A Dog Called Jack

by Ivy Pembroke

  Sam pulled out his phone to text Ellen, considered, then texted, Am I supposed to be able to do Year 4 homework?

  Ellen texted back immediately: Wait until the A-levels.

  Sam could, yes, happily wait a long time for that. He took a deep breath and texted back, hoping it sounded casual: So. Too creepy to offer to chaperone the school field trip to spend time with my son and also my son’s teacher?

  Ellen’s response was again immediate: Just creepy enough. Do it. Be charming. Don’t talk about beetroot. Let me know if you need me to write down some appropriate conversational topics for you.

  Sam texted her the emoji that was, in America, the peace sign emoji.

  Then he pulled over a piece of paper and wrote,

  Miss Quinn—

  I am happy to put myself at your service as chaperone for the museum field trip. Looking forward to seeing you.—Sam Bishop.

  Then he thought, No, maybe too creepy.

  He pulled over another piece of paper and wrote,

  Miss Quinn—I would love to help introduce Teddy to the wonders of the Natural History Museum.—Sam Bishop.

  He read that over. “What the hell is that, Sam?” he asked himself, and pulled over another piece of paper.

  Miss Quinn—I can volunteer to serve as chaperone on the museum field trip.—Sam Bishop.

  That, he thought, was much better. Except that his penmanship was horrendous and Miss Quinn taught handwriting and had beautiful writing herself, so Sam took another piece of paper and rewrote the note very carefully.

  Chapter 8

  Homework Journal of Teddy Bishop, 1/10: Design technology: Worst. Modern language: Also worst. Information technology: Worst worst. Best: Miss Quinn is really good at multiplication. Also best: Miss Quinn helped me with the Spanish vocabulary and didn’t laugh at me. Final best: Miss Quinn let me choose the song to play over Getting Settled Time in the morning.

  Teddy’s homework journal was always, to Sam, a wealthy source of information. He was supposed to rank, every week, the three best and three worst things about the week. Teddy always started with the worst, which Sam found telling. And the worst were always consistently entire subjects that Teddy had not had in the American school system and so struggled with. He struggled with a lot of the differences between the school systems. So did Sam, who may have been educated in this school system but had never been a parent in it and had frankly forgotten a lot of what it was like to be a child in school.

  Teddy’s three best things invariably revolved around Miss Quinn in some way, shape, or form. The truth was, if Sam had never met Miss Quinn, he thought he might be half in love with her just from Teddy’s descriptions of her in his homework journal.

  Miss Quinn almost always was part of Teddy’s adventures of the day, too, when they went over them at dinner. Granted, people at work usually made up Sam’s adventures of the day, so he understood that you tended to talk about the people you spent most of your day with, and for Teddy that was Miss Quinn. But Teddy seldom talked about any of his classmates, and basically never talked about having any friends. Teddy revolved exclusively around Miss Quinn, and Jack.

  Sam pointed that out one night. “You talk a lot about Miss Quinn.”

  Teddy shrugged. “Miss Quinn’s nice. You know that. I like her a lot.”

  “She’s a good teacher?” said Sam.

  “She’s the best. She knows a lot, and she’s nice to me. She helps me. She doesn’t laugh at me.”

  “Do other people laugh at you?” Sam didn’t want to say that he was prepared to sharpen weapons to start dealing with these people, but . . . well, maybe he was.

  Teddy shrugged again.

  Sam considered an approach to this. He settled for, “Well, I, for one, am looking forward to the field trip. And you can point out all the terrible children and I can be threatening at them.”

  Teddy looked unimpressed. “Dad, you are not threatening.”

  “I could be threatening,” said Sam.

  “I don’t think you could.”

  Sam frowned. “Don’t you find me threatening when I discipline you?” he asked.

  Teddy actually started laughing.

