“We’d better get these guys moving,” Carly says. “Which way?”
“To the Hub Mall?”
“Sure.”
As we head to the university, Buddy and Rowdy pull hard on their leashes. It’s like they’ve both decided that they have to be the leader.
“Does Buddy usually pull you like this?”
“Not usually,” Carly says. “What about Rowdy?”
“Always.”
Carly laughs.
“It looks like Buddy’s gone this way before,” I say.
“Hundreds of times. Mom works at the physed building. Any minute now, Buddy’s going to veer toward the Butterdome.”
Sure enough, two seconds later, Buddy tries to pull Carly toward the Butterdome.
“Where should I take Buddy for our walk tomorrow night?”
“He likes it around here and by the Kinsmen Sports Center down the hill. He gets excited watching the runners take off from outside the gym.”
We walk in silence for a few minutes and are soon at the Hub Mall.
“If you want to run in for drinks,” Carly says, “I’ll hold Buddy and Rowdy.”
“Deal,” I say. “What do you want to drink?”
“Umm, surprise me.”
“Might be risky. What if I get you something you can’t stand?”
“I’ll take my chances.”
I hand Rowdy’s leash to Carly. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I can’t resist a backward glance at Carly and the dogs as I open the door to the Hub Mall. Carly is laughing as Buddy pushes Rowdy away to stand closer to Carly.
I’m with you there, Buddy!
I scope out the vendors inside the mall. A yogurt smoothie? I don’t think so. A Coke? Nah. Then I see it.
“Can I have two chocolate milkshakes?”
“Here you are,” I tell Carly minutes later.
Carly looks into the see-through lid. “Chocolate milkshake?”
“The finest,” I say.
“Umm-hmmm,” Carly says, taking a long drink from the straw.
I take Rowdy’s leash from Carly, and we walk across the campus.
“Do you think you might end up here some day?” Carly asks me.
“Where?”
“Here. Studying at the university.”
“I haven’t thought about it,” I say. “I pretty much take things one day at a time.”
Carly laughs. “So you’re almost thinking about tomorrow then?”
“Yeah. When Buddy and I do our solo walk. Right, Buddy?”
When he hears his name, Buddy trots back and licks my hand. Then he bounds in front of us, trying to get ahead of Rowdy again.
“He likes you,” Carly says. “I’m so glad. I don’t like leaving Buddy with just anyone. He’s too special.”
“I meant what I said before, Carly. I’ll take good care of Buddy tomorrow night. We’ll have a great time. Just us guys! And I’ll get him back home safely.”
“Thanks, Turk.” Then Carly does something that I don’t expect. She stops. She turns. And she kisses me. Square on the mouth. Then she starts walking again. As though nothing out of the ordinary just happened.
I smile to myself as we circle back toward her house.
Good going! I haven’t blown it yet tonight! So while I’m on a roll—
“Carly, there’s this birthday party Saturday night. At Meghan’s house. I don’t know when you’re back from Calgary. Or maybe you’re too tired to go out after you’ve run a race...,” I’m starting to lose it. “...But if you think you might like to go to the party—”
“I’d love to go the party with you, Turk.”
“Really?”
We’re at Carly’s driveway now. I don’t want Carly to go in, but I’m almost relieved that the night is ending before I blow it somehow.
“Yeah, really,” Carly says. “And by the way, I’m only at school tomorrow for the morning. Mom and I are leaving for Calgary at lunchtime. To avoid the traffic.”
“So I might not see you tomorrow?”
“Maybe not. Maybe not until Saturday night.”
“At seven o’clock.”
“See you Saturday night then,” Carly says softly.
“Yeah.”
And as Carly bounds into her house, I mutter to myself, “I can’t wait!”
chapter ten
At school on Friday, I see Carly for only a second.
“Hey, Turk!” Carly calls over her shoulder as she bounds down the hall. “See you tomorrow!”
