Buster

by Caleb Huett

  She crouched in front of him, elbows resting on her knees. “I think you just exercised.” I tossed myself over his lap and tried to help him pull out of what was now, I was sure, a panic attack. Tonio squeezed his eyes shut, clenching and unclenching his hands.

  “Ooooh,” Mia said. “Is this your psoriasis?”

  Tonio shook his head once, fast. “Anxiety,” he corrected. “And no!”

  But then his heart rate came down a little bit, and he said, “Maybe.”

  Hands buried in my fur, he laid back on the pavement and kept his eyes closed. He focused on his breathing for a minute, then said, “Yeah, I think so. I’m okay.”

  Mia stood up and checked her pajamas for dirt. “Thanks for your help.”

  “You’re welcome,” Tonio answered, surprised.

  “I was talking to Buster.”

  Tonio didn’t know what to say to that. He opened his eyes and stared up at her from the ground.

  “I’m gonna go,” she said at the same time Tonio told her, “I’m sorry!”

  They both stopped to replay what the other one said in their heads, and then said, “Sorry for what?” and “Okay, you can go.” At the same time. Mia gave Tonio a look, and he went first this time.

  “I didn’t mean to surprise you when I said I was moving.” He wiped some sweat from his forehead. “I didn’t really think you would care. We’re not really friends like you and Sloan.”

  Mia shrugged. “Yeah, well, Sloan and I aren’t really friends like me and Sloan, either.”

  “Don’t say—”

  She held up a hand to stop him. “I mean, who cares? I barely know you, you’re kind of creepily quiet most of the time, and you might throw up on me at, like, any second. We’re not really friends. I don’t know why I was upset, either.”

  That was a little bit of progress, even if it came hidden in some insults. She went from who cares? to I was upset, so at least she wasn’t trying to pretend it didn’t matter to her.

  Tonio pushed himself up to a sitting position. He winced and yanked his hands off the hot pavement and tucked them into his lap. Try walking around on it all day, I thought. “I can help you, if you want. To figure it out.”

  “Huh?”

  “Why you’re upset. My doctor says that sometimes our brains are like a mystery, even to us, and we have to try to figure out our feelings on purpose.” He blushed. “Like a detective.”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.” But then she looked down at him with a softer expression. “Why do you even care, anyway?”

  Tonio didn’t hesitate. “Because I think you’re wrong. I think we are friends. And I want to be a good one.”

  Her face flared into an expression that I thought was anger at first—it looked a lot like her angry face, but maybe that’s just her Strong Emotions face—and then tears started rolling down both cheeks. “That doesn’t make sense. I’m not even nice to you.”

  Tonio was choking up, too; I think mostly because she was crying. “You’re always honest with me. I think that’s better, sometimes.” He wiped at his eyes and laughed a little bit. “Even when you are a little mean, yeah.”

  Mia sighed. “I was going to leave, too.”

  Tonio already knew that, thanks to me, but he obviously couldn’t explain that right now, so he just said, “Oh?”

  “Sloan’s parents used to say stuff like ‘You’re over here so much, you’re like another daughter!’ or ‘Maybe we should just adopt you!’ So … I thought maybe they would. But that was a stupid idea. I didn’t even tell her, but I guess she figured it out, because she called to tell me that it wasn’t possible, and I had to stay in Bellville. I guess I was just mad about that.”

  “But you asked me to be your friend,” Tonio argued. “Sort of. And that was before she said anything.”

  Mia rubbed her elbow uncomfortably. “I just felt like it. I don’t know why.”

  Tonio nodded. “I think we’re the same.”

  She gave him a disbelieving look.

  “Not the same in a lot of ways, but … it seemed like the only way to really fix what was making you sad was to move, right? But you didn’t really want to move. You know everybody here, and you love your family, and you’ve got all your dogs around. Does that sound right?”

  Mia nodded, slowly.

  “So maybe you were hoping I would give you a reason to stay?”

  The door to Roll the Ice chimed as it opened. “Tonio?” Devon’s voice called. “Are you out here?”

  Tonio gave Mia an apologetic look and called back, “Yeah, I’m here.”

