Dog Walker

by Karen Spafford-Fitz

  I’ve gotta tell her!

  But Carly continues. “Matt said that you and Buddy were gone longer than an hour. When Mom heard that, she asked me to check if we should pay you more.”

  I glance over at the check lying on my dresser.

  Tell her what happened, Turk.

  “Uh, you know, Carly. I’ve got the check here. But your mom—she doesn’t have to pay me at all—”

  “Mom insists on paying you, Turk. And I liked knowing that Buddy was with you last night.”

  I cringe when Carly says that last part. If there’s a time to tell Carly the truth—before it’s too late—it’s now.

  “So you’ll come by around seven o’clock?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. See you then.”

  All the way to Carly’s place, I practice what I’m going to say about last night. That it was a mix-up. That I’m sorry. And that I didn’t tell her earlier because I wanted to say it in person.

  Then Carly comes to the door. She’s wearing her hair down long tonight. It looks all shiny and soft, like she just brushed it. I’m thinking about maybe kissing her, but I’m not sure. I wonder if Carly’s thinking about the same thing.

  “Ahem.”

  We both jump.

  “Oh. Mom.” Carly giggles as a deep blush spreads across her cheeks.

  “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

  “Yeah.” Carly giggles again. “This is Turk. Turk, this is my mom.”

  “Hi, Mrs.—er...”

  “Ms. Lawton. Katie, actually.” She reaches out to shake my hand. Carly’s mom looks a lot like Carly. She’s taller but has Carly’s brown hair and big dark eyes.

  “So you’re off to a party tonight.”

  “Y-yeah,” I stammer. “It’s not far. Lots of kids from school will be there.”

  “Sounds like fun. You two enjoy.”

  You can count on that!

  We head out the door and I take Carly’s hand. I’m flying. And we’re not even at the party yet.

  It looks like about half the school is already at Meghan’s place when Carly and I get there.

  “Carly!” Lexia squeals as she opens the front door. “Come on in! This party is such a blast!”

  Lexia grabs our arms and hauls us into the room.

  “Look who’s here, everyone!” she yells over the music. “It’s Carly and—and—”

  “Turk,” I say.

  “Yeah, Turk!” Lexia shrieks. “You two have to come up and dance.”

  Lexia wiggles out a few dance moves to lure us onto the dance floor. I swallow hard. I sure hope Carly doesn’t expect me to dance tonight. Definitely not my thing!

  I look around desperately. Meghan’s mom is carrying trays of fruit and cheese over to a long food table that’s already piled high with cold cuts and buns and cookies and chips. That’s more my style! I glance at Carly.

  Carly smiles then turns to Lexia. “Maybe we’ll just grab some food first.”

  Yes! Saved!

  “Sure thing,” Lexia says, looking disappointed. “But later”—she pulls off a few more moves—”later for sure!”

  As we make our way over to the table, I lean in to Carly. “That was close!”

  “You’re not kidding!” Carly laughs.

  Just then, Leo waves from the far end of the table.

  “Go ahead, Turk,” Carly says when she sees Leo. “I’m going to go say hi to my friends.”

  Carly makes her way through the crowd toward the living room.

  “Hey, Turk,” Leo says. He’s standing in front of an enormous punch bowl. “Aunt Gail asked me to pour drinks. I figure it’s a prime spot for meeting some girls tonight.” Then he bows as though he’s a waiter. “Would you like some punch, sir?”

  “Sure.”

  Leo shoves a cup of punch at me and nods in Carly’s direction. “Everything okay with Carly? You know—about last night?”

  Just then, Carly looks over and smiles. I smile back. Then I decide something: I’m going to just enjoy myself tonight.

  “Awesome. And speaking of Carly, I’m going to stop wasting my time here with you.”

  “Yeah, go for it. And Turk?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Cheers!” Leo bashes his glass of punch against mine. Punch sloshes over the rim and down my arm. I shake off as much as I can. “Later, Leo.”

  I head toward the living room to meet Carly. But more people are arriving all the time. Now the room is totally packed. There’s a big traffic jam near the door where Lexia is still trying to haul people onto the dance floor. Then there’s the huge mob of girls who have swarmed Meghan to check out her birthday gifts. So it’s a while before I can get to Carly.