“Looks like your business is working.”
I jump and turn around.
“You’re doing okay with the girls, right Stick Man?” Chuck drawls. “Or at least with one of them.”
Oh no! Does Chuck know more about the business than I think?
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Carly, you doofus. You know—Runner Girl?” I’m so tense that I barely catch the whiff of underarm sweat as Chuck reaches up to comb his hair.
“I don’t mean about Carly. I mean about my dog-walking business. You said—”
“That you’ve hit on a real brainwave. I’ve gotta hand it to you, man. The girls are all over the dogs. Then the girls are all over the guy who’s holding the dog’s leash.”
I freeze on the spot. Except for my stomach, which does a huge back-flip.
“Now add this to the picture,” Chuck says, “a guy who is big and”—he tosses his comb aside and strikes a pose—”built! It’s brilliant!”
He knows!
“So Turk, maybe you could deal me in on the action. Come to think of it, I don’t have anything on tonight.”
I slam my locker shut and take off to class. I need to clear my head—decide my next move—before I can deal with Chuck. First I’m going to find out who blabbed. Then...well, then I don’t know what I’m going to do.
At Leo’s locker after school, I ask them, “Who told Chuck about the business?”
“What do you mean?” Leo says. “No one would tell Chuck.”
“Wrong. Someone did. Chuck knows everything about the business. Everything.” I wait while my words sink in. “Who was it?”
No one says anything. I look at all of them in turn. They all meet my eyes. Except Kyle.
“Kyle?”
“Chuck already knew about the business before I said a word,” Kyle protests. “He said you told him all about it.”
I shake my head. “All I’d told him was that we walk dogs. Not that we walk dogs to meet girls! He didn’t know that part!” I realize I’m yelling.
And now Kyle is yelling too. “I’m supposed to know what you told him and what you didn’t tell him? Chuck was yakking on about your dog-walking business—that you told him about. And I’m supposed to know you didn’t tell him about meeting girls?”
Kyle pauses long enough to catch his breath. But only so he can yell at me some more. “So you wanna know who blabbed? I’ll tell you, Turk. You did!”
In the silence that follows, I realize that Kyle’s right. If I hadn’t been showing off in front of Carly, Chuck wouldn’t know anything about the business at all.
I don’t know what to say. I clear my throat and pull out the schedule I gave the guys last Monday.
“So the schedule’s still okay for everyone?”
“Except Justin’s still sick,” Jonathan says.
“Still?”
“Yeah, puking like crazy.” Everyone groans.
“So who can walk Axel tonight?”
Silence.
“I’m meeting Rachel for a movie,” Jonathan says.
“What about you, Brad? Can you walk Axel and Gretzky tonight? They’d be okay together.”
“No, Turk. I was just about to tell you. I can’t walk any dogs tonight. We have to drive to Camrose. My grandmother fell and broke her wrist. We’ve gotta go help her out.”
“Tonight?”
“Yep.”
“Is anyone else free tonight?”
“Leo, can you help? Around seven?”
“Well, maybe. But I’ll be a bit late. I’ve gotta walk all the way to Parkallen to pick up Pepper.”
“That’s okay. We can make this work. I’ll get Buddy and bring him back to my house. Then I’ll pick up Axel and Gretzky. Axel will be at my place for you to pick up just after seven. Then I’ll walk Buddy and Gretzky.”
“That should work,”Leo says.
“Thanks, Leo.”
“No problem.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
chapter eleven
Mom’s in the kitchen when I whip in for some food.
“Turk, I was thinking. We haven’t had much quality family time lately. Maybe tonight we could—”
“Not tonight, Mom. I’ve got a whole ton of dogs to walk. Justin’s sick. Brad’s out of town.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Yeah.” I down some milk, then throw together a cheese sandwich.
