“Over there.” He jerked his head and kind of rolled his eyes.
“Over where?”
“Over there where I was.”
“In a house?”
“A house?” he said real loud, like I was crazy to ask that. “Naw.”
“Then where?”
He opened his arms wide and said, “Out here. Outside.”
“Outside?”
Mookie nodded. “Yep.”
“How come?”
“’Cause I don’t have to paint the air or tar-paper the sky or mop the ground. All I got to do is breathe.”
“That’s stupid,” I said.
Mookie chuckled.
“I better go,” I said, leading Willy up the path to the back of the house. Mookie followed along behind us, whistling. I took Willy up to the back porch and tied his leash to the doorknob.
“How long are you staying here?” I said.
“Not long,” he said. “I leave my feet in one place too long, they start growing roots.”
“Oh.” I gave Willy one last pat on the head. “Then, bye.” I made my way down the rickety steps. “And thanks for the sardines. For Willy, I mean.”
Mookie tipped his hat. “My pleasure.”
As I pushed through the bushes toward the front of the house, I had an uneasy feeling. My worries seemed to be piling up, one on top of the other, like bricks on a wall.
I waited in the car until it was time to go back to school and get Toby. All afternoon, I tried to concentrate on what I had to do next. I went over my How to Steal a Dog notes in my mind and thought about how good I’d done so far.
I had done good, hadn’t I? I mean, I’d found the perfect dog. I’d stolen him. I’d put him in a good place where he was safe. Now all I had to do was wait for Carmella to get the reward money. I bet by the time me and Toby got over to Carmella’s, she’d have money, and then I could just move on to the last step in my dog-stealing plan.
Shoot, I bet me and Toby and Mama would be in our nice new apartment just about any day now.
14
Carmella twisted a damp tissue around and around in her lap. Every now and then, she dabbed at her nose.
“I can’t hardly stand to face the day anymore,” she said. “I couldn’t even go to work today.”
“How come?” Toby said.
I gave him a nudge with my knee. We sat squeezed together between piles of junk on Carmella’s couch. The window shades were drawn. Tiny sparkles of dust danced in a narrow beam of sunlight that slanted across the dark room.
Carmella shook her head. “Gertie says she hasn’t got that kind of money, but I know she does.”
“Why won’t she give it to you?” I said.
“’Cause she’s selfish, that’s why.”
I watched a fly land on a greasy pizza box on the coffee table. “That’s mean,” I said.
“She never did like dogs.” Carmella blew her nose and waved her hand at the fly.
“What are you gonna do?” I said.
Carmella flopped back against the pillow tucked behind her in the chair. She propped her feet up on a ripped vinyl footstool and rested her hands on her stomach. Then she closed her eyes and made weird little moaning noises.
Toby twirled his finger around his ear, making a sign like Carmella was crazy. I frowned at him and shook my head.
“What are you gonna do?” I repeated a little louder.
Carmella shook her head, making her ripply chin jiggle like Jell-O.
“I just wanna die,” she said.
Toby clamped his hand over his mouth like he was trying to stifle a laugh, but I didn’t see what was so funny.
“You can’t die,” I said. “Willy needs you.”
Carmella’s eyes popped open. She sat up straight and slapped her knee.
“You’re right,” she said. “Willy does need me.”
I grinned. “So, what’re you gonna do?”
“I’m gonna put those signs up, that’s what I’m gonna do,” she said.
“The reward signs?” Toby said.
She nodded. “Yep.”
“But what about the money?” I said. “Where are you gonna get the money?”
“I’ll just be like Scarlett O’Hara,” Carmella said.
“Who’s that?” Toby said.
“You know, from Gone With the Wind?”
I guess me and Toby looked confused, ’cause she went on to explain about Scarlett O’Hara. About how she was this lady in a movie who said “fiddle-dee-dee” and who worried about things tomorrow instead of today.
Then Carmella pushed herself up out of the chair and shuffled over to a rickety card table.
“Will y’all help me put these signs up?” She waved a stack of papers at us. “I made copies with Willy’s picture.” She smiled down at the signs in her hand.
Toby looked at me and when I said, “Sure,” he said, “Sure.”
Carmella gave us a little box of tacks and then grabbed her purse and car keys.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Carmella drove, and me and Toby jumped out at every corner to tack a sign up. Toby was scared Mama was gonna see us when we got near the coffee shop, but I told him to hush up and stop worrying. Of course, I knew he was right. She might see us. But I had so many other things weighing me down that I didn’t have room in my worried mind for Mama. With every sign I put up, that question that I’d been trying to push away kept popping back at me. The question was this: What in the world are you doing, Georgina?
By the time we were done, it seemed like there wasn’t one street in Darby that didn’t have a sign tacked up somewhere. On nearly every corner, Willy’s face gazed out at the world with his head cocked in that adorable way of his. It like to broke my heart to look at it.
“I feel better already,” Carmella said when we turned onto Whitmore Road and into her driveway. “I have this feeling in my bones that my little Willy is gonna be coming home any minute now.”
“But what about the money?” I said.
Carmella flapped her hand at me. “Oh, fiddle-dee-dee,” she said. “I’ll worry about that tomorrow.”
