A Dog's Journey

  I popped out from under the covers, but it was too late—Clarity was leaving. “I hate it when you wear those shorts,” Gloria was saying as Clarity closed the door. “They make your thighs look so heavy.”

  Alone on the bed, I quickly determined that the floor was far, far out of range for my little legs. Whimpering my frustration, I paced on the soft blankets, taking the time to sniff deeply at the soft pillow. There were some toys on the bed and I chewed on these a little.

  Then the door opened. Clarity was back. I wagged and licked her face when she bent down to me, a sweet milk scent flavoring her breath. Is there anything more glorious than licking someone’s face until she giggles?

  When Clarity carried me outside, she shoved me deep inside the shirt she was wearing, to keep me warm. She praised me for squatting in the yard and fed me little pieces of cold, salty meat. The flavor was so strong it burned my tongue.

  “I’ll get you some puppy food tomorrow, Molly, I promise promise promise. Do you want more ham?”

  That night I slept in the crook of Clarity’s arm. She stroked me with her hand, whispering to me, “I love you, Molly. I love you.” I drifted to sleep with her hand still touching me. The day’s activities had left me exhausted to the point where I didn’t get up once during the night. Clarity woke up when the sun was barely out, putting on her clothes and carrying me with an odd carefulness out to do my business, speaking to me in the barest of whispers. My little bladder had been painfully full. Then she carried me down some stairs to a basement.

  “This is my special space here under the stairs, Molly,” she whispered. “I called it my clubhouse. See? There’s a pillow for you, and here’s some water. You just have to be quiet, okay? I’m not going to school, but I have to leave for just a bit. I promise, though, that I’ll come back soon. Meantime, don’t bark. Be quiet, Molly; be quiet.”

  I sniffed the little space, which was so low that Clarity had to squat. She handed me some more of the cold, salty meat and petted me in a way that I knew meant she was planning to leave me, so when she abruptly withdrew, sliding boxes to trap me in the space, I nimbly darted out.

  “Molly!” Clarity hissed.

  I wagged, hoping she understood I didn’t want to be in the small space. I felt that I’d made my feelings clear when we’d been at Jennifer’s house—I wanted to be with Clarity. She picked me up and pushed me back in and this time I wasn’t fast enough to keep the boxes from blocking my exit. What was she doing?

  “Be good, Molly,” Clarity said from the other side of the boxes. “Remember, stay quiet. Don’t bark.”

  I scratched at the boxes, but Clarity didn’t return and I eventually gave it up. I took a brief nap and then found a plastic toy to chew for a little bit, but once I had to squat in the corner the little space under the stairs lost all its charms for me. I yipped, wishing my voice were stronger. Even with the small enclosure bouncing my barks back at me, they sounded tiny and pathetic. Nonetheless, once I was barking it seemed like a good idea to keep it up.

  I paused, cocking my head, when I heard someone moving around upstairs, but there was no indication that Clarity or Gloria was coming to my rescue, so I started up again.

  Then I heard the unmistakable sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening. Footsteps came toward me, and when they were directly overhead I barked as loudly as I could. Someone was in the basement.

  I thought it might be Clarity, but then I heard something strange: a human yowling, somewhere between crying and wailing. It was an awful noise, a noise of pain and perhaps fear. What was happening? I stopped barking, a little afraid. A strong scent—flowery, oily, and musky—flowed into my space from behind the boxes.

  Overhead I heard the front door open and shut. There were footsteps and then I sensed someone else standing up at the top of the stairs.

  “Gloria? Are you down there?” It was Clarity.

  Still the mournful wailing continued. I was silent—no human had ever made a sound like that in my whole life.

  Footsteps came rattling down the stairs. “Gloria?” Clarity’s voice called.

  There was a loud scream—“Ahhhhh!” I recognized Gloria.

  Clarity screamed, too. “Aghhhh!”

  I whimpered—what was happening?

  “Clarity June, you scared me to death!” Gloria panted.

  “Why didn’t you answer? What were you doing?” Clarity asked.