“You know,” Mom says, “maybe Dad and I could help. We’re really proud of how responsibly you’ve been running your business. Your father has been hearing good things from the people he works with too. In fact,”Mom’s eyes widen, “if you want to bring the dogs here, Dad and I can help you walk them.”
It’s hardly my idea of a good time. But it just might help with all the dogs Leo and I need to walk tonight. Not to mention getting another round of quality family time out of the way.
“Sure, Mom. Thanks.”
“I’ll put together some dinner for Dad and me. Then we’ll get ready for some dog walking.”
Dad gets home a few minutes later. At first he’s surprised when Mom tells him the plan for the evening. But he bounces back fast when she leans heavily into the words quality family time.
Minutes later, I’m heading out the door.
“I have to get Buddy. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Ten minutes later, I’m introducing Buddy to Mom and Dad.
Mom looks at Buddy. Then she eyes her Persian rug.
“It’s okay, Mom. Buddy’s house-trained.”
“Yes, of course.” But she still looks worried.
“I’ve gotta pick up Axel and Gretzky now. I won’t be long. Have fun with Buddy!”
“Sure, Turk,” Dad says as I crash out the front door again.
“Okay. Now I’ve got everyone,” I pant as I stumble back inside with Axel and Gretzky fifteen minutes later.
“Did Leo come by yet?”
“He did,” Mom said. “He was going to wait here until you got back with Axel. But I told him to go have a nice walk with that little dog he’d already picked up.”
“But we had it all planned. He was going to walk Axel too. I don’t like changing the plan at the last minute like this. In case something goes wrong.”
“What could go wrong?”
I shrug. “Nothing, I guess. You and Dad and me can still manage three dogs.”
“You mean two dogs,” Dad says.
“Two?”
That doesn’t make sense. I look around the corner into the living room.
“Where’s Buddy?” My voice comes out in a whisper.
“Buddy’s already started his walk,” Mom says. “Just before Leo arrived, another one of your friends came by to walk one of the dogs. We sent him away with Buddy.”
“Oh no! Carly asked me to walk Buddy myself.”
“Turk, settle down,” Dad says. “I’m sure you’ve only hired trustworthy young men for your business. Buddy will be fine with someone else tonight.”
He’s probably right. But still, I promised Carly.
“The guys all said they were busy tonight,” I say. “So who picked up Buddy?”
“It was somebody I haven’t met before,” Mom says. “What was his name again, Mack?”
“Chuck, wasn’t it?”
“That’s it. Chuck!” Mom says.
“Not Chuck!”
“Turk, settle down. Chuck seemed perfectly polite and respectable—”
“That’s what you think!”
“And he said he’d be back with Buddy in an hour.”
I grab Axel and Gretzky’s leashes and clip them onto the dogs. Then I face Mom and Dad. “You two stay here. We’re going looking for Chuck and Buddy. If they come back while I’m out, call me on my cell.”
We shoot out the door. Axel and Gretzky are surprised that we’re running down the sidewalk instead of doing our usual walk. Axel soon gets into it, but I have to scoop Gretzky up and carry her under my arm like a football.
Where would they have gone?
Think like Chuck, I tell myself.
But that’s no help. From what I can tell, Chuck isn’t what you’d call a deep thinker.
Okay, then think like Buddy.
The university!
With Gretzky still under my arm, Axel and I bolt over to the campus. I veer toward the Butterdome like Buddy did earlier this week.
“Buddy! Bud-dy!” I call.
As I run, I think about how badly I want to beat the crap out of Chuck. And if anything happens to Buddy, I swear...
We’re almost at the Butterdome.
“Buddy!”
No answer. No sign of Chuck and Buddy at all.
I’ve circled almost all the way around the Butterdome when my cell phone rings.
“Yeah?”
“Turk, it’s your mother.”
“I know it’s you. Where’s Buddy?”
“He’s here. And he’s perfectly fine. Just like I told you he would be.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. You should feel very foolish. All that fuss for nothing,” Mom says.
