by Tom Schreck
A black Hummer, and it was pulling a trailer.
46
"Who the hell is that?" Kelley said.
"Holy shit."
"Duffy, who the hell is it?"
"Oh my God."
"Duffy!"
The head cop yelled instructions into a megaphone, telling everyone to evacuate ASAP. He repeated it over and over. Meanwhile the hummer and the trailer headed for the storage shed.
"Duffy, what the fuck is going on?" Kelley said.
"They're coming for the sausages. Holy shit. They're coming for the sausages."
"Who?"
"Newstrom! The guy no one has believed us about. The guy behind everything. He's part of this."
"He's headed for the shed?"
"He doesn't know about the fires. He can't tell," I said and watched Newstrom and his men file out of the Hummer. They came to load up the trailer.
"We can't-" Kelley started to head toward the shed. I grabbed him by the arm.
Kelley looked at me with his mouth open. I shook my head.
"But Duff, it's going to blow-"
I just held him by the arm and shook my head.
I looked over to the ambulance taking Karl. They had him on the stretcher, but he was awake.
I looked at Karl. He looked toward the shed and then at me.
We exchanged thumbs ups.
"Everyone outta here now!" Kelley's commander said.
"He can't see the shed from his angle," Kelley said.
"Kelley, get those civilians outta here, now and get your ass out right behind them!" The commander yelled.
"Duff-take care of Gladys!" Karl yelled before they pushed his stretcher into the ambulance.
Kelley broke away and ran to his squad car, hit the light and headed toward the gate
Rocco yelled that the hounds were all accounted for and they were ready. I ran to the Deuce and jumped on board. Al stood in the front next to his mother who moaned and breathed heavy. She didn't look good.
"Hold on tight," Rocco shouted. "We're out of here." He hit the gas hard and everyone lurched forward, which made Gladys let out a horrible sound. I looked in the back. The entire AJ's Army tended to the motley crew of bassets. The hounds howled and barked and in a chaotic mess. I crawled through the opening to check on the dogs and I got to meet up close and personal all the hounds Karl had told me about through their name tags. The hounds were wound up, but they all seemed okay except for Gladys. I climbed back through to the front seat and squeezed in next to Al.
Several cops and troopers fell in behind us with their lights on. We got out of the entrance seconds later and before my sigh of relief cleared my lips, the whole world shook. A series of explosions cascaded and then one giant one kaboomed like Independence Day. The sky turned burnt orange and, for a moment, it was as bright as day out. Sparks, debris, hunks of storage building rained down on us. I looked back. Everything close to the storage building was gone. Through the smoke I could see a huge crater and then I realized something. Just because somebody's crazy doesn't mean people aren't out to get him.
The truck made a dramatic swerve, righted itself, and I snapped back in the moment. A very pregnant basset next to me made it tough to be totally relieved. Up ahead, I could see Karl's ambulance disappear and I hoped he was as all right as he acted. A slew of fire engines passed us going the opposite way, heading toward the puppy mill. I thought they were going to be just a tad late.
The sky, still lit up, made me think of Independence Day.
47
Gladys moaned and the rest of the boys hooted and hollered from the back of the Deuce.
"Duffy, I got just one question," Rocco looked over at me while he drove.
"Yeah?"
"Where the hell are we taking 50 hounds, including this very-soon-to-be mother?"
"Uh…oh geez…"
"Forgot that detail, huh?"
I got so bent on my promise to Karl, I hadn't thought any further down the line. The top priority was to get Gladys to a vet. The problem, it headed toward 11:00 at night and I didn't know the first thing about vets. The second thing, we needed a safe place to house the hounds while I figured out what to do with them. That meant I needed a big fenced-in area, medical attention and food for fifty dogs.
"Head to Rudy's," I said.
"You're kidding, right?" Rocco said. "Tonight's his big todo, win-back-the-ex-night. Gourmet food, the string quartet, tuxedos."
