He saw George just as he slipped out of the cottonwoods. He saw Isaiah and smiled.
Isaiah looked out at the soccer field where Magda and her people were running up and down. He saw her stop for just one second as she noticed the ribbon. Then she dove back into the game. I wonder if she misses us, Isaiah thought.
Friday the ribbon was still there. And it was their group’s turn to present their PowerPoint. Naturally Magda started them off and then each of them presented their particular animals, in alphabetical order. Isaiah did the conclusion. He was very surprised at how easy it was for him to speak in front of the class. In the past that had been the very worst thing he ever had to do. This time, with the three of them standing by him, he flowed through his parts, and his voice didn’t crack once. And no asthma attack either. He actually had fun talking about Griz.
Over the weekend the temperatures dropped below zero, and on Sunday night it snowed six inches. It was still snowing on Monday, but during lunch, the sun came out and the snow slipped out of the valley. Everyone else got to go outside after lunch, but Isaiah’s fifth-period teacher made him stay in because of his asthma. He got a pass to the library where he could watch for George. He got there just as George slipped into the cottonwoods.
“He’s in,” Rose whispered beside him.
“Hi! What are you doing here?” Isaiah was delighted to see her, today in all purple hair and nails.
“I heard you ask for a pass to the library, so I got one to get a new book. I wanted to come and watch George with you.”
Isaiah nodded, feeling happy inside.
“This is taking forever!” Rose said sitting down at his table. “I wanted the agency to swoop in and bust the crap out of them! But the realistic part of me knew it would take awhile. I’m scared that they won’t do anything because we’re a bunch of kids.” The librarian looked over at them. Rose lowered her voice. “I couldn’t find the dog this weekend. I hope she found somewhere warm to be. I worry about her.”
“Do you think her puppies are still with her?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to follow her, but I haven’t seen any. I’ll look for her again after school. After all, I was rescued from a crib in China, so I owe it to her to rescue her from hunger.”
Isaiah thought about Rose lying in that crib in China. A tiny baby with no parents. All alone. He sighed deeply.
As if sensing his thoughts, Rose changed the subject. “I overnighted the evidence on Wednesday so they got it on Thursday. They had two days to look at it—and the weekend if they worked then. My parents work all weekend every weekend so I was kind of hoping they do too.” The librarian cleared her throat.
“It’s hard to wait,” Isaiah whispered back.
“Yeah, I hate waiting.” Rose got up. “I’d better find a book while George does his thing.”
As she moved away, Isaiah sat there pondering. What if the agency didn’t listen? What if they thought it was a prank? What if nothing happened? He felt a warmth across his back and down his arms. He heard a message in his head, “We have this and are working from our end.” Then he felt Grizzly’s breath against his neck.
Right then, George came out of the trees. The ribbon was still there. Isaiah looked at Rose and shrugged.
The rest of the week the ribbon shone on the branch, gently gliding in the breeze. George’s watch came to an end. No trouble brewin’ yet. Rose kept putting out food for the dog, but there were no sightings of her. Isaiah kept thinking about the Labrador and her puppies. The second week since their first dream together came to a close.
On Sunday, George called again. His mother handed over the phone. “I think it could be that George who called before,” she said.
Of course it was. It’s not like anyone else ever called him.
“Hey, Isaiah, how are you?” George sounded excited.
“Good.” His mother was standing right there listening. Didn’t she have something better to do?
“Hey, I wondered if you have Rose’s phone number. I need to tell her where I’ve hidden the binoculars since she starts watch tomorrow.”
“No, I don’t have it. Sorry.”
“Well, I guess it can wait until Monday. Hey! I almost forgot. I get to stay in class all this next week. I’m on trial. My case manager can’t believe it, but I’m staying up with the work so I get to try a whole week without her help.”
“That’s great, George! I am really happy for you!”
“George,” his mother said. “I thought so.” Now that she knew for sure was she going to leave him alone to have his phone call in privacy? No, apparently not. She acted like she was rearranging the things on the buffet.
“Octopus has really helped me to have confidence in myself,” he said. “And so has Rose. I really miss her on the weekends if you know what I mean.”
“Uh huh.” He didn’t, but he thought about the ways Grizzly helped him.
“Hey! The water results should come back this next week.”
“You’re right. Cool,” Isaiah said.
“Well, thanks. See you tomorrow.”
“George who?” his mother asked as soon as Isaiah hung up the phone.
“A kid in my class,” Isaiah headed back to the living room and their card game.
“What did he want?” his mother asked behind him.
“He wanted a phone number for a girl in our class, but I don’t have it.”
“Oh! So boys calling girls is starting already,” his mother said. “I’m glad you aren’t doing that yet.”
“Whose deal is it?” Isaiah asked quickly, wanting to distract her from the boys and girls topic.
“Mine,” she said. “We’re going to have the talk about sex someday soon.” Klick. Klack. went her teeth.
“Oh no! Quick! “Mom, I’m not ready for that yet. Puberty is taking all of my energy.”
She looked at him a long time. She nodded. “Do you have any questions?”
“No. I’ll let you know if I do.”
