George Knows

by Mindy Mymudes

  We walk, following a shiny ribbon of energy that Auntie Heather gathered and spun through the fogcloud. It isn’t long before we are back into the sun. I sniff the edge and lift my leg. I can find the edges.

  No problem.

  I look up at Auntie Heather. “Ruff. Woo Woo!” I inform her.

  “Sounds good, George. Stay here and keep everyone out until we can put up our magical fence,” Auntie Heather tells me as she bends down to scritch my back above my tail.

  Ohhh. That is the best spot of all. I wriggle into the scritch until she stops. My ears droop. Sad.

  Scritches always end too fast.

  “Not enough time now. How about a treat when we get back to the house?”

  My ears rise and so does my head. I wag. That sounds good.

  Even if it will take forever before we finish here.

  Auntie Heather clucks and shakes her head as she stands up. “Not forever. Now if anyone wanders over here, keep them away. Karly, come help me with the bags.”

  My small Pack leaves me. I put my nose to the ground and patrol the edge of the fogcloud. It’s easy to find the edge. If I get too close it feels like I am trapped in towels. Not the nice towels that are rubbed over me after a yucky bath.

  Suffocating towels trying to stop everything from being.

  Towels of death.

  I square my shoulders and move with determination, staying away from the fogcloud place. My tail is pointing up with a gentle curve. I lift my head and aroo to the sky. Bad Hodag, I will find and deal with you.

  Whatever you are.

  The woods smelltaste of burnedsmokemaplesyrup.

  I look up.

  More scorched trees. The Bad Hodag is killing our woods. I stomple the ground.

  Auntie Heather is trying to catch her breath when she reaches me. “What’s wrong George? Is the Hodag here? Did you have to scare someone away?” She sets down the bags and wipes her forehead with the back of her hand.

  I jump up to one of the burned trees and lean with front paws against the trunk, standing on a root. I woof and crane my neck to look behind me.

  “I noticed that earlier. What is going through that animal’s mind? It’s senseless destruction and that’s usually something more typical of my kind.”

  I am pretty sure she means Peeps. Not witches. They fix things.

  “The faster we find it, the faster we can move on to other things. We won’t have to worry about the trees burning down if the bulldozers take them down first. I’ve never felt the woods so disrupted. Have you seen any animals at all?”

  Glad one of my Pack finally notices that little fact. Karly plods up to us. I drop down at her feet and offer my belly for a scritch. She’s been gone too long. Plus, she didn’t take her leash with her.

  I don’t need it.

  “I am sure these are getting heavier, Auntie Heather. The Hodag has magic, maybe it made a gravity spell to make things weigh more if they are carried away from the hoard,” Karly complains.

  Auntie Heather snorts at my young Girlpup. I do, too. There is no magic tickling my skin coming from the bags. Karly is lazy. They say I am getting pudgy? I snort again, roll over, and get to my paws. She didn’t even notice my invitation.

  “Did you notice any animal sounds while you were walking?” Auntie Heather takes a bag from Karly and gives her a smaller one.

  “No.” Karly cocks her head and spins slowly in place. “Where is everything? How come we didn’t notice before?”

  I look at her with my mouth wide open. Duh, like maybe you were talking, or thinking too loud? Or the herd of Peeps in the parking lot blahblahblah’d everything out of your head? I told you before and I’ll tell you again, you need to use all your senses. And learn to use mine. When gifts were passed out, I was number one in line. Yep, Karly needs to use her link with me. She won’t learn anything if she won’t. I circle the fogcloud, brushing my whiskers to smellfeel the edge.

  “Where are you going?” my brilliant Girlpup asks.

  I fart as my answer.

  Oopsy.

  Maybe I need different food? Or at least more. I look behind and give her a soft woof to speed her up. We need to seal the barrier before I starve to death.

  “You might want to wait until I prepare the spell. Unless you’re just looking for the Hodag, in which case, be my guest. How were you planning on catching it?” Auntie Heather asks the question of the day.

  Huh. Never even thought of that.

