Star

by Jennifer Li Shotz

  “No one asked you,” Hunter said.

  “Yeah, well, it’s none of your business how other people do on their homework,” Bryan said.

  “Bryan Walter, no talking during class.” Ms. Hollin’s voice was stern. She didn’t say a word to Hunter or any of the kids who had been laughing at Julian.

  “But . . .” Bryan protested.

  Ms. Hollin shook her head. “You know better. I don’t want to have to give you detention.”

  Bryan raked a hand through his hair in frustration, but he kept his mouth shut. Ms. Hollin turned back to the whiteboard. At the back of the room, Hunter quietly high-fived his friends. Julian sat frozen at his desk, his hands spread over his homework as if it might fly away. He knew he should have said something in Bryan’s defense, but it had all happened so quickly. He hadn’t even had the chance to get over the shock of his good grade, and now his excitement about it evaporated in the air like steam.

  He jammed the assignment into his backpack, crinkling the corner of the paper. Ms. Hollin had already moved on to assigning their homework. Julian sank low in his chair, feeling invisible once again.

  * * *

  Julian and Bryan rode their bikes side by side to the shelter after school. They raced each other down the final stretch. They couldn’t wait to get to the dogs and get Star out of her kennel, so they could put the whole horrible, humiliating scene in English class behind them.

  But when they got to the shelter, their day went from bad to worse.

  Julian and Bryan burst through the door and found Ms. Khan sitting at her desk, her head in her hands. There was no sign of her usual contagious smile. For once, she didn’t have Buster or any other animal hanging out in her office. She just stared at a letter on her desk, her shoulders hunched as if a giant weight sat on her back.

  The boys exchanged a worried look. Neither of them wanted to ask what had happened. They had a feeling it wasn’t something they wanted to hear, but they had to know.

  “What’s wrong?” Julian asked.

  Ms. Khan didn’t even look up at them. “We just lost our biggest funder.”

  “What do you mean?” Julian didn’t understand how someone could just decide to stop helping the animals.

  Ms. Khan sighed. She folded the letter and slipped it back into its envelope, as if she couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. “We’ve relied on this foundation for years to keep us going. We were supposed to get another grant, but they ran out of money.”

  “How do they just run out of money?” Julian asked. He didn’t know much about foundations or grants, but he thought the whole reason they existed was to give away money. He glanced at Bryan. He’d never seen his friend so quiet. Bryan stared at the floor, almost like he wasn’t even listening.

  “I don’t know,” Ms. Khan said. “Whatever happened, it’s bad news for us and for the animals.”

  “I thought the city paid for the shelter.” Bryan’s voice was almost a whisper.

  “A lot of people think that,” Ms. Khan said. “But all the government money goes to the county shelter. We really needed a shelter in this town, so our dogs and cats wouldn’t have to go to the other side of the county. And we needed a place that could work with some of the more challenging cases. Thanks to donations from the foundation and from people in our community, we’ve been able to help so many more animals find homes. But now we might not be able to stay open much longer.”

  Star was one of those challenging cases, Julian knew. He didn’t want to think about what might have happened if she had gone to another shelter instead of this one. “What about the other people who donate? Can’t we just ask them to give more?” he asked. He knew his parents gave money to charities every Christmas. He wondered if they’d ever donated here.

  Ms. Khan shook her head. “People haven’t been giving the way they used to. We really relied on that foundation money.”

  Bryan started pacing back and forth across the office. He was done being quiet. “What about other grants? What about a big fundraiser? What if we got cheaper dog food? Or maybe asked people to pay more for adoptions. Lots more.” Bryan stopped moving and held his head in his hands. “There has to be another way.”

  “I wish there was,” Ms. Khan said. “I’ve been crunching the numbers all day. If a miracle doesn’t happen in the next couple of weeks, the animals won’t have a home here anymore.”

  Julian felt like he had just been hit by a train. He looked over at Bryan and could see that his friend felt the same way. The shelter had become the most important place in the world to them. Julian no longer daydreamed about made-up places during school—instead, he thought about being here. He and Bryan blew through all their homework during their free period just so they would have time to go to the shelter after school. It was the one place where they felt safe being themselves. Helping the animals was the one thing they both knew they were really good at. And because of the shelter, Julian’s parents were finally starting to see how responsible he could be.

  This place had changed his life.

  But Julian knew it was even more important for Star and all the other animals who didn’t have anywhere else to go. Thinking about all the cages empty and quiet, the building abandoned like an old factory, made Julian’s stomach churn. He could tell from the way Bryan was hugging himself that his friend felt the same way.

  Julian managed to find his voice. “What does that mean for Star and all the other dogs? Where will they go?”

  Ms. Khan met his gaze with sad eyes. “They’ll be sent to the county shelter. If there’s not enough room there, some of them might have to go to shelters in other counties or other states.”

  The idea of Star being sent to another state felt like a punch in the gut to Julian.

  “Isn’t there anywhere closer?” he asked.

  “Most of these shelters are overcrowded,” Ms. Khan said. “We’ll have to send the animals wherever we can find room for them.”

