George Knows

by Mindy Mymudes

  Lucky Tuffy.

  Had they seen The Bad Thing?

  We face each other. Both Tommy and Tuffy yawn and their eyes are wide, showing whites. They are afraid. I show them it’s okay by licking my lips. But, is it? Tuffy spins, growls, paws the ground, and yips. There was something. They could have fought it, but it was gone.

  I am glad they didn’t run into The Bad Thing. I lick my lips again. I slurp their muzzles and “aroo” to them. Leave it to me—I am a great hunting dog. I trundle over to their Peep and lick her ankle, looking back to the fur balls. They dance back to their Packmate and paw and jump on her. They understand they must protect her. I lick Tuffy’s side and sneeze to let them know they have to stay out of the park.

  Doggy language is clear as glass.

  Positive they know their job, I trundle back to Karly. She is telling their Packmate the same thing.

  I pull my Girlpup and gargle to Auntie Heather. Time to gogogo! Now! The Bad Thing is in the park.

  Must catch it!

  Need to find the campfire, too.

  “Looks like George is on a mission,” Tommy and Tuffy’s Peep says, holding her own Pack back. They want to go home. “Are you going to the demonstration this early?”

  “Oh no! Please tell me that isn’t today,” Auntie Heather groans.

  The Peep looks at the band on her wrist. “In about an hour. Most of the witches from the area and neighbors are coming. I thought you were involved with putting this together.” She has a beautiful crease in her forehead. It’s sad that it means the Peeps are confused. “Oh and be careful. Someone set small fires in the wooded part of the park. I’m afraid they might blame us for it.”

  “I was,” Auntie Heather mumbles under her breath. “I guess I forgot what day it was. Of course we’ll be there, thanks for reminding me. Wouldn’t look good to miss my own party.” She begins to smell like fearsweat. It isn’t a good time for other Peeps in the woods part of the park. “Thanks for warning me about the fires. That’s awful.”

  “Isn’t it? I wonder who did it. Maybe it was the contractor, to scare us away. Well, don’t get too lost in your plant collecting. The bulldozers are scheduled to start taking down trees and we need to block them from the park entrance. Besides, I haven’t heard anything about the police finding out where those old bones George found came from. I’m sure it’s safe—” I growl and she looks down at me. I smile back at her. “—Um, I’m sure it’s safe, they were old bones after all, but still. Oh, and I need to have a wart looked after. Maybe tomorrow?”

  Auntie Heather agrees and the Peeps say their goodbyes. I wag my tail at the fluff balls and they wag back. Enough with this, time to gogogo. I stomp my paws. “Arrrufaroo!”

  “Guess we gotta go,” Karly tells the small Pack.

  Smart Karly.

  If I had a treat, I’d give it to her. I am proud of her. She’s learning my language so well. I know she’s trainable.

  Just a little stubborn.

  Chapter Ten

  I smelltaste The Bad Thing right away. Woods usually suck scent in. This is rolling over the parking lot like fog, and onto the big machines. I don’t like the equipment and wish they were gone, but I feel bad they have the foggy stuff touching them. I put my nose down on the pavement. It smelltastes like dead tree smoke and burnt green leaves.

  Not a typical smelltaste for the woods.

  There is a gob of gum on the ground. I lick it and try to pull it up. Karly jerks me back.

  Spoil sport.

  Auntie Heather’s shoes squeak a little on the pavement. She points to a big herd of Peeps standing near the big machines. “They came early. I hope no one decides to follow us.”

  “Can’t we dull our edges so no one can see us?” Karly always wants a chance to use her magic craft.

  “That usually only works if no one saw us. Since Belinda, who is a busybody witch, is walking this way we’ve already been spotted. Let’s go into the woods before she gets here and you can try your spell. If it doesn’t work we’ll have to wait until after the demonstration.

  I lead Karly to the top of the trail and pull her behind some bushes. Auntie Heather’s shoes stop squeaking, but something in her backpack tinkclinks. Is it a supper bowl? She puts a hand behind her and pulls out a pouch of herbs.

  Of course it’s not. I tell my tummy that we are still working. It rumbles back at me. Auntie Heather and Karly glare at me. I sit and look around.

  It’s a woods.

  Yep.

  “This is from the batch you made. It’s getting a bit old, but I think it will still work.”

