Mutt's Promise

by Julie Salamon

  Then Penny shook her feathers.

  “I have to go,” she said.

  Penny turned to leave and then stopped to say one more thing.

  “Don’t worry about your puppies,” she said. “You’ve taught them more than you know.”

  Mutt felt more cheerful than she had in some time as she walked to the mailbox, which she nudged open with her nose. (Picking up the mail had become one of her chores after the puppies left.) She grabbed the few pieces of paper with her teeth and carried them up to the house.

  Mr. Thomas was waiting for her by the front door.

  “Good dog,” he said, taking the letters from her mouth. He held the door open and Mutt walked inside.

  She lay at Mr. Thomas’s feet while he opened the mail. Just as she was about to fall asleep, the farmer startled her by tossing a piece of crumpled paper on the floor, right next to her tail. He seemed upset. Mutt sat up and placed her paw on his knee, hoping to make him feel better.

  Mr. Thomas scratched her ears and sighed. Then he leaned over and picked up the paper.

  “Listen to this, Mutt,” he said.

  Mutt paid close attention as Mr. Thomas began to read.

  Dear Mr. Thomas,

  I hope you are fine. Please read this letter to Mutt and the puppies. Tell them I miss them very much and am sad we won’t see them next summer. Tell them I love them. Tell Luna by herself I would like her to come to New York. It is scary but there is a lot to see. Make sure the others don’t hear but tell her I miss her the most and think of her every time I see the moon in the sky. And tell Mutt thank you for changing my life.

  Thank you.

  Gilbert

  Mutt’s heart raced when she heard Mr. Thomas mention Luna and Gilbert. Without realizing it, her tail had begun to thump against the floor.

  Mr. Thomas leaned down to stroke her fur. With an emotional voice he said, “Like Gilbert wrote, thank you for changing my life.”

  chapter seventeen

  THE GREAT ESCAPE

  Luna surprised herself with her declaration of independence. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how hungry she was, though she had become uncomfortably aware that her ribs had begun to press against her skin. She often fell asleep wondering how long she would be able to endure Puppy Paradise.

  Yet just saying the words “We have to get out of here” sent a jolt of energy through her body, as though she’d had an actual meal instead of pathetic scraps. Just thinking of escape made her remember she was Mutt’s puppy, daughter of a hero, not a bully’s punching bag.

  As these thoughts ran through her head, Chief licked her face.

  “You are right!” he said, his voice filled with excitement and brotherly pride.

  Then he spit.

  “And you are filthy!” he added, the old teasing Chief back in his voice.

  The siblings began to plot and scheme, keeping their voices as low as possible so no one would hear.

  Charlie sensed that something was up.

  “What are you two always whispering about?” he asked on one of those rare days when they were outside, while Louis cleaned the barn.

  Luna looked at the ground and at Chief, a question mark in her eyes.

  “Can’t we tell him?” Chief asked Luna. His attitude toward her had changed since she had the nerve to say out loud the words he had only dared to dream. He looked to Luna to lead the way.

  She paced back and forth, thinking. She stopped to stare at Charlie. Standing in the sunlight, with no shadows to hide the straw and sticks and dirt tangled in his fur, their friend managed to look even scragglier than usual.

  “All right,” Luna sighed, putting her face close to Charlie’s. “But this is strictly between us.”

  As she muttered their plan to Charlie, Louis came outside with Hades. The unfriendly guard dog planted himself right in front of Luna and Charlie.

  “What are you two mutts plotting,” he growled.

  Charlie shook the fur out of his eyes and began to speak.

  Luna listened to him in disbelief.

  “We’re planning the great escape,” Charlie said sarcastically, looking Hades right in the eye.

  He lifted his paw and poked Hades in the chest.

  “Wanna come with us?”

  As Luna held her breath, Hades swatted away Charlie’s paw and barked in disgust.

  “You have always been ridiculous,” he said to Charlie.

  He added, “Now, what were you really talking about? Tell me or I’ll—”

  Charlie lowered his head in mock fear. “I’m sorry, Hades,” he said. “I didn’t mean to show any disrespect. I was just making a joke.”

  Hades ignored the apology.

  “Just answer me,” he barked.

  Charlie said, “Do I have to?”

  Hades glared.

  “Okay,” said Charlie submissively. “I was just telling Luna here that I felt sure I was going to be adopted soon. Just a feeling I had.”

  Hades rolled over on his back, barking with laughter. All the dogs in the pen stared in wonder. They had never seen the formidable dog show any emotion besides anger.

  “That’s the funniest thing I ever heard,” said Hades, unable to stop laughing as he said these cruel words. “Who would want you?”

  He jumped to his feet and bared his teeth at Charlie, who couldn’t stop himself from quaking.

  As Hades erupted in laughter again, Chief began shaking with rage.

  Luna gave her brother a warning look as Hades walked over and shoved his large face right up against Charlie’s.

  “Oh, yeah, brave warrior,” he said. “Someone is going to want to adopt an ugly, miserable, weak sack of fur like you.”

  He backed away, laughing again.

  Louis came out of the barn. “I’m done in there,” he said, wiping his forehead. “Whew.”

