Super Special

by Nancy Krulik

  “A jinni,” he says. “And if you set him free, he will give you anything you wish for.”

  “Anything?” I repeat.

  The mixed-breed nods. “But you only get to wish for three things. And you can’t wish for more wishes.”

  The chew toy in my mouth is really small. I can’t imagine anyone fitting inside.

  “How do you know there’s a jinni living in this lamp?” I ask him. “Aren’t there a lot of lamps around here?”

  “Sure,” the mixed-breed agrees. “But that lamp was right outside the Mankameshwar Temple.” He points to a building near where I found the chew toy. “Everyone knows that wishes are granted there.”

  Not everyone knows that. I didn’t know that. But now that I do, there’s no way I’m giving up this chew toy—I mean, lamp.

  Because if there really is a jinni inside, I can wish for him to send me home.

  I drop the chew toy on the ground and start pawing at it. I am trying to open it up and see what is inside.

  Paw, paw, paw. Paw, paw . . .

  Pop! The top pops off the chew toy.

  But no one comes out.

  I look inside. There’s nothing in there.

  “There’s nobody living in this chew toy,” I tell the mixed-breed.

  “Maybe he’s an invisible jinni,” the mixed-breed says.

  “An inviz—?”

  “Invisible,” he repeats. “It means you can’t see him, but he’s there. And you just set him free.”

  “Which means I can wish for anything I want,” I say.

  “Yup,” the mixed-breed grumbles. “Lucky you.”

  The mixed-breed doesn’t sound very happy about my luck. I guess he wanted the jinni to grant his wishes instead of mine.

  If there really is such a thing as an invisible jinni.

  Maybe this dog is just teasing me.

  Or maybe he’s not.

  I just don’t know.

  GRUMBLE RUMBLE.

  My tummy sounds angry. It doesn’t care about the jinni. It just cares about food.

  “I’m sorry, tummy,” I say. “I wish I had some food to give you.”

  Just then a two-leg passes by, eating as he walks.

  PLOP.

  The two-leg drops a big hunk of chicken and some fried bread right at my paws.

  Wow!

  “See?” the mixed-breed says. “The jinni made your wish come true.”

  “I never saw any bread like this before,” I say. “Is it yummy?”

  “The samosa? Sure, it’s yummy,” the mixed-breed tells me. “Of course, I would have wished for something a whole lot better if I’d been the one to free the jinni.”

  Chomp! I take a big bite of the chicken.

  Owie! Wowie! “That’s really spicy!” I exclaim.

  “Take a bite of the samosa,” the mixed-breed says. “It’s not spicy at all. It will make your mouth feel better.”

  I bite off a piece of the fried bread. Yummy, yum, yum. There’s potato inside.

  “You mind if I finish the chicken?” the mixed-breed asks me. “I like spicy curry.”

  “It’s all yours,” I tell him. “I’ll stick to this samo-thing.”

  “Samosa,” the mixed-breed repeats. He gobbles up the spicy chicken and smiles. “Thanks . . . um . . . what’s your name?”

  “Sparky,” I tell him.

  “I’m Raj,” the mixed-breed tells me. “Pleased to meet you. You’re not from around here, are you?”

  “No,” I say. “I don’t even know where here is.”

  “You’re in Agra, India,” Raj tells me. “A very magical city. You’ll see things here you won’t see anywhere else in the world. At least that’s what I hear. I’ve never actually been anywhere else.”

  I’ve been lots of places. But I don’t tell Raj that.

  I don’t want to have to tell him about my magic bone. He tried to get the lamp away from me. He might try to take my bone, too.

  I take another bite of the samosa.

  “You want me to show you around?” Raj asks.

  I think about that. I have two more wishes left. One of them will take me home.

  I could go home right now.

  But that doesn’t seem fair to my new friend. I wouldn’t have even known about the jinni in the lamp if he hadn’t told me.

  I think I should share another wish with him.

  But just one more.