  I could hear Devon’s nice sneakers jogging along the sidewalk. His head poked around the corner first, and his big smile lit up the alleyway.

  “Who’s that?” Mozart yipped. I kicked him.

  “Mia!” Devon was oblivious to the complicated expressions on everyone else’s faces. “You made it!”

  Mia looked, confused, between Devon’s grin and Tonio’s bashful expression. “What do you mean?”

  “Tonio’s been worried about you all day. He fixed up your deck and even got Skyler to let you join in on the second round.” He wagged his finger and did his best grumpy-adult imitation. “You should really try to be on time for things, you know. The second round of the tournament is about to start!”

  Tonio stood up. “You don’t have to go,” he said. “I just thought you might still want to. Three hundred dollars, right?” He unsnapped one of the pockets of his shorts and pulled out a deck box for her. “Just for playing a game.”

  Mia pulled a deep breath in, then let it out in a big sigh. “Yeah. I’ll stay.” She took the deck from Tonio. “And you should, too, you know.”

  Devon laughed. “Of course he’s staying. He won in the first round! You did, too, technically.”

  They turned and started walking toward Roll the Ice. Mozart jumped for joy, and my tail wagged its absolute hardest.

  We’d done it. We’d made our people happy, at least for a little while.

  Isn’t that what a Good Dog is supposed to do?

  Mia strolled into the game store just like someone who wasn’t bringing a puppy in against the rules and wearing only elephant pajamas.

  “Where’s my sign-up sheet?” she yelled over the crowd. Devon laughed. Tonio’s face carried enough embarrassment for all three of them. “I’ve got some beams to blade!!!”

  Skyler handed her a clipboard. Mia dragged the pen across it with a series of lightning-quick scratches and passed it back while a dozen adults watched and tried not to laugh at her energy. Only one spoke up—Phil, the grumpy one from our first visit to the store.

  “She should really be disqualified for showing up this late.” His eyes glared out from under bushy eyebrows. Skyler returned a stern look.

  “Special circumstances, Phil.”

  Phil harrumphed while she listed off Blademaster names and table numbers.

  “Nevod versus StoneSeraph, table six.”

  “Got it!” Devon winked at the other two kids and dragged his backpack over.

  “Malbrain and Combuster versus Five Paninis, table three.” Tonio glanced at Mia, who shooed him along.

  “And at table four, Cool Name versus …” She squinted. “The Inevitable Winner of Tonight’s Tournament?” Skyler looked over her clipboard at Mia. “That can’t be your Blademaster name.”

  Mia was already tossing Mozart onto table four. “You said it, not me. You’re on, Cool Name!”

  All three kids won that round. Tonio went into his match ready to fight back, Mia didn’t miss a beat with her power-first fire deck, and Devon’s yellow deck kept him dancing quickly around his opponent, then dancing victoriously when he grabbed the last Spirit Battery.

  Mia rolled her eyes at him on her way to Tonio’s table, where she booted his opponent—a nice woman whose deck was entirely robots—out of her seat so the three of them could talk strategy between rounds.

  “You shoulda seen me!” Mia slammed her hands down on the table
for emphasis. “I had two meteors in my first hand, and on turn three—Bash, the Twin Barrier! She came in and stunned all the Merborgs, and by turn four, it was over.”

  Devon turned to Tonio. “How was your match against the sandwiches?”

  The corners of his mouth quirked up. “Well, it turns out they weren’t just paninis, but were, in fact, a human. And I won.” He flinched at Devon’s playful arm punch.

  “Look at you! That was almost a joke!”

  Mia drummed the table with her fingers. “I wasn’t done with my story!” she complained.

  Devon nodded seriously. “I see. We must have been confused, after the part where you said, ‘It was over.’ ”

  “That was obviously for dramatic effect!” She raised her hand at him, palm up, and looked at Tonio. “Why are you even hanging out with this guy?”

  Tonio saw the chance to plant a seed of friendship. “He’s actually—”

  “Because I saved some of his throw-up and used it to cast a spell and make him my friend.”

  “That’s so gross.”

  “Can we stop talking about my throw-up, please?”

