Buster

by Caleb Huett

  Ten seconds.

  Thirty seconds.

  One minute.

  Two minutes.

  “Whatever,” Phil said finally. “I concede.” He flipped over his last two Spirit Batteries himself.

  Mia and Devon cheered, and then the whole crowd erupted alongside them. Suddenly, everyone was swarming us, petting me and congratulating Tonio. I was surrounded by hands and smiles and laughter.

  Mia and Devon hugged Tonio together.

  “You did it!!!” Devon said.

  “Three hundred big ones!!!!” Mia called out.

  “They’re normal-sized ones,” Devon corrected. “Three hundred big ones would be a lot of money.”

  “How much is a big one, then?!” Mia looked at him incredulously. “I thought that just meant money.”

  “What did you think little ones were??”

  “Quarters!!!”

  “Excuse me,” Tonio said, pushing past Mia and Devon. He ignored the crowd and slipped between them without looking back.

  reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

  Something, some sound, was nagging in the back of my head. Something buzzy and annoying. I shook it off, dodged the petting hands, and hopped off my chair to follow Tonio.

  “Sorry, excuse me.” We should be celebrating, I thought. What is Tonio doing?

  reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

  And what was that noise?

  Tonio made it to the bathroom and turned around, searching the ground for—me. He found me and held up a finger. One second, he mouthed. Oh. I bobbed my head in understanding but went over to the door just in case and tried to listen in.

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​E

  But that noise was getting really loud now. It was filling up my whole hearing with a high, piercing, horrible shriek.

  No one else seemed to notice. The crowd was laughing and joking, teasing Phil and swapping cards, like their ears weren’t out to get them, except—

  “Mozart?” I’d forgotten he was here. Whoops, I thought, he saw everything up close, so I’ll have to—

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE

  —deal with that later.

  “Are you okay?” I could barely hear Mia, mostly picked the words up from the shape of her mouth. Mozart was squirming in her arms, pawing at his ears. Where was it—

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE

  —coming from? Outside, I was pretty sure, and I had to make it stop, but I heard, just barely, the chunky sound of Tonio throwing up in the bathroom.

  Oh, buddy, I’m sorry, I thought. I can’t just leave, I have to—

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​E

  The assault on my ears was starting to make me feel dizzy, but the sink was running, and Tonio was probably rinsing his mouth out, so in just a second he would

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE

  I staggered to the door

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE

  Tonio washed his hands and

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​E

  by the time he came out

  R​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​EE​E

  I was gone.

  “And that’s the end. The officers were using one of those high-grade dog whistles, as you know, and the second I walked outside they muzzled and cuffed me.” Buster sat back in his bumper car and tried to calm down—telling the end of the story had raised his hackles. “Which, I’d like to add, was way more suspicious than anything I did on my own. Me, the hero dog of the hour, disappearing all of a sudden? Right after I showed off how well trained I was?” Buster couldn’t resist a tiny growl of frustration. “It was suspicious the first time, and now it’s suspicious again. You get rid of me, there’s going to be talk. Somebody will put it together.”

  The colorful lights of the bumper car arena were still spinning as dawn began to peek up over Juicy Fun Theme Park and Strawberry Orchard. Buster’s story had gone on for hours, and many of the dogs attending had fallen asleep curled into balls or splayed out on their backs. Even Lasagna and Pronto looked like they were struggling to stay awake; only the judge showed no signs of drowsiness.

  “While the Court appreciates your excessively detailed story, Buster,” Pronto said, waving away a yawn with his paw, “nothing you’ve told us changes your situation. Our first law remains clear: No dog may reveal the truth of our society to a human, and you have done just that.” The husky looked up at the judge, who was staring down from atop her bumper car mountain, expressionless. “I’m sure the judge will keep in mind your suggestions for how officers should behave in future situations.”

  Lasagna cut in. “Your Honor, I know we’re almost out of time, but I’d like to say a few final things before you make your decision.”

  Sweetie nodded. “You have the floor, Lasagna.”

  The corgi lawyer batted his tie straight and coughed once to clear his throat. He shuffled his papers and found the one with his speech written on it. “Your Honor, I come before you today not just as Buster’s representative, not just as the best Dog Court lawyer in South Carolina, but as a member of a growing movement in the dog world: those who believe we should, at last, take our rightful place beside humanity. Not as pets, but as equals.”

  Buster’s ears flattened, concerned. Wasn’t this supposed to be his trial? Shouldn’t Lasagna be here just as his representative? I didn’t sign up to be a “growing movement,” he thought. But he’d told his story. There was nothing more for him to do.

  “I, in communication with my fellow dog lawyers around the world, have discovered something concerning: Incidents like Buster’s, where humans have needed a dog and a dog has risen to the challenge, have been happening everywhere. Times are changing! But it would appear that wherever possible, the Court has gone out of its way to hide this from us.”

  The crowd of dogs was fully awake now—and Buster was surprised back into attention.

  But I’m the “Miracle Dog,” right? he thought. I’m the only one.