  Because that third wish is all for me. It’s the wish that will take me home.

  CHAPTER 13

  “See? Isn’t that beautiful?” Raj asks me after we’ve been walking for a while.

  I don’t know what he is talking about.

  My new friend and I stop to look around. All I see are legs. Two-leg legs. They’re everywhere.

  “Look up,” Raj tells me.

  I look up. There’s a huge white building with a big round roof in front of us.

  “Who lives there?” I ask Raj. “Do you think they like dogs? Because it’s hot out here. Maybe we could go inside, get some water, and—”

  “Nobody lives in the Taj Mahal,” Raj says, interrupting me.

  “The Taj Ma-who?” I ask him.

  “Taj Mahal,” Raj says. “It means ‘crown of palaces.’ ”

  “Oh, it’s a palace,” I say. “I’ve seen a palace before. When I was in London. A queen lives in that palace. Not Queenie: That’s a cat in my neighborhood.”

  Raj looks at me strangely. I can tell he has no idea what I’m talking about.

  “Anyway,” Raj says finally. “No one lives in the Taj Mahal. But two-legs come from far away to visit it.”

  I wonder if those two-legs use a magic bone or a magic lamp to bring them here.

  “Does your two-leg visit the Taj Mahal a lot?” I ask Raj.

  “I don’t have a two-leg,” Raj says.

  He does not sound happy or sad. But I think it would be sad to live without a two-leg.

  Still, Rehema and the other African wild dogs are happy. And they don’t have any two-legs.

  I guess it’s different for every dog.

  “Do you have a big pack of dogs that you live with?” I ask Raj.

  “Nope,” Raj says. “It’s just me. Which is okay. At least I don’t have to share my food with anyone.”

  I look down at the ground. That doesn’t sound like something a friend should say.

  “But I’ll share with you,” Raj adds quickly. He smiles. “It’s kind of nice having a friend. It can get pretty lonely for a stray dog around here.”

  Poor Raj. I know what it’s like to be lonely. I feel that way whenever Josh goes away in his big metal machine with the four round paws.

  But at least I know he’s coming back.

  Raj has no one coming back to him. He’s all alone.

  I bet if he had found the lamp, he would have wished for a furever friend.

  I won’t be in Agra forever. But as long as I am here, maybe I can do something nice for him.

  “Are you still hungry?” I ask Raj. “Because if you are, I could wi—”

  “Don’t wish for the jinni to give us more food,” Raj warns, interrupting me. “We should save our wishes for something really important. We only have two more.”

  I don’t say anything, since I know that one of those wishes is for me only. That’s the one that will take me home.

  “Besides, we don’t need a wish to get us some food,” Raj says. “Two-legs around here drop their food all the time.”

  Sniffety, sniff, sniff.

  Just then, my nose starts sniffing something sweet.

  Sniffety, sniff, sniff.

  And it smells nearby.

  My paws start bouncing up and down. They must smell the sweet stuff, too. Which is weird, because paws don
’t have noses.

  Before I know what is happening, my paws start running in the direction of the sweet smell.

  Fast. Faster. Fastest.

  But they can’t go very fast in this big crowd of legs.

  Just then I see a little two-leg. She is holding something in her paw and licking it.

  The little two-leg smiles as she licks.

  Sniffety, sniff, sniff.

  That smells so yummy, yum, yum.

  I drop my lamp by my front paws. Then I bark, “Can I have a lick of that sweet-smelling stuff?”

  The little two-leg’s eyes open wide. A big blob of the sweet-smelling stuff falls out of her paws.

  “Thanks, little two-leg!” I bark. Then I start licking the sweet-smelling stuff.

  Yummy, yum, yum. This is so cold and creamy.

  Lick. Lick. Lick.

  Yummy, yum—

  Uh-oh!

  Suddenly, I hear a lot of yelling. I don’t know what the two-legs are saying. But they do not sound happy.

  A two-leg lunges at me. He is shouting angrily.