  “Hey,” I say, “why don’t we go downstairs. Maybe it’s not so crowded in the basement.”

  “Sure.”

  On our way through, I see Jonathan and Justin by the food table. Both are digging into the chips and salsa and are happily flicking salsa at each other. But then I spot someone else. The last guy I want to see tonight: Chuck.

  “Uh, Carly. Let’s go back to the dining room. I’ll get you some punch.”

  “No thanks. I don’t want any punch right now.”

  “W-well, I wouldn’t mind some.”

  “Okay.” Carly shrugs and turns around.

  “Turk!” Somehow Chuck manages to bellow over top of all the noise in the room.

  I keep walking, pushing Carly along in front of me.

  At that moment the music stops. Lexia dashes to the stereo and starts fumbling through some CD’s. But it’s gotten really quiet.

  “Turk!” A huge hand claps down on my shoulder from behind.

  “Hey, Chuck.” I try to shrug his hand off, but he doesn’t move it. Carly has stopped in front of me. I’m trapped.

  “Uh, Chuck. I thought you’d be lifting weights tonight. Or maybe plastering some gel into your hair.” I’m trying really hard to shut Chuck up before he says anything about walking Buddy last night.

  “Nah. All taken care of, Stick Man.” I try to duck the spray of spit that I know is coming. Unfortunately I don’t totally manage it.

  “Great,” I say. “Enjoy the party.”

  I’m turning away when Chuck grabs my shoulder again.

  “Listen, man. We’ve got some business to sort out,” he shouts.

  “I doubt it, Chuck,” I say. “Listen, the food’s over there. Don’t you need to go and beef up? You look a bit thin tonight.”

  I wonder why no one has started the music up again.

  “Really?” Chuck examines his right bicep closely. “But, Turk, listen—”

  “I’m sure everyone is listening, Chuck.” I say this quietly, hoping Chuck will take the hint and lower his voice.

  “You gotta pay me. You know—for walking Buddy last night,” he yells. “As for that business of yours, it works! You’ve nailed it, man! Girls love dogs! Even dogs like Buddy that aren’t exactly pretty! You shoulda seen the girls checkin’ out Buddy and me when we were walking along Whyte Avenue.”

  Won’t this guy ever shut up?

  “Your folks said you weren’t home to pay me last night. So cough up the dough.”

  I’m still holding Carly’s hand. I haven’t looked at her since Chuck started blatting his big stupid head off. Now I glance sideways at her.

  Carly’s eyes are wide, and her mouth—that mouth that I wanted to kiss again tonight—is open in shock.

  Carly pulls her hand away. “You let Chuck walk Buddy last night?”

  “Carly, here’s what happened—”

  “I just heard what happened! This creep walked Buddy. After you promised you’d walk him yourself.”

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “But isn’t it true? Did Chuck walk Buddy last night?”

  “Well, yeah. But—”

  Carly pushes through the mob of people and rushes outside. She’s almost at the road before I catch up with her. “Carly. Wait!” I reach for her hand.
>
  “Don’t touch me. Why don’t you just go back in and party with your friend, Chuck? Maybe talk some more business with him?”

  “Can you just listen for a minute?” I reach into my back pocket. “Here. It’s your mom’s check. Can you give it back to her for me? I don’t feel right keeping it.”

  Carly shoves my arm away. If she wasn’t mad before, she sure is now.

  “What? You think it’s just about the money? You’re an even bigger jerk than I thought.”

  Then Carly turns and runs down the road. I see for myself why she almost won that race in Calgary today. There’s no way I can catch up with her.

  “Carly! Carly!”

  “I think you’ve seen the last of her for tonight,” Leo says from behind me. “Sorry.”

  chapter thirteen

  Mom is shaking my shoulders the next morning. “Turk, you need to get up!”

  “Why?”

  “You have to go see that woman who does shift work. She’s been phoning and phoning. You’re late taking Rowdy for his walk.”

  “Oh. I slept in.” The truth is, I didn’t fall asleep until really late last night.