  I know what it smelltastes like, but I am not even sure how big it is or what it looks like. Book pictures aren’t very good for knowing something like that. They’re kind of blurry. So are bookwords. Books aren’t real. Books are a bad way to store stuff that should be kept in brains. They are only good for chewing on. You don’t see familiars, the smartest of all creatures, keep books. No, we know what’s important from the very beginning.

  Even if we don’t know that we know it.

  Except, I don’t know much about the Hodag. Which means only one thing: it’s not important.

  Auntie Heather reaches into the bag filled with all her stuff—not the Hodag stuff—and pulls out her bell, herbs, crystals, and oils. No candles.

  “We don’t need them—there’s enough energy in the woods and water that we don’t have to ask the fire to share its power.”

  How does she do that? Karly looks at me and smiles.

  She knows. Somehow she knows Auntie Heather can hear me. Maybe Auntie Heather hears her, too. That would be fair.

  “Karly, take these crystals. Put the clear quartz north, the smoky quartz south, the onyx west, and the amethyst east. Hold all the stones in your right hand, but place the crystals with your left. Before you put them down, hold them tight and tell them exactly what you want them to do. I’ve already moon-charged them, so they’re good to go. Why don’t you take off the leash, too. George won’t need it for this, it’ll just get in the way.”

  Karly looked at Auntie Heather, her lips were puckered, a silly thing Peeps do, and her eyebrows were so close together they almost looked like there was just one. “Um, what am I supposed to tell them? Isn’t there a prepared spell or something?” she says as she unclasps the leash from my collar. She clips the end to the hand-loop and puts it around her neck.

  Pretty necklace.

  “First, not a lot of anti-Hodag spells. Second, just tell them to keep people from wandering into the fogcloud. It’s different than hiding a hole. I am not sure we can hide the fogcloud without breaking the magic the Hodag used. Until we get home and can find some reference to null magic, we’re just going to ask the crystals to amplify your wish to protect everyone from this trap. At least, I believe this is a trap. It’s too obvious to hide anything. I’ll meet you here coming from the other direction.”

  My Girlpup shook her head, without the drool splatter.

  Poor Girlpup.

  “George, you keep your puh…Karly, from wandering into the fogcloud. I’ll follow the path you made. If I run into a problem I’ll ring the bell. Or send Roque,” Auntie Heather says before she murmurs in a voice that I can barely hear and Karly can’t. “I’m spending too much thinking like you.”

  I roll my eyes at that. She needs to stay out of my mind, period. My Girlpup is the only one that should share it. Roque chatters at me. It sounds like he’s laughing.

  He is.

  Karly and I move away from Auntie Heather. I nudge her left hand and rub my muzzle against the rocks. They smellfeel warm against my whiskers. At each compass point, I mark the spot by lifting my leg. Take that, Bad Hodag—this land is mine! Karly makes gagging noises, but does what she’s supposed to do with the rocks. I lick Karly’s hand to praise her.

  I can’t smelltastefeel or hear Auntie Heather. That should be good, if she rings the bell she’s in trouble. She’s not in trouble. Unless she’s in the magic fogcloud and it killed the sound. Worrying, I pull Karly back to the start. Except…I smelltaste something. It’s good.

  What is it? Squirrel?<
br />
  No. Rabbit? No?

  It’s gamegamegame.

  I take off toward the delicious scent and stick my nose in a spot where a bunch of trees grow together.

  EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

  Fire! Fire is burning my muzzle! Make it stop! Nownownow! Karly! Auntie Heather! Help me! I think I found the Hodag.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Why’d you stick your face into a porcupine?” My beloved Girlpup holds onto my cheeks, tipping my head one way, and then the other. She touches a sharp needle and tries to twist it out. “Nooarooooo!” I wail.

  “Dogs. They never think beyond the moment.” Auntie Heather sprinkles a little oil and drops some leafy bits on the ground I can’t smell to finish the circle. She picks up her bag as she walks to us. “Didn’t we pull quills from your nose last year? I’ll get them out, and then we have to go back to the house to find a better concealing spell. Odd though, I thought all the animals were gone. Karly, did you see the porcupine?”