  * * *

  These were Teddy’s views on school: it was so long. Teddy felt like every day was an entire lifetime. And he felt like he never had an opportunity to catch his breath. He felt like he was underwater every single moment at school. It was like being in the ocean, unable to get away from the waves. Everyone spoke very quickly, using words that he only half recognized from Dad’s vocabulary. They presumed a level of knowledge on things that he just didn’t have. They learned math completely differently, and always called it “maths,” which was just plain weird, because it wasn’t like they called science “sciences.” Teddy would have asked Dad long ago if he could just stop going to school, except for the fact of Miss Quinn.

  Miss Quinn was basically the best person in the entire universe. Miss Quinn was so nice, and so kind, and so patient. Miss Quinn only laughed when he said something funny, never otherwise. Miss Quinn smiled almost all the time, except when she was perfectly serious. Miss Quinn knew the answer to every single question, but, better, she could explain those answers to Teddy in ways he understood. Miss Quinn even did a really good American accent, which always made Teddy laugh.

  So it was lucky there was Miss Quinn, or he would just refuse to go to school. As it was, there was Miss Quinn, who maybe liked Dad, even though she never said it, and Dad, who definitely liked Miss Quinn, even though he liked to pretend she was just Teddy’s teacher and nothing more.

  There was Miss Quinn, and there was Jack, who met him after school every day and was basically the friend who walked home with him, since the other kids didn’t seem interested in that. So the weather got colder and the days got shorter and the leaves swirled around them, and Dad insisted Teddy transition from a lighter coat to a heavier coat, and also assured Teddy that Jack didn’t need a coat because he had a fur coat.

  And every day Jack met him after school and walked back with him, even through the chilly drizzle, and nobody else talked to them.

  Until the day one of the older boys decided for some reason to take notice and say, “What’s up with you and that dog? That your only friend?” and then everyone else laughed like that was hilarious.

  Teddy had been petting Jack hello, but he tensed at finding himself the object of all the kids’ attention, and then Jack seemed to sense that and moved in a protective circle around Teddy, whimpering a little.

  “It’s not even his,” said Pari. “It’s the street dog. He belongs to everyone on the street.”

  “Not even your dog?” said the older boy who’d started all of this. “Why’re you pretending that it is, then?”

  “He is my dog,” Teddy said staunchly, a hand on Jack’s collar to keep him next to him. “He’s everyone’s dog, which makes him mine, too.”

  “Are you trying to steal this dog from everyone else?” demanded the older boy.

  Teddy looked at the children ringed around him, and met Pari’s eyes. Pari looked . . . horrified. Which was not how Teddy had expected her to look.

  “Wait,” said Pari. “He’s not trying to steal him. He just helps take care of Jack.”

  “Seems like he spends more than his fair share of time with Jack,” said the older boy. “Give us the dog.”

  “No,” said Teddy, hand still on Jack’s collar, although Jack chose that moment to start growling in the older boy’s direction.

  “Here now,” said the older boy. “Stop him doing that. What do you think this is? He’s not yours to make him growl at the rest of us.”

  Jack kept growling, and Teddy tried to decide what to do. He wasn’t far from home, and if he let go of Jack he could make a run for it. But would Jack follow? What if these older boys tried to steal Jack? They lived a few streets over, and Jack wouldn’t know anyone on that street, and Jack’s family was here.

  And as Teddy was trying to decide, Mr. H
ammersley said, “What’s all this?”

  The older boy, with an adult present, turned naturally angelic. “Oh, nothing, sir,” he said. “Just admiring this lovely dog.”

  Jack kept growling.

  Mr. Hammersley said, “Move along now. Move along. Get to your homes.”

  The children started moving away, including Pari, with one look back over her shoulder.

  “I tell you, I don’t know what this world is coming to,” said Mr. Hammersley. “Children these days. Are you all right?”

  Teddy . . . wanted to go home. Home home. But he clung to Jack’s collar and nodded. Jack turned and pressed in against Teddy’s leg, whining and snuffling kisses onto Teddy’s hand.

  Mr. Hammersley, peering at him, said, “Don’t mind them, eh? Jack likes you and not them, and Jack is the best judge of character I know.”

  It was true. Jack was close against him, still licking at him.