  I pull on my clothes and am about to rush over to Mrs. Nielsen’s house. But there’s something I need to do first. I grab my cell phone and dial Carly’s number.

  “Hello?”

  Oh no! It’s Matt! “Hello. Er...is Carly there?”

  “Yeah. Just a second.”

  “Carly!” Matt is holding the phone near his mouth. I can hear everything perfectly.

  “Who is it?” Carly asks.

  “How am I supposed to know?”

  “You could ask,” Carly says.

  “Uh, who is it?” Matt asks.

  “Turk.”

  “It’s Turk,” Matt tells Carly.

  “Tell him he’s the last person in this world I plan on talking to!” Moments later I hear a door slam. It hits me like a hard slap in the face.

  Matt comes back on the phone. “She can’t come to the phone right now.”

  I don’t know for sure, but I picture a big sneer across Matt’s face.

  “That’s okay,” I mutter.

  But really, it’s not okay. It’s not okay at all.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I say when I get to Mrs. Nielsen’s house.

  “No problem. But that was a long shift.” She yawns. “I need to get to bed.”

  “Sure thing,” I sigh.

  “Actually, Turk, you look as tired as I do. Are you sick or something?”

  “Yeah. Or something.” But I don’t think she hears me. Rowdy has obviously figured out that we’re going for a walk. He’s barking and bouncing like crazy. It takes both Mrs. Nielsen and me to get his leash on.

  We head outdoors and Rowdy pulls me across the road. Then he lunges hard toward some trails we’ve taken before. Today, I don’t even try to resist. I just let Rowdy drag me wherever he wants. And once we get going, there doesn’t seem like much point in stopping.

  I eventually realize that we’ve walked pretty far. We’re on a trail in the river valley just past the Kinsmen Sports Center. As I watch all the runners take off, I feel even worse. They remind me of Carly.

  I stop on a bench. By now, even Rowdy is happy to rest. I reach over and rub his ear.

  “What would you do, Rowdy, if you screwed up big time like I just did?” It takes me a second to choke the next words out. “And Rowdy, I really like her. Really. What am I gonna do?”

  I hear a shuffle in the bushes behind me. I jump and look over my shoulder. It’s another dog. This dog is mostly black with white hairs around his mouth. He must be old. When he hears my voice, he trudges over to the bench beside me. I look around for the dog’s owner, but the dog is by himself.

  “Hey, guy. What are you doing here all alone?”

  Rowdy sniffs the old dog, then flops back down on the other side of me. I pat both dogs from the bench. “Want to hang out with us for a while?”

  Rowdy and this new dog both look at me with big kind eyes. Buddy has eyes like that too. I remember what Carly told me about Buddy seeing her through the tough times when her dad moved away. I didn’t really get it then. But with the two dogs lying peacefully beside me, I’m getting the picture.

  I hear another shuffle down the path and a woman rushes toward us. She runs over and hugs the dog.

  Then she turns to me. “Mickey usually waits on the front step when I go inside for his water dish. I don’t know why he took off today. Thanks for looking after him.”

  “I didn’t really do anything. He just joined Rowdy and me here.”

  “He can tell who the dog lovers are.” The whole time, Rowdy has been leaning his head against me, actually being calm for a change.

  “You two look great together,” she says. “I like your dog.”

  I’m about to tell her that Rowdy isn’t my dog, but she keeps talking.

  “I got Mickey when he was a puppy. He’s twelve now, so he’s getting up there.” She lowers her voice. “When Mickey disappeared today I was so scared. I was afraid that...”

  This woman looks like she’s about to cry. She catches herself and changes the subject.

  “Do you and your dog ever run in that?”

  “In what?”

  She points to a banner hanging on the bridge that leads across the river.

  “Pets In The Park,” I read. “No. Rowdy doesn’t belong to me. And I’m not a runner.”

  “Too bad,” she says. “Pets In The Park is a fundraiser for the Humane Society. Mickey and I did that run every year when he was younger. Last year we just walked the five miles. This year, Mickey has decided to pass on it altogether. Lots of people walk the course though. You just get some sponsors and go out and have fun with your dog. Or with someone else’s dog. It’s okay if you’re not a runner.”