"There's food, there's a big fenced-in area and there's Rudy-he's a doctor. It will be perfect."
"I'm not sure Rudy will think so."
"Yeah, there's that."
Rocco shook his head, but he hit the gas and headed toward Rudy's. It would take us about twenty minutes. I looked down at Gladys and I was not sure she could make it. She panted pretty bad, fussed around, and drooled excessively, even for a basset. Al whimpered and looked back and forth from me to his mom. This was tough.
"Rocco, speed it up a little. I think she might be ready," I said.'
"Ready? Like ready, ready?"
"I think so."
Rocco turned and yelled, "Hang on men, we're making the shift to light speed."
The Deuce lurched forward and I have to admit it got more than a little scary. Hounds barked, some bayed, and when I glanced back, it looked like my new best friends, the gangbangers, did their best to avoid the basset induced fragrance.
"You get any thoughts for a strategy once we get to Rudy's?"
"Uh… Not really. I think this is just one of those Rudy things."
"A Rudy thing…" Rocco wasn't actually talking to me. Rudy lived on the outside of town in a nice big old colonial. He had spent the summer getting it spruced up, having it landscaped, painted, the whole deal. This was all about getting Marie back. I didn't want to screw that up, but I had a pregnant hound on my hands.
Rudy would understand.
I thought he would.
Rocco made the turn down the private drive and we could see the white tent. Special lighting lit the road just for the party and I could see thirty or forty cars parked on Rudy's lawn. He even had a valet service for the night. The hounds reacted to slowing down, kicking their excitement up a gear.
"Park it right over there." I pointed to a spot about twentyfive feet from the tent.
"Rocco, I'm running in with Gladys to find Rudy. Can you direct the rest of the crew?"
"I got it Duff. Good Luck."
I scooped up Gladys, in her tattered blanket, and she let out a sad half moan, half howl.
"Easy girl, easy girl."
I ran through the tent entrance, with its ivy-covered trestle. Fancy looking folks, some I recognized from the hospital, in fancy cocktail attire with their drinks in hand looked at me like I came from Mars.
"Rudy! Rudy," I screamed at the top of my lungs. The string quartet played on.
I madly looked from side to side. Party goers cleared a path, mostly out of fear, as I ran through them. Finally, I saw him. He wore a white tuxedo jacket and black tuxedo pants. He was with Marie, who dressed in a sharp looking black sparkly cocktail dress.
He caught a sight of me and his eyes went wide, beyond what I thought was possible.
"Duff-what the hell-" he said. I don't know if I ever saw a man with a look of such intense horror and anger.
"Rudy, she's in trouble-I didn't know where else to go. She's pregnant and I think she's ready."
"I'm not a freakin' vet. I'm a-"
"C'mon Rudy!"
I laid Gladys down. Rudy took his coat off and got down on all fours. Marie had her hand on her chest and her mouth wide open with nothing coming out. Al sat next to me, whimpering.
"Okay…okay…easy girl…Duffy, get some napkins or a table cloth or something…" Rudy concentrated on Gladys. I ran through the stunned party goers who had now gathered around Rocco. The string quartet continued playing, giving everything a weird feel.
I gathered up napkins and supplies, rushing around all frantic, not knowing
what the hell else to do. As I ran back towards the circle around Rudy, a roar of applause came up from the crowd. They clapped, hooted and hollered.
I pushed my way through the crowd with my stuff and there knelt Rudy. His tuxedo shirt covered in blood and his own sweat, his comb-over had flopped over his ear, and he was busy pulling out puppies. The party-goers continued clapping, the women crying and the men just had their mouths open.
"That's number eight," Rudy said, with a heavy exhale. He had some sort of creepy clearish fluid all over him. He ran his hand over Gladys.
"Easy girl…" he said.
"She okay?"
Rudy looked up at me and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah kid, she'll be fine." Rudy stood up, looking disgusted.