  “Run home,” Mr. Hammersley said.

  Teddy didn’t need to be prodded to do that twice.

  When he got home, Dad was in his office, still working, and he just said, “Did you have a good day?” and Teddy nodded and holed up in his room with Jack, curling up on the bed. Dad didn’t show up to ask any more questions, so Teddy was free to put his face in Jack’s soft coat and just breathe.

  * * *

  Teddy was being unusually quiet. Teddy could keep to himself a lot, but he usually was full of more words after a day of school, even if those words were mostly complaints. So Sam knocked on Teddy’s door, once he was done with work, and when he received a “come in,” poked his head inside.

  “You okay?” he asked Teddy, who was sitting on his bed with Jack.

  Teddy nodded.

  He didn’t look okay, thought Sam. “Something happen at school?”

  Teddy shook his head. “No. School was good. Miss Quinn’s good.”

  Sam lifted an eyebrow. “School was good?”

  Teddy shrugged.

  Hmm, thought Sam, and then said slowly, “Okay. You’d tell me if something was wrong, right? You know you can tell me anything like that.”

  Teddy nodded, but volunteered no further information. Great, thought Sam. How was he supposed to combat that? He said instead, “I don’t know if Jack should be on the bed—he’s filthy,” but he didn’t press that point and instead retreated downstairs to consider what they could have for dinner.

  The doorbell rang, and Sam answered it to reveal the last person in the world he’d expect to see.

  “Pari,” he said in surprise, and then could manage nothing further, because he didn’t know what else to say.

  Pari’s dark eyes looked wide and solemn. She said, “Is Teddy home? Could I see him?”

  She didn’t seem combative. So Sam said, trying wildly to think why Pari would suddenly have shown up, “Yes. Sure. He’s upstairs with Jack.”

  “Thanks.” Pari immediately bounded up the stairs with eight-year-old energy.

  Sam considered following her to eavesdrop, then thought, No, a terrible parent would eavesdrop; then thought, No, wait, maybe a really good parent would eavesdrop, and because he couldn’t make up his mind, he decided to just sit on the bottom step of the staircase, which wasn’t as bad as listening at the door but maybe would enable him to hear something.

  * * *

  Teddy sat on his bed with Jack and just looked at Pari when she walked into his bedroom. At least Jack’s tail wagged but he didn’t get off the bed.

  Pari, after fidgeting for a second, said, “I expect you’re really angry with me.”

  Teddy said nothing.

  Pari said, all in a rush, “Sorry. I didn’t mean for anything to happen and I didn’t want them to take Jack from you and I’m really sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”

  Teddy still said nothing. He didn’t look like he believed her. But Jack got off the bed and came over to her and licked her face.

  “Hi, Jack,” Pari said, and then said to Teddy, “Can I sit on your bed?”

  Teddy, after a second, nodded.

  Pari sat on the bed and looked at Teddy, who looked miserable. The way Teddy had looked earlier, with Jack, had felt like the first time Pari had ever seen Teddy. Teddy was unhappy and lonely. That was why Teddy hogged Jack so much. Teddy didn’t know anyone else. Teddy didn’t have a big brother. Teddy didn’t even have a mum. And Teddy knew no one at school. And Pari felt like she hadn’t realized how much Teddy was alone until she’d actually been forced to see it.

  And now she felt horrible.

  She said, “I don’t want to be at war with you anymore.”

  Teddy, after a second, said, “I don’t want to be at war with you.”

  “So let’s not be at war,” decided Pari, shrugging.

  Teddy looked suspicious still. “Are you still trying to steal Jack?”

  Pari shook her head. “You’re okay at sharing him. And I get to go to the vet’s all the time now and see all sorts of animals. Yesterday I held baby guinea pigs.”

  “That sounds pretty cool,” Teddy allowed.

  “Yeah, and it works better because Mum doesn’t have to see the animals. My brother doesn’t go anymore because he fainted.”

  Teddy looked impressed. “He fainted?”

  Pari nodded. “Yup. The vet showed him a needle and then he just fell right over onto the floor. Hit his head hard. I thought he was probably dead.”