  Gulp! I wonder if that two-leg is a dogcatcher. I wonder if he wants to put me in a pound. I do not want to go to the pound. If I do, I may never get out.

  I may never see Josh again!

  “We gotta get out of here,” Raj calls from somewhere in the crowd of angry two-legs.

  He does not have to tell me twice.

  My paws start bouncing. They begin to move.

  “Don’t forget the lamp!” Raj barks to me.

  Oh right. The magic lamp. I scoop it up in my teeth.

  “Follow me!” Raj barks.

  Raj’s paws are moving as fast as they can.

  So my paws move as fast as they can.

  “That’s it, paws!” I shout to them. “Follow that tail!”

  CHAPTER 14

  “I don’t understand two-legs,” Raj says. “All they do is yell.”

  We have run a long way. Now we are sitting on the ground, watching two-legs walk all around us.

  “Not every two-leg,” I tell Raj. “Josh hardly ever yells.”

  “Who’s Josh?” Raj asks me.

  “My two-leg,” I tell him.

  Raj looks surprised. I guess it’s because I never told him that I have a two-leg.

  “What’s your two-leg like?” he asks me.

  “He’s really nice,” I say. “He feeds me. And he plays with me.”

  “I’ve never seen any two-leg act like that,” Raj says. “All the two-legs here do is shoo me away.”

  “That’s because none of those two-legs are your special two-leg,” I tell him. “When you have a special two-leg, you are a team. A pack. You do things together.”

  “It might be nice to have a two-leg,” Raj says slowly. “Then I wouldn’t ever be lonely. But only if the right two-leg comes along.”

  “Oh yes,” I agree. “It has to be the right two-leg. A two-leg you can love, and who will love you back.”

  “How do you know if you’ve found the right two-leg?” Raj wonders.

  “You just know,” I tell him. “When Josh pets my head or scratches me under the chin, it feels right. It makes my tail wag.”

  Ook! Ook! Ook!

  Just then, I look up and see a group of four-legs on a wall.

  At least I think they are four-legs. They look a little like two-legs, but they are covered in fur. And they have long tails.

  Ook! Ook! Ook!

  They make some weird noises, too.

  What kind of a strange place has my new friend led me to now?

  “Those monkeys are hilarious, aren’t they?” Raj asks me.

  I look up at the four-legs on the wall. Now I know what those four-legs are. They’re monkeys!

  I should have guessed. They look a little like the howler monkey I met when my magic bone took me to the Amazon Rain Forest.

  Except that monkey howled really, really loudly. And these monkeys . . .

  Ook! Ook! Ook!

  These monkeys say ook.

  The monkeys leap off the wall and onto a nearby tree branch. A group of two-legs clap their paws.

  “The two-legs love coming to the Agra Fort to see the monkeys,” Raj says. “I don’t blame them. They are pretty funny.”

  One of the monkeys jumps back to the wall. He twirls around in a circle.

  The two-legs clap their paws. They smile and make that ha-ha-ha noise Josh sometimes makes when he is happy.

  “I don’t see what’s so great about that,” I say. “Any dog can twirl around in a circle.”

  To prove it, I leap up on my hind legs. Then I twirl in a circle.

  “Hey, that’s pretty good,” Raj tells me.

  The monkey on the wall looks at me. He opens his mouth wide.

  Ook! Ook! Ook!

  I have no idea what he is saying.

  “Do you know any other tricks?” I bark to the monkey.

  He doesn’t answer me. Probably because he doesn’t speak dog.

  I try another trick. I lie down on my belly. Then I roll over. Then I sit up again.

  A few of the two-legs look in my direction. Some of them clap their paws.

  I smile at them. I like making two-legs happy.

  “Hey, those tricks look like fun, Sparky,” Raj says. “Can you show me how to twirl?”

  “Sure!” I say. “Just do what I do.”

  Raj watches as I stand on my hind legs.

  Then he stands on his hind legs.