When Mama got off work that night, she drove us over to the Pizza Hut and told us to go on in and wash up. Then we sat in the parking lot and ate corned beef sandwiches and dill pickles. Mama seemed real happy and excited, going on and on about how she’s making all kinds of money. She showed me and Toby an envelope stuffed with dollar bills.
“I’m stashing this under the spare tire in the trunk,” she said. “But it’s just for emergencies, okay?”
“Is that enough to pay for an apartment?” I said, pulling the fat off my corned beef and tucking it into a napkin for Willy.
“Not quite,” she said. “But it won’t be long now.”
“How long?” I popped a piece of chewing gum in my mouth.
“Not long,” Mama said.
“How long?”
“Not long,” Mama said in a mean voice.
“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes and pulled chewing gum in a long, stretchy string out of my mouth.
Mama whipped around to face me. I stuck my chin up and looked her square in the eye, twirling my gum around like a jump rope.
She turned back around and slumped low in the front seat.
Toby licked his fingers with smacking sounds and said, “Maybe me and Georgina can get some money.”
I like to swallowed my gum when he said that.
Mama looked at him and smiled that real sweet smile like she always seems to have for him but never for me.
“Now, how in the world would you and Georgina get money, sweetheart?” she said.
Here it comes, I thought. I knew Toby was gonna mess up sooner or later. I braced myself for what was going to come next, waiting for Toby to tell Mama about Willy and Carmella and all. I tried to give him the evil eye, but he wouldn’t look at me.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe we could find some.”
Mama chuckled. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Yeah, Toby,” I said. “Be sure and let us know when you find a million dollars on the sidewalk, okay?”
Mama shot me a look, but Toby grinned and said, “Okay.”
We finished up our supper, and then Mama drove around looking for a place to park for the night. The car was chugging and rattling and jerking like crazy, but she acted like she didn’t even notice.
As we pulled into the parking lot of the Motel 6, I spotted one of Carmella’s signs. Suddenly that greasy corned beef in my stomach didn’t set too well. I lay down on the seat and curled into a ball. Then I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Later on, after Mama and Toby had fallen asleep, I pulled out my How to Steal a Dog notes. I read through every page. When I got to the part that said: You will have to wait and see what happens next, I got out my colored pencils and drew little flowers and hearts all around the edge of the page. Then I used a sky blue pencil to write again:
You will have to wait and see what happens next.
I looked out the window at the Motel 6. Inside the lobby, a man was watching TV and sipping from a coffee mug. A soda machine outside the door sent a flickering red glow across the parking lot.
I wished we could’ve got a room there. Just for one night. We could stretch out on a real bed. Take a bath in a real tub. Act like real people. We didn’t have school tomorrow, so we could spend all day watching TV and stuff. But Mama had said no.
I looked over at Toby, curled up on the backseat with his head propped against the door. I hadn’t told him about Mookie yet. I knew he’d get all scared and worried. He’d say we weren’t supposed to talk to strangers and Mama would kill us and stuff like that. And I guessed he would be right. But what choice did we have? We couldn’t just forget about Willy, could we? We had to feed him and take care of him. Besides, Mookie was probably gone by now. Toby wouldn’t ever even know he’d been there.
I closed my notebook and stuffed it back down inside my bag. Then I lay down on the car seat and closed my eyes. No sense worrying about Mookie tonight, was there? I could worry about him tomorrow.
15
“Okay, now listen, Toby.” I took him by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. Then I gave him a little shake just to make sure I had his attention.
“There might be a man back there with Willy.” I jerked my head in the direction of the old house.
Toby’s eyes got wide. “Who?” he said.
“A man named Mookie.”
“A man named Mookie?”
I nodded. “But it’s okay,” I said. “He’s nice. He gave Willy some sardines.”
“What’s he doing back there?
I shrugged. “Just, like, kinda living there, I guess.”
Toby glanced nervously at the house. “How’d he get in?”
“Not inside,” I said. “He’s living outside. Out in the back where Willy is.”
“You mean like a bum?”
I kept my hands on Toby’s shoulders and made him face me so he’d pay attention. “Look, Toby,” I said. “He’s liable to be gone. But just in case he’s there, don’t be scared, okay?”
“Okay.”
I dropped my hands from Toby’s shoulders and started toward the house.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Toby said, grabbing the back of my T-shirt. “How do you know about that man named Mookie?” He stamped his foot on the gravel road. “You came here without me.”
“I had to,” I said.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
I put my arm around him and gave him a little jiggle. “Look, Toby, I just did it without thinking ’cause I needed to see Willy. I’m sorry, okay?”
Toby looked down at his feet. I jiggled him again.
“Okay?” I said.
Finally, in a little tiny voice, he said, “Okay.”
“I won’t do it ever again.”
“Pinkie promise?” he said.
I crooked my pinkie at him. “Pinkie promise.”
We linked pinkies, then headed toward the house. I sure hoped Mookie was gone.
We hadn’t even got to the corner of the house before Willy started barking.
“It’s me,” I called out, “Georgina.”
