A Dog's Purpose Boxed Set

by W. Bruce Cameron

  Then one day the pattern changed. We went for our usual walk, but when we returned CJ brought over a crate and opened the door in it and carefully placed Sneakers inside. The crate reminded me of the one I had sat in as Molly, the one that tipped back and forth before winding up in the loud place with all the cars. Sneakers wasn’t happy and didn’t come over when I pushed my nose up to sniff at her. Then Duke came over, snorting loudly, and Sneakers backed away into the far recesses of the crate.

  “Duke,” CJ said warningly, and Duke went over to her to see if she was going to give him a treat.

  CJ picked up the crate with Sneakers in it and left us alone. This was absolutely baffling: where was she taking Sneakers that we weren’t going along as well? We didn’t know what to do, so we lay on the floor and gnawed chew toys.

  When my girl came back, Sneakers was no longer with her.

  Where was Sneakers?

  TWENTY-THREE

  For two days, CJ would take us on a dog walk and then would leave us alone with no Sneakers. Duke and I made the best of it—in fact, without a cat in the home, some of the tension left our relationship and we were able to wrestle more freely and for so long that sometimes we’d wind up falling asleep on top of each other. Well, I was on top, anyway. If Duke had been on top, I sincerely doubt I would have been doing any sleeping.

  On the third day, when we returned from our walk, a woman was waiting for us outside the door. Duke, of course, wagged and thrust his big head at her, while I retreated to CJ’s feet and waited rigidly to see if there was any threat.

  CJ called the woman Marcia. After we’d been inside for half an hour, Marcia carefully extended her hand to me and I sniffed it after CJ said, “Gentle, Max,” to me in very soothing tones. The hand smelled like chocolate and dogs and some sweet things I couldn’t identify.

  Duke and I chewed lazily on each other while CJ and Marcia talked. “Okay, I think that’s everything,” CJ finally said, standing up. Duke and I bounded to our respective feet. Walk?

  “So Duke, I guess this is good-bye. Marcia will be taking care of you now,” CJ said. A sudden sadness broke inside her and I went to her and put my paws on her leg as she bent over on the couch, taking Duke’s head in her hands. I could tell that he knew she was sad by the way his ears dropped and his tail wagged and then drooped. I wondered if he knew what was going on, because I didn’t.

  “I’m going to miss you, big guy,” CJ whispered. I tried to climb up into her lap but couldn’t quite make it.

  “Oh God, I feel awful,” Marcia said.

  “Don’t. Barry has the right; it’s his dog.”

  “Yeah, but, I mean, Duke thinks he’s your dog. You can tell. It’s not fair to cut off all contact between the two of you.”

  “Oh, Duke, I’m so sorry,” CJ said. Her voice carried a lot of grief.

  “Maybe I could call you and we could meet somewhere,” Marcia offered.

  CJ shook her head. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. Barry will fire you in a second. Believe me, I have firsthand experience.”

  Duke mournfully put his head in CJ’s lap, sharing her mysterious sadness. I envied him his height: all I could do was scrabble fruitlessly at her legs, hoping to be noticed.

  “Okay.” CJ sighed. “Nice meeting you, Marcia. Come on, Max.” CJ reached down and scooped me up, and now I was above Duke, looking down at him. CJ snapped a leash onto my collar but not onto Duke’s, and all of us went to the door.

  “Bye,” CJ said quietly. She opened the door and Duke lunged to follow her outside, dragging Marcia with him as he struggled with her grip on his collar. CJ, still holding me, blocked Duke. “No, Duke. You stay. I’m sorry.”

  They managed to get the door shut. CJ dropped me to the floor and I shook myself, ready for whatever we were doing. Inside our home, Duke gave the door a workout, his paws making it rattle loudly in the frame.

  As we went down the hall, I heard Duke’s sad, heartbroken barking and wondered again what was going on. Why wasn’t Duke coming with us? He wanted to go!

  My girl was crying and I kept looking up at her in concern, but she didn’t say anything more to me. We took a very long walk, first on the loud, smelly streets and then up a whole lot of stairs. CJ rattled a doorknob and then it swung open, and I instantly smelled Sneakers.

