“Please do not point your finger at me,” the taller woman said coldly.
Hat-man dropped his arm.
“If an arrest is called for then we’ll make it. Our first concern is to defuse the situation. Your rhetoric isn’t helping.”
“What?” Hat-man sputtered.
I nosed Lucas for reassurance that nothing bad was happening.
The other woman had turned away and spoken quietly to her shoulder. Now she came back. “Sergeant says to wrap this up,” she said to her tall friend.
The women approached us. I could feel kindness; it was evident in the way the shorter woman touched Lucas’s arm. “Maybe you can get a lawyer or something, but for now, you have to let him take the dog,” she told him gently. “Otherwise, we’ll have to cuff you and take you in. You don’t want that.”
“We can’t afford a lawyer. Please.”
“I’m sorry, Lucas.”
Lucas knelt and put his face into my fur. I licked the salty tears on his face. Waves of profound sadness came off of him. “But she won’t understand. She’ll think I’m abandoning her,” he choked, anguished.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Hat-man declared.
“You need to back off, sir,” the taller woman said tersely.
“Say good-bye. You’ll wish later you’d said good-bye,” the shorter woman whispered softly.
Lucas bent over me. “I am so, so sorry, Bella. I can’t protect you. This is my fault. I love you, Bella.”
The hat-man came over, waving the oddly stiff leash. “You don’t need that!” Lucas snapped, his anger flaring.
“So are you two just going to let him spout off to me like that?” the hat-man said to the two women.
“Yeah, we are. That a problem?” the shorter woman replied testily.
“Let him take his dog over and put him in the cage himself,” the taller woman commanded.
Lucas led me over to one of the outside crates. The hat-man opened the door and Lucas lifted me gently inside. “I love you, Bella,” he whispered. “I am so, so sorry.”
I knew that whatever was happening, it was good, because Lucas was right there making sure I was safe. I wagged when he unclipped my leash. He kissed my face. My person was still so sad. I wanted to Go Home and cuddle with Lucas on the bed, like I did at Go to Work with Mack. Provide comfort. Do Tiny Piece of Cheese. He would not be as sad then.
The hat-man shut the door to the crate.
“Good-bye, Bella,” Lucas said to me in a breaking voice. “I will always remember you.”
When the truck pulled away, Lucas stood in the street, wiping his eyes.
I knew I should do No Barks, but I was suddenly so frightened I couldn’t help myself. I thought I understood now what might be happening.
* * *
I was soon back in the room of crates and barking dogs. I was thoroughly miserable. Lucas needed me, and I needed my Lucas. Why had he sent me to this place? I did not belong here.
I curled up on the soft mat, tucking my nose into my tail, and tried to shut out the dogs who did not know No Barks. Their terror and loneliness and frustration was in their voices and their smells, and I tried not to let it affect me, but soon I was whimpering.
I was conscious of time passing. The room got brighter in the day but at night was not completely black. The dogs barked, ceaselessly. I vomited in the corner of my crate and Wayne hosed it away. I was taken for walks around the fence by him and the nice woman Glynnis, the leash strapped to my face. The dirt in the yard was packed hard with the pads of many, many dog feet.
“This sucks, Bella,” Glynnis told me as she indulged me in long, careful sniffs along the fence. The scent of all those dogs was hugely distracting to me. “You are such a gentle dog. You didn’t bite anybody. Most of the ACOs wouldn’t give you a second look. You just got picked up by one of the bad ones. Everyone thinks Chuck is an asswipe.”
She did not say the name Lucas and I did not smell his scent on her.
I was back in the same place but everything seemed worse. Glynnis was so gloomy. The dogs around me seemed especially sad.
I panted and paced and tried to lie down on my bed and then got right back up again, over and over. And I could no longer do No Barks. I barked like a bad dog, pleading, crying, mourning, questioning. All I got back in response were the similar howls from the other dogs.
