A Dog's Way Home

by W. Bruce Cameron

  One afternoon I was lying on Lucas’s foot, where I had collapsed after a particularly vicious game of attack-the-shoes. I was not comfortable, lying there, but was too exhausted to move, so my head was much lower than the rest of my body.

  I heard a noisy rumble, getting louder, and eventually Lucas shifted in a way that suggested he had heard it, too.

  “What’s that, Bella?”

  I struggled to my feet. Walk? Treat? Lucas went to the window and looked out.

  “Mom!” he shouted in alarm.

  Mom came out of her room. “What is it?”

  “They’re unloading a backhoe! They’re going to knock down the house, and there are still cats living in there!” He went to a drawer and yanked it open while Mom went to the window. “Okay, look. Here’s the card. Call the rescue. Ask for Audrey, but if she’s not there, just tell them that the developer is going to tear down the house and the cats will be killed!”

  I could clearly feel the fear pouring off of Lucas as he went to get the leash. He snapped it onto me. I shook, fully awake.

  “I’ll call. What are you going to do?” Mom asked.

  “I have to stop them.” He opened the door.

  “Lucas!”

  “I have to stop them!”

  Together, we ran outside.

  Three

  Lucas ran out the door, pulling me along behind him. We dashed across the street. The fence had been partially taken down. Some men were clustered around the den and there was a large, growly machine. The noise it made was startlingly deep and loud. I squatted to pee and one of the men broke away from the group and came over to us. He had shoes from which wafted fascinating tangs of oils and other sharp fragrances I had never encountered.

  “There are still cats living under there,” Lucas told the man as he approached. Lucas was panting and his heart was pounding when he picked me up and held me against his chest.

  “What are you talking about?” the man asked, frowning.

  “Cats. There are cats living in the crawl space. You can’t tear down the house; it will kill them. You can do the others, but this one has animals.”

  The man chewed his lip. He looked back over at his friends, and then at me. “Nice puppy.” His hand was roughly textured when it rubbed my head, and I smelled chemicals and soils, both strong and faint on his skin.

  Lucas took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

  “What is she, a daniff?”

  “What?”

  “Your puppy. Friend of mine has a daniff, a dane-mastiff. Looked a lot like this when he was just a little guy. I like dogs.”

  “That’s great. Maybe, I don’t know what breed she is. Actually, she was rescued from the crawl space under the house you’re getting ready to demolish. There were all kinds of cats, and many of them are still there. That’s what I am trying to explain, that not all the animals were caught. So you can’t legally tear down a house with feral cats living under it.”

  From the hole that led to the den I could smell Mother Cat, and knew she had cautiously come closer. I wiggled, wanting to go see her, but Lucas’s hand stopped me. I loved to be held by him but sometimes it frustrated me when it was time to play.

  “Legally,” the man repeated thoughtfully. “Yeah, well, I’ve got the demolition permit. It’s posted right there, see? So actually it is legal. I got nothing against cats, except that maybe my girlfriend’s got a couple too many. But I have to do my job. Understand? It’s not personal.”

  “It is personal. It’s personal to the cats. It’s personal to me,” Lucas declared. “They are all alone in the world. Abandoned. I’m all they’ve got.”

  “Okay, well, I’m not going to debate on this.”

  “We called the animal rescue people.”

  “Not my concern. We can’t wait for them.”

  “No!” Lucas strode over and stood in front of the big machine and I followed, keeping the leash limp between us. “You can’t do this.”

  I stared up at the huge thing, not comprehending.

  “You’re starting to piss me off here, pal. Get out of the way. You’re trespassing.”

  “I’m not moving.” Lucas picked me up and held me to his chest.

  The man stepped closer to us, staring at Lucas. They were the same height, eye-to-eye. Lucas and I stared back. I wagged.

  “You really want to get into this?” the man asked softly.

  “Mind if I set my dog down first?”