  Karly shakes her head. Her hand moves too and it’s still on the sharp needle. I wail again. It was The Horrible Hodag! It has quills! I know it. I smellfeel it.

  “WooOOoooo!”

  “Guess this is as good a time for another healing magic lesson. Karly, do you remember what to do?”

  I think Karly nods because she still has her hand on the needle and the pain burns. It could have been The Horrible Hodag. The smell of it is everywhere.

  “It’s different than what you learned before. I think George is a bit distracted by his own pain, so you’ll have to find the link between you two to share your energy. It’s going to sting a bit for both of you. Do you think you can handle it while I pull the quills?”

  I hear Auntie Heather shuffle things in her bag. Hurry already!

  “My Leatherman. Best tool I ever bought.”

  Now I hear clicking and metal sounds. The quills burn. I am sure there is blood running down the white of my bib. I whine, and then whimper for good measure. There must be a gazillion burning needles in my poor nose. What is Karly waiting for? I paw her leg. I think it’s her leg. I don’t care what it is. Hurry and fix me!

  Karly’s silver mindleash to me is solid and she follows it like a champ. Even though it hurts, I am proud of my Girlpup. Good Girlpup. She finds the red-hot pain spots and draws some through our bond. A shudder runs through the hand that’s petting my back.

  “Ouch! It didn’t hurt like this when we healed the squirrel.” Karly stops petting me and the pain builds again.

  “You only need to share energy, not take all his pain. Picture white light pouring down that bond of yours. It won’t hurt as long if you buffer the pain with healing energy. Just hold the link and let George know you’re here for him. If you take too much pain you will be worthless trying to heal him if you’re alone. With other creatures, you’ll only feel enough so you can recognize the symptoms. George is a part of you, so you’ll feel what he feels. Just as you can share his senses. The trick is to balance his pain with your gift of energy.”

  If I could snort right now, I would. Like Karly is willing to use my amazing senses. Karly slides Energy down the leash. The sting goes from the burn I got sticking my tongue on a cold metal pole to warm bathtub water.

  OUCH!

  “Sorry George, there are only a few quills. I’ll pull them out as quickly as I can.”

  More hurting. Karly strokes my back.

  It doesn’t really hurt. It doesn’t really hurt. I count rabbits.

  One.

  Three.

  Five.

  Two. It hurts. “Aroooowww!”

  “All done. Karly, put this ointment on to keep his nose from getting infected. You did just fine. It’s a little easier with our patients. We don’t have that link to fall into their pain. It’s a little harder because we don’t know exactly where it hurts. Everything is balance and a trade-off.”

  Clicking.

  I try to see what Auntie Heather is doing, but my nose is swollen and I am afraid to move it. Karly rubs behind my ears. I put my head between my paws and sigh.

  “Look at these quills.” Auntie Heather must be talking to Karly, I am not looking at anything. “They aren’t banded with the right colors. There aren’t green and orange porcupine's.”

  “Let me see,” my Girlpup says.

  My nose feels a lot better, so I open my eyes to see the weird quills. I am not sure what green and orange mean, Peeps have too many colors to name, but they aren’t the white-banded black like a normal porcupine. I get a little closer when Auntie Heather holds them lower for me.

  I sniff very gently. No way do I want those things in my nose again. They smell like The Horrible Hodag. It was hiding in its nest and I found him. Er, her. Whatever. I found it. If I can find it once, I’ll find it again. Now. I put my nose to the ground and head for a clump of trees. Not the right trees.

  “George! Come back here. You need your leash and you can’t go after that thing alone. George! Come!” Karly shouts like I’m the pup here, not her. And what’s with the “my leash” thing? I grumble at her and stomp my paws to put her back in her place.

  She might be right, though. I am not sure I could take down The Horrible Hodag right now. My nose isn’t swollen anymore, but it still burns a little. I amble back to my Girlpup and she clips on her leash.