The next night something curious happened. I smelled the man Wayne come into the room, though I did not see him. There was a small closet at the end of the aisle, and because it had been accessed by many people, I was familiar with the sound it made when its door was opened and closed. I heard that sound now. Then the scent of Wayne changed—it remained, but was muted, stifled. Wayne was in that closet. The other dogs smelled him, too—I could tell by the way they barked that they knew he was there.
No one had ever spent any time in the closet before, but now he was in there so long I grew tired of waiting. I fell into a twitchy, troubled sleep, but woke instantly when I heard the closet door cautiously open. Wayne came to my crate and eased up the catch. “Bella!” he hissed. “Come!”
The other dogs were now in a frenzy, which might have been why Wayne came to my crate and not any of theirs. He put an unfamiliar collar on my neck and snapped a leash into it—a normal leash, not the kind that clamped my mouth shut. “Come on!”
I was led past the other dogs, down the hallway, and out into the yard. I had never been taken for a walk by Wayne this late at night. I squatted quickly, but didn’t even have time to finish before the leash tightened. Wayne was running and I had to gallop to keep up. It was not like with Glynnis, who knew there were scents I wanted to investigate and allowed me an opportunity to stop and sniff. He was pulling me too quickly. We ran all the way to the far end of the yard, where it was dark.
“Wayne!” I heard someone whisper. And then I smelled him: Lucas was here!
Wayne and I went right up to the fence. I clawed at it, trying to get at him, trying to lick him. Lucas and Olivia were on the other side and she put out her hand so I could kiss it. “Lift her up!” Lucas said urgently. “We put a blanket over the barbed wire.”
Grunting, Wayne lifted me up off the ground. When he raised me over his head, he swayed on wobbly legs. I was intimidated and went limp. “She’s really heavy!” he hissed.
“Hold the ladder!” Lucas said to Olivia. My dog blanket was on the fence and Lucas was reaching over it toward me. His hands gripped me and pulled me up and over.
“Steady, Bella. I’ve got you.”
I licked his face as he climbed down some metal stairs, clutching me to him like he did when I was a puppy. Olivia’s hands touched me, too. “Good girl, Bella!” she praised quietly.
Finally I was on the ground. I was wagging furiously, unable to keep the whimpers from escaping my throat. I wanted Lucas to lie down so I could climb on top of him. He felt my neck. “This is the wrong collar.”
Wayne peered at me. “Oh, yeah. I just grabbed one off the rack.”
Olivia pulled gently at my collar. “Does it matter?”
“I guess not,” Lucas replied. “It had a tag with her name and my phone number is all.”
Olivia stroked my ears. “We’ll get you new jewelry, Bella.”
I wagged.
“Hey, Lucas? I’m thinking maybe more than a hundred bucks,” Wayne whispered. “I had to swipe a pass from an ACO who is on vacation. The log will show that he’s the one who opened all the doors. They’re going to figure out something’s up.”
“You said a hundred. I’ve got it right here,” Lucas said.
“It was a bigger risk than I thought, is what I am saying,” Wayne said.
“You erased Bella’s arrival from the computer?” Olivia asked.
“Yeah, that was the easy part, I just sat at the reception desk and hit delete. She’s still in the system, but not this visit. Bella won’t show up on anyone’s schedule.”
“Thank you, Wayne,” Olivia replied.
“I don’t have any more money.” Lucas went back up the steps and retrieved my blanket. He dropped it to the ground and then landed next to it. “I only brought a hundred. That’s what you said.”
“I’m just thinking that if I get caught I’m in serious trouble.”
“Then don’t get caught. Here.” Lucas pushed something through the fence and Wayne took it.
“Dude,” Wayne said sadly.
“Thank you, Wayne. You saved Bella’s life,” Olivia said.
“Yeah, well, I don’t mind sticking it to the A-hole who picked her up. Everybody hates his guts.”
Lucas pulled on my leash. “Come on, Bella!”
* * *
We took a car ride in Olivia’s car! I was so happy to be with them. I sat in the back and pressed my head between the seats and both of them stroked my ears.
