Coon raced to reach her. Little chirrup-mews erupted as he rubbed back and forth against her ankles, and then seemed to levitate onto the top of the dresser. He opened wide, accepted the heart medication without a fuss, and then paw-grabbed her hand. “Yes, okay already. I owe you a treat. How about two treats?” She laughed when he sat without prompting and offered a paws-up.

  At the treat-word, Shadow came to attention. “Okay, you can have one, too.” She tossed the yummy to where he reclined on the bed, and he snapped it out of the air.

  She stroked the cat’s long, mahogany fur the same color as her own hair. Macy placed his paws on September’s shoulders, and they enjoyed a mutual cheek-rub session, green eyes that matched her own slitting in pleasure before Macy leaped onto the bed to stalk Shadow’s waving tail.

  It had taken Dad’s intervention for Mom to allow Macy into the house. The Maine Coon stayed mostly in September’s room. His heart condition, controlled with the medication he accepted on command, meant he shouldn’t overdo things, but September felt guilty Macy didn’t have more room to play. Whenever Mom wasn’t around, she gave the big cat the run of the house, and if Dad saw or suspected he turned a blind eye.

  September watched the pair wrestle, the big cat pulling his claw-punches and Shadow mouthing his feline buddy with wide, careful jaws. She felt heartened at the return to a semblance of normalcy. Visible injuries had healed, but she remained vigilant for signs of the hidden hurt. They had all had more than their share.