  “I was singing! I had my earbuds in! What are you doing home? What’s in the bag?”

  “I forgot something. It’s, um, dog food. We’re having a food drive at school.”

  “Do you really think it looks good to give dog food?”

  “Mo-ther. It’s not for the people. It’s for their dogs.”

  “You mean to tell me they can’t afford to feed themselves, but they have dogs? What’s this country coming to?”

  “Are you getting laundry? I’ll help you fold,” Clarity said. “Let’s take it upstairs.”

  They went up the stairs, leaving me alone again.

  I was really, really hungry.

  SEVEN

  Clarity did come back, and I was as glad to see her as I was the bowl of food in her hand.

  “She’s finally gone. Oh, Molly, I am so, so sorry.”

  I buried my face in the bowl, crunching the food until my mouth was dry and then drinking as much water as I could hold. Then Clarity took me out into the backyard, where the sun was shining and bugs were singing and the grass was fresh and warm. I sprawled out, rolling in sheer joy, and Clarity lay down next to me. We played tug-on-a-towel for a few minutes, but I was exhausted from barking all morning and when she picked me up to cuddle me to her chest I immediately fell into a deep sleep.

  When I woke up, I was back in the small space. The second I yipped, though, I heard running footsteps and then Clarity shoved aside the boxes. “Shhh, Molly! You need to be quiet!” Clarity said. I thought I understood what she was saying: when I wanted her, I needed to bark and then she would come.

  She let me play in the basement and she fed me more food. When I needed to squat on the cement floor, she cleaned it up and wasn’t upset that I couldn’t yet hold it until I made it outside. She hugged me and kissed me up and down my face, pure adoration flowing from her with such power I squirmed with happiness.

  We played and played until I was sleepy. She even woke me up that night to wrestle in the cool air of the backyard, all the bugs gone silent. It was so much fun to be outside when everything was so quiet!

  The next morning there were loud noises from upstairs, plus I heard Gloria’s voice: “Would you please turn down the music?” I barked and scratched at the boxes that were blocking my exit, ready to get upstairs to play with Clarity.

  When I both felt and heard the vibration from a door slamming I quieted down, trying to figure out what was going on. Was I alone again? No, there was still someone upstairs; I could hear walking. Then there was a sigh of air as the door from the outside to the basement opened. The boxes slid away and I jumped out and into Clarity’s arms, my heart leaping with joy. Time to have more fun!

  “You have to be very quiet,” she told me. She carried me out into the backyard and through a gate and then set me down and we went for a walk and then a car ride (front seat!) and then to a park to play all day. We were mostly by ourselves except for a woman with a small black dog named Get Back Here Milo. The black dog ran right over to me and I blinked and sank to the ground submissively, aware that as a puppy I needed to let Get Back Here Milo see I was no threat. “Get Back Here Milo!” the woman called over and over. The black dog pushed me roughly over with his snout and then Clarity reached down and picked me up, holding me the way Jennifer had when she’d fed me the strange milk.

  When Get Back Here Milo left, Clarity set me down and played with her face close to mine. I was so happy I yipped and spun.

  “She leaves tomorrow,” Clarity said to me. “I just need to keep you hidden one more night and then she’s gone for a
week. Can you go without barking tonight?”

  I chewed a stick.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Molly. She’ll never let me keep you.” Clarity grabbed me and gave me a fierce hug. “I love you so much.”

  I felt the affection pouring off of Clarity, but I was really focused on the stick at the moment, so I didn’t do much more than just wag my tail.

  I was disappointed that when we got home Clarity took me right down stairs and placed me into the small space under the stairs, sliding the boxes back. I voiced my displeasure with a volley of barks and she appeared instantly.

  “I need you to not bark, okay, Molly? My mother will be home any minute.”

  She slid the boxes back. Truthfully, I was tired from playing all day, so I settled down for a nap. I woke up, though, when I heard the front door slam. “I’m home!” Gloria’s voice boomed through the house. “Wait until you see what I bought at Neiman’s!”

