Sally's Bones

by MacKenzie Cadenhead

  As Mr. Simplesmith searched the scene for something he could understand, he discovered one simple truth. In the soulful brown eyes of his daughter and the twinkling black orbs of her pet, he detected love. Though he could not imagine living with a corpse, neither could he bear to cause Sally more pain. He agreed to let Bones remain on the conditions that he stay off the couch and be kept their family’s secret. Sally did not immediately agree.

  “But wh-hy?” she whined. “Bones is amazing. Everyone will love him!”

  “Many people will fear him,” her father replied. “This thing—”

  “Dog,” Sally corrected. “My dog, Bones.”

  Seymour smiled faintly. “All right. Your dog Bones is…unique. And many people are afraid of things they’ve never seen before, especially when those things appear to be skeletal animals returned from the dead.” Seymour leaned in a bit closer now, his scientific curiosity getting the best of him. “It is fascinating, though. How does he function without a central nervous system or organs of any kind? Hmmm…”

  Mr. Simplesmith paced the kitchen. He picked up a drumstick and tapped it lightly against his lips. Knowing she had lost her father to the turning wheels of his singularly brilliant brain, Sally shifted Bones off her lap and returned to the table. It had been a long day, and she was actually quite hungry.

  “The chicken really is good, Dad,” she offered brightly. “I meant what I said before I choked on it. Have some.”

  Mr. Simplesmith regarded the uneaten drumstick in his hand and shook his head. “I think I’ve had enough to digest tonight,” he sighed. “Perhaps Bones would like some of the scraps, though? Here you go, uh, boy.” His hands shaking slightly, Sally’s father tossed the chicken leg at the lifeless mutt. Bones shuffled backward and shot Sally a horrified look. He opened his mouth to protest, but before he had the chance, Sally was speaking.

  “Oh, gee, Bones. Isn’t that soooo nice of my father? Giving you something he made himself in the hopes that you’d like it and would feel welcome in your new home?” Sally looked to Bones with pleading eyes. She nodded her head encouragingly, praying that he would pretend to like the marrowbones of dead animals just this once.

  At first, the dead dog merely glared at her, unblinking and unyielding. Sally was about to confess her dog’s deep disdain for the bone her father had gifted when the cadaver conceded. Sighing heavily, Bones took the meaty bone by its tip, careful to touch it only with his front teeth. He carried it behind Sally’s chair and growled low so that only she could hear.

  Mr. Simplesmith grinned. “He obviously likes being with you, Sal.” His smile faded. “Which is problematic.” He took a chicken wing and began to nibble on it.

  “Come on, Dad,” Sally said, rolling her eyes. “Do you really think an angry mob is going to knock down our door when they find out about Bones?”

  Just then a gust of wind blew open the kitchen door, and a loud crash came from the yard behind the Simplesmiths’ house. Seymour rose to check out the commotion, but Sally beat him to it.

  “Ha ha,” she laughed nervously as she pulled the door to her. “Guess we forgot to close up. Good thing it’s just a windy night and this has absolutely nothing to do with your concern for Bones’s safety.”

  Her father frowned. “It’s not Bones I’m worried about, Sal,” he explained as he returned to his seat. “Your pet’s exposure could put us all in danger. I’m sorry, but your safety is my top priority. The deal is this—Bones can stay here, but only in secret. And if I get one whiff of any trouble, he’s got to go. Understood?”

  The deal was not at all understandable to Sally. But as she prepared to argue the point, she noticed a crisp white envelope taped to the garbage bin outside the kitchen door. Written on it in messy scrawl was her name. Though it was chilly outside, her shivering had nothing to do with the wind. She stepped out of the kitchen and tore open the envelope. Inside was an equally messily written note, but despite its questionable appearance, its message was clear.

  Roses are red

  Violets are blue

  Keep the monster secret

  Or I'll get you two!

  Sally’s normally pale skin turned ghostly white. She looked into her yard and could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure slip back into the night.

