Dog Heaven (9 page)

Stop!

Monday morning when my alarm went off, I was so tired I fell back asleep.

Bam! Bam! Bam!
Pounding on my door. “Get up! You’re late!”

Stella.

“I’m up, I’m up.”

“If I have to come out here again, I’m coming in.”

I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed in the same stuff I’d worn the day before. I was awake enough to remember to shake my clothes out first. Once, I put my pants on with a centipede in them. Yah! I could still feel it crawling down my leg.

I stumbled into the kitchen. Mom was making lunches. Stella was nibbling on a carrot and checking her homework.

Mom put the back of her hand on my forehead. “You okay, Cal?”

“I didn’t sleep much.”

“Something bothering you?”

“No … Yes … Not really.”

Mom studied me.

Stella snorted without looking up.

Mom went back to making lunches. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

I poured myself a glass of orange juice.

Stella looked up. “Angela, look! Your son used a glass!”

I stared at the orange juice without drinking it.

“All right, Calvin,” Mom said. “Spit it out. What’s bothering you?” She crossed her arms and waited.

“Can I get a dog?”

Mom sighed and yanked the dishtowel off her shoulder. “We’ve been over this before, Calvin.”

“I know, but I found—”

“We can’t have one around the house. The answer is still no. No, no, no.”

Stella snapped off a bite of carrot.

Later that day after I got home from school, and after I waited for Stella so she could watch Darci, I jumped on my bike and headed for the Humane Society. I had to know if Streak was still there.

“Calvin!”

I looked up and saw Maya sitting on her skateboard in her driveway. She pushed herself toward the street with her hands. “Where you going?”

“See a dog.”

“What dog?”

“My dog.”

She eyed me. “You don’t have a dog.”

“So?”

“Can I come with you to see the dog you don’t have?”

I nodded. “Get your bike. It’s not close.”

We rode side by side, saying little. I was glad I didn’t have to explain everything to Maya. She was good that way. If you wanted to be weird, fine. If you wanted to keep a secret, no problem.

We slowed and stopped when we saw a guy weaving toward us on a bike with small wheels and tall handlebars. I bent forward and squinted. “Is that who I think it is?”

Maya nodded. “Uh-huh. Got anything in your pockets?”

“Nothing … but Frankie Diamond doesn’t rob us like his dumb friend Tito.”

“You hope.”

Frankie Diamond was two years older than we were, and much bigger. It was weird to see him on a bike.

Frankie skidded to a stop. He flicked his eyebrows. “Little punks, howzit?”

Maya studied his silvery handlebars. “I didn’t know you had a bike.”

Frankie shrugged. “Who doesn’t have a bike?”

“Tito.”

“Sure he does.”

“Really?”

“He just doesn’t ride it.”

This was interesting, but I didn’t have time for it. “We have to go now.”

“Where?”

“Uh … a place.”

“We’re going to see his dog,” Maya said.

“Your dog don’t live at your house?”

“Uh,” I said. “Not yet.”

Frankie looked down the street. Like he was checking to see if anyone he knew was around. “I like dogs.”

I stared at him. “Uh … you can come, too.”

Frankie turned his bike around. “Let’s go.”

Wow. Julio, Willy, and Rubin would never believe this.

“It’s kind of far,” I said.

“Pshh. Far is Tahiti. Far is Hong Kong. Where we going?”

“Dog heaven.”

Frankie grinned. “Cool.”

T
he Humane Society wasn’t crowded. It was a weekday afternoon, so people were still at work.

Streak was stretched out in her kennel.

“Yes!”

All my worries evaporated. I ran up and fell to my knees. “Streak, it’s me! Come here, girl.”

Streak’s head popped up. Her eyes looked like bullets.

“It’s me, Streak. Calvin.”

Streak trotted over, her tail wagging.

Frankie looked at the ID card. “This ain’t Streak, it’s Ruby.”

“Yeah, but I call her Streak.”

Frankie knelt between me and Maya. He stuck his fingers through the fencing. Streak licked them. Frankie grinned. “Yeah, you a good dog.”

Streak glanced at me and ran a circle in her cage.

Frankie laughed. “So, Coconut, if this is your dog, when you going bail her out?”

Good question. “Soon.”

“You need money, or what?”

“Worse.”

Streak came back and leaned up against the fence. Frankie cooed and scratched her head. “Maybe we can go inside the cage.”

“You think so?”

“Never know till you ask, ah?”

Maya watched him leave. “He’s not so bad. I mean … well … you know.”

I nodded. It was strange, all right. Frankie’s future-criminal friend Tito would never get caught hanging around a couple of fourth graders. “Funny how somebody looks mean and he’s not.”

“Yeah.”

Frankie came back with a guy named Ben.

Ben seemed like a nice guy. He opened Streak’s kennel. “I’ll bring the dog to one of our acquaintance areas so you can get to know her.”

“We can do that?”

“Sure you can.”

Ben put a leash on Streak and took her out to a fenced area big enough for all of us. “Find me when you’re done and I’ll take her back.”

Frankie Diamond flicked him a cool shaka, not flashy, not like a tourist. “Thanks, brah.”

“No problem. You kids have fun.”

Streak was as excited as a mongoose in a garbage dump. I bet she’d been cooped up for
weeks. Every time someone tried to catch her, she dodged and ran faster.

Frankie shook his head. “Hoo, this mutt is a rocket.”

“That’s why I call her Streak.”

“So, Coconut. Tell me the truth. This ain’t really your dog, right? You just want her to be. Is that what’s going on here?”

I nodded. “My mom won’t even listen.”

Frankie lunged toward Streak as she came zipping around, and Streak dodged him. “I had a dog once.”

“What happened to it?”

“Got sick.”

“Oh … sorry.”

“Yeah.”

We played with Streak for almost an hour before we called Ben.

“You want to take her home?” Ben asked.

I picked Streak up and hugged her. She licked my face. “How much does it cost to get a dog here?”

“Around sixty dollars.”

“Sixty
dollars?”

Ben pinched his chin in thought. “Well … look at it this way. Sixty dollars is a good deal. If someone gave you a dog for free, you’d still have to take it to a vet for tests and vaccinations. Right? Then you have to get a dog tag and all that. Could cost you closer to five hundred. But this dog comes with all of that already done. So sixty dollars is not a bad deal.”

I didn’t even have sixty cents. And Mom sure wouldn’t give it to me.

Ben reached out and ran his hand over Streak’s head. “A policeman found her in the mountains last week.”

Frankie frowned. “Somebody dumped her?”

“That’s likely.” Ben shook his head. “How people can do that, I don’t know. They could have found her a home, nice dog like this.”

We all looked at Streak.

Ben elbowed me. “Look how she stares at you.”

“This kid calls her Streak,” Frankie Diamond said.

Ben chuckled. “Maybe we should change the name on the card.”

“Write that she’s taken, too,” I added.

“You want her?”

“Yes.”

“Bring your parents in. But come soon. I don’t think she’ll be here long. Not this dog.”

T
wo days later. Sun going down.

It was around six o’clock and I was alone in my room. Mom wasn’t home from work yet and Darci had gone to Kalapawai Market with Stella.

I stared at my essay. Mr. Purdy’s one-page assignment had somehow grown four legs and
a beating heart. My imaginary dog had become real. Her name was Streak, and I wanted to rescue her.

So much I could taste it.

Outside an engine rumbled.