  Though I had been smelling and hearing Gloria for a few days, I hadn’t yet had a chance to greet her. I thought she would probably be as glad to see me as Clarity had been. I yipped a couple of times and then waited, but all I heard was talking. I barked some more and then got the expected results when the door opened overhead and footsteps came down. Clarity shoved the boxes aside.

  “Please, Molly, please. Please be quiet.”

  Clarity fed me and took me inside her jacket down the street and then we walked and walked. It was dark and cool by the time we returned. Clarity pushed me back into the small space.

  “Okay. Go to sleep, okay, Molly? Go to sleep.”

  I tried to slip out as she was pushing the boxes back across the entrance, but I wasn’t fast enough. She ran up the stairs, which rattled, and shut the door and then it was quiet.

  I slept a little, but then I woke up and remembered I was all by myself. I whimpered. I knew that upstairs Clarity was probably lying in her bed, feeling lonely because I wasn’t with her, and that made me sad. I knew she thought that I liked to lie on the nice pillow under the stairs, but actually I wanted to be with her. I barked. There was no response, so I barked again, and then again.

  “Clarity! What’s that sound?” Gloria shrieked. I heard running, and then the door at the top of the stairs opened.

  “I think it came from down here!” Clarity shouted. I wagged my tail as she came down the stairs. “Go back to bed, Gloria. I’ll take care of it.”

  “It sounded like an animal!” Gloria replied.

  I heard Clarity moving around on the other side of the boxes. I scratched at them. I heard Gloria walking through the house and then I could sense her at the top of the stairs.

  I barked.

  “There it is again!” Gloria hissed. “It’s a dog; there’s a dog in the house!”

  Clarity shoved the boxes aside and I tumbled into her arms, licking her face. “No, it’s … Oh my God, it’s a fox!” she yelled. “Stay back!”

  “A fox? What? Are you sure?”

  “Foxes do bark, Gloria,” Clarity said.

  “How did it get in the house? What’s a fox doing here?”

  “The basement door must have blown open in the wind. It probably came because it smelled your stupid coat.”

  Clarity was smiling at me now. We played tug-on-a-towel and she wasn’t pulling very hard.

  “That can’t be right,” Gloria said.

  “They have very sensitive noses! I’m going to try to scare it out of the house and down the street,” Clarity said.

  “Are you sure it’s a fox? A fox, as in, the animal?”

  “I know what a fox looks like. It’s a little one.”

  “We should call the police.”

  “Like cops would come for a fox. I’m just going to shoo it outside. Stay back in case it makes a run for the stairs.”

  I heard Gloria gasp and slam the door at the top of the stairs. Clarity picked me up and ran out the back door and into the cool night. She took me right out the gate and didn’t set me down until we were around the corner.

  I didn’t understand the game we were playing, but after shaking and squatting I was ready to keep going. Clarity paced with me up and down the street and then a car came around the corner and stopped. The window rolled down and I smelled Rocky! I put my feet on the metal side of the car and tried to peer in. I smelled Trent then, too.

  “Thanks for doing this, Trent,” Clarity said.

  “It’s okay,” Trent said.

  Clarity picked me up and handed me through the window. I crawled across Trent’s chest, licking him in greeting, and then sniffed along the seat. Rocky wasn’t in the car, but he had been. We were both front-seat dogs.

  I went home with Trent that night and Clarity did not come with us. I was distressed when we drove off, and I whimpered, wondering where Clarity was, but when we arrived at Trent’s house Rocky was there! We were overjoyed to see each other and he and I wrestled in the living room and in the backyard and in Trent’s bedroom. Trent had a younger sister named Carolina who played with us and Trent played with us and even his parents played with us. I fell asleep in the middle of it all, suddenly so fatigued I simply had to lie down even though Rocky was chewing my face.

  As soon as Rocky and I awoke the next morning we recommenced the play. He was a little bigger than I was and obviously very attached to Trent, because sometimes he’d break off wrestling and run over to Trent to be stroked and praised. It made me miss Clarity, but every time it occurred to me that I should be worried about her Rocky would climb on me and we’d be back at it. I comforted myself that she had to come back to get me, and eventually she did.