  “Wow,” said Teddy.

  “I know. It was just a needle, right?”

  Jack jumped up onto the bed between them and licked both of their faces in turn.

  Pari said, “We should find a way for Jack to be in the school play.”

  “Good idea,” said Teddy.

  “Brilliant idea,” said Pari, and smiled at him.

  * * *

  Sam could hear almost nothing from his perch at the bottom of the stairs, and he was just considering giving up and going to eavesdrop properly when the doorbell rang again. Probably, Sam thought, Diya, looking for Pari.

  But it was Mr. Hammersley, all bundled up like he was preparing to trek over Antarctica, when Sam swung the door open.

  “Oh,” Sam said, startled. “Hi. Is something wrong?”

  “I don’t want you to think that I’m going to get in the habit of knocking on your door all the time,” said Mr. Hammersley.

  “Okay,” Sam agreed. “But was there something you needed?”

  “Of course not,” denied Mr. Hammersley. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Right,” said Sam, not sure why else Mr. Hammersley would be on his doorstep.

  “I just wanted to say that Jack can stay over here tonight and here’s some food for him.” Mr. Hammersley handed a bag of food to him.

  “Oh,” Sam said, bewildered. Jack stayed over at the house fairly frequently. They seldom communicated about it anymore.

  “I thought your boy might need him tonight.”

  “Teddy?” Sam asked blankly.

  “Yes. I think those children shook him up a bit, but he’s tough, your boy. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. And Jack did his part.”

  Sam stared at Mr. Hammersley. Clearly something had happened that Mr. Hammersley expected Sam to know about. “Right,” he said. “Yes. The children.” Because he didn’t want to admit that Teddy had mentioned none of this.

  “He’s all right, isn’t he?” said Mr. Hammersley.

  “He’s brilliant,” Sam assured him, all false bravado.

  And, as soon as he’d closed the door on Mr. Hammersley, he walked immediately upstairs and knocked on Teddy’s half-open bedroom door.

  Teddy and Pari were giggling together over something, Jack sprawled between them, still on the bed.

  Sam stood for a second, staring, forgetting entirely his reason for coming to talk to Teddy, because there was Teddy, giggling.

  “Dad!” Teddy exclaimed. “Pari and I have had the best idea! Can we give Jack a bath? Then he wouldn’t be filthy anymore!”

  Sam didn’t hav
e the heart to deny Teddy anything he desired when Teddy looked like that. Keep that look on his face, he thought. So he found himself setting up the kids and the dog in the bathroom and despairing for the mess they were about to make.

  “Pari, what’s your mum’s number?” Sam asked. “I’ll ring her that you’re here.”

  “Oh, my mum’s not home,” Pari said, already laughing with glee over the wet dog. “She had to go to my uncle’s house to help make some food for a party. But my dad’s home.”

  “Right,” Sam said. “Sexist of me. Let me ring your dad.”

  Pari gave him the number and Sam dialed it and said, when it was answered, “Hi, Darsh, it’s Sam Bishop from next door.”

  “Oh,” Darsh said pleasantly. “Hello.”

  “I just wanted to let you know that Pari is here giving Jack a bath.”

  “How nice,” Darsh said.

  Yes, thought Sam. Wasn’t it just?

  * * *

  After Jack had been washed and brushed and had made generally an enormous mess, Sam watched Pari run home and then decided not to have anything more taxing than cereal for dinner, because cleaning the bathroom had been taxing enough.

  “Day’s adventure,” he said. “Mr. Hammersley coming over to check up on you after an incident with some other children.” He had hoped to provoke Teddy into telling him what had happened, but instead Teddy just said, “My adventure today was I made a friend,” and looked so pleased with himself that Sam thought this might be their most amazing day in London so far.

  Chapter 9

  Hi, everyone! We should make plans for Bonfire Night! It would be fun to go to see fireworks together. But, as Jack is our collective responsibility, we should also discuss what we can do with him whilst all the loud noises are happening!