  “Welcome home, Max,” CJ said.

  We were in a small kitchen, with a bowl of Sneakers’ food on the floor that I went over to sniff. The kitchen also had a bed in it, which was where I found Sneakers. She was lying on a pillow and stood, arching her back, when she saw me.

  Sneakers had her own house! I didn’t understand it but thought maybe it had something to do with the way Duke was always harassing her when CJ would leave the three of us alone. Perhaps to protect Sneakers CJ found this new house at the top of all the stairs, a place where the cat would be safe. Now I was being shown that this was where Sneakers lived, and soon we’d be going back home to Duke, who would smell Sneakers on me—I wondered what he would conclude from that! Would he figure out that CJ and I had been to Sneakers’ house?

  People do whatever they want, but as far as I was concerned, cats already ate better food than dogs, so to give one a house seemed unfairly indulgent.

  Sneakers purred and circled around me, rubbing against me, and we played a little. She seemed awfully glad to see me there without Duke. I could smell another person’s hands on her, a strong, flowery scent that reminded me a little of Gloria.

  We didn’t go home that night—CJ slept in the small bed and I did, too, curled up at her feet. Sneakers prowled around a little in the house and then leaped nimbly up to try to snuggle with me, but it was too uncomfortable for both of us and when CJ mumbled and moved her legs Sneakers jumped back to the floor and didn’t try to come up again that night.

  What she did do, though, was sit at the front door and meow a little the next morning, and CJ said, “Okay, you want to go see Mrs. Minnick? Let’s see if she’s home,” and then we went out into the hallway and knocked on the door next to us. The woman who opened the door carried the strong scents I’d smelled on Sneakers, so I knew she and Sneakers had been spending time together. In fact, Sneakers walked right in as if she lived there.

  “Oh, hello, Sneakers,” Mrs. Minnick said, smacking her lips in an odd way as she spoke. I held myself stiffly but didn’t growl, because the woman was clearly feeble and not a threat.

  From that point on, Sneakers seemed to regard every opening of the door as an opportunity to dash over and wait to be let in to see Mrs. Minnick. I didn’t know what the attraction was, but clearly Sneakers liked it there. I didn’t have any opinion about Mrs. Minnick at all, other than the fact that her mouth made strange clicking noises when she talked.

  CJ and I still took dog walks, but now we had to go a long way to pick up the first one, who was named Katie, and missing from the usual pack were Sally and Duke and Beevis.

  I didn’t miss Beevis at all.

  One day it rained on the way to get Katie and I was so cold I was shivering. “Oh, Max, I’m so sorry,” CJ told me. She held me in her arms until I was warm, and the next time the wind was cool she slipped a blanket on me that I could wear. “You like your sweater, Max? You look so handsome in your sweater!” I loved the feel of the tight sweater on all sides of me and it had the added benefit of keeping me warm. I was proud to wear it because I felt it showed that CJ loved me more than she loved Sneakers, who didn’t even rate a collar. “You look so cute in your sweater, Max! You’re my sweater better dog,” CJ crooned to me. I wagged, loving to be in the center of her world.

  When CJ removed the sweater it made a ripping sound, every single time. I came to associate that sound with the end of a walk and the start of a nap.

  I didn’t know why we never went back home, and I didn’t know why Duke didn’t walk with us anymore. I knew Sneakers probably didn’t miss Duke, but I found that I did. As irritating as he could be sometimes, he was big and goofy and fun to play with. He let me
be in charge and followed my lead, and I could feel people’s wariness when CJ was protected by both of us. He had been part of our family.

  This was, I reflected, how people ran the world. One day they would decide to live somewhere else and to stop playing with certain dogs.

  Sometimes CJ would sit on the only piece of furniture she had besides the bed, a lone stool, and toss a small ball around in the kitchen and it would bounce and I would chase it, my nails scrabbling on the slick floor. “Oh, Max, I am so sorry this place is so tiny,” she said to me. I loved the game and, now that I was used to it, I loved the new home better than the old place, because it meant that I could be closer to CJ.