  Later the back gate clanged and Rocky and I tore over to see who it might be, and there she was. We both jumped up on her and I finally growled at Rocky for acting as if he was as important to her as I was.

  Clarity and Trent stood in the backyard to watch me play with my brother. I tried to show her I could pin Rocky when I wanted to, but he wouldn’t cooperate.

  “She gone yet?” Trent asked.

  “Not yet. Her flight isn’t until one o’clock. I told her I had to leave early for school.”

  “Are you going to school?”

  “Not today.”

  “CJ, you can’t keep skipping school.”

  “Molly needs me.”

  I froze at the sound of my name and Rocky jumped on my back.

  “You’ve had Molly for three days. What about the other times?”

  “I just don’t feel like school is relevant in my life.”

  “You’re a high school student,” he said. “School is your life.”

  “I’ll go Monday,” Clarity told him. “I just want to spend time this week with Molly, while Gloria’s gone.”

  “And when Gloria gets back, what’s the plan then?”

  “I don’t know, Trent! Sometimes people don’t plan everything, it just happens, okay?”

  Clarity and I went for a car ride and I sat in the front seat. We went to a park that had a lot of grass but just one dog in it, an unfriendly brown canine who was only interested in walking with his owner on a path. Then we went home and, thankfully, I wasn’t shoved back into the tiny place under the stairs but had the run of the house. I could smell Gloria, but she was not around.

  I slept in Clarity’s bed. I was so excited I kept waking up and licking her face. She would bat my nose away, but there was no heat in the gesture. Finally she was content to just let me gnaw gently on her fingers when I felt the need, and that’s how we spent the night.

  The next day it rained and we played inside, only going out for me to do my business in the wet grass. “Molly! Come here!” CJ called to me at one point. I trotted down the hall, Gloria’s smells getting stronger and stronger. CJ was grinning and nodding at me, and I watched her curiously. She pushed open a door and Gloria’s overpowering odors flooded out.

  “See the dog in the mirror?” CJ asked.

  I heard the word “dog” and figured she wanted me to go through the door. I
walked in and immediately stopped dead: there was a dog in there! It looked like Rocky. I bounded forward, then pulled back in surprise as it jumped aggressively at me. It was not Rocky—in fact, it didn’t smell like any dog at all. I wagged my tail and it wagged. I bowed down and it bowed down at the same time.

  It was so strange, I barked. It looked like it was barking, too, but it didn’t make a noise.

  “Say hi, Molly! Get the dog!” CJ said.

  I barked some more, then approached, sniffing. There was no dog, just something that looked like a dog. It was very strange.

  “You see the dog, Molly? See the dog?”

  Whatever was going on, it wasn’t very interesting. I turned away, smelling under the bed, where there were dusty shoes.

  “Good dog, Molly!” CJ said. I liked being praised, but I was glad when we left the room. There was something a bit disquieting about the dog-thing with no smell.

  The morning after that, everything was moist and deliciously fragrant and I sniffed at several worms but didn’t eat any because after you’ve done that a few times you learn they’re never going to taste any better than they smell.

  We had just gotten home when the doorbell rang. I ran to the front door and barked. I could see a shadow on the other side of the glass in the door.

  “Look out, Molly. Stay back,” Clarity said. She opened the door a crack.

  “Are you Clarity Mahoney?” the woman on the other side of the door asked. I pushed my face to the crack and tried to squeeze out, but Clarity kept me inside. I wagged my tail so the person would know I wasn’t serious about all the barking; I was just doing my job.

  “I go by ‘CJ,’” Clarity said.

  “CJ. I’m Officer Llewellyn. I’m a truant officer. Why aren’t you in school today?”

  “I’m sick.” CJ turned her head and coughed. The woman outside looked down at me and I wagged harder. Why didn’t we all go outdoors and play?

  “Where’s your mother?”

  “She’s out shopping. For my prescription,” CJ said.

  They just stood there for a long moment. I yawned.