“Gilbert, it’s time for me to go,” said Marty.
“No!” said Gilbert. “Mama, he can’t take Luna away now, don’t let him.”
“Gilbert, mi pequeno—” said his mother.
Gilbert interrupted. “I am not a little one, and I won’t lose Luna again,” he said angrily.
Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She began to bark.
“Luna, quiet!” said Marty in a firm voice. Then he grinned and looked at Gilbert. “We completely agree,” he said.
Gilbert and Luna both turned to his mother.
She was smiling.
Marty picked up Luna’s leash and held it out to Gilbert.
“Here,” Marty said. “Your mother and I agree that Luna belongs with you, though there is one important condition.”
As Gilbert stared at the leash, Luna shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Gilbert looked at his mother. “Mama?” he asked.
She nodded.
Luna barked.
Silvia laughed and scratched Luna’s neck.
“Yes, Luna,” she said. “It’s okay.”
“What about Papa?” Gilbert asked.
His mother made a funny face. “What do you think, I wouldn’t ask him?” she said in a teasing voice. “I called him while Marty and I were talking.”
She reached over and took the leash from Marty, then handed it to Gilbert.
“What do you say, Gilbert?” his mother prodded.
“Is it true?” he asked Marty, who laughed.
“I meant, say thank you,” said his mother, blushing.
Marty shook his head. “I owe Gilbert as many thanks as he owes me,” he said graciously.
Then Gilbert remembered something Marty had just said.
“What do you mean by condition?” he asked, with a note of fear in his voice.
Marty smiled. “I don’t think you’ll mind,” he said.
Gilbert listened intently.
So did Luna.
“Luna has a promise from me that she can see Chief once a week or so,” Marty said. “You will have to keep that promise on my behalf.”
Gilbert shouted with relief. “Yes, I can keep that promise,” he said almost before Marty had gotten the words out.
Gilbert hugged Luna.
“Yes!” he repeated.
Luna walked over to Marty full of gratitude. He had made Mutt’s prediction come true. She had found her talent. She lifted her paw in thanks. She would never forget the magic he had performed, simply by believing in her.
“You are most welcome, Luna,” he said, taking her paw in his hand. “Most welcome indeed.”
chapter thirty
BACK WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Summer had passed uneventfully on Mr. Thomas’s farm. The man who took Lorenzo’s place had come alone, without a family. Whenever Mutt walked by his small house—the house where Gilbert had lived—her tail would start wagging, as though she expected the boy to walk out the door. Some days a shift in the wind caused her to poke her head in the crawl space and sniff around, trying to pick up a whiff of her puppies. She wasn’t sad or anxious, but her memories had become mingled with her instincts. Remembering Gilbert and the puppies was now part of her routine.
She listened to Mr. Thomas blame himself for sending Luna and Chief to Puppy Paradise. She heard him agonize out loud over his failure to reply to the letters from Lorenzo and Gilbert.
At first, he kept making excuses.
“I’ll wait until I have more information,” he would tell himself, while Mutt was listening. “I don’t even know where the puppies are now.”
As months went by he tried to convince himself—and Mutt—that he didn’t have a choice, it was too late to respond.
“What is the point?” he asked Mutt. “We’ll never see one another again.”
One day after supper he sat on the porch with Mutt and Butch, who often lay side by side. It had been a process, for both cat and man, but their grudging gratitude toward Mutt had morphed into affection. The three of them sat in companionable silence while Mr. Thomas read the newspaper.
He was idly turning the pages when his eyes settled on something.
“Look at this,” he said to Mutt and Butch.
He showed them a photograph of two dogs, though Mutt couldn’t make out who they were.
“Listen,” Mr. Thomas said, his voice shaking with excitement.
Mutt sat up and listened as he began to read aloud.
“Lots of plays have riveting first acts, then fade away after intermission. But we are happy to report that one doggy drama has had a marvelous second act.”
Mutt didn’t find this very interesting and lay back down. But as Mr. Thomas continued, she sat back up.
“Luna is a protége of Marty the Magician, a well-known New York dog agent who provides animals for TV commercials, plays, movies, and events.”
At the sound of the name Luna, Mutt’s tail began to thump.
Mr. Thomas stopped reading to look at her. Mutt barked, urging him to continue.
Mr. Thomas went on.
“Not long ago, Luna attracted local attention when her story was featured on local newscasts. It was great human interest, about a dog who overcame hardship to become a working dog in the big city. The persevering pooch’s story was all the more engaging because she had a brother, Chief, who shared her adventures and then became a local New York hero, a member of the elite K-9 corps of police dogs.”
Mutt had never heard Mr. Thomas sound so happy.
“Mutt, can you believe this?” asked Mr. Thomas.
He continued reading the story to her. Mutt listened to the tale of how her puppies escaped from a puppy mill and then were taken in by a local animal shelter, where they were discovered by a man named Marty, a dog agent.
Mutt saw Mr. Thomas’s eyes fill with tears as he read the next part.
“For many, the determination of these pups became inspirational. Where did they get the strength to overcome circumstances that destroyed the spirit of so many other dogs? Was it breeding or something else?”
