A Light in the Dark

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A Light in the Dark Page 19

by Becky Doughty


  “That’s Ani’s dog playing with Pete. Juno.” I pointed out the two dogs wandering among the other animals, side-by-side, noses to the ground. “We usually walk down here on Mondays, sometimes more, so Juno can visit her many friends. Pete is her token boyfriend. This is our tree,” I patted the trunk behind me before dipping my head to the oak a few yards away. “Foster usually hangs out over there.” Without thinking how silly it might sound, I added, “We feed them sometimes, too.”

  Sebastian’s eyebrows rose. “Well, good for you,” he drawled. It didn’t feel like a compliment. Ani frowned at me. I could see she was having second thoughts about the guy. I didn’t like to admit it, but I was having a few push-me-pull-you thoughts, too. I couldn’t deny the draw I felt toward him, but I sensed there was something lying under the surface that might be bigger than I wanted to deal with.

  “I wonder where Foster is,” Ani spoke into the awkward silence.

  “Maybe we should look for him,” I suggested, not knowing what else to do. “Call Juno, Ani. Let’s see if Pete will come, too. Maybe he’ll take us to his daddy.”

  Both dogs came charging up the slope toward us, and to my surprise, Pete ran directly at Sebastian first, who had crouched down to greet the happy animal.

  “Do you have a dog?” I asked, surprised at how happy Pete was to see him.

  “Nope. Wish I did, but I can’t have one where we live. That’s why I come here. Pete gives me my dog fix.” He pulled a couple of bone-shaped treats from his backpack and offered one to both the animals. “Let’s go find Foster, okay, Pete?” He ruffled the dog’s ears, then rose and headed off in the direction I’d seen Foster go on the rare occasions that he left the park before we did. Juno followed right on Pete’s tail, the two dogs obviously all in for whatever adventure they were going on.

  Ani and I exchanged uncertain glances, following a few steps behind.

  “Do you know where they stay at night?” I asked, wondering if maybe we should leave the task of finding Foster to Sebastian. Clearly, he was taking charge of the hunt, and I wasn’t sure if he wanted us along or not.

  Sebastian slowed, and waited for us to come alongside him, the dogs taking it as their cue to charge ahead. “Do you?” he asked, turning the question back on us. I didn’t think he was challenging us, but more curious as to how much we knew about Foster.

  “No,” I answered, trying not to feel guilty. I’d wondered many times before, but hadn’t felt comfortable asking. I always just hoped he had a place to go to at the end of the day, and every time we saw him at the park, I got a jolt of relief. Surely, his presence meant he had somewhere to sleep at night.

  “He’s not very talkative,” Ani added. “And because he’s always been very respectful toward us, we’ve tried to give him some respect, too.” She sounded a little defensive, but Sebastian just nodded.

  “I’m sure he’s grateful. Sometimes people can be too helpful,” he added, rather enigmatically.

  “But you do know?” I pressed again. “You know where he goes? Is that where we’re going now?” We were nearing the back end of the park, a chain link fence marking the public area.

  “See the drainage ditch on the other side of the fence?” Sebastian pointed to the concrete waterway that ran along the boundary line of the park. It disappeared into a huge concrete tunnel where the hillside rose above it. The tunnel was overgrown with weeds and saplings, but even from this side of the fence, I could tell it might make a good place to hunker down if there wasn’t any place to go home to. I brushed my fingers over Ani’s forearm when I noticed the sheen in her eyes. Ever since returning from Italy, she’d been so much more aware of the hurting people in the world we lived in.

  We reached the fence, and after casting a furtive look around, Sebastian unlatched a section of it that, upon closer inspection, had been rigged to allow for easy access. He held the corner of the chain-link back and waited for us to slip through, then ducked under himself. We walked along the edge of the dry ditch for several yards, but as we approached the tunnel, Sebastian slowed and called out.

  “Foster? You there, man?”

  There was no answer, and Pete didn’t seem in any hurry to get to the tunnel. Even if Foster had been unable to answer, Pete surely would have scampered off to find his human. I could see by Sebastian’s scowl that he wasn’t feeling good about things. He called out several more times, but to no avail.