  Round three, Devon lost to Phil, which he took okay even though you could tell he was disappointed. Tonio won, which as a trend was making him increasingly nervous. Mia also won and faced Phil in the semifinals.

  When she lost she didn’t take it well, yelling “This is GARBAGE!” for everyone in the shop to hear. “I bought this at the store, opened it, used it, threw it away, they took it to a landfill.” Mia scooped up her cards in a big, angry motion. “A hundred years passed, humans got so advanced they didn’t need landfills anymore, but when they came by with their trash-cleaning lasers to convert everything to clean energy”—she let her chair fall back as she stood up—“the new guy tried to shoot it and the other guy stopped him and was like, not that one, new guy.” She dumped her cards on Tonio’s table. “Not Phil’s battle strategy. That’s just garbage.”

  “I can’t believe he got both of us,” Devon commiserated. “I beat him when we were just playing casually before, but I’m using the same deck, so … I guess he knew what was coming.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tonio said honestly. “I hoped you guys would win.”

  “The sparkly dragon is what really got me,” Mia said.

  “He’s got OM?!” Tonio was stunned. “How am I supposed to win against that?”

  Mia crossed her arms. “I don’t know, but you have to. You’re our only chance to take this guy down.”

  I could feel his heartbeat skyrocket. “What? What do you mean?”

  “It’s the finals! You two are the only ones left.”

  Tonio shook his head. “Maybe one of you could play for me instead? I don’t know if I’m ready to be in the finals.”

  “Not ready?!” Devon looked confused. “You’ve won every match! You are, by definition, the most ready out of everybody here.”

  “Except for Phil,” Mia pointed out.

  “Right,” Devon said. “Except Phil. But this is your first tournament, and he’s probably done like a thousand.”

  Tonio’s eyes flared wide.

  Mia gawked at Devon. “Do you think before you say anything?”

  “No!” Devon declared with a smirk. “Unlike you, who obviously plans everything you do very carefully.”

  “I dunno,” Tonio interrupted before they could escalate into an argument. He wrung his hands on the edge of his shirt and tried not to let the stress show on his face. “I didn’t expect to make it this far, and maybe that’s enough.”

  “No way.” Mia leaned her chair back onto its back legs.

  Devon said, “We just gotta beat Phil the old-fashioned way: pumping up your confidence and helping you win with the power of friendship!” He pulled a Sharpie out of his backpack. “What if we put our hands together and I drew a smiley face on them?”

  “What’s that gonna do?” Mia asked.

  Tonio shook his head. “I read online that drawing on your skin is bad for you.”

  “Oh.” Devon deflated. “I saw it on a show once, so I thought—”

  “We can try it!” Tonio blurted out. “It’s probably not that bad!”

  “It’s okay. It was a bad idea.”

  “No, it wasn’t!”

  “Yes,” Mia said, “it was.” She pointed a card at Tonio. “You made me come all the way in here, and you promised to split the money with me. So you can’t quit. You just gotta barrel right in and beat him as fast as you can, before he can get set up.”

  Tonio said, “That makes sense.”

  Devon shook his head. “You want my advice? Phil wins when he stays all calm and strategic, and he’s got a basically perfect deck. But he falls apart when he loses control—I beat him before because he was so worried about losing to a kid, he freaked out. You want a chance, you gotta throw him off balance.”

  “Thank you,” Tonio answered, with an expression that, to me, showed he hadn’t processed any of it. I noticed a strange movement under the table and lifted my head to see around the bottom of the chair. Tonio was tapping his leg—the first signal we’d learned in training. He wanted to go outside.

  “Heeeeeeeeeey,” I whined. “I gotta go!!!! I really gotta goooooo!” I pawed at his ankle.

  “You sound like a puppy.” Mozart giggled from the table.

  Tonio scooted his chair back and looked down with fake surprise. “Oh,” he said, “looks like Buster needs to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay, Tonio,” Mia said. Then she turned to Devon. “What if we set Phil’s pants on fire during the match?”

  Devon thought about it. “I think we’d probably get Tonio disqualified.”

  “Fair.”