  Julian looked around the lobby. The tangerine-colored walls seemed to fade into a sunset. He tried to imagine the shelters Ms. Khan was describing. In his mind, they were dark and crowded caves. He pictured staff so overworked that they always looked like Ms. Khan did now—defeated and sad instead of cheerful. A dog like Star wouldn’t stand a chance in a place like that. She’d be so terrified. No one would have the time to learn her hand signals or to take it slow with her on the leash. Even if she went to the closest shelter, it was too far away for Julian to ride his bike to visit her.

  “But how do we know they’ll take good care of them?” Bryan asked. “Do they even have yards for the dogs to play in?”

  “We don’t know,” Ms. Khan admitted. “They’re good places and they try to find homes for as many dogs and cats as they can. But if the shelter gets overcrowded, some of the animals may have to be put down.”

  Julian’s skin felt too tight. He shivered, as if someone had poured ice down his back. He couldn’t lose Star this way. Buster and Bumble and Pip and all the other dogs he saw every day might disappear forever—and all because there wasn’t enough money or space to wait until they got adopted? He couldn’t let this happen. To any of them.

  Julian felt like everything was falling apart around him. He looked at Bryan, knowing that his friend was thinking the same thing: they had to find a way to save Star and all the other animals. Julian just wished he knew how.

  ★ Chapter 14 ★

  * * *

  * * *

  Julian and Bryan took Star outside, but neither of the boys felt much like playing. Star was getting braver, sniffing around the yard on her own. But she kept coming back to Julian and sitting at his feet, her paw resting on his shoe. The tips of her ears flopped back as she looked up at him with her bright blue eyes.

  “I’m glad Star doesn’t know what’s going on,” Julian said. She was just getting used to being there, and if the shelter closed, she’d lose everything she knew all over again. Worst of all, they’d lose each other. It was a crushing
thought. His chest tightened, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. He couldn’t even give Star the sign that things were okay.

  “I think she knows something’s wrong,” Bryan said. “She doesn’t want to leave your side.”

  The boys walked slowly around the yard, Star at their heels. Bryan picked up a dirty old tennis ball that was half buried beneath the leaves and looked at it sadly.

  “Ms. Khan will come up with something, right?” Julian said, patting Star’s head, hoping to reassure her—and himself.

  “Right.” Bryan tossed the old tennis ball up in the air and caught it. “We shouldn’t give up hope. At least for Star’s sake.”

  Bryan waved the ball in front of Star and threw it. When she didn’t go after it right away, he did, as if challenging her to a race. Star threw a quick glance at Julian, but she couldn’t resist chasing after Bryan and the ball. She beat Bryan to it, then brought the ball back to Julian.

  Julian picked up the ball and threw it. Soon they were all chasing one another around the yard. It was hard not to smile as Star plowed through the piles of fallen leaves and pranced around with the ball in her mouth. By the time they put her back in her kennel, the two boys felt a little better. They’d managed to push the fate of the shelter to the back of their minds.

  But the next day was one day closer to the shelter closing. Julian and Bryan tried to keep their heads up, but they couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen to the animals.

  “I can’t just sit around and study for some dumb science quiz,” Bryan said as they walked to Julian’s house after they left the shelter. It was the first time Julian had ever heard his friend complain about homework. But Julian felt the same way. There was no way they’d be able to concentrate when their world was upside down.

  “I have an idea.” Julian turned onto Stagecoach Road and headed toward the Winderhouser place. The first time he’d shown Bryan the house, Bryan had been just as amazed as he was by all the stuff. They’d been back a few times since then to work on Julian’s map.

  When they got to the house, the boys crept across the front yard and around to the back porch. Near the back door a woven rug created a rectangle of space between the broken furniture and the stacked boxes. The boys could sit there and draw, hidden from view in case any neighbors passed by.

  They sat on the dusty rug, with Julian’s sketchbook between them. The map of the backyard and porch filled the page. Julian was eager to work more on mapping the inside of the house, but he hadn’t quite figured out how. It was one thing to sit on the porch, but opening the door and walking around inside someone else’s home felt like crossing a line. Even if the house was abandoned.

  “I think this part’s done.” Bryan picked up the sketchbook and squinted at the section for the backyard. “I’m going to make sure we didn’t miss anything.” He took the sketchbook, trotted down the porch steps, and walked slowly from one end of the porch to the other, scanning the map as he went.

  While Bryan checked their work, Julian dug around in his backpack for a granola bar. He thought he’d left one in there from lunch last week. His fingers brushed across the folded edges of the maps he kept on hand for when he needed something to do during lunch or his free period. But since he’d been hanging out with Bryan, he hadn’t needed the maps as much. He pulled out a stack and started looking them over.

  One was a map of Canada. He set that one aside. The second showed all the counties in Michigan. Julian wondered where the animal shelters were in each county. He could look it up online when he got home and mark every shelter on this map, so he’d know where Star might end up. A lump rose in his throat, and he quickly refolded the worn paper. He couldn’t let them take Star away.