  We approached slowly, the two dogs bouncing along as though nothing in the world was amiss, which somehow made me feel better. I was sure they’d alert us to danger if there was any. At the mouth of the tunnel, Sebastian swept back some of the vines and shrubs to peer inside. He had to bend down a little—it couldn’t have been taller than four feet at the highest part—and beyond him I could see what appeared to be a bundle of clothes or blankets, a couple of jugs of water, and an empty—and surprisingly clean—metal bowl that was presumably Pete’s dog food dish.

  I scrutinized the obscure setting, my mind slow to grasp that the ditch was quite likely Foster’s “summer home.” It probably stayed dry for most of the year, and being this close to the dog park was a plus for Pete, too. In the winter, I’d seen the man and his dog at one of the shelters in town, Joseph’s Warehouse, where our family served hot meals the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Between Thanksgiving and Easter, the facility opened their doors at night and offered people a warm, dry place to sleep. They even allowed dogs, as long as they were kenneled. Pete, along with his blanket, food, and water bowls, seemed fine with his kennel parked beside Foster’s cot. He probably appreciated the warmth as much as Foster during the cold nights, and he certainly enjoyed the attention he got from other guests, especially children.

  Ani and I waited a few feet away. “I feel like a Peeping Tom,” I whispered to her. If this was where Foster and Pete slept each night, we were, in a sense, looking in his bedroom window. I let my gaze wander a little at the surroundings and wondered at the kind of circumstances that reduced a man to living like this. Had he made bad decisions in his life? Was he running from the law? From his past? His future? Maybe he was a veteran and suffered from some sort of PTSD that made normal societal expectations impossible for him to meet.

  “I don’t know what to think,” Sebastian said as he turned back to face us. “It’s not like Foster to leave Pete alone. And the dog was inside the dog arena, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to look for the man out here.”

  We all stood in silent concentration as we mulled over our options. Finally, Ani suggested we go back and wait a little longer. “Maybe Foster had to go somewhere and felt it was safer to leave Pete with the other dogs.” We all knew we were grasping at straws, but no one wanted to say out loud what we were really thinking.

  Sebastian ducked back into the pipe, made sure the bundle of things was a little better hidden, and picked up the dog’s dish. “I think if he finds Pete’s dish gone, he’ll know to come looking.” The statement left a lot of loose ends, but Sebastian didn’t say anything else. He tucked the bowl inside his backpack and we headed back the way we came.

  We scrambled through the fence and as we walked slowly, attentively, back toward our spot, Sebastian said, “You know, I can stay with Pete until Foster gets back. You two don’t have to wait.”

  Ani and I both waved off his suggestion. “We’re not leaving until we know Foster is okay,” Ani declared.

  “That’s right,” I concurred, feeling a strange sense of responsibility growing inside me. I didn’t feel right about leaving without answers. Besides, what if Foster didn’t come back? Sebastian had just said he couldn’t have a dog at his place. What would happen to Pete? “We’re not going anywhere. You’re stuck with our fine company until Foster shows.”

  We sat on the hillside and the dogs played while people and their pets came and went. Conversation was stilted at first, competing with our concern for the missing man, but eventually, we fell into an easier rise and fall as we talked about everything from Ani a
nd her unknown future with Paulo to the year I moved to the neighborhood with my loud, obnoxious family, and Ani’s life had never been the same.

  “Not much has changed, has it?” I asked Sebastian, smiling as I thought about the breakfast he’d shared with only a portion of our troop. “The holidays are even wilder because when all four brothers get together, the testosterone is thick in the air.”

  “Someone usually bleeds,” Ani quipped. “I just stand back and watch. From very, very far away.”

  “They fight a lot?” Sebastian asked, his head cocked to one side. Although he had an easy smile on his face, I heard a hint of concern in his question. He must have been thinking about Jordan and my wrestling match.

  “Not fighting. Competing. You know, poker, wrestling, one-on-one b-ball, and baseball games over there.” I pointed beyond the fenced-off dog section to the open field of the park. “Talk about brutal. My mom won’t let me pitch anymore because I kept getting taken out by line-drives and I couldn’t react quickly enough to catch the balls or hit the ground.”