  Could her father actually be right? It seemed someone else already knew about Bones and had not accepted him with the love that Sally did. Suddenly, Sally faced a choice, and the answer could not have been clearer. Being special could wait. The only thing that mattered was keeping Bones safe. Stuffing the note into her pocket, she returned inside and bolted the door behind her.

  “OK, Dad. We’ll keep Bones between us.”

  Seymour gobbled some more chicken, proud of himself for having reached his daughter through good sense and rational discourse. He did not notice that though Sally had returned to the dinner table, she’d lost her appetite.

  “How’s this for a plan?” Seymour offered. “While you’re home, Bones can have the run of the house so long as he doesn’t chew anything up. All other times, he can stay in the basement, like when you’re at school—”

  “Grwoof!”

  “No!” Bones and Sally said in unison.

  “We can’t be apart,” Sally explained as her pet leapt onto her lap.

  “Why on earth not?” Seymour demanded.

  Though Sally was desperate to keep Bones close, especially now that she knew he was in danger, she was also sure she could never let her father know about the threatening note.

  “I mean, you saw what he did when I left him outside of our house,” she tried. “He’ll find a way to follow me to school, and he’ll bark and howl until I can come out. By then everyone will know about him, and you said yourself we had to keep him our secret.”

  Mr. Simplesmith considered his daughter’s hypothesis.

  “I suppose you might be right,” he conceded. “But there are quite a few issues we’ll have to work out if Bones is going to be always by your side.”

  “Right,” Sally agreed. “Like what?”

  “Problem one: getting to school undetected.” Seymour pulled a map of Merryland from a drawer beneath the kitchen counter. “What if you take Maplewood Terrace to Oakdale Lane to Forrest Drive? That should provide enough tree and shrub coverage to hide Bones the whole way there, right?”

  “I think so,” Sally said. Sometimes it was very convenient to have a genius for a father.

  “But what to do once you’re in class? Or are you planning to hide him in your desk?” Mr. Simplesmith chuckled at his own joke.

  “Oh, I know!” Sally exclaimed. “Outside my classroom, there’s an old garbage shed that nobody goes near. They all think it’s haunted—dorks. Anyway, there’s a dirty window that looks into my class. I can see it from my desk. If I sneak in there early enough, I can set it up so that Bones can watch me all day!”

  “GGGgggruff!” Bones said, wagging his tail.

  “And at recess, I’ll hang out with you in the shed!” Sally kissed him on the nose and knew she would always protect him, no matter the cost.

  “Surely your classmates will notice if you’re gone for too long, Sal,” Mr. Simplesmith interrupted.

  “No, Dad. They won’t,” Sally quietly replied. Her father regarded her curiously, then returned to his chicken. He did not argue the point.

  That night, as Sally lay in bed with Bones curled at her feet, she thought about the coming day. Though the anonymous note frightened her, she prayed that if she followed the instructions and kept Bones a secret, everything would be all right. For despite the danger, this was the first time since she could remember that she was actually looking forward to waking up in the morning. Smiling, she closed her eyes. But in that split second just before sleep took her, she recalled the shadowy figure from her yard as it slipped into the chilly, black night.

  Chapter 6
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  Bones’s first day of school went remarkably according to plan. Mr. Simplesmith’s assessment of the coverage the tree-lined route provided was exact. The abandoned shed proved a perfect haunt for Bones to haunt, and Sally’s assumption that no one would miss her at recess was right on the money. Over the next few weeks, she continued to receive the occasional anonymous note, but they had become oddly encouraging, praising her secret-keeping skills and promising no harm would come to her or Bones if they kept up the good work. But still, the threat remained—keep the demon dog a secret or else! Sally had no intention of finding out what that meant.

  Meanwhile, Viola Vanderperfect’s Operation: Pretend Sally Doesn’t Exist was in full swing, and Sally quickly turned this most painful indignity into her greatest asset. No one on the playground noticed when Sally ducked into the side alley at recess and didn’t return until the end-of-period bell. None of her classmates seemed aware that she had stopped taking the bus to school in favor of walking an illogical and lengthy route. Nobody was the least bit concerned with anything having to do with Sally Simplesmith, and so they missed the fact that, for the first time in years, the usually gloomy girl was happy.