  We were playing with the ball when it sailed up onto the bed and I leaped right up after it! I was a little surprised, because I’d never managed to get up there before, and I know Sneakers was startled because she jumped to her feet, her eyes large and her tail puffy.

  “Max!” CJ said, laughing in delight.

  When CJ put on the nice-smelling shoes and spent a lot of time playing with her hair I knew that Gregg was coming over, and sure enough, there was soon a knock on the door and I ran to it, barking, while Sneakers fled. I could smell Gregg on the other side, so I kept barking. CJ picked me up.

  “Max, be nice,” she said, opening the door. Gregg came in and touched his face to CJ’s while she held me away from him. I growled.

  “Friendly as ever, I see,” he said.

  “Max, you be gentle. Gentle, Max.” I had figured out that “gentle” meant “don’t bite,” but I kept my cold glare on Gregg to let him know not to try anything.

  “Nice place,” Gregg said, looking around. CJ put me down and I went over to sniff his pant legs, which smelled like wet leaves.

  “Yes, let me take you on the grand tour. Stay close to me so you don’t get lost,” CJ said with a laugh. “This is the kitchen dining room great room.”

  “So I have a surprise.”

  “Really? What?”

  “We’re going away. Upstate. Three days.”

  “You’re kidding!” CJ clapped her hands together and I looked at her curiously. “When?”

  “Now.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Now, let’s leave now. I don’t have to be anywhere for the next couple of days.”

  “What about…”

  Gregg waved his hand. “There’s some kind of deal with some property; she had to leave town.”

  CJ stood very still, looking at him. “That’s actually not what I meant. What I meant is that I can’t exactly leave right now, Gregg. Not, like, this instant.”

  “Why not?”

  “I have clients. I’d have to find coverage. I can’t just take off.”

  “Your clients are dogs,” Gregg said. I could hear some anger in his voice and I gave him a threatening stare, which he ignored.

  “They rely on me. If I’m not there, I have to find someone else to cover for me.”

  “Geez!” Gregg looked around. “There’s no place to even sit down to talk about this.”

  “Well, sure, I mean, we could sit on the bed,” CJ said.

  “Okay, that’s a good idea,” Gregg said.

  Gregg and CJ went to the bed to hug. Sneakers jumped down and I jumped up, licking CJ in the face.

  “Max!” she sputtered, laughing.

  Gregg was not laughing. “Uh…,” he said.

  “Come on, Max,” CJ said, picking me up. She carried me to the bathroom and Sneakers followed, snaking in and around CJ’s ankles. “Stay,” CJ said.

  She shut the door and Sneakers and I regarded each other unhappily.

  Stay?

  Sneakers came over to me and sniffed me, seeking comfort, then went over to the door and sat there expectantly, as if I could open it for her. I scratched at the bathroom door a few times, whimpering, then gave up and curled myself into a ball on the floor, waiting.

  Some time later, CJ opened the door. I raced around the kitchen, thrilled to be out. This was so much fun! CJ was barefoot, but she put the nice-smelling shoes back on, hopping on one foot as she did so. I put my feet on her legs and she smiled down at me. “Hi, Max. Good dog.”

  I wagged at being a good dog.

  “So, okay,” Gregg said. “If you can’t, you can’t. I get it.”

  “I’m sorry, I just need more warning. Even just a day or two. There’s a guy I met at the park, he’s a dog walker, I bet you he could sub for me, but I don’t know how to get in touch with him.”

  “This kind of thing, there is no warning.”

  “Well … but sometime soon, that will no longer matter, right? I mean, you said just a few more months.”

  Greg looked around. “Man, this place is tiny even for New York, you know?”

  “Gregg? You did say just a few more months. Right? Right?”

  Gregg ran his hand through his hair. “I gotta be honest, CJ. This just isn’t working for me.”

  “What?”

  “I mean…” Gregg looked around the kitchen. “This isn’t very convenient.”

  “Oh. Right. Because most of all, I’m a convenience.” CJ sounded angry.

