“Great. And . . . what about your reading?” Julian’s dad asked carefully.
Julian waved the work sheet with the completed questions. “We did that first.”
His dad’s tired eyes widened in surprise as he looked over the work sheet. “Wow! I’m really proud of you, Julian. Okay, as long as it’s okay with your parents, Bryan, you’re welcome to stay.”
Julian’s heart swelled with pride. It had been a long time since he’d impressed his parents with schoolwork.
Bryan called his mom to get permission to stay for dinner while Julian packed up his books. Then they tromped upstairs to Julian’s room. Bryan went right to the bookshelf that teemed with Julian’s map collection. “Whoa—you weren’t kidding. This is amazing!”
He picked up an old map of the Upper Peninsula and carefully unfolded it. As Bryan studied the map on the floor, Julian opened his sketchbook.
“Do you know about Mrs. Winderhouser?” Julian asked.
Bryan looked up. “You mean the old lady who owned Star? Not really. Except I heard Ms. Khan say once that she was a hoarder.”
“Her house is in my neighborhood,” Julian said. “A lot of people complain about all the junk around her house, but I don’t see it that way.”
He flipped his sketchbook open to the map he was working on of the old house, and he passed it to Bryan. He’d never shown it to anyone, and he nibbled the edge of his fingernail as Bryan looked closely at the drawing, just as he had at the antique map.
“There’s so much here.” Bryan’s voice was filled with wonder. “Talk about buried treasure.”
“Exactly!” Julian lowered himself to the floor beside Bryan so they could study the sketch together. “I like to think about where all her stuff came from and what’s in the house that we don’t even know about. I mean, no one knew about Star.”
“What’s going to happen to all of it?” Bryan asked.
Julian shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard my parents say that someone needs to clean it all out. But I guess they have to find out if she has any relatives or a will or something before anyone can go in there.”
“I hope you finish your map first,” Bryan said.
“I’m going to try,” Julian said. It was a big project. But with his new homework techniques, maybe he’d have more time in the evenings to work on it.
★ Chapter 12 ★
* * *
* * *
The next day, Julian and Bryan got Ms. Khan’s permission to try taking Star outside again. This time the dog was waiting by the kennel door. When she spotted Julian, her tail swished back and forth in a single wag. It was so quick, Julian almost missed it. But he didn’t, and that one little wag gave him the confidence he needed.
He stepped into her kennel. “Ready to try again, Star? Wanna go outside?”
She couldn’t hear him, but she could sense that he was excited. She wove around his legs and lifted her head, as if letting him know she was ready for the leash. He snapped it onto her collar and gave her a treat. He put on her vibration collar and checked to make sure the remote was in his pocket. Bryan opened the door for them and stood back.
Star didn’t exactly race out of the kennel. She crept to the door and poked her head around the corner. The black Lab mix had been adopted that morning, so the kennel next to Star’s was empty. That seemed to help her relax enough to scuttle out of her enclosure and jog alongside Julian the rest of the way to the outside door. This was already going much better than last time.
Eager to build on their progress, Julian took her straight to the yard. Bryan ran behind them to catch up and close the gate. Julian dropped Star’s leash and waited to see what she’d do. Through the chainlink fence, he could see Ms. Khan teaching Buster commands on the far end of the walking path. Julian knew that she was keeping an eye on them. He hoped he wouldn’t have to bring Star in so soon today.
Star’s nose twitched like crazy as a breeze blew through the yard, but she didn’t seem as freaked out as she had been the day before. The look in her eyes seemed more worried than terrified. And she shifted her weight on her paws instead of standing stiff like a statue. She dipped her head to sniff the grass, then looked up at Julian. He gave her a thumbs-up and a treat, hope filling his chest as she took it. But then she dropped it into the grass.
“So close,” Bryan said. “She’s doing so much better today . . . wait! Look—she picked up the treat!”
Sure enough, Star had decided to eat the treat after all. Julian took that as a good sign.