  “T-Bird and I hang out in the outfield and yell insults instead,” Ani contributed. “We’re pretty much the most talented hecklers in the world.”

  Sebastian seemed to enjoy listening to us tell our silly stories. When Ani mentioned something about George Darling, Sebastian raised an eyebrow in question, so she explained the literary miracle of her circumstances.

  “Yeah. She’s weird,” I teased. “But that’s how I knew we were sole-mates.” Ani and I high-fived with the soles of our shoes, making Sebastian roll his eyes at the terrible pun.

  The shadows of the trees behind us stretched long across the grassy slope and we finally began voicing our concerns that Foster might not be coming back. “We have to get going, too,” Ani said quietly. “Mary Darling’s wondering where I am.” She held up her phone.

  “Pete can’t stay here,” Sebastian began. “I’m pretty sure the cops do a sweep of this place after folks leave, just to make sure no one has abandoned any dogs. Foster tells me it happens often enough to make the sweep necessary.”

  “That’s terrible,” Ani murmured, scratching the ruff of Juno, who lay sprawled beside her. Pete had pooped out, too, and was using Sebastian’s legs as a pillow. I got thumped by Pete’s tail every time he had a remotely happy dog thought.

  “Yeah. People can be cruel.” Sebastian looked up and smiled grimly. I thought he might be talking about more than just those who abandoned their pets.

  “So what should we do with Pete?” I asked, my mind buzzing over the possibilities. Pete really wasn’t the problem, though. Any one of us could take him home for a night or two. The real problem was how we were going to track down a homeless man in trouble. It seemed clear that something was wrong, that something bad had happened.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “Mary Darling insists we bring Pete home with us. He can hang with Juno tonight.” Ani had been feverishly texting back and forth with her folks for the last few minutes. “But what do we do about Foster? He’s the one I’m really worried about.”

  “Right.” Sebastian frowned, scratching Pete’s head, making the dog thump me a few more times with his tail. I stood and brushed the grass off my backside. The dogs leapt to their feet, too. I offered both Ani and Sebastian a hand, and although Ani took mine immediately and pulled herself up beside me, Sebastian just eyed me dubiously.

  I rolled my eyes, even though I wasn’t sure he could see them in the growing darkness. “See these short legs?” I made a sweeping motion with both hands, indicating my perfectly weighted stance, feet planted just so to create a wide base of support. I held out my hand to him again. “Because I’m so close to the ground, I’m solid as a rock. I can take you.”

  Ani chuckled, a sound that all but echoed my challenge, and bent down to loop the handle of Juno’s leash through Pete’s collar, then latched the other end to her dog, tying the two animals together. Midtown’s leash law was strictly enforced, and there was always the possibility Pete wouldn’t follow us without some encouragement.

  Sebastian nodded, took my hand, and pulled himself slowly to his feet, until he stood directly in front of me. He’d done all the work himself, though, and when he didn’t let go of my hand, I figured he was taking advantage of the opportunity to hold it. The thought made me smile. He was tall and standing so close I had to tip my head back to look up at him.

  Nope. Made me feel too much like a little kid craning my head back like that. I stared at his chest instead. Okay. Um. Tight shirt. Wowzer. Not a good idea, either. I tugged my hand from his grasp, but not before I felt his fingers tighten around mine briefly.

  “Thanks,” he said, the single word filled with a myriad of meanings. I stepped back and scanned the park one last time for Foster. My heart was pounding though, a result from Sebastian’s proximity, his smile, and the way his voice felt more like a caress than a compliment.

  Sebastian bent over and snagged his ever-present backpack off the ground. Just as he swung the strap over one shoulder, Pete launched into an ecstatic volley of barks, then hurled down the slope, dragging poor little Juno along in his wake. Juno, however, seemed almost as thrilled as Pete to join in on the adventure. They pulled up short at the opposite end of the fenced off dog run, both with front feet planted on the chain link, barking and yapping a greeting at the shadowy figure slouching across the parking lot.

  “Foster,” Sebastian breathed, the relief in his voice a tangible thing.