  The man looked away in disgust. “Momma said there’d be days like this,” he muttered.

  “Hey, Dale!” one of the other men yelled. “I just talked to Gunter. He says he’ll be right here.”

  “Okay. Good. He can deal with the protester, then.” The man turned and walked back to be with his friends. I wondered if the rest of them would come over to pet me. I would like that.

  Soon a big, dark car pulled up and a man stood up out of it. He went over and talked to the other men, who all looked over at me because I was the only dog there. Then the man came over to see me. He was taller than Lucas and bigger around. When he came close I could smell smoke and some meats and something sweet on his clothing and his breath. “So what’s this about?” he asked Lucas.

  “There are still some cats living under the house. I know you wouldn’t want to risk hurting them,” Lucas replied.

  The man shook his head. “There are no cats. We got all the cats.”

  “No, you didn’t. There are still some under there. At least three.”

  “Well, you’re wrong and I don’t have time for this. We’re already behind schedule because of the damn cats, and I’m not losing another day on it. I’m got apartments to build.”

  “What did you do? With all the cats that were here? Some of them were little kittens!”

  “That is not your business. None of this is your business.”

  “Yes, it is. I live right across the street. I see the cats come and go.”

  “Good for you. What’s your name?”

  “Lucas. Lucas Ray.”

  “I’m Gunter Beckenbauer.” The man reached out and gripped Lucas’s hand for a moment, but then let go. When Lucas’s hand returned to holding me, there was meat and smoke on his skin. I sniffed carefully.

  “You the one been rolling back my fence? I’ve sent guys to fix it three times already.”

  Lucas didn’t say anything. Lying in his arms, I was beginning to feel drowsy.

  “And it’s you feeding the cats, that’s obvious. Which isn’t exactly helping the situation, you know?”

  “You’re saying you’d want them to starve?”

  “They’re cats. They kill birds and mice, or maybe you didn’t know that. So they don’t starve.”

  “That’s not true. They way over-reproduce. If they aren’t caught and sterilized, they have litters and most of the kittens die of hunger or disease brought on by malnutrition.”

  “And that’s my fault?”

  “No. Look. All I’m asking is that you give people time to deal with this humanely. There are organizations dedicated to this, to rescuing animals who, through no fault of their own, are abandoned and living treacherous lives. We called one and they are on their way out here now. Let them do their job, and then you can do yours.”

  The smoky-meat man had listened to Lucas but was still shaking his head. “Okay, that sounds like you’re quoting from a Web site or something, but it’s not what we’re talking about now. You got any idea how hard it is to get anything built these days, Lucas? There’s about a dozen agencies you have to work with. I finally got my demo permit after a year delay. A year. So I have to get working, now.”

  “I’m not moving.”

  “You’re seriously going to stand in front of a backhoe while it knocks down a house? You could get killed.”

  “Fine.”

  “You know what? I was going to do this the easy way, but you’re forcing my hand. I’m calling the cops.”

  “Fine.”

  “Anybody ever tell you
you’re a stubborn little bastard?”

  “Stubborn, maybe,” Lucas replied. “No one ever says I’m little.”

  “Huh. You are a real piece of work.”

  The man walked away without petting me, which was very unusual. We stood still for a long moment. The big machine went silent, and when the rumble quieted my body felt different, as if something had been squeezing me and now had stopped. Lucas put me down and I sniffed carefully at the dirt. I wanted to play but Lucas just wanted to stand there, and the leash did not give me much room to run around.

  I wagged when more people showed up. There was a woman and a man, and they got out of yet another car. They were both wearing dark clothing and had metal objects on their hips.

  “Police,” Lucas observed quietly. “Well, Bella, let’s see what happens now that the police are here.”

  The two people in dark clothes went over and spoke to the man with the smoky meat fingers. Lucas seemed a little uneasy, but we did not move. I yawned, then wagged excitedly when the two people came over to see me. I could smell a dog on the woman, but not on the man.