He reached down to pet her, but all of a sudden she whipped her head around to stare at the ribbon of street visible through the fence. Startled by her movement, the boys followed her gaze. In the distance, sunlight glinted off a car. Star watched it until her attention was pulled in the other direction, toward a pair of squirrels chasing each other up a tree trunk on the opposite side of the yard. The boys could barely keep up with what she was seeing, but Star didn’t miss anything that was happening around them. This time she wasn’t paralyzed with fear—this was a different kind of stress, almost as if someone had cranked up her senses and her head was spinning with all the new sights and smells.
“Dogs have a sense of smell that’s a hundred thousand times greater than ours,” Bryan said, his eyes as wide as Star’s as he watched her take in the world around her. “She’s sniffing stuff we can’t even imagine. And I bet her nose is even stronger because she can’t hear.”
“What if she’s more sensitive to everything because she can’t hear?” Julian’s chest tightened as he watched Star taking in every detail, from a light flickering in the distance to a leaf floating to the ground from the big tree in the corner of the yard. She even seemed to sense vibrations through her whiskers and paws. He knew what it felt like to be overwhelmed by so much new information. He thought about how the first day of school every year felt like a tidal wave of new subjects, teachers, textbooks, and words crashing over him. And that was just with his boring human senses. No wonder it had been too much for Star yesterday.
“She’s like a superhero dog!” Bryan’s voice was filled with wonder. “It’s like she just discovered her superpowers and has to learn how to control them. We’re lucky she’s not causing electrical storms or moving things with her mind.”
Julian had never thought that seeing the world differently could be a superpower. He pictured Star flying around the yard, her tail waving behind her. Maybe, he thought, he could use some of his own tricks to help her. Whenever he got overwhelmed, he tried to focus on one thing and push everything else to the background. He reached for the remote in his pocket and gave her vibration collar a buzz.
Star turned her wide-eyed attention to him. He gave her a thumbs-up to tell her it was okay. He gave her a treat and a pat. She started to turn her head toward the squirrels and cars again, but he waved and waggled his fingers—the sign he and Grandpa had decided was her name—and she kept her eyes on him. He went through all the commands she knew. Star’s body started to relax, and her expression became less frantic. The familiar commands seemed to help her calm down.
“Let’s get her to run around a bit,” Bryan said. “We can play tag!”
Julian scrunched his brow. “How do you play tag with a dog?”
“Easy. We take turns trying to get her to chase us, and she can tag our hands with her nose. I’ll go first.” Bryan took off, running to the other side of the yard, his hair bouncing. He zigzagged like a football player dodging a tackle. Star watched his every move as if she wasn’t sure what to think. But when Bryan turned around and waved at her, she raced after him, bounding through the grass. He held out his hand, palm forward. When she touched her nose to it to sniff it, he gave her a treat.
“Your turn,” Bryan said.
Julian started a slow jog along the fence. He glanced over his shoulder. Star stayed by Bryan’s side, sniffing the grass.
“You have to act a little crazier,” Bryan called across the yard. “You want her to wonder
what the heck you’re doing.”
Julian hopped from foot to foot like an Olympic speed skater. Star cocked her head at him. He waved his arms like they were octopus tentacles. Star crouched like a sprinter at the starting line. Julian waved, and she bounded toward him, her tongue flapping happily.
When her cold nose touched his hand, he laughed and gave her a treat. Playing tag with a dog was like a lot of Bryan’s ideas—it made Julian feel a little self-conscious, but he had to admit it was fun. And it worked. Star was no longer overwhelmed by all the sights and smells around them. She trusted Julian and Bryan enough to play, probably for the first time in her life.
* * *
The boys ran around with Star until they were all panting and smiling. Julian could have stayed out there with her forever, but then something caught Star’s eye on the road. Julian followed her gaze and recognized the car pulling up to the shelter. “Oh no! I forgot my parents were coming to pick me up.”