Lucas, though, seemed sad, even though we were all back together. Whatever it was I had done wrong, I would make sure I never did it, ever. I never wanted to go to the room full of barking dogs again.
“Are you okay, babe?” Olivia asked softly. She touched the back of his neck.
“Yeah,” Lucas said hoarsely.
Olivia sighed. “You know I’d take her in a second.”
“Of course. But it would still be Denver.”
“And you’ve thought of everybody? There’s nobody?”
“Aunt Julie lives in London. Grandma’s too frail. Pretty much all my friends live within the Denver city limits. My buddy Chase already has two dogs and his girlfriend says no more.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Mom was home, and when she knelt I greeted her by putting my paws on her chest and licking her face when she fell on her back. “Bella!” she laughed, but there was something unhappy in her, too.
Another friend of Lucas’s was there. She smelled familiar to me but I didn’t remember who she was until she reached out and stroked my face. “Hello, Bella,” she greeted. The scent of cats mingled with her own fragrance, reminding me of the time when she came crawling into the den to try to catch Mother Cat, the day I met Lucas.
“Some good news. Audrey says the cats are going to be fine,” Mom said.
“That’s right,” Audrey said. “Having one of our board members be a commissioner comes in real handy sometimes. They stalled Gunter’s permits until finally he’s letting us go in and do a proper job of rounding up the rest of the cats.”
“That’s great,” Lucas replied, “but I don’t think it helps with Bella.”
“No, not with her in the system.”
“Thanks for doing this, Audrey,” Olivia said.
“No, of course. Glad to help. It happens all the time. The way the law is written, so many dogs are destroyed who would never hurt anyone. Once Bella’s out of Denver, she’ll be safe.”
“Where are you taking her?” Olivia asked.
“Down to Durango,” Audrey replied. “There’s a foster family there who takes condemned pits all the time.”
“As soon as we find a place outside of city limits, I’ll go right down to get her,” Lucas said.
“Oh. Um, do you have any idea how long that will be?” Audrey asked.
“It’s not going to be quick,” Mom answered. “The bureaucratic crap we have to go through is ridiculous. Plus a lot of apartments have a limit on the size of dog, which is obviously an issue here.”
“I see.”
Mom looked at her. “What is it?”
“Well, I guess I misunderstood your intentions. I thought we were finding a foster family in a safe location where they would take good care of her until a forever family can be found.”
“Oh no,” Lucas said. “We just need a safe place for her until we can move.”
“I can see there’s a problem. Why don’t you tell us what it is?” Mom asked.
“Well, what you are saying, that’s really not what this is for. When Bella moves in with her foster family, she’ll be taking up room in a home that could go to another dog. We need to get our dogs adopted as quickly as possible. That’s the only way to save them—the system is overwhelmed, with too many animals and too few slots. If weeks or months went by with Bella at a foster home, some other dog might be euthanized because there is no place for her to go.
“Look,” Audrey continued, “I know how hard this is for you and yes, of course, if you find a place right away, you can certainly go pick her up. But please consider what is right for everyone, including Bella. From what you’ve told me, animal control is gunning for your dog and isn’t going to give up. They are nearly all decent people who are in that line of work because they want to help animals, but the one you’re dealing with has a reputation.”
“She was on the final day of her last three-day hold,” Lucas said.
“Then I would agree, we can’t risk letting her remain another minute inside city limits. I’m surprised they processed her out of there, I’ve never heard of them doing that before,” the woman observed.
Olivia and Lucas exchanged glances. I wished everyone would get out a ball and some treats and we could all delight in being home instead of being so tense and standing around talking.
“How long do I have?” Lucas asked quietly.
“Oh. When you put it like that … I’ll tell the foster your plan. I’m sure we can wait at least a week. You’ll keep me informed of your progress finding a new apartment?”
“I’m on it,” Mom replied.
Lucas knelt on the floor and put his arms around me. “I promise you I will do my best to find a new place. I’ll work two jobs if I have to. I will come get you as soon as I can, Bella. I am so, so sorry.”
