Ellie's Story (9 page)

I knew a lot of the words he used when he talked with her: “Come” and “Find” and “Show me.” But he wasn't saying them to me, so it didn't seem as though I were supposed to do anything. I lay down and put my head on my paws, sighing with impatience. Wasn't I going to get to do any Work?

Then Maya said something exciting. “Ellie, Find!”

I jumped up.
Yes! Work! At last!

I quickly sniffed the grass and picked up a trail; it was Belinda's. She smelled like coffee, and a tangy perfume, and sugar from the doughnut she'd been eating. I followed the trail, running quickly just for the pleasure of it. Wally and Maya followed.

Belinda was sitting inside a car. If she'd been hoping to fool me that way, no luck! I circled back to Maya.

“See now; see how she looks?” Wally said. “She found Belinda. You can tell by her expression.”

I waited impatiently for Maya to tell me to Show, but she and Wally were too busy talking. I could have barked with impatience, but I knew better. It was hard to wait, though. It had been so long since I'd Found anyone. I wanted to finish the job!

“I'm not sure,” Maya said. “She doesn't look much different than the other times she came back.”

“Look at her eyes, the way her mouth is tightened,” Wally told Maya. “Her tongue's not out. See? She's on alert; she has something to show us.”

At the word “show” I started to lunge forward, but then I pulled myself back. It hadn't really been a command. But why not? Why weren't we doing our jobs?

“So now I tell her to show?” Maya asked.

I whined.
Quit teasing me!
Were we Working or not?

“Show!” Maya finally called.

Yes! At last!
I tore off across the park, and Maya hurried along behind me. Belinda came out of the car laughing when we Found her. “Such a good dog, Ellie,” she told me.

“Now you play with Ellie,” Wally said to Maya. “It's important; it's her reward for such hard work.”

Maya took something out of her pocket—the rubber bone from the kennel. I leaped to grab it with my teeth. She laughed as she tugged on the bone and I pulled back, swinging her in a circle on the grass.

It was different from the times Jakob had played with me. He'd done it because he had to; it was a part of Work. Maya was smiling even when I pulled the bone out of her hand and she almost fell to the grass. “You're so strong, Ellie!” she gasped, and laughed some more. “Good girl, Ellie!” She petted me and scratched my neck and we played a little more tug-of-war with the bone before we got back to Work.

It was different, doing Work with Maya. But it was still Work, and that was the most important thing.

 

11

It wasn't just Work that was different with Maya. Almost everything about her was different from my old life with Jakob.

There were all the cats, for one thing. She also knew many more people than Jakob did. Most nights she went to a larger home with lots of people and a wonderful-smelling woman named Mama. Mama was always cooking; that's why she smelled so good. There were little children running around playing with each other every time Maya and I went for a visit.

The older children called, “Ellie, Ellie! Ellie's here!” and almost forgot to say hello to Maya. The boys threw balls for me, which I patiently brought back. The girls put hats on me and laughed so hard they had to hold on to each other to stay on their feet. And the very small ones crawled on me and over me and poked fingers in my eyes.

I didn't mind too much, though. I remembered how my brothers and sisters and I used to play with Bernie. These little ones were like puppies; I understood that. They didn't know how to play correctly yet, and you just had to be patient while they learned.

When I got tired of having my fur pulled, I'd just shake myself gently to push them off, and go and sit under the table in the kitchen. Mama would be in the room, stirring things in bowls or tasting things in pots, and there was almost always something tasty that needed to be licked up off the floor. I loved the kitchen.

At her own house, Maya had a neighbor named Al who liked to come over and talk to her. There was a word he said so often that I began to recognize it. The word was “help.”

“Do you need help carrying those boxes, Maya?” he'd ask. “Do you need help fixing your door?”

“No, no,” Maya would say.

“Did you get a new dog?” Al asked one day, not long after I'd come to live with Maya. He bent down and scratched me behind the ears in a way that made me love him instantly. Not everybody scratches right, just hard enough and in the perfect place. Al did. I leaned against him happily so he wouldn't stop. He smelled of papers and ink and coffee and nervousness.