  “Oh my God, that’s a cute puppy,” the woman said warmly.

  “This is Bella,” Lucas greeted. I loved that they were talking about me!

  The woman was smiling at me. “What’s your name?”

  “Lucas. Lucas Ray.”

  “Okay, Lucas. Why don’t you tell us what is going on,” her male friend said.

  The man spoke to Lucas while the woman knelt and played with me. I jumped on her hand. Now that I could sniff her I realized she actually had the scent of two separate dogs on her fingers. I licked them and could taste the dogs. The metal objects at her side rattled.

  When the woman stood up I looked back to Lucas.

  “But who is supposed to protect the cats, then, if not the police?” Lucas asked. It was the second time he had used that word “police.” I could tell he was upset and went to sit at his feet, hoping to help him be happy.

  “You don’t have a role to play here. Understand?” The man in dark clothes gestured to the big machine. “I get why this bothers you, but you can’t interfere with a construction project. If you don’t leave we’re going to have to take you in.”

  The woman with the two-dog smells touched Lucas on the arm. “The best thing for you and your puppy is to go home now.”

  “Will you at least shine your flashlight in the crawl space?” Lucas asked. “You’ll see what I’m talking about.”

  “I’m not sure that would make any difference,” the woman replied.

  I watched as another car pulled up. This one was redolent with dogs and cats and even other animals. I lifted my nose in the air, sorting it all out.

  The new vehicle contained a woman and a man. The man reached into the backseat and pulled out something big and set it on his shoulder. I could not smell what it was. He touched it and a strong light came from it, reminding me of the time when lights flooded in from the hole and flashed on the cats as they ran from it in the den.

  I knew the woman. She was the person who had climbed under the house the day I met Lucas. I wagged at both the newcomers, happy to see them. There were so many people here!

  “Hi, Audrey,” Lucas greeted.

  “Hi, Lucas.”

  I wanted to go see the woman, who I decided was named Audrey, but she and her friend stopped short of coming up to us. The light tracked across Lucas’s face and then settled on the dirt in front of the hole to the den.

  The man with the smoky meat smells strode over. His footsteps were heavy and he gestured with his hands like a man throwing a toy for a dog. “Hey! There’s no filming here.”

  Audrey moved closer to the man with the thing on his shoulder. “We’re filming you because you’re tearing down a dwelling that is home to feral cats!”

  The smoky-meat man shook his head. “There are no cats here anymore!”

  I tensed—Mother Cat! She paused for a moment at the edge of the hole, assessing her situation, and then streaked out into the open, running right past us and vanishing into some bushes at the back fence. I forgot I was on the leash when I tried to chase after her, pulling up short. Frustrated, I sat and yelped.

  “Did you get that?” Audrey asked her friend.

  “I got it,” replied the man with the thing on his shoulder.

  “So, no cats?” Lucas said to the smoky-meat man.

  “I want you to arrest those people,” the man shouted at the people in dark clothes.

  “They’re standing on the sidewalk,” the man in the dark clothes observed calmly. “No law against that.”

  “We’re not going to arrest anyone for filming,” the woman with the two-dog smell added. “And you did tell us there were no cats.”

  “I’m with animal rescue,” Audrey said from where she stood. “We’ve already put in a call to the building commission. They are pulling the demolition permit because of the presence of feral cats. Officers, if he tears down this house, it will be an illegal act.”

  “That’s impossible,” smoky-meat man sneered. “They don’t move that fast. They don’t even answer the damn phone that fast.”

  “They do when one of our board members calls. She’s a county commissioner,” Audrey replied.

  The two people in dark clothes looked at each other. “This is so not our department,” the man said.

  “But you saw the cat. Animal welfare is your department,” Audrey said. I wondered why she didn’t come over, but she stood by where the cars were parked. I wanted her to play with us!

  “This is costing me money while everyone stands around! I expect the police to do their job and get these people the hell out of here!” the man with the smoky meat smell said angrily.