  Karly takes the pouch from Auntie Heather. The pouch looks like a tea bag, but it smelltastes like dust, mold, and rotting things. I like it and try to take a lick. Karly holds it out of my reach. She shakes some into her hand and poofs it with some words and her breath into the air. She doesn’t need the words. I’ll show her how when she is more willing to share our minds. It lands on my coat. My nose tickles and “achooh, choo,” I sneeze. More of it swirls around, shiny dust in the sun. Magic takes shape around us.

  Roquefort tags my butt; I jump straight up. Even if the woods weren’t dead he would’ve caught me. I glare at him and plot ways of getting even.

  “Oh good, you’re here. Did you find anything?” Auntie Heather pets her familiar and I am a little jealous. I shake off the jealousy. Karly is mine, not Auntie Heather.

  “Do they allow grilling now?” Karly looks around. “The herbs shouldn’t smell like smoke, should they?” She scrunches her face and takes a deep breath. Peeps try so hard. She could ask me where the smelltaste is coming from.

  “That isn’t coming from my herbs. That must be from the fires that were set. Did the spell work?” Now she looks at her hands and feet.

  All sparkly.

  I bend around and look at my glossy, sleek coat. It’s all sparkly, too. Funny that sparkles dull us so we blend into the background. Unless someone knows we’re here. Would they see our sparkles? I crinkle my nose. I am handsome enough without sparklies.

  “Heather? Are you here? Heather?” Auntie Heather’s friend’s shout broke the quiet.

  Huh, that’s weird. I hadn’t noticed how quiet it is. The creatures aren’t talking.

  No evil squirrel taunts, no angry birds squawking at me. Not even any stinging bugs herding me out because they think I don’t belong here. Hah, I am a great hunter. They’re afraid of me.

  When they are here.

  Where are they?

  “I could have sworn I saw her,” the friend murmurs as she moves back to the parking lot. Mission accomplished. I sneeze again and move out of the sparkly cloud.

  “Let’s go before someone else decides they want to take a hike. I want to at least check out the pit,” Auntie Heather tells us as she pushes through the plants and shrubs. I would like to mark them, but she turns her head and shakes it. “No.” Sigh. ’Kay. Not now, anyway.

  I drag my Karly to the pit. As we get closer the trees show burn marks. The worst are closest to the hole—shredded bark is burned black. Someone had a bad night. My nose drips from the smell of The Bad Thing mixed with charred wood. I like campfires. I don’t like trees hurt for no reason. If it wanted to mark its territory it should leave pee-mail, not hurt defenseless plant things.

  “George, wait, stop. George, I’m going to trip. GEORGE!” my paw-disadvantaged Girlpup pants out. I slow down.

  A little.

  Auntie Heather keeps up with me, her bag rustling and she pulls out a bell.

  Not a supper dish.

  Darn.

  The soft tinkclinks of the bell calls out like a bird. Bird? I like to chase birds. I look for them. No, all the birds are gone. The Bad Thing needs to be gone, not my birds. The Bad Thing can keep the squirrels.

  We reach the pit. Auntie Heather digs out the pretty bell and rings it. The sound bounces off the circle and chimes back to us. The circle is still up. The trees and bushes around the hole are trash. Bark, branches, and leaves are r
ipped to shreds and burned to dark bits—not a good smelltaste. I cough it back off my tongue. Charcoal doesn’t taste good even with hamburger fat on it. I know from experience.

  “Looks like our friend was a little angry last night. Look.” Auntie Heather rings the bell again. The waves swirl around the bubble of the world. I already saw that. Except…I take a closer look. It looks like many things hit the bubble and left dents.

  “Wow, what did that?” Karly drops her leash and walks closer to the bubble. “Auntie Heather, please ring it again.” She puts out her hands and waves them a little. “The Hodag was angry he couldn’t get into his hole. Wow. It feels like he tried to paint the ward black. He really is a firebreathing dragon.” My Girlpup’s eyes are as big as pork chops.

  “I think angry is an understatement. While I suspect the only way to see our friend is to come out at night, I don’t want to come out alone. And no, you can’t come.” Auntie Heather puts her bell back in her bag and pulls out some salt and herbs. She grabs one more thing: ropes and wood sticks wrapped together.