  A runner like Carly.

  Then something clicks inside my head. I spring off the bench.

  “Thanks for the idea! Bye, Mickey!”

  The woman looks surprised. I don’t stop to explain. After one last glance at the banner, Rowdy and I rush home.

  chapter fourteen

  An hour later I’m stepping out of the shower. I dress quickly and grab the papers from my desk. Then I head out the door.

  As I ring Carly’s doorbell, it occurs to me that this is either the best idea I’ve ever had, or the stupidest. When Matt answers the door I’m convinced it’s the stupidest.

  “Yeah?”

  “Uh—is Carly here?”

  “Yeah.” He doesn’t call her though.

  “Can I talk to her?”

  “What for?”

  I’m trying to think of what to say when Carly steps into the room.

  “Matt, who was that?” Then she sees me. “Oh. You.”

  The way Carly says it doesn’t exactly raise my hopes.

  “Can I talk to you, Carly?”

  “You’ve got one minute. One minute and that’s all.” Carly plunks down on the couch. I look at Matt, who finally takes the hint and lumbers out of the room.

  Then I look at Carly again. Her face is as dark as a thundercloud.

  I’ve gotta come clean. Fast!

  “Carly, I know I screwed up. Big time. And any reason I give you is just going to sound like a dumb excuse. So I’m not going to give a reason. And you were right last night—”

  “When I said you were a jerk?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  This is going really well.

  At that moment, Buddy comes into the room. He lopes over and licks my hand.

  “Carly, I’m sorry. Especially ‘cause you trusted me with Buddy.”

  Carly still says nothing. I pull the papers from my back pocket and shuffle through them.

  I hold Carly’s mom’s check out. Carly’s face darkens more when she sees what’s in my hand.

  “It’s not like last night when I tried to give this back to you, Carly.”

  “Then what are you doing with it?”

  �
�I’d like to use this money for something else. Not for my business, which, incidentally, I’m shutting down. But for this.” I show Carly the forms for Pets In The Park.

  “I’m not a runner like you. And I don’t like to sweat.” I try to ignore the trickle of sweat that is running down my neck. “Actually, I hate to sweat. But I’m going to do this anyway. It’s a run in Hawrelak Park that people do with their dogs. It’s to raise money for the Humane Society. I’ve already asked Mrs. Nielsen. She says that Rowdy can be my running partner. Or maybe my passing-out-from-exhaustion partner.”

  I’m not sure, but I think Carly smiles a little.

  “I’d like to use your mom’s check for my first sponsor. If that’s okay with you and your mom, that is...”

  Carly shrugs. “I could ask her, I guess.” “There’s one more thing.” I shuffle through the papers. “I downloaded an extra registration paper and pledge form. I was wondering, er...hoping actually, that you’d run this with me. You know, you and Buddy.”

  Carly looks down at Buddy. She doesn’t say anything.

  “That is, if you’re interested. I’m gonna run it anyway—or try to. Rowdy might need to drag me most of the way, but I’m going to go for it,” I say. “And I know you do really serious racing. So maybe this is too easy for you and you just don’t want to.”

  Through all my babbling, I finally notice that Carly has said something.

  “What was that?” I ask.

  “I said I’ll think about it.”

  “Thanks.” I don’t trust myself to say anything else.

  I glance back quickly at Carly as I close her front door behind me. Then I realize I’m still holding her forms for Pets In The Park. I slip them into the mailbox.

  None of the guys believe me when I tell them that I’ve shelved the business. Leo looks totally shell-shocked and doesn’t say anything. But the other guys say lots!

  “We were meeting the best girls of our lives!” Jonathan says.

  “Yeah, the business was working for us!” Brad says.

  “How are we gonna meet girls now?” Kyle asks.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “But you’ll have to try something new. Like maybe going up to them and saying hi or something.”

  “But what about all the dogs? And their owners?” Justin says.

  “I’m going to call the dogs’ owners and tell them I’m closing up shop. If they still want someone to walk their dogs, I’ll give them the phone number of whoever walked their dog last. They can pay you directly. But remember, you’re just walking their dogs for the sake of walking their dogs. That’s all.”