Dog Walker
Page 1
Dog Walker
Karen Spafford-Fitz
Orca Currents
Copyright © Karen Spafford-Fitz 2006
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Spafford-Fitz, Karen, 1963-
Dog walker / Karen Spafford-Fitz.
(Orca currents)
Electronic Monograph
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 9781551435244(pdf) -- ISBN 9781554696055 (epub)
I. Title. II. Series.
PS8637.P33D63 2006 jC813’.6 C2006-900467-6
Summary: Turk’s moneymaking scheme gets out of control.
First published in the United States, 2006
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006921146
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council.
Cover design: Lynn O’Rourke
Cover photography: Getty Images
In Canada:
Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 5626, Station B
Victoria, BC Canada
V8R 6S4
In the United States:
Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 468
Custer, WA USA
98240-0468
www.orcabook.com
09 08 07 06 • 5 4 3 2 1
For Ken and Dornoch whose friendship inspired this story and for Anna and Shannon who inspire me daily.
Contents
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six
chapter seven
chapter eight
chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
chapter thirteen
chapter fourteen
chapter fifteen
chapter one
What Your Teen is Really Feeling. Supporting Your Child’s Interests. Enjoying Quality Family Time Together. Those are some of the headlines I’ve seen in Mom’s parenting magazines. The one about quality family time is really messing with my life.
Here’s how it goes: The magazine arrives in the mail, then Mom gets weird and thoughtful for a few days. The next thing I know, she schedules quality family time. Attendance mandatory. First she dragged Dad and me through a bunch of art galleries. Then we had to go out for dinner at a fancy restaurant that didn’t even have pizza on the menu. Last month she made me play golf at her and Dad’s private golf club. Which brings me to tonight—spending Friday night playing a lame board game at home with my parents. I don’t have tons of other options. But still, this sucks.
“How do you feel about the game?” Mom asks as she hands me two hundred dollars of Monopoly money for passing Go.
“Sad,” I say.
Mom looks pleased. She thinks she just scored big points in the parenting world for getting me to open up about my feelings while sharing some good, old-fashioned fun.
“Really? What do you find sad about it?”
That’s when I stick it to her. “Those dollar bills you’re handing me? They won’t buy me a thing!”
Mom’s jaw drops. “What do you mean, Turk? You could buy a railroad.”
“Yeah, Mom. That’s the dream of every fourteen-year-old guy. To buy a fake railroad with fake money on a Friday night.”
“I get the message, Turk,” Mom says through gritted teeth. “In other words, you don’t appreciate that I picked up a nice new Monopoly game. Or that I planned a lovely night at home together.”
“It sure wasn’t my choice,” I shrug. Then I hold up my wad of Monopoly money. “You’ve got to admit, Dad, if this was real cash, it might be worth getting excited about.”
Dad chuckles. Then he catches himself.
Mom’s cheeks turn red and blotchy. This is usually a sign for me to shut up. I’ve learned from bitter experience that if you tick Mom off, it always catches up with you. But it’s like I have a death wish tonight.
“In fact,” I say, “why don’t you put me in charge of family nights? If you slipped me some money, I’d take care of everything. Then we’ll have some real fun! And who knows? I might even have some money left over for myself. Enough dough to update my stereo system. Or upgrade the options on my cell phone. Now that’s exciting! As for playing a few rounds of Monopoly...”
“Quite frankly, Turk, I doubt you could do any of those things—even if this were real money!” Mom flings her Monopoly money down onto the table. “Not with how quickly you burn through your allowance.” Mom’s voice is getting higher with every word. I swear her nostrils are flaring too.
“So what if I ask for the occasional loan? What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that it’s not just occasionally. You apparently don’t appreciate how lucky you are. And you certainly don’t help out around here in return.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” I say. “You mean work? You know I don’t believe in breaking a sweat.” I shudder.
“Yes, your imaginary allergy,” Mom says.
“Hey, can I help it if I’m allergic to my own sweat?” I laugh.
Mom stands up and pushes her chair back—hard. “You two can count your fake money together. I’ll go get the snacks.”
Dad springs from the loveseat. “Let me help you, honey.”
Good kissing up, Dad. That must be how you landed the vice president’s job.
From the lounger, I can hear Mom chewing Dad out at top speed in the kitchen. Dad’s agreeing with her nearly as fast.
When they come out a few minutes later, Mom is carrying a plate of smoked salmon and crackers. Dad has two glasses of champagne and a glass of iced tea on a tray. Apparently none of Mom’s parenting magazines mention that teenagers like pizza and Coke for snacks. Or that popcorn works too.
Mom still looks pretty ticked, so I don’t say anything about her choice of snacks.
She turns to Dad. “Mack, I think you should tell your son why he needs to manage his money better.”
Dad chews his smoked salmon slowly, like a man who’s on death row. “It’s like this...er, Turk...”
Just then, the doorbell rings.