"You have any idea what you've done or how hard I worked on this?" He looked around at what had become a less than glamorous affair. Covered in blood, dirt, sweat, and that creepy fluid, he had totally lost the Great Gatsby look.
"You know, Duffy I ought to-"
Marie didn't let him finish. She ran up and threw her arms around him. She cried really hard and shook.
"I'm sorry, so sorry Marie." Over her shoulder, he glared at me. I hung my head, knowing I had fucked things up for him again.
Marie cried and cried. The circle of partygoers around them got quiet and awkward. Marie pulled away and wiped her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Marie. I wanted so much to-"
"The man I knew before never would've done something like this. This was so beautiful and so selfless." Marie and Rudy looked each other in the eyes, as if no one else existed. "God, I love you!" She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. The partygoers cheered.
"God, I'm so glad you called me back," Marie said. While they we're hugging, Rudy looked at me, shook his head and rolled his eyes at me. I gave him a big thumbs up and I think I had a tear in my eye.
"Marry me-again!" Marie said to Rudy. Everyone cheered like a bottom of the ninth home run at Yankee Stadium.
"Oh my God-you bet I will," Rudy said. You couldn't ask for a better feel-good moment. Then Rocco released the hounds
Suddenly fifty, or so, hounds descended upon the party. They ran, barked, and generally went nuts-until they found the caterer and the buffet.
A group of about six, including Lola Love, Sherlock, and Blake, knocked over the tenderloin carving station and pulled at the peppercorn-encrusted slabs. Arthur, Louie, and Sadie, and three of their best friends including that little Maltese-Pom Tedward, had buried their heads in the gigantic shrimp cocktail bowl, slobbering all over the sterling silver. All of AJ's Army joined in the party, chasing the hounds around. Quite a scene had developed and it dawned on me that my close friends weren't really the society party types. The gangbangers ran after about six bassets that barked and howled and had a good time. Jerry Number Two tried to talk a big brown and white fellow out of eating the foix gras, but he appeared to be being ignored.
Billy chased Sally, Maui, and Guffy, who headed straight for the pool and dived in. Billy, having spent some time with Al and me, knew there was a good chance the dogs couldn't swim, so he went in after him. That started kind of a chain reaction and four or five hounds dove in to get refreshed. Billy's buddy, Timo, went in, and one by one he lifted the hounds out of the pool. Each hound got out and did that tornado basset thing to shake off the water before heading for the buffet table. Somehow a bunch of bassets got into the caterer's portable kitchen and had a field day with the mini-quiches, eating them by the paw-full. A couple of other big fat red and whites had their heads stuck in an ice bowl, having a drink. The society crowd kind of collectively gasped. Some of the women had their hands up around their necks in terror, while many others took it all in and laughed at the chaos around them. One couple sounded a little distressed over what they anticipated would be high dry cleaning expenses.
"Thanks for comin' Duff," Rudy said and put his arm around me.
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what? I've had my head in this party all summer."
"They found a weapons cache in the Asian kid's room at Notre Dame. The cans of Vienna Sausage were filled with explosives headed to our soldiers."
"You're shittin' me," Rudy said.
"Maybe I'm not as crazy as people here think," I said. Rudy and I quietly watched fifty basset hounds run crazy all over his party, scavenging gourmet food, swimming in his pool, and dunking their heads in crystal serving bowls.
"Maybe, maybe not," Rudy said.
48
It wasn't long after Kelley showed up and I got to meet his girlfriend, the conservation cop. He let me know Karl was fine; he'd lost a bit of blood but fortunately, he didn't take the full force from the shotgun. He also reported Karl didn't beat any orderlies up and seemed remarkably at peace during the whole process. Maybe the hospital staff ran out of tracking microchips.
"I know plenty of people in the dog rescue business," Kim said after we got introduced, and she took out her cell phone. It was after two in the morning and the three of us stood at the entrance to Rudy's watching the hounds sleeping peacefully on his once finely manicured lawns.