His hands were shaking as he put down the newspaper.
“Did you hear that, Mutt?” Mr. Thomas asked. “They are just like you, chips off the old block!”
Mutt listened intently, full of pride and relief, as Mr. Thomas told her the rest of the story.
“You aren’t going to believe this!” he said. “Luna and Chief found Gilbert! And Lorenzo’s restaurant is doing well.”
Mutt’s tail began thumping even harder at the sound of her friends’ names.
Mr. Thomas started laughing, a sound so loud and unexpected that even lazy old Butch the cat raised his head with a glimmer of interest.
“It’s called Broadway Dogs and Tacos, specializing in Mexican and American fast food,” he said. “What they won’t think of next.”
He shook his head in admiration. “That Lorenzo was always a smart fellow,” he said as he continued reading.
A minute later he exclaimed again. “And listen! They’ve put your girl Luna on a billboard to advertise the place. Isn’t that amazing?”
That evening Mutt watched Mr. Thomas put the newspaper article in a frame and hang it near the spot where Mutt liked to sleep in the living room. The next morning, he announced that he had written a letter to Gilbert’s family.
“Mutt,” he said as he sealed the envelope, “I think you and I will be taking a trip to New York pretty soon. What do you think of that?”
She held up her paw, which Mr. Thomas grasped in his hand for a quick shake. Though she felt like celebrating, she trotted toward the fields as she always did. She had a job to do.
Mutt kept up a calm and steady pace as always, but her heart was still galloping with pride when she bumped into Penny. The dog told he
r friend what she had learned about Luna and Chief’s journey.
“I told my puppies, one by one, that they would find their talents,” Mutt said. “But I confess, I didn’t really know for certain. Sometimes a promise is a hope, not a prediction.”
Penny nodded.
“It takes courage to trust in a promise,” said the wise hen. “But are you surprised to hear what Luna and Chief have accomplished? After all, they are your puppies!”
THE END
AUTHOR’S NOTE
After the publication of our previous book Cat in the City, Jill Weber and I visited dozens of schools, libraries, and bookstores talking to kids. They always asked about the creative process. Where do ideas come from? Why did you choose these characters? How do you come up with the plot? What is it like to work as an author/illustrator team?
The idea for Mutt came to me after talking to my mom. She is an immigrant who lost everything during World War II, when she was young. She survived terrible things yet remained an optimistic person who makes everyone who meets her feel better. I’ve learned so much from her, yet always wondered if I could ever be as brave as she is.
About the characters: I grew up in a tiny town in Ohio, where my family had a dog we loved named Poochie. Almost every year Poochie gave birth to puppies. This was a huge event. Mutt, Luna, and the other puppies grew from these memories. Jill lives on a farm in New Hampshire with her dog Sadie and a new puppy named Lottie. We talk a lot about our dogs and their personalities.
The plot developed from one question: What would happen to puppies taken from a loving home and put into danger? How would they survive? Where does their courage come from?
My job is to write the story and then Jill shows me what I’ve written in pictures! It’s exciting to see the characters in my head interpreted by such a talented artist. Though each of us has done many books alone or with other people, we love collaborating with each other. Mutt’s Promise is our third joint production.
There’s a lot more to say about all of this, but I’ve run out of room! Jill and I just hope you’ve enjoyed reading the book as much as we have enjoyed creating it.
—Julie Salamon
A NOTE ON PUPPY MILLS
Sadly, while Puppy Paradise is a fictional creation, puppy mills are very real—and too many dogs do not find happy endings. If you want to adopt a dog, it is important to work through reputable organizations. Please make sure the breeder or shelter you use has cared for your future pet with kindness and concern for its health.
Whether you are choosing a pet or simply care about animals, learn more from the many organizations working to protect them. These include:
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: ASPCA.org
The Humane Society: humanesociety.org
National Mill Dog Rescue: milldogrescue.org
North Shore Animal League America: animalleague.org
Hearts United for Animals: hua.org
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At Dial, Nancy Conescu and Lauri Hornik have been the best of editors, always exacting, ever gracious, while Jasmin Rubero and Lily Malcom made sure no production question was left unanswered. Our agent Kathy Robbins and her team always know when to nudge and when to nurture. Appreciation to Ellen Goosenberg Kent, co-director of the HBO documentary One Nation Under Dog, for her counsel and friendship. We dedicated this book to our mothers, Lilly Salcman and Barbara Schwartz, with gratitude for everything they’ve taught us. But we also want to thank our husbands, Bill Abrams and Frank Weber, as well as our children, Roxie and Eli Salamon-Abrams and Remy Weber, who have given us gifts that can’t be measured.
About the Author
JULIE SALAMON is the author of several bestselling and award-winning books for adults, including Wendy and the Lost Boys, The Devil’s Candy, and Facing the Wind. She has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and more. She grew up on a farm in Ohio and now lives in New York City.
About the Illustrator
JILL WEBER has illustrated numerous books for children and adults, including The Story of Hanukkah, Sydney Taylor Book Award winner The Story of Passover, and Cat in the City and The Christmas Tree, both of which were written by Julie Salamon. Jill lives on a farm in New Hampshire.
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