  He wandered over and patted Hades on the head.

  “I never saw Hades pay attention to any of you dogs when he wasn’t punishing you,” he said with a smile. “Good dog, Hades.”

  Louis turned to Charlie and patted him too.

  “Good work, Charlie,” he said. “I see you’ve made Hades your friend. That’s something!”

  Hades stepped closer to Charlie and opened his mouth, in a way that resembled a human smile. “How easy humans are to fool,” Hades growled. “Good work, Charlie.”

  Charlie stood there quivering as Hades followed Louis back into the barn.

  “Take it easy, Charlie,” Luna said. “He’s not worth it.”

  Charlie winked at her.

  “I know that,” he said with a grin. “He fell right into my trap.”

  Luna saw Chief’s jaw drop.

  “Good work, Charlie,” she said, but unlike Hades, she meant it.

  Louis whistled. This was the signal for the dogs to go back inside, back into their cages.

  Luna could tell that whatever doubts Charlie may have had about escaping had been blown away by his encounter with Hades. Weeks of imprisonment had taken their toll on the once-feisty dog, but it was obvious that his spirit had been reignited.

  Day by day, the three friends added details to their escape plan. They had plenty of time until Louis came to clean out the barn again. They exercised in their cages at night, lying on their backs and waving their legs in the air, in order to build up their strength. Luna taught them dance steps, to keep them moving when they thought they couldn’t.

  They exercised their minds too, with tricks and games. One of them would give a short bark, mimicking Hades, and the others would mentally take off, trying to see how little time could elapse between hearing the bark and their legs starting to move.

  When Louis finally came back to clean out the barn, they were ready.

  Charlie called Hades over to him in the outside
pen.

  “Hades,” he said coyly. “I felt we were really starting to bond last time you were here.”

  Hades looked at him with puzzlement in his eyes.

  “What are you talking about?” he barked.

  As he walked over to Charlie, his throat rumbling with a threatening growl, Luna and Chief edged toward the entry to the barn, lightly moving one paw after the other.

  “Really, Hades, I feel I can tell you my innermost thoughts,” said Charlie. “I think we can become friends.”

  The gamble paid off, just as they had predicted it would. Hades began roaring with laughter, his sides shaking so hard, he rolled onto his back, just as he had done before.

  The instant Hades hit the ground, Charlie took off running. Luna and Chief were already racing through the barn toward the open door on the other side.

  “Can you believe we’re doing it?!” Charlie yelled giddily.

  This was no practice, no game in a cage. Now they were running for real, with only a second’s notice.

  Before Hades or Louis realized what was happening, the weary prisoners had turned into speed racers. They zoomed through the barn and out the front door, which Louis always left open to air out the barn while he cleaned it. When they were all on the other side, Chief pushed the outside door closed with his butt. Luna scrambled onto his back and nudged down the latch with her nose.

  Louis and Hades were locked inside, just as the puppies had planned.

  Hades’ angry barking was growing fainter. As they ran, Luna noticed a neat red barn out of the corner of her eye. It must be the one Charlie had told them about, where people come to choose their puppies.

  “Look at that!” she barked in surprise.

  Chief huffed, “There’s no time. Run!”

  Charlie was wheezing. Before they reached the main road, he had begun to fall behind.

  Luna glanced backward and yelled out to him. “C’mon, Charlie! You can do this.”

  He picked up his pace. Soon they felt hard pavement beneath their feet.

  “We did it!” Chief yelled.

  “Not yet,” Luna said grimly, panting hard. “Don’t even think of slowing down. We have to put as much distance between us and them as we can.”

  She heard Charlie start to moan. She knew his legs were shorter than hers and Chief’s, and he had been in Puppy Paradise so much longer than they had.

  But she soon realized that Charlie was determined not to go back.

  “C’mon, everyone,” he barked.

  The sun was bright overhead. Luna felt her senses come alive again. Occasionally as they ran, one of the dogs would bark, not saying anything at all, just exercising the right to speak without being shushed or yelled at.

  Luna felt as though she could run forever, as though gravity no longer held her down. Nothing distracted her or the other two dogs. Not the farmland stretching back from the road. Not the fields still brown from winter. Not the birds racing above them, cheering them on with their tweets and twitters. Not the familiar sounds of cows mooing. They were beyond thought. They had become machines, programmed to get as far away from Puppy Paradise as they possibly could. Nothing else mattered.

  Luna was the first to feel the road vibrating beneath her paws.

  “What’s that?” she asked, trying not to panic.

  Chief glanced back.

  “Run faster!” he barked, terror in his voice.

  But to Luna and Chief’s shock, Charlie stopped in his tracks.

  “I’m too tired,” he said, his voice so quiet they could barely hear him. “It’s over for me, friends. You go ahead.”

  A minute later Raymond’s truck pulled up next to Charlie. Hades was sitting in the passenger seat, a smug grin on his face. As Luna glanced back, she saw Charlie look at the ground. She knew he must be thinking of how to drag out his capture long enough for her and her brother to get away.

  But Raymond didn’t waste any time. He didn’t even bother to let Hades out of the truck. The man jumped out and, without wasting a motion, dropped a feed sack over Charlie’s whole body. He tossed him into the back of the truck, jumped into the driver’s seat, and roared onward.