  Police—people who wore dark clothes and had objects on their hips were police. Both of them stiffened. “Sir,” the woman said to Lucas, “would you please take your dog and move to the sidewalk?”

  “Not if he is going to pull a house down on top of a bunch of helpless cats,” Lucas responded stubbornly.

  “Jesus Christ!” the smoky-meat man shouted.

  The man and the woman in dark clothes looked at each other. “Lucas. If I have to ask you again I’m going to cuff you and put you in the back of our unit,” the woman police said.

  Lucas stood quietly for a moment, and then he and I went over so that Audrey could pet me. I was so happy to see her! And I was glad, too, that smoky-meat man and the police followed so we could all be together.

  Smoky-meat man took a deep breath. “There were a couple dozen cats here, but not anymore. The cat we just saw could have been in there checking things out—it doesn’t mean it lives there.”

  “I see her every day,” Lucas told them. A piece of paper fluttered past in the wind and I strained to get at it, but the leash held me back. “She does so live there. A couple others, too.”

  “About all those cats. What shelter did you take them to? I can’t find them in the system anywhere,” Audrey asked pointedly.

  “Okay, first, this guy Lucas has been cutting my fence, officers. He’s been feeding the cats! And second, she’s right, we brought in an outside company to humanely trap them. I don’t know what they did with them. Probably found them all good homes.”

  “So he’s been feeding the cats that you say aren’t here anymore.” The woman in dark clothing nodded.

  Everyone stood quietly for a moment. I yawned.

  “Hey, Gunter!” one of the dusty men called. “I got Mandy on the phone. She says it’s about your permit.”

  * * *

  Eventually most of the people left. Audrey knelt and played with me in the sparse grass while her friend put the thing with the light back in her car.

  “That was genius, showing up with a news camera,” Lucas said.

  Audrey laughed. “That was a complete accident. I was driving my brother around shooting B roll. He’s in film school at CU Boulder. When your mom called we came right over and we thought it would be a great ide
a to make it look like Fox 31 or something.” She picked me up and kissed my nose and I licked her. “You are such a sweetie.” She put me back down.

  “Her name is Bella.”

  I looked up at Lucas at the sound of my name.

  “Bella!” Audrey said happily. I put my paws on her knees, trying to climb up to her face. “You are going to be such a big doggie when you grow up!”

  “Hey, uh, Audrey?” Lucas made a small coughing sound in his throat, and I glanced up, sensing a rising tension. Audrey smiled up at him. “I was thinking it would be fun if you and I went out. And look, Bella agrees.”

  “Oh.” Audrey stood up abruptly. I wandered over to attack Lucas’s shoes. “That’s sweet, Lucas. Actually, though, I just moved in with my boyfriend. It’s pretty serious. We’re serious, I mean.”

  “Sure. No, of course.”

  “Hey, Audrey! Can we get going? I want to get out to Golden before magic hour,” the man yelled out the car window. Sleepy, I yawned and spread out on the grass, thinking it was a good time for a nap. I closed my eyes and didn’t open them when Lucas picked me up.

  * * *

  Later I was playing with Lucas on the soft floor of the big room of the house, what they called the living room. He was pulling a string and I would jump on it and run away with it, but it would slip out of my mouth and, laughing, he would pull it along the floor again until I could pounce. I was so content to be with him, so happy to hear his laughter, that I could have played that game all night.

  There was a knock at the door and Lucas became still for a moment, and then went over to it. I followed him. He put his eye to the door while I smelled the scent of a man on the colder air seeping through the bottom crack. It was the man from before, the one who smelled like smoke and meat.

  Lucas went rigid. The man knocked again. Finally Lucas opened the door, sweeping me away with his foot as he did so.

  “You and me need to talk,” the man said to Lucas.

  Four

  “Talk about what?” Lucas asked.

  “Can I come in, or do you want to stand here in the doorway?”