“Saved by the bell,” I laugh.
Mom stomps off to the front door. Then she does that thing that always blows me away. In the blink of an eye, she switches into her favorite role: the vice president’s wife.
As she opens the door, Mom sings out, “Loretta! Goodness, Loretta! How delightful to see you!”
Loretta. The president’s wife.
I picture Mom planting pretend kisses into the air on both sides of Loretta’s plump cheeks.
Then I hear something else. Yap! Yap! Yip!
“Loretta,” Mom says, “I haven’t met your little friend.”
“This is Gretzky,” Loretta yells over more puppy yips. “She’s a cockapoo. A female cockapoo. But Vincent insisted on naming her Gretzky. My dear husband never got over Wayne Gretzky leaving Edmonton.”
Loretta and a yapping puppy! I’m out of here!
But there’s no escape. Loretta has just flung herself into the living room in a cloud of flowery perfume. Gretzky, a yapping coffee-colored hairball, is nestled against the lavender frills on Loretta’s enormous chest.
“Hello, Turkingtons,” Loretta blares.
At that moment, Gretzky leaps from Loretta’s arms and bounces into my lap.
“You want a little playsy-waysy with Winston, do you?” Loretta says with a tinkly laugh.
I cringe. Winston is my real name and I can’t stand it. So everyone—except Loretta, that is—calls me Turk. It’s short for my last name, Turkington.
“Sorry. I’m on my way to bed. I’m all playsy-waysied out for today.” I try to nudge Gretzky off my lap. No luck.
From the corner of my eye, I catch Mom’s warning look.
“Look at how frisky she is now that she’s found a new playmate,” Loretta gushes.
“Playmate? Me?” I say.
“Why yes.” Loretta turns to Mom. “Remember when I told you I was getting a puppy? You told me that you and Winston love puppies. You said you were considering getting a puppy yourself.”
“News to me,” I mutter.
I’ve never stopped to think about whether I like dogs or not. But if I did, I’d probably decide they’re okay, but only at a distance. And as for this hairball that’s yapping like crazy on my lap—
“Gross!”
She licks my chin again. What if she just drank from the toilet? And I swear, if she tries to sniff my crotch—
“And that you’d love to help out with Gretzky any time at all,” Loretta says.
“Why...why, yes. I mean, I...suppose I might have said something like that.”
Why won’t this dog get off me?
“Vincent and I are heading out of town,” Loretta continues. “Just this morning, I took Gretzky to a kennel that I’d heard wonderful things about. But I took one look at those— those cages—and I couldn’t leave my baby there. Then I remembered your kind offer. And now to see Gretzky so happy here with Winston—well, I know I did the right thing.”
As I try to swish Gretzky off my lap again, I glance at Mom. Her face has a serious cramp in it.
“Here’s Gretzky’s water dish and her little supper bowl.” Loretta pulls two fancy bowls out of her enormous flowered bag.
“And here’s her favorite little stuffy-toy for bedtime.” It might be a teddy bear, but it’s hard to tell. One leg and most of its face are chewed off.
Dad, who’s paralyzed in the loveseat, reaches for more smoked salmon. At that very moment, Gretzky launches herself onto the coffee table and polishes off the rest of the salmon. Dad clears his throat and sits back.
“And here’s Gretzky’s favorite dog food. And let’s see what else...” She pulls out a flowered cushion and a pink baby blanket.
“Gretzky likes to sleep on her mommy’s bed. I’m sure you and Mack won’t mind.”
Mom’s face cramps up even tighter. I try to imagine a dog sleeping on her expensive new duvet.
Loretta gazes down at Gretzky. “Mommy’s going to miss her little sweetheart.” Her eyes well up with tears as she crouches down and plants a kiss on Gretzky’s head. Gretzky is too busy tugging on Mom’s Persian rug to notice.
Mom finally squeaks out a few words.
“How long are you going for?”
“Just for the weekend. We’ll be home Sunday evening.”
Mom cheers up a bit. “I’m sure we can, er...manage Gretzky until then.”
“Toodle-oo!” Loretta vanishes in a lavender poof out the door.
I look at Gretzky. The edge of Mom’s rug still dangles from between her teeth. Then I remember Mom’s blow-up about the Monopoly game and a really bad feeling creeps into my gut. Mom must be ticking like a time bomb now. Time to make myself scarce.
I’m bolting up to my bedroom when a bloodcurdling scream pierces the air.
“No, Gretzky. Stop!” Mom shrieks. “Mack, she just peed on the Persian rug!”
Faster than a hyper puppy lunging for a plate of smoked salmon, I dash into my bedroom. I lock the door behind me just in case!
chapter two
Sleeping is what I do best, especially on the weekend. I can sleep through thunderstorms. I can sleep while the cleaning lady vacuums. I can sleep while a new roof is being hammered on. But I learned last night that I can’t sleep with Gretzky in the house.
Here’s how it went:
Gretzky yapping at two in the morning.