  By the third week of Viola’s reign, Sally found herself smiling all the time. She had even just about buried the icky feeling caused by merely thinking of her enemy. Sitting in the abandoned shed during recess one day, her skeleton dog cuddled into her lap, Sally marveled at how Viola’s plan had backfired. “You know, I think Viola’s evilness was actually a blessing.”

  Bones growled at the mention of his best friend’s nemesis.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Sally clarified. “She’s still the most vile, villainous, vomitrocious Viola in the universe. I’m just saying, if I have to find a silver lining in all this, it’s you.”

  “GGGgggrrr-uff!” the canine corpse barked through the plush bone-shaped dog toy he held in his mouth. Sally had given him the toy to make up for her initial fetch faux pas, and it had quickly become Bones’s most treasured possession. Smiling at her dearest companion, Sally gave the toy a playful tug.

  “It’s funny how easy it’s been to live off the grid,” she continued. “I mean, at recess, I just have to wait for Viola to do something exciting, like breathe, and everyone’s attention turns to her.” Sally regarded a dust bunny in the corner. “But it might be sort of fun to go a little more cloak-and-dagger with it all. You know, to have to be the slightest bit careful that someone might be watching me disappear into—”

  The whistle signaling the end of recess blew. “OK, boy. You know the drill.” Bones nimbly leapt from Sally’s lap onto the window seat from which he could view her classroom. “Don’t forget to keep an eye on me. I’ll try to sneak in at least one funny face when I’m sure no one’s looking. I think Zeke might’ve caught me yesterday when I touched my tongue to my nose and crossed my eyes. Good thing he already thinks I’m a freak.” Sally laughed weakly.

  Kissing Bones’s head, she gave his toy bone a final tug before leaving.

  Carefully making her way through the side alley that led to the schoolyard, Sally froze when she noticed a figure lurking in the shadows. To her stomach-churning surprise, it was Viola Vanderperfect.

  “Sally, we need to talk.” Viola beckoned the startled girl, who reflexively obeyed. “As you know, my birthday is this weekend.”

  “Yeah,” Sally timidly interjected. “It’s my birthday too.”

  Viola frowned. “Duh! My mother wanted me to plan a joint birthday party with you. Can you believe it?” Sally’s heart ached for the kindly mother that was not hers. “Obviously that was never going to happen,” Viola cruelly snorted. “But I did have to promise her that I would invite you to my party.”

  Sally felt a small thrill at the prospect of attending what was sure to be the biggest social event of the school year. Despite herself, she smiled.

  “Ew, no!” Viola snapped her fingers in Sally’s face, bringing her back to reality. “Just because I have to invite you doesn’t mean you’ll be coming.” Viola thrust a perfumed invitation into Sally’s hand. “Call my mother and tell her you won’t be able to make it. Tell her you’re sick or something.” Viola turned to leave but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard an unexpected voice.

  “But I’m not sick,” Sally said.

  Viola spun around, a look of shock contorting her features into a horrible mask of disgust and terror. Though Sally had been keeping to herself out of fear of the anonymous note sender, something had changed in her over the past few weeks. She had gained a little bit of confidence, thanks to the unconditional love of a certain new friend. To both girls’ surprise, Sally spoke the last words that either would have expected: “Maybe I’ll, um, come.”

  Viola gasped and clutched her chest. She stopped breathing, and her complexion took on a blue tint. Squeezing her free hand into a fist, she began punching herself in the thigh. Sally was about to run for a teacher when Viola finally exhaled. After smoothing the pleats of her plaid skirt for a full thirty seconds, she recomposed herself and smiled.

  “Sally, you’re absolutely right. I apologize for being so rude. If you would like to come to my party, by all means, please do. After all, it is your birthday too.” Viola put her arm around Sally’s neck and led her from the shadows. “In fact, we really should celebrate your birth as well. How about this afternoon? We can invite everyone at school, including the teachers, and meet at, oh I don’t know, the abandoned garbage shed?” Viola’s eyes narrowed, and her grip on Sally’s neck tightened. “You know the one. It’s right outside our classroom. In fact, that’s it right over there.”