“And Toby,” Toby called from behind me.
When I rounded the corner, the first thing I saw was that blue tarp. Underneath it, Mookie was stretched out on top of his sleeping bag, his hands folded on his stomach and his hat over his face.
From over on the back steps, Willy wiggled his whole body and let out a bark like he was saying hello.
Mookie didn’t move.
“Mookie,” I said kind of soft-like so I wouldn’t scare him.
Nothing.
“Mookie?” I said a little louder.
Still nothing.
“Is he dead?” Toby whispered.
Suddenly Mookie let out a snort and jumped, sending his hat flying and making me and Toby grab each other. Mookie slapped a hand over his heart and flopped back down on his sleeping bag.
“You like to scared the bessy bug outta me,” he said.
“I brought Willy some stuff to eat,” I said, wagging my paper bag in the air.
Mookie sat up and put his hat on. “Me and him’s been havin’ liver puddin’.”
I wrinkled my nose. “What’s that?”
“Liver puddin’?” Mookie rubbed his hand in a circle on his stomach. “Some good eatin’, that’s what. Right, Willy?”
Willy sat on the porch steps and lifted a paw.
Mookie chuckled. “That dog’s got good taste.” He nodded toward Toby. “Who’s he?”
“My brother, Toby.”
Mookie got up and held out his three-fingered hand toward Toby. I’d forgotten to warn Toby about that, but for once in his life, he didn’t act like a scaredy baby. He shook Mookie’s hand like he didn’t even notice those missing fingers.
“It’s a dern shame about that landlord of yours, ain’t it?” Mookie said to Toby.
Toby looked at me and then back at Mookie. “Yessir, it is.”
I felt relief flood over me. Toby wasn’t going to say something stupid like he usually did.
“I bet y’all sure do miss your little dog, don’t you?” Mookie said.
“We sure do,” I said.
Toby nodded. “Yessir, we do.”
Mookie rolled his sleeping bag up and stuffed it into the crate on the back of his bicycle. “Kinda hard to sleep around him, though, ain’t it?”
I looked over at Willy. He looked back at me with his shiny little eyes and his eyebrows lifted up like he was curious as anything to hear what I was going to say.
I shrugged. “Sometimes,” I said.
Mookie wiped a plastic coffee mug with his shirttail and put it into a burlap bag. “He snore like that all the time?” he said.
“Not all the time.”
Mookie chuckled and put a few more things inside his burlap bag. Then he tucked it into the crate beside the sleeping bag.
“Are you leaving?” I said. I sure hoped he was.
“Yep.”
Good, I thought. Now I could concentrate on what I had to do.
Mookie pushed his bike toward the path leading out to the road.
“What about that?” I said, pointing up at the blue tarp.
“Oh, I’ll be back,” he said.
Me and Toby watched him disappear around the corner of the house. A few seconds later, the sound of gravelly singing echoed through the woods and faded away.
“Is he a bum?” Toby said.
“I don’t know.” I sat on the step beside Willy and let him root around inside the paper bag. He pulled out a chunk of bagel and gobbled it down.
“I bet he is,” Toby said.
I stroked Willy’s head while he ate the rest of the scraps I had brought him. (Except a slice of tomato. He just sniffed that.)
“Don’t you think he�
��s a bum?” Toby said.
“How should I know?” I snapped.
“I don’t like him,” Toby said. “He smells.”
“So do you!” I hollered, making Willy jump off my lap and slink away like I’d just smacked him upside the head.
“So do you!” Toby hollered back.
Why was I being so mean to Toby? Maybe I figured if I was mean to Toby, I’d feel better about things. But I didn’t.
“Let’s go take Willy for a walk,” I said.
The next day, Mama made Toby stay at the coffee shop and do his homework over in the corner booth by the kitchen. He had whined and carried on, but it hadn’t done him a bit of good.
So now I was finally free to be by myself and figure things out. First, I had to visit Carmella and find out if she had gotten any money from her sister, Gertie.
I hurried up the sidewalk toward Whitmore Road. It seemed like the world had blossomed overnight. Bright pink azaleas. White dogwood. The air smelled sweet, like clover. I had the urge to take my shoes off and run barefoot across the soft green lawns. But I didn’t.
When I got to Carmella’s, I waited outside the gate. The yard was quiet. Not even any birds at the feeder. For a minute, I wished I could step back in time. Back to the day when Willy had come running around the side of the house, chasing that squirrel. Before I had done what I’d done. But I couldn’t, so I made my feet go up on the porch and my hand knock on the screen door.
“Who is it?” Carmella called from inside.
“It’s me. Georgina.”
I heard her wheezy breathing as she came to unlatch the screen.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
I looked down at the floor and said, “Did anybody find Willy?”
Carmella shook her head and sank into her ratty old chair. The TV was on with no sound. One of those shopping shows where some lady tries to get you to buy a great big ring that’s not even a real diamond. The lady wiggled her fingers around, making the fake diamond sparkle for the camera.
“What about Gertie?” I said.
Carmella shook her head again. “What am I going to do?” she said in this flat kind of voice that made me feel sort of scared.
How to Steal a Dog Page 8