“Okay. I want you to get accurate, medical information and not from some back alley somewhere.” She began shuffling the cards.
He didn’t know why he’d go looking for information in an alley when he could just Google it.
“Raise your hand if you remember the water testing we did a few weeks ago?” was our science teacher’s opening question. “Good. Good,” he said looking around the room. “The results are back from the water sample George collected. Can I get a drum roll?”
The sound of desks being beaten filled the room. A scientific bar graph sprang onto the screen. Isaiah realized he was holding his breath. He let it out slowly and stole a glance at Rose. She was scrunched way down in her seat. George and Magda were both focused on the screen as their teacher explained how to read the chart. He used terms Isaiah wasn’t familiar with, but he could tell from the teacher’s tone of voice that the results were a cause for concern. The teacher turned to George, “It’s imperative that we notify the state about this immediately. The contents of this pond are extremely toxic. Do you remember exactly where the pond is?”
George nodded, glancing at Rose who now had her head down on her desk.
Isaiah found himself speaking. He hadn’t raised his hand, so it took the teacher a moment to identify who was speaking. “I know George is the one who discovered this pond; however, I would like to suggest that the complaint be filed by our whole class. It would be a good learning experience.”
The teacher stared at him. Isaiah’s voice had sounded deeper inside of him, and there had been no croaks.
“I agree with Isaiah,” Magda said. “We should write a letter and all of us should sign it. And you too,” she said to the teacher. “If this is okay with George.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said, smiling at Isaiah and then at Magda. Isaiah noticed there were no under the breath comments coming from the back of the room.
“I’ll write the letter,” Rose volunteered. “If it’s okay with you,” she said to
George. “I’ll just say one of us in the class found the sample in a pond in town. Then I’ll say where it is.” Rose quickly arranged her neon orange hair around her ears.
“That’s perfect, Rose,” George said.
Their science teacher launched into the effects of these toxins on fish, plants, animals and humans. Rose took notes, her orange nails flying.
Isaiah sat back, relieved that George wouldn’t have to stand alone, and that Rose seemed appeased. He was also excited that more evidence was headed to join the log book. Now the agency would have their teacher as a contact.
“That was quick thinking, Isaiah,” Rose said to him after class. “And don’t worry. I’ve got the letter handled.” She hurried away to walk to language arts behind George.
The third day of Rose’s watch, the ribbon was gone. Isaiah saw her come out of the trees and look up at the branch. It was obvious to him that she wasn’t the one who had removed it. She slipped back into the trees.
He waited just a minute and then followed her. George came next and then Magda.
“What’s happening?” Isaiah asked when everyone was there.
“I don’t know. It was there when I went in to check on things. It was gone when I came back.”
“Is everything the same?” Magda asked.
“No change,” Rose reported.
George had his back to them, peeking out onto the school ground. “I see it,” he said. “One of the eighth graders has it in her hair.”
“Great. Now what?” Rose asked.
“We need to use something natural that won’t attract other kids,” Magda said.
“What about if we have the signal inside the school?” Rose suggested.
George said, “I have a pen that lights up. The person on watch can turn it on in social science if there’s a change.”
The kids agreed on this signal. “Pen’s not on and nothing’s brewin’. It goes on, something’s doin’,” Rose chanted.
One by one they returned to the school ground.
Chapter 24
Legacy
The pen wasn’t lit up on Thursday. The pen wasn’t lit up on Friday. Everyone in the science class signed the letter Rose wrote to the agency, and it got mailed with the test results. As he signed it, Isaiah asked Grizzly to do what he could to hurry the response. The weekend came. The weekend went, and Isaiah was on duty. It was also Halloween week. And the temperatures were scheduled to plummet.
On Monday, after quickly eating, Isaiah bundled up and slipped through the trees. He found the binoculars in the white plastic bag beside the rock just as Rose had promised.
The pond was frozen over. Maybe the weather had changed the men’s plans. Maybe the ground was too frozen to plow the pond under and hide the evidence of dumping toxins. Staying within the trees, he followed the frozen stream to the gate. He listened to the silence, his breathing even. His glove tried to stick to the gate when he opened it, and the binoculars made cold rings around his eyes right before they fogged over. He wiped them and tried again, but they were too cold. He breathed on the lenses heating them up and wiped again. Better. Inside the warehouse yard, nothing seemed to have changed. Nothing had moved. There was no smoke coming up. The barrels were where they’d been the last time he had looked into this yard. He slid the gate shut and returned along the trees.
Grizzly, he thought, what is taking so long? He felt the warmth along his neck and realized that his asthma was absent. And George was still with them in all their core classes. And Rose hadn’t gotten in trouble for a long time. Other things were changing. He’d keep being patient about this.
He replaced the binoculars and was heading back to the school yard when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He stopped. At first he thought it was a black squirrel struggling through snow that was over its head. It was trying to get to Isaiah. Then he heard it ‘yip’. It was a puppy. He scooped it up. It was shaking. He unzipped his parka and put it against his warm body. It licked his chin. Isaiah laughed.
“Who are you, little guy?” he asked, knowing it must be one of the lab puppies. He looked at the trail the pup had cut through the snow. He followed it.