Gretzky howling at four-thirty in the morning.
Gretzky whining just before six o’clock. And my favorite: Gretzky yodeling around seven o’clock.
Mom and Dad’s reactions hardly lulled me back to sleep either. At first they tried speaking kindly to her. Then came the warnings about waking up the whole house, as if Gretzky cared, and as if we weren’t all awake anyway. Next came the threats.
“Gretzky! Another peep out of you and there’ll be no more smoked salmon!”
So it’s almost noon before I crawl out of bed and pull on some clothes.
On the way downstairs, I call Leo on my cell phone.
“Hey, Leo.”
“Turk?”
“Still meeting at Starbucks?”
“Yeah.” We meet for hot chocolate every Saturday afternoon.
As I step down from the last stair, Gretzky yaps louder than ever.
“What’s that?” Leo asks.
“A cockapoo.”
“A what-a-poo?”
“A yapping hairball, okay? I’ll explain later. See you in ten minutes.”
I take one look at Mom and Dad’s tired faces and I know this is not where I want to be. Time to exit the house. Fast.
I veer toward the front door with Gretzky yapping at my feet.
I’m almost there when Mom speaks up. “Freeze!”
“What?”
“I said ‘freeze.’”
“Why?”
“Gretzky.”
Yap! “What about her?”
“Your dad and I have been on Gretzky-duty all night.”
I’m not sure where this is going, but I don’t like it.
“Now it’s your turn.” Mom pauses to pull a wet stringy piece of her Persian rug out of Gretzky’s mouth. “Besides, looking after Gretzky will give you something responsible to do. Who knows? You might even—how did you put it last night?—break a sweat.”
So that’s what this is about. Payback time.
I definitely need to get out of here.
But then I remember I don’t have any money! I’d better soften Mom up a bit before I ask for next month’s allowance. Or am I up to the month after that?
“Sounds like you guys didn’t get much sleep last night either. Pretty rough, wasn’t it? Especially for a growing boy. Wasn’t there something in one of your parenting magazines, Mom, about how teenagers don’t get enough sleep these days?”
I shake my head and try to look serious. I can’t tell if Mom’s buying it or not.
“But listen,” I say. “I’ve gotta go meet Leo at Starbucks. Could you spare me some cash?”
Mom glares at me.
“For a hot chocolate.” Still nothing.
“I can’t think of one good reason why I should hand you a dime.”
“Here’s a good reason: Leo picked up the tab the last three weeks in a row. Doesn’t that make you feel ashamed?”
“No. Get a job.”
“A what?”
“A job,” Mom says. “You’re not getting another cent out of your father and me. And, you’re not going anywhere. Unless,” her face takes on an evil glow, “Gretzky goes with you.”
Gretzky is tugging at my shoelaces and doing a fake puppy snarl.
“Take Gretzky for a walk?”
Mom nods.
“But—”
“Here’s her leash.” Mom shoves it into my hands. Gretzky drops my shoelaces. She yips loudly as she jumps up and grabs at her leash.
“Don’t forget to take some plastic bags with you.”
“What for?”
“In case Gretzky needs the potty when you’re out walking together. Also known as ‘going number two.’”
“I have to pick it up?”
/> “You can’t just leave it there.”
“I can’t?”
Mom reaches down and snaps Gretzky’s leash onto her collar. “Now get outside. Both of you.” Mom stuffs some plastic bags into my hand. “We’re going back to bed. Don’t hurry home.”
I stumble toward the front door, trying not to step on the bouncing hairball beside me.
I’m halfway to Starbucks before I realize that Mom pulled a quick one on me. She sent me out the door without handing over any cash.
My future flashes before me. A yapping cockapoo for a social life. Sweating it out scooping up dog poop. And broke too.
chapter three
I’m peering through the front window of Starbucks when the door opens.
“Oh my God! That is the cutest puppy I’ve ever seen!”
“What?” I turn around. I can’t believe my eyes. The girl talking to me is beautiful!
She flicks her long red hair back from her face. “Aren’t you just a little sweetie,” she gushes as she stoops to pat Gretzky.
Gretzky drops to the ground in front of the girl.
I search for something intelligent to say. Even something mildly stupid would be better than nothing.
“Excuse me,” a different voice says from behind me.
I turn to see an elderly woman who’s pulling a little cart. “You’re blocking the doorway.”
“Sorry.”
“That’s okay.” The woman’s face lights up. “You two look so lovely together.”
At first I think the woman is talking about Gretzky and me. Then I realize she means this great-looking girl and me. I blush bright red.
“I’d better be on my way,” the woman says, pulling the cart behind her.
“Me too,” the girl says, standing up. With a final pat on Gretzky’s head, she smiles and bounces away.
“How did you manage that?”
I jump and turn around.
“The girl, Turk,” says Leo. “Why was she talking to you? Did you knock her over or something?”
“Very funny.”