  “You know what? There’s that abusive tone you always use with me,” Gregg said.

  “Abusive? Seriously?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “No, actually, I don’t. What are you trying to say?”

  “See, it’s just that you’ve gone from being understanding to now you have all these demands. I had this great trip planned for us and you all of a sudden can’t go. And you’ve known all along what I have to deal with at home. I just … I’ve been thinking about it, and…”

  “Oh my God, Gregg, you’re doing this now? Like you couldn’t have said something before? Or wouldn’t that have been ‘convenient’ for you.”

  “You’re the one that brought it up. I was happy to go on a trip and everything, but you had to start pushing.”

  “Pushing. Wow.”

  “I think maybe we need a break for a while, see how we feel.”

  “How I feel is that you’re the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life.”

  “Okay, that’s it; I’m not taking any more abuse from you.”

  “Get out of here, Gregg!”

  “You know what? None of this is my fault!” Gregg shouted.

  I now understood that Gregg was making CJ hurt and angry and I lunged at him, snarling, aiming for his ankles. He danced out of the way and then CJ scooped me up.

  “Dog tries that again I’m kicking him into the next century,” Gregg said. He was angry, too. I struggled to get down to bite him, but CJ held me tight.

  “Leave. Now. Don’t come back,” CJ snapped.

  “Small chance of that,” Gregg spat.

  Once Gregg left, CJ sat at her table and cried. I whimpered and she picked me up and I tried to lick her face, but she forced me to lie in her lap.

  “I am so stupid, so stupid,” she said, over and over again. I didn’t understand anything she was saying, but the feeling flowing off of her was as if she felt like a bad dog. She took off her shoes and after a while got up and got some ice cream out of the freezer to eat.

  After that I didn’t see those shoes again for a long time. We walked with dogs most days and often went to a park, where I would search everywhere for the scent of Duke. I never once smelled him, though there was plenty of evidence of many, many dogs. Sneakers divided her time between our house and Mrs. Minnick’s, which was fine because it meant that I got to spend more time with it being just CJ and myself. The days became cooler and I pretty much wore the tight sweater every time we went outside.

  When the shoes finally came out I prepared myself for another encounter with Gregg, but I was pleasantly surprised when, upon charging the door after I heard a knock, I smelled the person on the other side. Trent!

  “Hi, stranger!” CJ called as she opened the door. A blast of flower smell hit me—Trent held blooms in his arms. They hugged each other. Over the scent of flowers
, Trent’s hands smelled faintly of soap and something buttery when he bent down to see me. I wagged, wriggling under his friendly hands.

  “I just can’t believe how Max behaves around you,” CJ said as she ushered him in. She set the flowers down—the whole house instantly filled with the odors.

  “You know, I like this place a lot better than the last one,” he said.

  “Oh stop. Can you believe that they told me it had a stove? I said to the lady, hello, a stove has more than one burner, that’s a hot plate.”

  Trent sat on the counter, which I didn’t like because it meant I couldn’t reach him. “Rent’s got to be a little less here than the penthouse, I imagine.”

  “Well, yeah, but you know New York. It’s still not cheap. And the dog walking’s not been going very well—turns out when you lose a famous client you lose a couple unfamous ones, too.”

  “Are you doing all right, though?”

  “Yes, fine.”

  Trent looked at her.

  “What is it?” CJ asked.

  “You look really thin, CJ.”

  “Come on, Trent. Please.”

  They were silent for a long moment.

  “Well, hey, I have news,” Trent finally said.

  “They put you in charge of the world’s financial system?”

  “Well, sure, but that was last week. No, it’s, um, Liesl.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to propose to her this weekend.”

  I felt a shock run through CJ. She sat down on the stool. I went over to her, concerned. “Wow,” she finally said. “That’s…”

  “Yeah, I know. Things were a little rough between us there, I think I told you about that, but lately, I don’t know. It just seems right, you know? We’ve been together for a year and a half. It’s like a conversation we’ve never had, right there in front of us, so I thought, time to talk about it. Want to see the ring?”