  Deep down, though, he knew he couldn’t be. He remembered how easily Mozart, Jpeg, and Leila were willing to help Mia. Lasagna also seemed to be on his side … and that was just in Bellville. If every town had even just a few dogs that agreed with him, then there had to be thousands. At least!

  “By sending these dogs to The Farm—and then refusing to acknowledge their contributions—you are preventing us from moving forward as a species.”

  Pronto growled, furious. “This is nonsense, Your Honor. We have seen the horrors humans are capable of. And though I am honestly tired of reminding everyone what this trial is about, we are not here to discuss movements, or other dogs, or changes to the law. We are here to decide if Buster has broken Dog Law, as it stands, which he absolutely has. I don’t understand why we are still talking!”

  It was like all the cute and squeaky layers of Lasagna had been peeled away, leaving just a layer of sauce and meat. This was what the corgi really cared about. This was what mattered to him. “If we don’t change things now, Your Honor, then when?” he asked. “Dog Law, as Pronto said, has been in place for centuries. It has been hurting and limiting us for centuries. When do we decide that enough is enough?”

  “We don’t,” Pronto argued. “Do you claim to know better than the generations of dogs who came before us? We are happy, and comfortable, and safe for a reason. That all changes if we give in to what he’s suggesting. It’s chaos.”

  The court was starti
ng to rumble now. Dogs who agreed with Lasagna were arguing with dogs who agreed with Pronto. Buster turned his back to the judge for the first time and watched schnauzers and dachshunds working through the same thing he’d been working through with Tonio. Was it worth it to help a human? Was it worth it to do everything you can with the life you have? Even if it’s risky?

  Lasagna proclaimed, “The second Dog Law, which I have not heard the representative for the Law mention much this evening, states: ‘Dogs must do their best to protect all living things, even food.’ Dogs who have chosen to become service dogs have an even greater responsibility to their humans. Buster was acting true to his purpose, and was given an impossible decision to make.”

  Judge Sweetie shook her head, draping fur swishing with every movement of her long face. Finally, she spoke. “The decision was not impossible, and Buster has admitted himself that he knew he was breaking Dog Law. In my position as judge, I have only one choice: The Farm.”

  Buster’s heart sank with the crowd’s volume. So that was it, then. He’d told his story, and it hadn’t mattered. He was no closer to seeing Tonio again than he had been before.

  “With all due respect, Your Honor, what kind of dogs are we if we let humans suffer just because we’re scared?” Lasagna barked clearly and powerfully; he’d practiced this speech. “So many of us believe we need to take responsibility for the world. The whole world, and not just dogs.”

  “I have made my decision,” the judge said.

  At these words, Pronto relaxed and looked over to them with a faux-sympathetic expression. “I’m so sorry, Lasagna. It was a good try, but your little ‘movement’ ends here.”

  Lasagna ignored him and underspoke to Buster: I’m sorry.

  Buster squeezed his eyes tightly closed and imagined what Tonio was doing. He was probably in his room, pacing, worried about Buster and wondering when he was coming home. Or lying on his bed, panicking. Buster tuned out all the carnival music and the crowd of dogs and thought: Had he done enough? Had he helped Tonio enough in their time together to change his life? Maybe he wouldn’t ever know. And maybe he should be worried about the rest of his life.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a bark that pierced through the air, yelled from the back of the bumper car arena.

  “Your Honor!” Officer Sergeant called. “Permission to interrupt!”

  The judge banged her squeaky gavel to quiet down the crowd, then spoke. “You already have, Officer. Go ahead.”

  “We caught a human along Juicy Fun’s perimeter. He was talking to himself about if he could jump the fence, and wondering, quote, ‘whether I would even make a difference if I climbed the fence, anyway, because what am I going to do, ask a bunch of dogs I don’t know to give Buster back? It’s not like I even really know what’s really going on, or whether I’m making things worse. I should probably just go home.’ ”

  Buster’s tail wagged on its own. That sounds like Tonio!

  “We thought he would go home after all that, but then he started climbing the fence, anyway, so we went ahead and captured him just in case.”

  “Well,” the judge said with the tiniest bit of humor in her voice, “at least that buys us some time. He can’t tell anyone else if he’s here.”

  Buster couldn’t contain himself. “Please let me see him! None of this is his fault, and he must be so scared. At least let me talk to him.”

  The judge drank a few laps of cold coffee from her bowl while she considered his words. “Fine. This case is growing more complicated than I expected, anyway. I need time to discuss today’s events with the other judges of the Court. Officer Sergeant, take Buster to his human and keep an eye on them. Lasagna, Pronto, take care of whatever you need to and meet me back in my office. We’ll need to finish this privately.”

  “Thank you!” Buster’s tail wagged. He jumped up and down with relief in his bumper car, all thoughts of the crowd, and the Law, and this horrible, horrible day gone for a moment. “Thank you so much, Your Honor!”

  Sweetie bobbed her head. “The rest of you go home to your humans, if you’ve got them. It’s early, and you don’t want them wondering where you’ve been. Up! Come on, up, up … Good. Good dogs. Court adjourned.”

  The three pugs formed a tight triangle around Buster and herded him alongside Officer Sergeant, away from the bumper cars. Buster wondered if he should be mad she’d turned him in, and she wondered if she should be angry at him for breaking the Law. Both of them felt bad.