  Sally’s stomach plummeted, and she began to sway. Viola steadied her in a headlock. “You think I don’t know about your creepy little loser hideaway?” the merciless mean girl whispered. “You’ve been going there every day at recess.”

  “No, I…”

  “Relax.” Viola released her grip, and Sally staggered to the wall. “I don’t care what you do in there, so long as you’re out of my sight. But it sure would be a shame if anyone else found out about it, don’t you think?” Behind Viola’s angelic smile Sally could have sworn she saw fangs. “Gee, Sally, you don’t look so good. Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

  Wearily, Sally regarded the cruelest creature on earth. “I…I think I am feeling a little sick.”

  “Good girl,” Viola said as she patted Sally on the head. She turned and began to walk away. “Now, don’t forget to contact my mother,” she called over her shoulder. “She’s having the whole thing catered in the estate’s garden, so she’ll want an accurate head count by tonight.” Glancing back, she added, “Hope you feel better, Sally.”

  Viola returned to the noisy schoolyard, and Sally was once again alone in the alleyway. Running to a nearby garbage can, she managed to pull back her hair just as her nerves overtook her and she threw up.

  Chapter 7

  On the evening of the twenty-ninth, the Simplesmiths celebrated Sally’s eleventh birthday. Though she requested dinner at home, her father insisted that they dine out. It had long been their tradition to celebrate big events at the local theme restaurant. It was owned by Vivienne Vanderperfect, who had sent Mr. Simplesmith enough coupons throughout the years to feed an entire village. Painfully aware that Viola would be enjoying her own party at home, Sally felt confident that this was the one time she would be safe from running into her nemesis at the Vanderperfects’ establishment.

  Sally’s one birthday stipulation was that Bones be in attendance. “I wouldn’t have anything to celebrate without him,” she whined.

  “I thought you might feel that way, Sal. So, I made you something.” Mr. Simplesmith whistled, and Bones trotted into the living room, dragging a black vinyl bag with a bow on it.

  Though he had not cut back his long hours at the lab since Bones’s arrival, Sally’s father had seemed a bit more present when at home. Inste
ad of talking at Sally about his scientific studies, he more frequently asked about his daughter’s day. He smiled at her tales of sneaking into the garbage shed and occasionally even laughed at her reenactments of Bones’s adorable antics. It was not the relationship Sally had dreamed of, but it certainly was a start.

  Sally’s father unzipped the top flap of the bag and motioned for Bones to get in.

  “It’s a carrier. You wear it like a backpack,” Mr. Simplesmith explained. “It has a tinted window panel that Bones can see out of, but people can’t see in. I wasn’t sure if he needed air, so I added some ventilation flaps just in case. It’s a little bulky, I know, but I designed it with equal weight distribution in mind and for maximum comfort for a girl your size.”

  Tears filled Sally’s eyes. Her father frowned and nervously pinched his thumbs. “Hey, Sal, if it’s not what you want—”

  Sally threw her arms around her father’s neck. “This is the best present ever, Daddy.”

  Mr. Simplesmith hugged his daughter tight.

  Despite the pouring rain, Miss Muffet’s Morsels: Everyone’s Favorite Theme Restaurant was packed. Even the private rooms that were normally opened up for busy rushes were booked. The longer the Simplesmiths waited, the more anxious Sally became that someone would discover what lurked inside her fancy new backpack.

  When they finally settled into a booth at the back of the restaurant, Sally was too keyed up to even look at the menu.

  “Can’t decide between Peter Piper’s Pickled Pike and the Baa-Baa-Blackened Sheep. What do you think, kiddo?” Mr. Simplesmith’s eyes twinkled through his bottle-thick glasses. As stressed out as the situation made Sally, it seemed to have the opposite effect on her father. Seymour was giddy at the thrill of their covert operation. Twice, he even patted Bones’s carrier in what seemed like genuine affection.