“Yes,” Maya said, talking a little more quickly than she usually did. “She's the department search-and-rescue dog.” Maya's skin was growing warm, and her palms had started to sweat. This always happened when Al came over and said “help.” But I could tell she wasn't frightened of him. It was odd. Still, as long as Al kept scratching I didn't care too much.

“Do you need help training your new dog?” Al asked.

I knew they were talking about me. I wagged my tail.

“No, no,” Maya said. “Ellie has already been trained. We need to learn to work together as a team.”

I wagged extra when I heard the words “Ellie” and “work.”

Al straightened up and stopped scratching. “Maya, you…,” he started to say.

“I should probably go,” Maya mumbled.

“Your hair is very pretty today,” Al blurted.

The two of them stared at each other, both so anxious it felt as if something bad was going to happen any minute. I looked around to see if something was going to attack us. But I couldn't see anything more threatening than Emmet, who was staring at us through a window, probably jealous that I got to be Outside and he didn't.

“Thank you, Al,” Maya said. “Would you like…?”

“I'll let you go,” Al said.

“Oh.”

“Unless…”

“Unless…?”

“You … do you need help with anything?”

“No, no,” Maya said.

Al nodded and walked away. I could feel Maya's sadness, and I pushed myself closer to her, so that she could scratch my ears, too.

Maya and I went to Work almost every day. Sometimes we Found Wally and sometimes Belinda. On some days a few of the older children from Mama's house came, too. That was fun; they were always so happy to be Found, and called me a good dog over and over, and wanted to play tug-on-a-stick until Maya, laughing, told them I had to do more Work.

Maya was much slower than Jakob, though, panting and sweating from the moment we started running. I learned not to be impatient when I circled back for her and all she could do was put her hands on her knees for a few moments. Once, after I had Found Wally and come back to Show Maya, she was crying. A burst of frustration and helplessness swept over her, and tears came with it.

I stared at her, waiting for her to be ready. I knew she was sad, but I couldn't comfort her now. We were Working. She knew it, too. She wiped her face quickly.

“Okay, Ellie. Show me!”

I took her to where Wally was sitting on a big rock by the stream. We all went back to a picnic table together, and Wally took cool, wet cans out of a plastic box and handed one to Maya. Maya put a little bowl down on the grass for me and filled it with water from a bottle. I slurped it up and lay down in the shade of the table.

I could feel Maya's worry, and I put my head on her foot.

“We're not good enough to get certified, are we?” Maya asked. I heard her put her elbows on the table and sigh.

“Ellie's about the best dog I've ever seen,” Wally said, a little cautiously. He sounded nervous.

“No, I know it's me. I've always been heavy.”

“What? No, I mean…” Wally was actually scared now. I sat up, wondering what the danger was this time.

“It's okay. I've actually lost some weight. Like four pounds.”

“Really? That's great! I m-m-ean, but you weren't fat or anything,” Wally stammered. I smelled the sweat popping out on his forehead. “You, I don't know, maybe go to the track, that would help, or something?”

“I do go to the track!”

“Right! Yes!” Wally was so anxious I whined a little. “Well, okay, I should go now.”

“I don't know,” Maya went on sadly. “I didn't realize there would be so much
running.
It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. Maybe I should resign, let somebody take over who's in better shape.”

“Hey, why don't you talk to Belinda about this?” Wally said desperately.

Maya sighed and Wally, full of relief, got up and left. I lay back down next to Maya. Whatever horrible danger had been lurking seemed to have gone away.

The next day Maya and I didn't Work. She put on some soft new shoes, grabbed my leash, and took me to a long road that ran along the sand next to that big pond, the ocean, where I had found the little girl named Charlotte.

Dogs were everywhere, but even though Maya didn't give me any commands, I sensed that this was a new kind of Work. So I ignored their barking and dashing back and forth. Maya and I ran and ran together down that road, farther than we had ever run before. I sensed a new kind of determination in her. She kept going as the sun rose steadily in the sky, and I kept pace beside her.