  But as Foster drew near, it became apparent that something wasn’t right. He looked roughed up, head down, hunched over, one arm held at a 90 degree angle against his stomach. And he wasn’t slouching along, he was limping. I covered my mouth and took a step forward, but Sebastian put a hand on my arm.

  “Wait here.” He slipped out through the dog arena gate, firmly pushing Pete back as Ani hurried forward to snatch up the leash that still tethered the dogs together. I got a hold of Pete’s collar and spoke soothingly to him.

  Just as Sebastian reached Foster, the older man began to crumple, one leg folding under him. Sebastian lunged forward and caught him under the arms, hauling him upright before his knees hit the ground. Foster tried to step back as he lifted his head, and even from where we stood, I sensed his fear. When he recognized Sebastian, though, Foster leaned into him, resting his forehead against Sebastian’s chest. They stood that way for a few moments, talking quietly together. They were too far away for us to be able to hear what was said, but Sebastian’s tone sounded under control, calm.

  Pete, on the other hand, was frantic to get to Foster, but we kept a tight hold on both dogs until Sebastian had helped Foster make his way from the parking lot to the gate. Ani opened the latch and Sebastian and Foster slipped inside and lowered themselves to a bench. Pete’s joyful greeting had us all smiling in spite of Foster’s condition. The dog hadn’t seemed to miss his human while he played with Juno this evening, but clearly, that wasn’t the case.

  Foster seemed to brighten a little under Pete’s lavish attention, but I didn’t miss the fact that he kept his arm wrapped tightly around his ribcage, his breathing shallow. Broken or bruised ribs, I was sure of it. One side of his mouth was split, and although it had probably stopped bleeding at one point, all it took was a thin smile for his dog and the blood began to well up again. I winced when Foster dragged a grimy flannel sleeve across his mouth.

  Sebastian moved off the bench and crouched in front of Foster, his back to us. He slipped his backpack off his shoulder, withdrew a full water bottle from inside and handed it to Foster, who took it with shaking hands. Ani had picked up Juno after she released Pete from the leash. We stood back and let Sebastian work. The poor man had been someone’s punching bag tonight and he was obviously in a lot of pain.

  I finally asked, “Should I call an ambulance? Or the police?”

  “No!” Both men spoke at once, Sebastian rather firmly, nearly drowning out Foster’s response, and I stiffened in surprise. Ani reached ov
er and slipped her arm through mine. I bit my bottom lip, my natural instinct to lash back almost getting the best of me. “Sorry, Tish,” Sebastian said. “Just hold off for now, okay?” Then he turned back to Foster.

  Reaching up, he pushed Foster’s overgrown gray hair away from his face. I heard Ani gasp beside me. In the light of a nearby lamppost, a huge lump bulged out of the top of Foster’s forehead at the hairline. Sebastian dug another water bottle from his bag, along with a small towel. He doused it generously, and pressed it to the goose egg, his other hand on Foster’s shoulder in support.

  “He needs some ice,” I muttered just loud enough for Ani to hear.

  “He needs a doctor,” Ani replied, just as quietly.

  But we both knew better than to offer our help. Clearly, there was more to the circumstances than we could tell by looking. Finally, not sure what else to do, we moved to another bench nearby and sat, Juno settling wearily into Ani’s lap in a tight little ball.

  “Arm or ribs?” I heard Sebastian ask. His voice was still low, and even though our bench didn’t bring us any closer to the two men, we were no longer behind Sebastian and his words carried to us a little easier.

  “Ribs.” Foster’s voice caught as he lifted his arm away from his torso. “Will need to wrap them. I have an extra shirt in my bundle.”

  “I have a First Aid kit in my car, but we should probably get you situated where you’ll be for the night before we do that. You’ll be hurting worse before it gets better.”

  Foster nodded once, wincing a little. The bump on his head had to be throbbing something fierce, and his lip couldn’t hurt much less. His next words had me holding my breath. I felt Ani tense beside me as well, the hand she’d been smoothing absentmindedly down Juno’s back stilling. “Hoping you’d show today.” Foster paused for several moments, studying Sebastian as though trying to determine what to say next.

 

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