  Luna was in shock. Exhilaration had turned to despair in an instant. As she heard the truck bump up and down the road behind her, she began to bark, “Go faster, Chief.”

  The truck came closer. She heard Charlie barking, “Please don’t catch them, please don’t catch them.”

  Then she heard another, horrible voice: Hades. “Shut up back there. You’re a bunch of losers.”

  Luna heard the screech of the truck’s brakes. “Keep running!” she yelled to Chief.

  But the next thing she knew she was struggling inside darkness. Raymond had caught her just as he’d caught Charlie.

  “Luna?”

  Her heart sank when she heard Chief’s voice. None of them had escaped.

  Then Raymond spoke.

  “You are a bunch of ingrates,” he said in a grim voice. “I’m the only one who can help you, and this is how you pay me back? I thought you were about ready to move on. But I see you’ll need extra training when we get back.”

  The puppies tried to claw their way out, but Raymond had tied the sacks shut too tight. Not even Hades would be able to shake it loose, much less puppies who had used all their strength trying to escape.

  They heard Raymond slam the truck’s tailgate, get into the front, and begin to drive. Then they heard something else: a banging sound that they would soon discover was the tailgate, bouncing up and down as the truck roared toward Puppy Paradise. Raymond had forgotten to close the latch!

  chapter eighteen

  ON THE ROAD

  The frightened puppies jostled against one another in the dark as the truck swerved from side to side. Suddenly there was an enormous jolt, as if the road had opened up and tried to swallow them. The sacks holding the puppies went flying across the tailgate and rolled onto the side of the road.

  Shocked and numb with pain, Luna listened to the truck roar off in the distance.

  When the noise died down, Luna called out.

  “Chief? Charlie? Are you here? Are you all right?”

  A muffled bark, Charlie’s, replied. “I think I’m right next to you.”

  “Me too,” groaned Chief.

  As though someone had blown the starting whistle, all the puppies began to scratch at the bags confining them.

  Luna felt something bang into her ribs.

  “Ouch!” she yelled. “What is that?”

  “That’s me!” Chief replied.

  “Stop poking me,” Luna snapped.

  “It was an accident,” Chief muttered.

  They were interrupted by the sound of laughter—weak, but laughter all the same.

  It was Charlie.

  “If the last thing I hear on earth is the two of you squabbling, it will almost be worth it,” he said.

  “What are you talking about, Charlie?” asked Luna, still dazed from being thrown out of the truck and uncertain as to what was going on.

  “Don’t you see,” said Charlie’s voice in the dark. “We’re free to say whatever we want!”

  “Be quiet, Charlie,” said Luna with a mixture of affection and annoyance. “We may be free to say what we want, but if we don’t get out of these sacks before Raymond figures out he doesn’t have us, we’ll be finished.”

  They squirmed and wriggled, scratched and bit. But the heavy canvas was stronger than they were.

  “Why haven’t they come back?” Chief wondered out loud.

  “It’s dark and they probably figure we’ll be here in the morning,” Charlie said. “Or maybe . . .”

  “Maybe what?” asked Luna.

  Charlie muttered, “Maybe they figured we’re not worth the trouble.”

  Luna was about t
o answer when her canvas prison started to rustle. “What’s that?” she whispered, just as Charlie called out, “Hey, are you guys moving around over there?”

  Luna was too scared to answer.

  Charlie called out again. This time he sounded desperate.

  “Is that you?” he yelled.

  Luna was confused. “I thought it was you!” she replied.

  A burst of high-pitched chatter set off a shiver of fear down Luna’s back. She heard a ripping sound and felt fresh air filter into the sack. At first she welcomed the breeze, but then the end of the sack started to jerk back and forth.

  Feeling the presence of someone or something, she jumped as far into the air as her tired legs and cramped space would allow.

  “What’s there?!” she yelled in alarm.

  A tiny head—that appeared to be balanced on a large set of teeth—poked its way inside.

  “Who are you?” asked the creature and Luna at the same time.

  Another round of chatter was set off from another direction. Luna heard Charlie begin to bark like crazy. She and Chief joined in. Despite their fatigue, their voices were loud and strong.

  “Are you fisher cats?” Luna screamed. Mutt’s battle with the fisher cat was a family legend.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” called out the intruder who had chewed his way through Luna’s sack. “Take it easy, pup. You have the wrong idea. I don’t know what a fisher cat is, but we’re not one of them.”

  Luna stopped barking and squinted at the creature. He was tiny, with black rings around his eyes and a light brown stripe down his back. His ears were nubs, almost nonexistent, but his cheeks were enormous.

  Luna couldn’t help it. She found herself grinning at this comical being, framed by moonlight.

  “How did you get in here?” she asked. “I couldn’t make a dent in this . . .” She glanced around. “This . . . whatever it is.”

  “It’s a feedbag,” he said. Then he added, with pride in his voice, “See these teeth?”

  Luna muttered, “Hard to miss!”

  The newcomer ignored her. “These bright whites can chew through almost anything: wood, wires, cans.”