It was the longest run we'd ever taken together. It went on and on until I felt Maya's body fill up with pain and exhaustion. Then, at last, she turned back.

The return trip was just as determined. We stopped a few times, and Maya let me drink out of faucets set into the concrete next to very smelly buildings. Then Maya would start to run again. Each time she went a little slower, but she kept going.

At last the parking lot came into view ahead of us, and Maya slowed to a walk. “Oh my,” she whispered.

By the time we got to the truck, she was limping.

We were both panting pretty hard. Maya sat down on the back of the truck and drank half a bottle of water, then bent down to hang her head between her legs. Then she threw up the water she'd just drunk.

I came and put my head on Maya's knee, sad that she was hurting so much. She was too tired to even lift a hand to stroke my head.

“You okay?” a young woman passing by asked. She was sweating from her run but breathing easily. Maya nodded without even looking up.

The next day we did Find again. Maya groaned as she eased herself out of the car and walked to the picnic table. I sat at her feet, waiting eagerly for the command.

Maya sighed. “Find, Ellie,” she said. Her voice was low and sad.

I leaped forward, sniffing the ground eagerly. I couldn't smell Wally anywhere, but I caught Belinda's trail easily. She'd walked over this ground not long ago at all. It would not be hard to Find her

I heard Maya groan, and I hesitated and looked back. Maya was walking as if every step hurt. And she was so slow! I ran forward, following Belinda's trail under some trees. She'd forced her way between two bushes, leaving her scent all over the leaves. I followed. Then I stopped. I shoved my body back between the bushes and ran to Maya.

She looked down at me in surprise. “Ellie? Having trouble, girl? Find!”

No, I wasn't the one having trouble. Maya was limping after me, determined, but she couldn't go fast at all and I could tell from how she was walking how much her muscles hurt. I didn't want to get too far ahead. She might not be able to catch up with me, and then how could I Show Belinda to her?

I trotted along the trail. It was hard to slow down. The trail was clear and I wanted to charge ahead, to Find Belinda as quickly as possible. But I kept my pace slow, so that Maya could keep up. I heard her push through the bushes behind me, and I dashed to her side, glanced up at her, and turned back to the trail on the ground.

Belinda had waded through a little stream and walked along it, but I found her easily on the other side and kept going. Maya plodded grimly through the water behind me. I dashed up a little hill and paused on the top to be sure Maya was following. When I was sure that she was, I ran ahead through a stand of tall grass, Belinda's scent growing stronger with every step I took.

I burst out of the grass, and there Belinda was, stretched out under a tree. Her head was leaning back against the trunk. Her eyes were closed.

I ran back to Maya. She was making her way slowly up the hill. “Oh, Ellie, good,” she panted when she saw me. “Show me!”

I walked up the hill, keeping just a few feet ahead of Maya, glancing back over my shoulder often to be sure she was still with me. We pushed our way through the tall grass and Found Belinda, asleep under the tree.

Maya took a few deep breaths. “Good dog, you are such a good dog, Ellie,” she whispered to me, and she sniffed hard. Then she cleared her throat. Belinda woke up with a start. She glanced at her wrist and I felt a little shock of surprise come off her.

“Just … had an off day,” Maya said. Belinda nodded and smiled and got to her feet.

That night Maya went to take a bath while I stayed in the living room. Tinkerbell was, as usual, hiding from the world. Stella was in the bedroom, checking out my bed; I could tell from the smell that she'd even tried sleeping there while Maya and I were at Work.

“Ellie!” Maya called. “Ellie, come!”

Only her head was sticking up out of the water in the bathtub. I sniffed curiously at the warm bubbles and lapped up a little of the water, but it was terrible. I shook my head to chase the taste away.

Emmet sat on the bath mat, licking himself and waiting for something to happen that he could ignore.

Maya reached out a wet hand and stroked my head. “I'm sorry, Ellie.” Her voice was low and sad. “I'm just not good enough. I just can't keep up with you in the field. You're such a good dog. You need someone who can handle you.”