Dog Heaven Read online

  Streak.

  Once I had that name, ideas came down like rain in the mountains. Let’s just say he’s a boy dog.

  His name is Streak and his ears are flapping in the wind.

  Yeah, yeah, yeah!

  I had to get home and write this stuff down before I forgot it. I grabbed Darci’s hand. “We got to run!”

  Julio called after me. “What’s the hurry?”

  “I just thought of my pretzel!”

  I sat at my desk and scribbled down everything I could remember. I read it out loud to see how it sounded. I fixed a few things and read it out loud again. Not too bad. My opening sentence would pick Mr. Purdy up and shake him!

  Another thought started to itch. Ideas are like that, fuzzy at first; you sort of feel them. Then they grow, and if you’re lucky, they pop your eyes open.

  Hmmm.

  If I do this right, I might be able to feed two birds with one crumb. I could get a good grade and… ho, yeah!… I could use my essay on Mom! To get a dog! For real!

  This is genius!

  That evening after dinner I hung around the kitchen. Mom and Stella were washing dishes.

  “Here,” I said, handing Stella my plastic juice glass left over from breakfast. It had dried-up orange juice on the bottom.

  Stella squinted and grabbed the glass.

  Mom smiled. “Thank you for helping, Cal.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Stella rolled her eyes. “Spare me.”

  Mom set the glass in the soapy sink. “Did you get a letter from your mom today, Stella?”

  “No.” It was almost a whisper.

  Mom paused. “That’s too bad.”

  And it was too bad. Stella hadn’t gotten anything from her mom in weeks, not even a birthday card. Stella had just turned sixteen.

  Mom handed a plate to Stella to dry. “You know how slow the mail can be between Texas and the islands.”

  Stella scoffed. “Yeah, the Pony Express has a problem with oceans.”

  “Oh, Stella.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

  Mom nodded. “Your hair looks lovely today, Stella. You should wear it up more often.”

  Stella shrugged.

  I looked for more stuff to help with. My cereal bowl was right where I’d left it that morning before school. A fly floated in the evaporating milk at the bottom. I took the fly, wrapped it in a napkin to give to Manly Stanley on Monday, and stuffed it in my pocket.

  I handed the bowl to Mom.

  “Thank you, Calvin. I like it when you help out.”

  I smiled.

  Stella tossed the dishtowel over her shoulder and squinted at me. “He’s not helping out. He wants something.”

  Mom raised an eyebrow. “Is that right, Cal?”

  “No, really, I’m just helping out. You know, cleaning and stuff.”

  Stella smirked.

  “Great,” Mom said. “Please take out the trash.”

  Stella winked.

  I hated taking out the trash and she knew it. The garbage can in the garage smelled worse than a bloated maggoty dead toad. “Sure, Mom.”

  I reached under the sink and pulled the packed bag out of the trash can.

  Stella shook her head. “Don’t you see it, Angela? He doesn’t want to help out. He wants something. I know he does.”

  “I do not!”

  “Just take out the trash, Calvin,” Mom said.

  I took it out and dumped it, holding my breath. Who cared if Stella ever got a letter from her mom? Not me!

  I stumbled back into the kitchen, gasping for air.

  “Mom, can I read you something I wrote? It’s for school.”

  “Homework?”

  “Yeah, homework. I worked on it all afternoon.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, sure, Mom.”

  Mom dried her hands. “I’d love to hear it, Calvin.”

  I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my pocket.

  Stella leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. “This I have to hear.”

  “Close your eyes … I mean, you know, to see it better.”

  Mom closed her eyes.

  Stella stuck her finger in her nose.

  I ignored her and started reading.

  “A dog is like a pig in a jeep, only he’s riding on a bike with a kid. His name is Streak and his ears are flapping in the wind. He’s a puppy and needs a home and—”

  “Hah!” Stella yelped. “There it is. He wants a dog!”

  The next spider I found was going between her sheets! And I knew just where to find one.

  Mom opened an eye. “Is this some new way you’ve invented to ask me about getting a dog?”

  “No, Mom, this is a for-real assignment for Mr. Purdy.”

  Mom raised an eyebrow.

  “Really,” I said feebly. My plan had just blown up.

  “You know we can’t have a dog, Cal. Stella might be allergic to them like she is to cats. It’s the dander. Besides that, dogs stink.”

  “Willy’s dog doesn’t stink … too much.”

  “Well, anyway, you’ve seen how Stella’s eyes puff up. She can hardly see.”

  Stella stuck her pointy head into the matter. “I’m pretty sure I’m not allergic to dogs, but still, they carry ticks, fleas, lice, and diseases. Their tongues are cities of disgusting bacteria.”

  “They are not! They—”

  The phone rang.

  Stella grabbed it. “Hello?”

  She frowned and handed me the phone.

  I took it. “Hello?”

  It was Ledward. “I just thought of something. You know the lawn mower?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Maybe it was out of gas. Run into the garage and check it for me. I’ll wait.”

  “Be right back.”

  I set the receiver down. “Gotta check something for Ledward.”

  When I came back, I told him, “It has gas.”

  “Shoot. Well, it was just a thought.”

  “Ledward?”

  “Yeah?”

  I stretched the cord as far away from Mom and Stella as it would go. I squatted down and whispered into the phone, “Can you help me with something? It’s for … uh, school.”

  “How come you whispering?”

  “I don’t want anyone to hear.”

  “Got it. What’s it about?”

  I looked over my shoulder. Mom and Stella were finishing up with the dishes. I turned back. “A dog.”

  “Ahhh, the dog again.” Ledward paused. “Okay, we need a plan.”

  I turned when a foot with red toenails appeared next to me. I waved her away, but Stella just stood there.

  “Saturday,” Ledward said. “My day off. I come get you. We go see some dogs.”

  “Really?”

  “Keep it to yourself.”

  I squished lower and whispered. “See them where?”

  “Dog heaven.”

  On Saturday morning, I was out in the street with Willy and Julio slapping a dried-out runover toad around with a plastic hockey stick when Ledward’s jeep pulled up.

  He grinned. “Toad hockey, huh?”

  Julio lifted the hockey stick. “Want to play?”

  “Can’t. Me and Calvin got someplace to go.”

  “Where?”

  “Place I call heaven.”

  Julio and Willy looked at me. I nodded.

  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.

  Ledward 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.”

  That 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?

  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?”

  “N
o … 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?”