  “Dog Court isn’t evil,” she said to break the silence. “And neither is the judge. We have to worry about a lot more than just one human.”

  “I know.” Buster was going to leave it at that, but he found himself getting more frustrated than he expected. “But if we aren’t worrying about any one human, then who are we worrying about? Because it sounds like we’re just worried about us.”

  “So what if we are?” The officer knew she wasn’t supposed to argue with a prisoner, but she outranked the bailiffs, so they weren’t going to say anything. “We have to keep our own people safe.”

  “Safe from what?” Buster huffed. “Tonio?”

  “You know they aren’t all like Tonio. Most humans aren’t.” They came to the edge of a huge Ferris wheel at the center of the park, twinkling with colored lights on every box but not moving. Officer Sergeant dismissed the pug bailiffs and stepped through the loop on Buster’s leash to make sure he couldn’t run away.

  “I was a pet before I was an officer of the Court. They weren’t— They didn’t—” She searched around for the words, then decided it wasn’t her job to find them. Buster didn’t need to know all the details. “I left because I had to. Not all humans care about us, Buster. You had two chances, with two different sets of humans who loved you, and you threw them both away because you wanted to feel like a hero. That’s not anybody’s fault but yours.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything. Sergeant stood on her hind legs in the operation booth and pulled a lever. The Ferris wheel rotated slowly around, and Buster caught a whiff of paint, paper, card stock, sweat, and a little bit of his own scent layered under human kid smell. Tonio!

  Buster patted the ground in relief. He hadn’t been away from his human for this long since they’d met, and he was more than ready to see him again. The carts swung around, and around, and around—and then finally Sergeant pulled the lever and stopped the spinning.

  Tonio jumped to his feet on the other side of the cart’s bars. “Buster!”

  Buster barked back and wagged his tail. “Tonio!”

  Sergeant pushed a button, unlocking the cart. Tonio took a step out, and she growled. “No chance. Get back in there.” Buster translated into simple Underspeak, and Tonio nodded. “Okay. Sorry.”

  The officer jerked her head toward the Ferris wheel. “Get in, Buster.”

  “Uh, what? I have to get in that?”

  “We don’t know how long the judge will be. I can’t watch you all day.”

  Buster’s tail tucked between his legs. He shifted uncomfortably from paw to paw. “Okay, but could you—”

  “Get in, Buster. Now or never.”

  He braced himself and ran into the cart before he could change his mind. Sergeant pushed a button and the door swung shut on them while Buster hopped up on his hind legs and licked at Tonio’s face. Tonio laughed and pushed him away. “The face? Really? Come o— Ah! Your tongue got in my mouth!! Gross!!!” Buster bumped up against Tonio’s legs and let the boy pet him, briefly forgetting where they were.

  Then the cart started moving.

  “What?!” Buster yelped. “Can’t you just leave us on the ground?”

  Sergeant posed apologetically. “It’s the rules! Sorry, Buster. We’ll get you when the judge is back.”

  Buster whined and pulled himself away from the bars. He laid down in the cart and shut his eyes tight, trying not think about how high up they were going.

  “Are you scared, Buster?”

/>   He whined again. Yes. Aren’t you?

  “I’m not really scared of heights, I guess. I am a little scared that no one’s been around to inspect this in a long time, probably, but—” Buster whined again. Tonio sat down next to him and rubbed his head. He stared out of the gently swinging cart to see Juicy Fun in all its run-down, abandoned glory. “You’ll be okay, boy. We’re not going to fall.”

  Buster recognized something in his tone, and in his expression—Tonio was calm, but it wasn’t all a good calm. He had a little bit of that face Buster had seen before, after talking to his dad, and when Mia got upset with him. A kind of nothing, an absence in his expression. Not sad, not worried … just nothing.

  He wanted to find out why but couldn’t calm his own mind down. No living thing should ever be this high up, especially in a giant machine they weren’t even controlling. The Ferris wheel stopped moving when they were all the way at the top—unable to leave, no way to get down even if they could open the door.

  After a while of shivering, with Tonio silently petting him, Buster started to relax. But he felt so tired. Head resting in Tonio’s lap, fingers running through his fur … and he’d been up all night, too. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he just … took a nap.

  “That’s better,” Tonio whispered. He patted Buster’s stomach and watched his breathing relax. Tonio tilted his head back and rested it on the bench along the cart’s side. “We’ll talk when you wake up.”

  Buster jolted awake suddenly and set the cart swinging as he frantically tried to remember where he was. The angle of the sun meant it was past noon, and the angle of the ground meant they were way past the height he was comfortable with!!! Buster barked in surprise and jumped away from the edge. Tonio caught him and pushed him down to a sitting position gently.

  “We’re okay. It’s okay. Look at me.” Buster’s reddish-brown eyes stared into Tonio’s just-brown ones. “Take a deep breath.” Buster mimicked Tonio’s long breath, held his lungs full for a few moments, then mirrored Tonio’s slow release. “Good. Nothing’s going to happen to you up here, okay? I’ve got you.”