  Auntie Heather hands the jar of crystal salt cubes to Karly. “Toss a few of these at the ward to break it. Not too much, we don’t want to poison the soil or kill the plants.” She looks down at the burned charcoal all around her. “Or keep the plants from coming back.” She sighs and uncoils the rope thing. There are two long ends that she ties to a tree that isn’t as damaged as the rest. Auntie Heather pulls the rope thing apart and tosses the other end into the pit.

  “Isn’t that the rope ladder from the upstairs bedroom?” Karly pulls the ends of the ladder tight against the tree. She likes to pull on leashes. At least when she wants to go somewhere she thinks is important.

  “Uh huh. It’s the fire escape ladder from the guest room. Now it’s the pit-exploring ladder. I’m going to climb down. Tell me if the knot begins to untie, I don’t want to fall. If it’s safe, I’ll let you come down.”

  “And if it’s not?”

  “Send George down.”

  Auntie Heather knows I am a good fighter and can protect her. Except, I am not so good jumping or climbing ladders. I hope she doesn’t run into trouble. It would be embarrassing to hurt The Bad Thing by landing and squashing it. I don’t smelltaste it, but you never know. There is so much gassulfurdrysnakecatstink that it’s hard to tell. It doesn’t feel like it’s new. I take a little sample. No, Auntie Heather is right, this is a smelltaste from the night. I can taste dew and moonlight in it and that’s not too bad. Baking in the sun doesn’t improve the smelltaste. I amble over to Karly and blow out my nose on her jeans. She screams at me. Yeah, well, it’s not like I carry a tissue behind my ear. I am not about to use my ear to wipe my nose. That’s sick.

  Auntie Heather slides her arm through the handle of her bag and climbs into the pit. Karly and I hold our breath.

  I’m not sure why.

  Why would that help if Auntie Heather gets into trouble?

  “I have the flashlight shining on the ladder. You can come down, but be very careful, there are a lot of thick roots that the Hodag just broke off and they’re as sharp as spears. Your mom would kill me if I return you with even a scratch,” Auntie Heather calls out from the pit. Why is she talking with a towel over her mouth?

  I poke my head over the hole. How can The Bad Thing stand to smell itself? Packmom complains I smell houndy and chases me for baths. I smell wonderful—it’s the bubbly stuff that reeks. She’d have to use a whole bathtub full of bubbly stuff to wash The Bad Thing, and I am not sure if that would work. Maybe her oilyflowerbitter stuff she puts on for special occasions would help.

  Gag.

  I turn my head, my eyes are tearing and my nose is itchy. This is the only time I can remember that Auntie Heather and Karly have an advantage with their weak senses.

  Karly’s voice sounds like she has a mouth full of oatmeal as it floats up from the hole. “It looks like a junk shop down here. I thought dragons collected gold. This is just garbage.” I hear things clack and clang. “More broken plates, an old picture of a soldier, jars and jugs, and…oh no.”

  “Karly, don’t touch those. I guess we found the rest of the body. I really didn’t want to get the police involved in this, but now I guess we’ll have to. Not good. Hodags are part of a witch’s duty, not the police’s. Unfortunately, dead bodies are theirs.”

  More clinking and some foot scraping.

  The smelltaste swirls up like a tornado of bees and stings my nose. “Arooo,” I howl. Enough is enough—I’ll fight the Hodag Bad Thing.

  First I’ll need a nose mask.

  And food.

  Is it dinnertime? Snack time? My tummy grumbles. I look back into the pit and woof.

  “Just a few more minutes, George. Some of this is very interesting. I think these candleholders are silver. Is this a pile of copper wire? What an odd collection, other than these shiny potato chip bags, everything is very old. Move away from the edge, George. Good boy.”

  I wag my tail. Good boy means a treat. Something flies out of the hole and lands with a thud at my paws. It’s a shiny metal thing. I pick it up by the edge and parade around with it shaking my head to tease Auntie Heather as her head pokes up from the edge of the hole.

  “Silly dog. That’s a picture case. I want to see if we can figure out who is in the picture. Karly, what are you up to down there?” Auntie Heather pulls herself up—her bag is stuffed with moldymetalwoodclay smelltasting things.

  Karly sounds like she’s talking through a towel now. I play keep-away with Auntie Heather. This is fun!

