Dog Heaven (8 page)

Ledward hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “It’s in town.”

Julio’s face brightened. “Can we come, too?”

“Sure. Go ask your parents. Be gone couple hours.”

Julio and Willy ran off.

Ledward chuckled. “Your mama home, boy?”

“She had to go to work. Someone didn’t show up. They needed help.”

Ledward shook his head. “Too bad. She could use some time off. You and me, we got to help her more.”

I nodded.

Ledward slapped the passenger seat. “Hop in.”

We drove down to my house. Ledward parked and went into the garage. He rolled
the lawn mower out. “Let’s give this beast another try.”

He adjusted the choke and pulled the cord.

The lawn mower coughed but didn’t start.

“Pretty soon the grass going be too long to cut … with this thing, anyways. We might need a tractor!”

Ledward tried again. The lawn mower hacked like a dog with a chicken bone stuck in its throat. “Guess I should take the engine apart, clean it out.”

Sounded good to me.

“When we get back I take um home.”

Darci came out. “Ledward!”

Ledward rubbed her head with his big hand. “Darci girl, you want to come see dog heaven?”

“What’s dog heaven?”

Ledward gave her a light shove toward the house. “I show you. Go tell the girl you and Calvin going someplace with me.”

“But she’s still asleep.”

“Okay.” Ledward put his hand on my shoulder. “You go write a note. Tell her I took both of you someplace so she won’t worry.”

What a laugh. Stella wouldn’t worry about me if I was halfway down a shark’s throat. But she would worry about Darci.

I ran into the kitchen and scribbled a note:
Me and Darci went with Ledward
. I signed it:
Calvin Coconut
. I ran back out and hopped in the jeep.

We headed down the street, grabbing Julio and Willy on the way.

Darci sat in front. I squeezed onto the backseat with Julio and Willy.

Ledward hummed and tapped the steering wheel with his thumbs. “You kids going like this place.”

I jiggled my leg and grinned into the wind.

L
edward pulled into a parking lot in front of a low building shaded by three huge monkeypod trees. We jumped out.

“Yah!” I yelped.

The parking lot was sizzling hot, even though the bottoms of my feet were as tough
as cardboard. I leaped over to the grass. Darci got a ride on Ledward’s shoulders.

I read the sign.
HUMANE SOCIETY
.

Inside, the first thing that hit me was the smell. “Ho, stink, this place.”

Ledward laughed and pointed. “Look.”

Cats. All in what looked like a giant playhouse with lots of windows. People were crammed inside playing with them. Ledward set Darci down and she ran over to join them.

“We going be by the dogs,” Ledward called. “Come find us when you done.”

“I will.” Darci didn’t even look back.

The dogs were in concrete kennels with chain-link dog runs. Most kennels held only one dog, but some had two. The dogs seemed happy, wagging their tails, barking. Some were stretched out and didn’t get up every time somebody poked a hand through the fence. The pit bulls looked scary. Would anyone ever take them home?

Julio was amazed. “So many dogs!”

Willy elbowed me. “Are you getting a dog?”

I shrugged. “Not really.”

“Well, if you could, which one would it be?”

I frowned. How would you even choose?

Ledward squatted down next to me. “Watch um. See how they act. Are they friendly, nervous, bark a lot? Pretty soon you get a feel. A couple will stick in your head. Those ones, you look closer.”

Julio, Willy, and I studied every dog in the shelter. Most of them were kind of strange, with long bodies and big heads. Some of them wouldn’t stop barking. Those, I’d never be able to take home. But they’d be good watchdogs.

Ledward followed us, not saying much.

I couldn’t choose. But some I liked.

“Was me,” Ledward said, “I know which one I would take.”

“Which one?”

He shook his head. “You first. Which one do you keep coming back to?”

“Well … there’s one. But it looks kind of mean.”

“I don’t think they’d let people take them home if they were mean.”

“Its eyes are weird.”

“Show me.”

I headed back a few kennels and crouched. “That one.”

Willy, Julio, and Ledward crowded over me.

It was a small dog. Black, with a white chest and a black nose. It sat looking at us.

“Hmmm,” Ledward said. “I see what you mean. Those eyes look like they seen some things. He’s wary, checking us out. But I don’t think he’s mean.”

The dog studied us, silent and alert.

“Streak?” I said. “Is that you?”

The dog’s ears perked up.

“Ho,” Ledward said. “Look how he reacted.”

“Streak,” I said again. “Come here, boy.”

The dog got up and trotted over.

“Look at that,” Julio whispered.

Willy crowded closer. “He’s friendlier than he looks.”

Slowly, I stuck my fingers through the fence.

The dog nosed closer. He sniffed my fingers. “Hey, boy. Yeah, you’re a good dog.”

He leaned up against the fence. I looked at Ledward, who nodded. I turned back and stroked the dog with two fingers. He was warm. His eyes closed.

“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re Streak.”

And that did it.

The dog sprang up and ran in circles around the cage, stopping to look every time he passed me. Around and around. No barking. Just energy.

Julio laughed. “Man, first he’s a lump and now he’s a rocket.”

Ledward put a hand on my shoulder. “I think he likes you.”

After about five million trips around the cage, the dog came back and leaned against the fence again. He panted, his wet tongue jiggling.

Ledward stood and read the ID card on the cage. “Ooops. This dog is female. Her name is Ruby. Border collie mix. A year old.”

“She sure is fast,” I said.

“Does it say why she’s in here?” Julio asked.

Ledward checked the card again. “Stray, is all it says. Probably ran off or got lost. Who knows?”

Willy shook his head. “Nice dog, spooky eyes.”

Ledward crossed his arms. “One thing for sure. She’s a herding dog, and herding dogs need lots of exercise.”

“If she was mine,” I said, “I’d take her
everywhere I went. She could sleep in my room, too. Stella wouldn’t be allergic if she was out there, right? Can I get her, Ledward?”

“Whoa, slow down, boy. You want to get me in trouble with your mama?”

Ledward grinned and leaned close. “But if it was up to me … I take um out right now. Boom!”

I stood.

“But.” Ledward raised a finger. “It’s not up to me.”

The spooky-eyed dog looked up at me.

Zero, I thought. That was what my chances were.

Ledward put his hand on my shoulder. “I like one of the pit bulls, but that’s your dog, boy. No question. That’s your dog.”

T
hat night I couldn’t sleep.

I couldn’t sleep the next night, either.

Like a jackhammer, worry rattled in every corner of my brain. What was Streak doing? Was she wondering where I went? Or worse, had someone adopted her and taken her home?