Bryan checked the big black watch he always wore around his wrist. “I can’t believe how long we’ve been out here. I guess we better get Star back in her kennel.”
Star didn’t even flinch when Julian snapped the leash onto her collar. He opened the gate and gave her the watch me signal he’d learned online. He figured that if she kept her eyes on him, she’d stay close enough to keep the leash from pulling on her collar as they walked back to the shelter. But he was so focused on keeping Star’s attention that he almost ran right into Ms. Khan and Buster.
Ms. Khan quickly shortened the slack in Buster’s leash and pulled him in close to her side. “Hey! I was just coming to check on you guys.”
Buster strained against the leash, his mouth open in a big grin and his nose stretching toward Star. His tail whirled around and around.
Julian’s heart caught in his throat. He hadn’t been expecting Ms. Khan to be right on the other side of the gate. He worried that the other dog might scare Star. She probably hadn’t met another dog nose to nose since she was a puppy, before she lived with Mrs. Winderhouser. But Star took a shy step toward Buster, her tail swishing in a tentative wag. Ms. Khan came closer and let the two dogs greet each other. They sniffed at each other’s ears and tails. The pit bull gently licked Star’s ear. Julian wondered if he sensed something different about her.
“I don’t think she’s ever been around other dogs.” Ms. Khan spoke softly, as if she didn’t want to interrupt the dogs. “This is a really big deal!”
“This is like her tenth big deal of the day,” Bryan said.
Ms. Khan laughed. “So—she did well in the training yard?”
“She was awesome,” Julian said. “She ran around and everything.”
“I can’t believe how much progress you’ve made with her,” Ms. Khan said.
“It was mostly Julian.” Bryan smiled. “She really loves him.”
Julian dug the toe of his sneaker into the dirt. “All the stuff you know about dogs really helped,” he said to Bryan.
Ms. Khan looked between the two of them. “Whatever the secret is, you two have made such a difference.”
Julian heard the sound of his parents’ car doors in the parking lot. “I better get her back inside.”
“We’ll all go in.” Ms. Khan led Buster toward the shelter ahead of them. He kept tugging and looking back toward Star until he was halfway to the door. Then he finally paid attention to the treat Ms. Khan offered him and followed her inside. Julian waited until the door closed behind them. He used his hand signals to get Star walking beside him again. She trotted calmly all the way inside and through the kennels, ignoring the other dogs as she passed them. As soon as they were in her kennel, Julian unclipped the leash and removed the vibration collar. She took a big drink of water, then curled up on her blanket, exhilarated and exhausted from her big day.
Julian was still smiling when he met his parents in the lobby. Ms. Khan had put Buster in his kennel, and she came up to say hello. “Julian is doing an amazing job,” she said. “Your son has a real gift with animals.”
His dad raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
Ms. Khan nodded. “You should come meet the dog he’s been working with.”
Julian could’ve hugged her right then and there. He’d been trying to think of a way to get his parents to meet Star, and it seemed to him that Ms. Khan had read his mind. But even though this was exactly what he wanted, his stomach did slow somersaults as his parents followed Ms. Khan down the hallway toward the kennels. Star wasn’t outgoing like most of the other dogs in the shelter. What if she acted afraid—like she had on the first day? What if his parents didn’t like her at all?
His heart started to thump nervously. When they gathered outside her kennel, Star lifted her head sleepily from her paws to look at what was probably the largest group of people she’d ever seen. Julian wanted to drag his parents away. This many people crowded around her could send her cowering into the corner. But when Star spotted Julian, she stood up and stretched, unfurling her tongue in a giant yawn. She shook out her fur from head to tail, as if shaking off sleep, then walked right up to where Julian squatted on the other side of the cage. She leaned against the metal wire, letting him scratch her head. Then she looked up at his parents with her bashful blue eyes.
She was acting like the dog Julian had sensed was inside of her the moment he first met her.