  “George, enough. Give.”

  I drop my head and drop it into her outstretched hand. Peeps have no sense of humor. Life is meant for fun and play.

  “And learning. Sometimes play is learning. Right now we need learn for other reasons. Concentrate on the Hodag, George. I don’t think it’s a murderer, but I have to wonder why it’s here and why it’s burning the woods.”

  She did it again. I narrow my spectacular eyes and look into hers. If I am not allowed in my Girlpup’s head, she shouldn’t be wandering around in mine.

  “That only works for partners. I’m your Packleader and until you and Karly work out your differences, I need to know what you’re up to. Even then I might need to check in on you.” Auntie Heather’s voice is friendly and she strokes my ears. She can do anything as long as she never stops.

  Sigh.

  Mmm.

  I roll into her hand.

  “That’s enough. Karly, are you ready?” She stops rubbing my ears and walks over to my Girlpup, who is struggling with her own bag of stuff that smelltastes like rootsrotmushroomsbone. Peep bones! We definitely don’t need any more of those!

  “I want to study them. If they’re from what I think they might be, I’ll put everything back in the hole and tell the police. Karly, do you want me to take this bag and you can take this smaller one.” Auntie Heather must’ve carried in another bag, ’cause she didn’t have that one before.

  “Woof.” I grab the bag from Karly. I am a strong basset hound. I will carry it.

  Or drag it.

  I am built well, but I’m a little too short to carry a long bag.

  “Thanks for trying to help, but I’ve got it,” Karly says dryly. Hmmm. Is she holding back a laugh? Wish she’d let me into her head. Just in case, I raise my lip in a grin. It’s not a snarl, but let her figure that out. She takes the bag from me. I tug a little then give it up. At least I try to help.

  “Aren’t we going to get in trouble for taking this stuff?” Karly slings the bag over her shoulder and catches up with Auntie Heather. She’s moving fast to the parking lot. I put it into high gear. I am faster than Peeps. Karly stomps on the end of her leash and grabs the handle. My head flies back and my back feet are suddenly ahead of me.

  Fine.

  I don’t want to lose her, but she could’ve just asked. I get up and shake everything back into place.

  “If these things represent what I think they do, then th
e police won’t need to know anything. We’re going to work on a spell to make these treasures talk about their past. Meanwhile, we need to go back to the parking lot. Oh no. I didn’t drive did I?” Auntie Heather lowers her face into her hand. “We need to put these things next to the pit and ward it again. Maybe it’s good I didn’t have the car or I wouldn’t have remembered to protect the pit. We’ll come back for this…” she points to the bags, “after the demonstration.” They pile the stuff from the pit and Karly pulls me to the trail.

  I hope the demonstration means food. I need something to clean my mouth from the smelltaste of The Bad Hodag. Once again, I wish I could spit. Instead, I hack a little.

  It’s not the same.

  Chapter Eleven

  There are many Peeps in the parking lot. Some are sitting at picnic tables. More are sitting on the kind of chairs that rip when I jump on them. They are all talking at once and the sound hurts my ears, especially since the woods are so quiet. They are too loud to notice. Peeps need lessons on using their senses and their brains. The world would be a better place for all of us. Hmmm, now what is this all about? Are demonstrations picnics? I seem to remember Karly telling me about a cooking demonstration she did for a class. I pull Karly to a picnic table that smelltastes good. It smelltastes so good. I lean into my collar, trying to get closer to the food.

  “Knock it off George. I mean it, next time I’ll put a training collar on you,” Karly threatens. Big threat—I can slip out of any collar. I pull closer to the table. Warm smelltastes float over my face and nose and catch in my ears and folds. I sit pretty at the feet of a nice-looking youngster. They always drop food and their faces collect all sorts of nom noms.

  There she goes. A hot dog slides out of the bun and I catch and swallow it before anyone can blink. I lick my lips and wait for the youngster to drop the bun. She wags it around her head and makes weird pup noises. I smelltaste ketchup. Drool collects and drips in a string until I am connected to the ground. Wait for it. Wait… Got it. I snatch the bun before it hits the ground. All done, I pull Karly over to a group of Peeps standing next to a huge yellow and black machine. I can’t even climb up to the door to get in. The bucket in the front is big enough for ten of me.