  I twirl in a circle.

  Raj twirls in a circle.

  More two-legs turn to look at us. They clap their paws.

  Ook! Ook! OOOOKKKK!

  Those monkeys do not sound happy.

  I don’t think they like that the two-legs are smiling and clapping their paws for us.

  The monkeys tap their heads. They dance around on the tree branch.

  One of them hangs upside down by his tail.

  The two-legs like that. They clap their paws, smile, and make more ha-ha-ha noises.

  I cannot hang by my tail. My tail is not long or strong enough.

  “No fair, monkeys!” I bark.

  Whoosh! Plop!

  One of the monkeys throws something right at me.

  “What is that?” I ask Raj. “Is it food?”

  Raj sniffs at the stuff the monkey threw.

  “No. It’s not food,” he says.

  “Then what is it?” I ask.

  “It’s monkey poop,” Raj tells me.

  Huh? “The monkeys are throwing poop at us?” I ask.

  Raj nods.

  “That’s not nice!” I shout up to the monkeys in the tree.

  The monkeys do not answer. Instead they throw more poop in my direction.

  It feels like it’s raining poop.

  I do not like this at all.

  Neither do the two-legs. They are not smiling, or clapping their paws, or making that ha-ha-ha noise anymore.

  Instead they look angry. A few of them start to shout.

  I bet they are telling those monkeys to stop throwing their poop.

  Wait a minute. Wiggle, waggle, what’s going on here?

  The two-legs are not shouting at the monkeys.

  They are looking right at Raj and me.

  “Don’t be angry with us, two-legs,” I say. “We’re not the ones throwing poop.”

  But the two-legs don’t understand. And I don’t think they want us around here anymore.

  Ook! Ook! Ook!

  Plop. Plop. Plop.

  Hey! That piece of monkey poop almost got me!

  “I’m getting out of here!” Raj says.

  “Right behind you,” I say as I pick up the magic lamp.

  Ook! Ook! Oo
k!

  Plop!

  This is no place for a dog.

  CHAPTER 15

  Raj and I run up, up, up to the top of a hill.

  There are no two-legs up here. They are all walking on the road below.

  I am glad to be away from all the crowds.

  Raj opens his mouth to say something to me. But all I hear is—

  Grumble rumble.

  That’s not Raj’s mouth talking. It’s his tummy. It’s hungry.

  Rumble grumble.

  That’s my tummy talking. It’s hungry, too.

  “Sounds like we need to walk back to the marketplace and find food,” Raj says.

  Food sounds really, really good. But walking doesn’t. My paws are tired.

  “That would be great,” I say. “I just wish someone could carry me there.”

  “Sparky!” Raj shouts nervously. “You just used up another of our wishes!”

  Just then, two big cows come walking by, below the hill.

  “There’s our ride,” Raj says to me. “Boy, does that jinni work fast.”

  Raj jumps off the hill and lands right on the back of one of the cows.

  The cow looks up. She sure is surprised.

  But she doesn’t shake Raj off. She just keeps walking.

  Now that my wish has come true, I may as well go for a ride, too. I jump off the hill and land right on the back of the other cow.

  “It’s nice not to have to walk,” Raj tells me as the cows head down the road. “But you better be careful with that last wish. Make it a good one.”

  I know exactly what I am going to do with my last wish. But I can’t tell Raj. I have to get back to my magic bone first.

  Sniffety, sniff, sniff. I smell food everywhere. My magic bone, and my last wish, can wait. Food first!

  Raj sticks his nose up in the air. “Mmmm. I smell lamb tandoori,” he says.

  “Is that food?” I ask him.

  “Yup.” Raj smiles. “It’s the best. Not too spicy. But oh so tasty.”

  “Sounds yummy, yum, yum,” I say.

  Raj sniffs again. “It’s coming from down that small street,” he says. “Right around the corner from the Mankameshwar Temple.”

  I look over at a building near the side of the road. I know that place.