  He slowly unfolded the last map. This one was older than the other two. His mom had found it at a used bookstore and surprised him with it. She’d said it was a reward for how well he was doing in school lately. This was a much more local map than the other two. It showed their town as it looked a hundred years ago, back in the days of logging camps and outlaws.

  Something clicked in Julian’s mind, and his thoughts shone like a spotlight on a big, wild idea. He shot to his feet, the map in his hand. “We need to find the treasure!”

  Bryan stood at the bottom of the porch steps. He looked around the yard in confusion. “What treasure?”

  “Don’t you remember that story we saw online? There’s half a million dollars buried out at Silver Lake.” Julian gestured excitedly as the idea bubbled out of him. “It’s practically right in our own backyard. If we find it, we can save the shelter!”

  Bryan climbed back onto the porch, doubt written all over his face. “The one supposedly left there by bandits? But people have been looking for it for decades.”

  “And it’s still out there!” Julian said.

  “No one knows that for sure,” Bryan said.

  “No one knows for sure it’s not there,” Julian insisted. “That’s why we have to go find it.”

  Bryan cocked his head the way Star did sometimes. “You’re really serious?”

  Julian pointed to himself. “I have all kinds of maps.” He pointed at Bryan. “And you know the history. If anyone can find the treasure, it’s us.”

  Bryan laughed. “You are the strangest kid I’ve ever met. Which is really a lot coming from me. But I’m in.”

  Julian grinned. He knew he’d be able to count on Bryan. The boys bumped their knuckles together. They were going treasure hunting.

  Julian was ready to head to the lake right then, but Bryan insisted that they needed a plan. “It’ll be dark soon,” Bryan said, looking up at the sky. “And even darker around the lake. We don’t have flashlights or shovels or anything.”

  Julian glanced around the porch. Mrs. Winderhouser probably had shovels and tools somewhere. But it would be much easier to follow the map in daylight. Besides, it was a huge lake and they didn’t have weeks to search it.

  “Let’s figure out exactly where this treasure is.” Julian spread out the map on the old rug.

  Bryan took a notebook and pen from his own backpack. “I’ll make a list of supplies. We want to be ready for anything.”

  “Good idea,” Julian said. Now that Bryan had agreed to go along with Julian’s big, crazy idea, he’d switched into serious planning mode.

  Bryan leaned over the map. “How do we know where to start? It wasn’t like that story gave us coordinates on where to search.”

  Julian played out the story in his head as if it were a movie. He could see the bandits galloping away from the stagecoach after they’d robbed it, then sneaking around the lake with their gold. “The bandits would’ve needed to stay close to roads to move the gold quickly, right? And they didn’t want to get caught. They’d stay away from any camps where people might see them.”

  He ran his finger along the winding roads and old logging camps on the map. With a pencil, he circled half a dozen areas around Silver Lake that weren’t too crowded or remote. He frowned at the map. “How will we dig up all these sites?” he asked.

  Bryan sat up straight, as if he’d been zapped by an idea. “Maybe people posted where they’ve already looked.”

  He took out his phone and tapped at the screen, nodding to himself as he read. Then he turned Julian’s map toward himself. He took the pencil and checked off the places where other people had already searched. When he was done, the boys stared at the map.

  “Western Island.” Bryan pointed to the only spot still circled.

  “That’s got to be it!” Julian’s heart was racing. He felt, deep down, that this was going to work. “How will we carry it all back with us?”

  “First we have to get out there and find it.” Bryan began writing in his notebook. “We’ll need a compass, flashlights, and extra batteries. We’ll need tools to dig it up when we find it . . .”

  Julian liked the way Bryan said when we find it, as if the treasure were already theirs. His hands tingled with excitement. He clenched the
m into fists, trying to focus on the plan Bryan was laying out.

  “I can make sandwiches in the morning,” Julian offered. “I can put all the snacks in my backpack.”

  “And water,” Bryan said. “We should probably clean out our backpacks tonight so there’s room for all the supplies.”

  “And the treasure.” Julian was so excited he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep that night. They were really doing this! He wished he had a metal detector and a folding shovel. He wondered if Mrs. Winderhouser had treasure-hunting supplies buried somewhere in her house. He wondered what the best snacks were for finding treasure.

  “We’ll go to the shelter as usual tomorrow,” Bryan said.

  “Won’t that waste too much time?” Julian asked.

  “Our parents and Ms. Khan expect us to be there,” Bryan said. “If we at least show up, they won’t suspect anything.”

  Julian hadn’t thought about his parents’ reaction. They’d never let him go all the way out to Silver Lake on his own. He was glad that Bryan was so good at thinking through all the details.

  “That makes sense,” Julian said. “The shelter is on the way to Silver Lake anyway.” He carefully folded the map, with the circle around Western Island facing out. He wished he had a way to tell Star that they had a plan to save her.

  ★ Chapter 15 ★

  * * *

  * * *

  Julian and Bryan arrived at the shelter like it was any old day. Julian was secretly glad they needed to check in there first, because he didn’t want to miss the chance to play with Star. He figured they would get Star outside to run around the yard, then tuck her back in her kennel and take off for Silver Lake.