“She’s so sweet.” His mom’s voice had the sappy tone it got whenever she was around the neighbor’s baby.
“She is!” Julian said.
“She seems like a really good dog,” Julian’s dad said.
Ms. Khan winked at Julian. “You wouldn’t believe what Star was like when she first got here. Julian is the one who turned her around. He’s been working really hard with her.”
Julian’s parents looked from him to the dog and back again, their eyes wide with surprise—and maybe a little dewy with emotion from Ms. Khan’s praise.
The grownups headed back toward the front of the shelter, but Julian lingered by Star’s kennel. He couldn’t hear what Ms. Khan was saying to his parents as they walked away, but she gestured enthusiastically. His parents glanced back at Julian and smiled, and there was something in their faces that he’d been wanting to see for so long: pride. His parents were proud of him. They were seeing for the first time that he’d found something he was really good at. What they didn’t realize was that he had also found someone who needed him. He’d found Star.
Julian was grateful that Ms. Khan had let him work with Star and that his parents had let him keep volunteering. Every time he walked into the shelter, he could feel the stress of school lifting from his shoulders. He loved everything about his volunteer shifts—Star most of all. And now his parents had finally met her.
“Good girl, Star.” Julian reached his fingers through the door to scratch behind her ear one more time before hurrying after his parents.
On the drive home, his mom and dad asked him all about Star and how he’d been training her. They kept saying how cute she was and how sweet she seemed. They’d met her for only a few seconds, but he could tell they’d already started to fall in love with her. Who could resist her, once they got to know her?
“We’re really proud of you,” his mom said. “And we’ve noticed that you’ve been better about keeping up with your homework and chores since you started volunteering at the shelter. I think training Star is helping your confidence and self-discipline.”
“It is,” Julian said. “I really want to help her.”
“Ms. Khan says that you’ve made more progress with her than anyone ever expected,” his dad said. “She said that lots of other people might have gotten frustrated and given up on her, but you’ve really stuck with it. Keep up the good work.”
“I will.” This was one promise Julian knew he’d have no problem keeping. He watched the trees and houses zip past the car window as they drove toward home. For the first time, he believed that if he could help Star come out of her shell, maybe he could b
ring her home. He closed his eyes and imagined her riding in the back seat with him as part of the family.
★ Chapter 13 ★
* * *
* * *
Ms. Hollin strode up and down the rows of desks, passing back homework assignments from the week before. She laid them face-down on each student’s desk. Julian bounced his leg nervously as he waited for the teacher to reach his row. He had worked really hard on the assignment and felt good about the reading techniques Bryan had taught him. But what if he still got everything wrong? He glanced across the classroom at his friend. Bryan gave him a thumbs-up. Julian smiled at the encouragement. Ever since they’d started training Star, they seemed to have their own secret language.
Then Ms. Hollin got to Julian’s desk. Usually she handed back his assignment and kept walking, and he just stuffed his homework in his bag without even looking at it. But today Ms. Hollin paused beside him. “Great job, Julian. I can tell you really understood the reading.”
Julian could hardly believe his ears. He couldn’t remember the last time a teacher had told him he did something right! He flipped over the paper and gaped at the B+ scrawled in red pen at the top of the page. It was the highest grade he’d gotten in English all year. He couldn’t wait to show his parents.
“Thanks,” he mumbled. He was proud of himself, but he didn’t know what to do with the sudden attention.
Ms. Hollin smiled at him before moving on, and Julian couldn’t stop staring at his grade.
“There’s a first time for everything, huh?” Hunter mumbled from the back row. A smattering of snickers spread across the classroom behind Julian. He felt his face turning as red as the B+ on his homework. He quickly turned over the sheet, as if that could hide his shame.
“Knock it off,” Bryan said loudly, and a couple of kids gasped in surprise. Bryan never spoke out of turn in class. Julian shot his friend a grateful look. He knew Bryan was no stranger to being bullied, and it was really brave of him to stand up to Hunter that way.
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