"Kim, you do know it's after two in the morning, right?" I said.
She smiled. "You've never met people in the dog rescue business have you?"
Within an hour, five people had arrived, and each said they had two or three other folks that would 'foster' some hounds. Like some sort of canine UNICEF they came, rounded up the dogs, and let me know what a great guy I was for having the courage to storm the puppy mill.
I shook my head and smiled, mostly to myself.
"It wasn't me, trust me," I said.
They looked at me kind of funny, but they were busy rounding up the bassets.
The main rescue woman's name was Heather and she came over to shake my hand.
"You will not be forgotten in hound circles," she said.
"Somehow that fits," I said.
"Is there anything we can do for you?" I thought for a second and although a voice inside me said I was nuts, I had learned to ignore that voice most of my life. Recently, I think I've gotten even better at not paying attention to it.
"Yeah, there is. Would it be okay if Gladys and her kids came home with me?"
"I can't think of a better home for them." She smiled and then spontaneously hugged me. I reached in my pocket and gave her the money I got from Heimi.
"What's this?" she said.
"For your expenses. You'll need it." Kelley was smiling and so was Kim.
"You have some interesting friends, Mike," she said. No one called him 'Mike.'
"Yeah, I know," Kelley said, looking at me. He looked down and lightly kicked at the grass. "Hey Duff?" I looked at Kelley.
"I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for not believing you."
"Kell, you don't have to apologize. I was off my rocker and probably still am. Some of this shit's going to be with me for a while. Just because everything worked out doesn't mean I'm not a little-or a lot-fucked up," I said.
The next afternoon I got up, after sleeping right through to noon. I didn't remember dreaming and I barely remembered going to sleep. Gladys and the TCB Band-my name for the kids, after Elvis' backing group-slept on the floor. She seemed worn out, but otherwise okay.
I called Trina after a couple of cups of coffee.
"I don't know if I said 'Thanks'."
"I'm just glad you made it okay," she said.
"Tomorrow she'll fire me for sure," I said. "But, you know, it might be time, and a couple of months with nothing to do might be good for the mental health."
"Duff, the place needs you and I think you need it. You could still get in there and get caught up on the paperwork. You've done it before, you can do it again."
"Not today, Trinie baby. Not after what I've been through. Not this time."
The other end of the phone got quiet and I heard a sniffle or two.
"Hey, you doing anything today? I could use a hand with something."
I told her of my plan and she just shook her head.
"All of them?"
"Can you think of a better home for them?" I said.
"Well, actually, no."
We loaded the car up and Al sat in the back. At the hospital I commandeered a wheel chair and put the box on the seat.
"Looky who's here!" the world's cheeriest receptionist said. Al walked with his mother and didn't sprint over to spelunk this time.
"This is Al's mom and his brothers and sisters," I pulled the blanket off the box. I put my index finger up to my lips. "No one has to know, right?" I gave her my best wink. I got a wink back, and we headed up the elevator. Karl slept. He had an IV in and a monitor kept his pulse and blood pressure. I was about to touch him lightly on the arm when Al shook the walls of the hospital with the world's most effective alarm clock sound.
Karl's eyes fluttered and he came around. He shook his head a little bit and smiled down at Al and Gladys.
"She made it?" He grinned. "Thank God, she made it."
"Karl, I got something for you." He looked confused and I motioned to Trina.
She lifted the box onto his lap gently and took off the towel. The puppies peeped a little bit.
"Oh…oh my…oh my God." He started to cry. "They made it?"
"Every single one of them," I said.
Karl picked up each puppy, kissing everyone one of them. His tears ran into their mushy faces.
"Oh my God…" Karl kept repeating.
I looked at Trina and she was crying. I felt my eyes well up. Karl sat oblivious. He just talked to his new friends. I let him do it without interruption for awhile.
"Hey Karl, buddy?"
"Yeah, Duffy?" he said without looking up at me.