It led to an overhang, a kind of cave in the rocks. Bending down, he felt the pup skim down his chest and out into the cave. Isaiah’s eyes followed it. The cave was fairly dark, but he could smell dogs. And something else.
He felt along the ground and came to frozen fur. He scuttled into the cave further. There was the mother, cold. He pulled her toward the light, the little pup following her. Crying. He felt for a heartbeat and couldn’t find one. Her eyes were open, her body stiff in death and from the cold. She couldn’t have starved because Rose was feeding her. Had she been drinking from the toxic stream?
He crawled back to where she’d been lying, and there they were. Her puppies. He lifted each one and carried it to the opening. Six were dead. One was at the bottom of the pile. A little female whose tail thumped the ground. He lifted her into his parka and her little brother followed, still crying. He stuck them both inside his shirt, buttoning it up and tucking it into his jeans so they wouldn’t fall out. He felt their tiny claws scratching his skin.
He put the other puppies back where he had found them and then carried the mother back into the cave. He laid her on her brood. “You saved two of them,” he whispered into her ear. “I am glad you came to us.” He remembered the day they buried the birds and how she had stood at a distance watching their compassion in action. “I will take good care of these two,” he promised, determined but having no idea how.
Tears froze his eyelashes together as he made his way back to school. The puppies were snuggled against him, quiet. He could feel their tiny hearts beating.
He was glad for the down parka which hid the bulges against his thin body. He found Rose. “I found the mother,” he said, fresh tears melting the frozen ones and then refreezing.
Rose pulled him around the corner. George was there in no time. And then Magda. Isaiah told the story between sobs, his nose running. Magda patted his jacket and the pups squirmed.
“Give me the puppies,” Rose said. “I’m taking them to the vet right now.”
“What about school?” Magda asked.
“I have quite a bit of ditching experience,” Rose said. “No problem. I have forging my parents’ signatures down to an art.”
She was such a good artist, Isaiah had no doubt. “But wait,” he said. “I promised the mother…”
“I know,” Rose said, but we need to be sure they’re okay and that the mother’s milk wasn’t toxic or anything. I’m sure the water’s what killed her.”
“Don’t let the vet keep them,” Isaiah said. “We need to keep them. I need to keep them.”
“Okay. I’ll call everyone tonight.”
Isaiah gave each pup a kiss on the head as he handed it to Rose. They watched her walk off the school grounds.
When the phone rang that night, his mother cleared her throat loudly before she announced, “It’s a girl.”
“Isaiah, the vet ran blood tests, and the puppies are fine. He said they’re about six weeks old,” Rose said. “I took him to the cave, and you were right. The others are dead. The vet said the mother hasn’t been gone that long. I wish I could have found her before…” Rose’s voice trailed off as she quietly cried. “I wanted to rescue her so much.”
“You did rescue her in a way, Rose,” Isaiah said. “Two of her puppies are still here.” His voice broke, more tears coming.
He felt his mother’s arm around his shoulders, and he leaned into her just like he had as a little kid. He let the tears flow. “What will happen now, Rose?”
“I have them here. They can stay until we decide, but I would really like to keep the little girl. If it’s okay with you. I think I’ll name her China.”
When he hung up, he told his mother the story of finding the mother and the pups, careful to leave out the warehouse details. He was fully expecting her to be upset that he was out
in the cold, so he was stunned when she said, “Obviously if you were outside today rescuing puppies, your asthma is getting better. You may be outgrowing it. Perhaps it’s time for us to try a dog.”
“Really? Oh mom that would be the best thing ever.”
His mom laughed. “What would you name this puppy?”
“Bear!” Isaiah said.
“What is it with you and bears?”
“I like bears a lot,” he said.
“It must be because of Pathfinder,” she said. “When you were tiny you used to beg me to take you on campus so you could hug the leg of that giant sculpture.”
“I did?” This was a story she’d never told him before.
“Yes, I think your love of bears started a long time ago.”
Isaiah knew then that Grizzly had always been with him.
“So Bear is at Rose’s house tonight?”
He nodded.
“After work tomorrow, we will bring him home. You are responsible for taking care of him, training him, and raising him right. The first two years are very important in making him the kind of dog you want for the ten after that,” she said.
“Oh thank you so much, mom,” he said hugging her again. “I love you.”
He went to sleep with his hand on the tiny scratches on his belly and a smile on his face. Bear!
Chapter 25
Halloween
Magda met him at the front door of the school on Tuesday morning, Halloween Day. The thermometer that morning had been seven degrees below zero. “I’m taking watch the rest of this week. It’s too cold for you to be outside,” she said. Then she was gone in the rush of kids.
After he stuffed his hat, scarf and gloves into his coat sleeve and hung it up in his locker, he went to first period and placed George’s pen on her desk.
He looked down at his Halloween costume with excitement. For years his mother had insisted on him being a clown and had put together mismatched and colorful clothing with the same yarn wig and red, rubber nose. This year he had convinced her that he wanted to be a bear. “You’re growing up so I guess that’s okay,” she’d said. This discussion had taken place before Bear the Labrador puppy and now tonight he was going to pick up him up. He was so excited!
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