  My Peeps pick up the bags. I don’t like leaving and my hackles are up. Something is watching us. I hope Auntie Heather can find a way to trap The Horrible Hodag.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We are at Auntie Heather’s house again. I am sleepy, but Auntie and Karly are making a racket tossing around books and it’s hard to nap. I try to bury myself under a couch pillow. Roquefort thinks it’s funny to push it off. I give him big, beautiful basset eyes to leave me alone. He chitters and throws a cushion at me. I could hate him. Without thumbs like his I can’t throw anything back. I am too tired to even lift my lip at him. Healing is hard on a body.

  “I must’ve gone through every book you have, Auntie Heather. There is nothing about Hodags other than the picture you found,” Karly whines from the table across from where I am trying to chill. Cupboards are wide open and bookshelves are empty. There are stacks of books everywhere. It looks like a library threw up.

  I know why the Girlpup’s whiny. We haven’t eaten in a week and we’ve been here forever. They’ve ignored my reminders. I did my best trick, playing dead, and it didn’t work. Roquefort offered me some of his fish. There was only enough to make me hungrier. My tummy growls remembering how it was teased so evilly. I am going to starve to death. I look at my side. Just as I thought, my ribs are showing. I moan.

  There is a funny smelltaste in Auntie Heather’s house. It’s different from Auntie’s normal herbplantcinnamonSnickerdoodle patience. It takes a lot of patience to work with Karly. I know firsthand, and basset hounds are experts at patience. It’s just how we roll. At first I think it’s anger.

  No. I don’t smelltaste hotsharppepper anger. This smelltastes more like Karly’s normal frustration. It overpowers both Karly’s and Auntie Heather’s smelltaste—bittersaltysouryellow. Worse, no one is talking.

  This worries me. I am a superbasset, but I can’t make The Horrible Hodag go away alone. I find game for the Pack. The Pack brings it down and cooks it.

  We eat it.

  Perfect partnership. While I am a perfect hunting machine, it also means I know my limits. No good to anyone if you trip over your ears trying to get your prey. Not that any self-respecting basset would trip over his ears. Or retrieve them by accident. Well, maybe as a pup.

  Only once. Or twice.

  I ooze off of the couch with grace and smelltaste the books. Now I know I can find The Horrible Hodag they need to do their part and catch it. Safely. Those needles hurt. I am lucky it didn’t bite me and steal my bones. My hackles rise and I growl a little at the thought. It isn’t as little as I think—it’s louder than my tummy’s grumbles.

  Auntie Heather pul
ls down another book from a very high shelf, about her chest height. This one smelltastes of saltydryteachewymusty old leather and paper. The cover is dark and so are the pages. There is a lot of squiggly writing, and pictures.

  Nothing good to eat stuck on the pages, so it’s not a cookbook. Must not be any spells against Horrible Hodags since she slams it shut and puts it on a tall pile of books they’ve already looked at. It shakes and tumbles to the ground.

  Auntie Heather says a word that is also used for what they clean up when I go potty, and starts to stack the pile back up.

  I inhale all the smelltastes, roll them over my tongue and slide them over the roof of my mouth. There is magic in all the books, but only one also smelltastes like The Horrible Hodag.

  I am drawn to the pile that Auntie Heather is working on. Drool drips from my mouth to clean my taste buds from the awful smelltaste. Skunk is much better. I nose the rotten book, knocking the pile over again.

  “George, why did you do that?” Auntie Heather and Karly both say at the same time. They look at each other and giggle. My Pack is getting loony.

  ’Kay, now the book is under all the other ones. I paw the pile and use my snout to push it free. I am about to grab it with my mouth when Auntie Heather reaches down and snares it.

  “Do you want to explain why this book has your interest?” Auntie Heather riffles through the pages. “Interesting, it’s the same one we looked at earlier. The one with the Hodag picture.” She bends down to me and gives me a puzzled look. “There isn’t anything else in here.”

  I woof and paw her knee. Figure it out Auntie Heather, put the book down so I can show you. I know you’re in my mind. I raise my eyebrows to push the idea of taking another look.