  As soon as we stepped outside, I smelled something on the wind. Two somethings: one big, one small, both very official and important. The officers. I tried not to give away the burst of fear I felt, and casually looked around for any sign of them.

  “Thank you, Buster,” Tonio said. I very carefully kept my face forward, and my body unresponsive. Where are they? He led me across the street, to a bench in the little bell park. “I’m gonna mess it all up. I already have. Mia and Devon are nothing alike, and now they’re only talking because they want me to win, and if I don’t win, they’ll know they shouldn’t have bothered.” I wanted to help him so bad, but I couldn’t do anything. It felt like we were back in the beginning, when I was “just a dog,” and he was a boy I couldn’t help as much as I wanted to.

  Be a Good Dog, I reminded myself. Don’t talk back.

  “What should I do?” he asked me.

  A rustle in the bushes. Two pairs of eyes peering at me from a hedge beside the bell. Tonio didn’t notice them, and I couldn’t do anything to let him know we were being watched.

  He talking to you? Officer Sergeant underspoke. I started to pose, but she cut me off. Don’t answer that. I want to see what he does.

  I did, too, but I kept my eyes on the officers. Tonio was nothing if not observant, so I sent prayers silently up to Laika that he’d realize what was happening.

  The pause went on for way too long—me watching the officers watching Tonio.

  Finally, Tonio sighed. “I wish you could talk,” he lamented. “Maybe you’d give me good advice.”

  I relaxed. It sounded a little forced to me, but I was pretty sure neither of the officers knew Tonio as well as I did. It was believable enough.

  All right, you can underspeak. Carefully. Officer Sergeant relaxed a little, too, but Grizzle’s fur stayed on end. We’ve received some evidence—

  “INCRIMINATING evidence!” Grizzle barked.

  “Nearly incriminating evidence, that you have not been as careful as you were instructed to be when you moved to Bellville.”

  I tried to get ahead of what I was sure they were about to bring up—the video. “Nothing happened with the computer!” I rushed to explain. “And I’ve been a Good Dog. I’ve even helped Mozart—”

  “Pl
ot to change the course of his human’s life?” Grizzle interrupted.

  Sergeant explained, “We followed him here. We saw that you worked together. I also saw you underspeaking in front of your human the other day, even if I couldn’t confirm communication took place.”

  “You’re in trouble!” Grizzle growled.

  “But I didn’t do anything!” I protested as convincingly as I could muster.

  “I have enough to report you as it is, Buster.” Sergeant cut her eyes sideways. “Grizzle wants to. But I don’t take my report lightly. I know what it would mean for you.” The Farm, I thought. No more Tonio. “And we’re not cruel.”

  I bowed my head in understanding and tucked my tail in deference, but inside I was boiling. Sergeant was trying to make it sound like they were being nice, but really they were threatening me. How is that nice? They held all the power—and really could ruin my life, based on decisions a bunch of dogs made centuries ago. How is that fair?

  My fear gave way to anger. So what if I’d broken the law? I was right. And they were bullying me into hiding who I was, staying quiet when my friend needed me, and calling it not cruel.

  “Consider yourself on a very short leash,” Sergeant said. “We’ll be watching more closely until you prove you can be trusted with humans.”

  I lowered my body even farther but couldn’t resist a sarcastic positioning of my foot. Tonio noticed my bow, and I felt him shift and look ahead to where my nose was pointing. But when I looked up, they were gone.

  “I guess we should go back inside,” he said.

  He looked up toward his bedroom window like it would move itself closer and let him climb in. I hadn’t helped his nerves—in fact, I’d probably made them worse, since he could tell I was nervous, too. I stood up straight and rested my chin on his knee; he scratched behind my ears. Like a normal boy and his normal dog.

  That was, at least, a little nice.

  “I really don’t want to ruin everything,” he whispered. “I’ve been trying so hard.” I flopped my tongue out of my mouth and licked his knee; not Underspeak, and not anything human, either. Just a weird dog move. He made a grossed-out face, but I think he got it.

  Dog smell washed over me, and I followed the wind with my eyes—there was Sergeant, peeking around the corner of the Square, still watching.