He and Mom and Olivia were crying, which was bewildering. I felt the urge to comfort them but did not know how.
“She won’t understand. She’ll think I’m abandoning her,” Lucas said. His voice was anguished.
After a few more moments, Audrey snapped my leash onto my collar, and to my utter astonishment, led me out to a car. Olivia and Mom stood on the porch, hugging each other. “Bye, Bella!” they called.
Lucas put me in a crate inside the woman’s car, arranging my dog blanket so that I had something soft to lie on. He leaned in and put his fingers through the grate. We were doing Tiny Piece of Cheese! Not understanding, but so, so grateful to be a good dog, I gently took the treat. When I finished, he left his fingers there and I licked them, mystified. I could feel his grief. None of this made sense. “This might be good-bye, Bella. If it is, I am so sorry. I want you to know, in my heart, you will always be my dog. I just don’t have any other way to protect you.”
When he shut the door I could see his face through the glass. It was contorted, his cheeks wet, and I whimpered as the car drove away.
I felt like a bad dog again.
Eleven
Audrey was nice. She spoke to me and said Bella good dog. But she was taking me away from Lucas. I could feel him fading, becoming farther and farther away the longer the vehicle swayed and hummed. His scent was strongly infused into my blanket and I nosed it, breathing deeply, drinking him in. It was my Lucas blanket.
Another smell emerged for me as we traveled. Previously, the bouquet made up of the cars and people and smoke and all the other odors that comingled in the atmosphere near our place never seemed distinct to me, it was just the backdrop for the unique scent of our porch and door and bushes and Mom and Lucas and me. But now, as we drove, these background smells gradually coalesced into a separate, wholly disparate presence on the wind, a powerful collection of perfumes that defined itself for me as home. We passed other, similar clusters of smells, but it was easy to detect the strong palette of fragrances that was where I lived. I could even pick out my bearings when the nice lady let me out of the car so I could do Do Your Business—that direction, I thought, pointing my nose, in that direction lies home.
That way lies Lucas. But we did not go that way.
Instead, she took me to a house where I stayed for many days with a woman na
med Loretta and a man named Jose and a big dog and a little white dog and two cats and a bird. The little white dog was named Rascal and he had never been taught No Barks. The big dog was named Grump and he was old and slow and a light brown color. He never barked and was very sleepy all day. Both dogs were smaller than I was. The cats ignored me and the bird stared at me when I sniffed at her cage.
I was too miserable to eat the first day, and also the second. Then I realized Lucas sent me to this place to wait for him, so I began feeding when the other dogs did. What I needed to do was be the best dog I could so Lucas would come get me.
I was given a bed imbedded with the pungent redolence of many other canines and at least one cat. I pulled my Lucas blanket into the bed with me so that I could have his essence with me while I slept.
Jose mostly sat in his big, soft chair. He liked to eat food out of a bowl and would slip me a piece of salty treat when Loretta wasn’t nearby. I spent a lot of time doing Sit by Jose’s chair. I knew if he gave me treats I was being good, the way I knew I was a good dog when Lucas did Tiny Piece of Cheese.
Loretta was very nice to me and told me I was a good dog. She had a big yard in the back of her house with a fence made of wood. When she let us out in the morning we would do Do Your Business and Rascal would bark at the fence and Grump would lie in the sun. When it rained Grump would barely go out in it before returning to lie on a small rug by the door and Rascal would quickly lift his leg and then stand next to Grump and bark at the door until Loretta opened it.
In the center of the backyard was an area filled with loose wood chips. I liked to do Do Your Business there. There were wooden structures of unknown purpose to me, except one was a swing and I also recognized the ramp with the steps at the high end: it was a slide.
Neither Loretta nor Jose threw the ball up the slide for me to get it as it bounced down the other side, making me miss Lucas all the more. That’s what he would want to do when he came to get me. We would play in the backyard and he would toss the ball up the slide and I would catch it. “Good dog, Bella!” he would say. I could picture his smile and his hands on my fur.