“Did Chuck say anything when he brought Buddy back?”
“Just to let you know that he scored big with Buddy tonight. Whatever that means.”
Let’s not go there, Mom!
I try to catch my breath. “So Buddy’s there with you? Right now?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t let him out of your sight. I’ll be home soon.”
I run all the way home. Buddy runs to greet me when I burst through the door.
“Hey, Buddy. Sorry about tonight, boy. You’re okay?” I rub his ear.
“For heaven’s sake, Turk. He’s fine. You’ve made a big deal out of nothing.”
“No comment,” I say. “I’m going to take the dogs home now.”
“Do you want your mother and me to help?”
I don’t answer. I just slam the door shut behind me.
First I drop Gretzky off. Then Axel. I keep Buddy with me until last. It’s like I’m still trying to keep my promise to Carly about walking Buddy—even though I’ve already screwed up big time.
Matt opens the door when I ring the doorbell. Jeez, he fills up the whole doorway. What did Carly say Matt does? Football? Wrestling? Something like that. He’s huge!
“Hi, uh, Matt. Here’s Buddy.” I hand him Buddy’s leash. “We...er...had a good walk tonight.”
I turn to go.
“Wait. Mom left you a check. For walking Buddy.”
“Thanks.”
I’m partway down the driveway when Matt calls me back.
“Hey,” he says.
“Yeah?”
“Are you a runner?”
“Uh, no. Why?”
“Looks like you’ve been running.”
I’d rather not have to explain why I was running like crazy tonight.
“No way,” I say. “I’m actually allergic to my own sweat.”
Matt looks at me like I’ve just stepped off another planet.
As I step onto the sidewalk, I realize that what I’ve been blinking away for a while now is sweat. So that’s why Matt looked at me so funny.
Then as I’m shivering in my sweaty T-shirt, I realize what’s happened. It’s not just the running that had me sweating tonight. I was worried about Buddy. Not just because he’s Carly’s dog. But because
he’s a good guy, and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to him. Or to any of the other dogs.
That’s it! It’s the dogs. Wouldn’t you know it! The dogs have gotten to me!
chapter twelve
When Leo phones me on my cell the next day, he says, “You sound half dead. What’s up?”
“I ran around the university last night.”
“You gotta be kidding! Not the guy who tries to dodge every gym class he possibly can! Not the guy who’s—”
“I know. Allergic to his own sweat.”
“Yeah. So what’s with the running then?”
I pour out the whole story.
Leo gives a low whistle. “So what’re you gonna do now? You gonna tell Carly that Upchuck walked her dog last night?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Turk!”
“Hang on, Leo. Mom’s calling me.”
“Mom, I’m on my cell.” I step out onto the staircase.
She holds the cordless phone toward me.
“It’s for you. It’s Carly.”
Carly? What am I going to say to her!
“Listen, Leo—”
“Yeah, I heard. It’s Carly. Catch you later.”
“Hey, Carly.” I shift phones as I walk back into my bedroom.
“Turk, how’s it going?”
“Good. Er...so you’re home, eh?”
“Yeah. Mom and I just got in an hour ago.”
“How was your race?”
“Awesome! I finished second in my age group. The winner beat me by just a few seconds. I had her almost until the end.”
“Right on, Carly. You’ll beat her next time.”
“I hope so,” Carly says. “But still, that’s the fastest I’ve ever run a five-mile race.”
“You ran five miles today, rode back from Calgary, and you’re still alive?”
“Yeah,” Carly laughs. “And, I’m going out partying with you in a few hours. Remember?”
“No way I’d forget that.”
“Me either. It’ll be fun. I was thinking about the party when I was running this morning.”
“Maybe that’s why you didn’t win. Aren’t you supposed to think about running faster than everyone else?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Carly laughs. “But there’s something else I phoned about. To thank you for walking Buddy last night.”
Suddenly that warm glow I’d been feeling vanishes.
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