by Linzi Glass
Mr. Matheson must have read my mind because he looked around and said with a slightly flustered look on his face, “Where, pray tell, is King Ashton?”
“In the nurse’s office. Feeling sick,” Max said.
I felt my hands get icy cold. I wondered what was wrong with him.
“Well, then, class, we’ll start the performances with the Helena and Lysander scene.” He turned to me. “Queen Titania, wilt thou to yonder nurse’s office and find out what ails the king?”
Everyone laughed.
As I made my way to the door I had to walk past Kate, who was getting ready to go onstage to play Helena. “Good luck,” I said as I passed by.
“Thanks,” she said, but she still seemed upset with me. She had on a beautiful cape that was covered with multicolored flowers, which looked almost real. I was sorry I was going to miss her performance.
I walked into the nurse’s office and announced that I was there to see Ashton. The school nurse was a short, squat, no-nonsense, middle-aged woman whose name I could never remember since everyone at school just called her “nurse.”
“He’s got a bad stomachache.” She gave me a quick once-up-and-down, taking in my velvet dress and crown, which I had forgotten was already perched on the top of my head.
“Well, nurse, you see, Mr. Matheson sent me to get Ashton. He’s supposed to be performing now in drama lab.”
“That’ll explain the fancy gold medallion he’s wearing around his neck,” she said with a snort.
“May I see him?”
She waved her stubby hand in the direction of the sick room door.
The sick room had two folding cots and a rollaway table in it. There wasn’t much in terms of medical supplies except for a thermometer and one of those armband things that takes your blood pressure. In a cabinet they kept Band-Aids and alcohol swabs, but not a whole lot else. It was more of a way station until a parent arrived to pick you up.
I knocked softly, then pushed the sick room door open. Ashton was curled up with his back to me. His gold medallion, which was very large, hung over his shoulder and was all that I could see, since he was facing the wall.
“Ashton, it’s Bree. Can I come in?”
He rolled over onto his back and put a hand up over his forehead.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, keeping his eyes closed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, walking gingerly over to the cot.
“Everything.” He sniffed. “I didn’t sleep last night and I’ve got a bad stomachache.”
“I’m sorry.” I wanted to touch him on his arm to let him know I really cared, but I held myself in check. “We’re supposed to be performing right now,” I said softly.
“Oh, no! I fell asleep in here during first period. I woke up when you came in.” He sat up suddenly, then groaned and clutched his stomach.
“You look terrible!” I said. “Lie down.”
He looked at me in my red dress and crown.
“You look really nice.” He gave me a crooked smile then lay back down.
I was glad that he wasn’t still looking at me, because I could feel my cheeks getting fiery hot.
“Does your dad know you’re sick?”
“Nah. Left this morning. He’s already on a plane back to Europe.”
“Do you think you can get up?”
“I’m sorry, Bree. I just can’t perform right now.” He held a hand over his eyes.
“It’s okay,” I said, but swallowed hard. We had rehearsed so much and had done so well. I knew we were going to nail our performance today, and now we weren’t even going to get a shot at it.
“Last night was terrible,” Ashton said suddenly. “Stephanie and my dad were screaming at each other for, like, hours. Then she started throwing anything and everything she could, and my dad threatened to call the police. Buster and Bullwinkle went berserk because of all the noise, so my dad made me lock them in my room. Consuela started crying and wouldn’t stop. Then at about three A.M., my dad came to my bedroom and told me it might be best if I move to New York to live with my mom.”
“You can’t!” I blurted out. “You just can’t,” I said softer. First Rayleen, now Ashton. I couldn’t bear the thought of another person I cared about leaving.
Ashton sighed. “Thanks. Glad someone wants me around. Don’t worry, my mom isn’t up for having me and the hound dogs. It would cramp her busy social life.”
I felt myself exhale slowly with relief.
“I’m sorry about everything,” I said, thinking he was far worse off than I was in terms of a mother. At least mine was around some of the time.
I told Ashton not to worry about the performance and to get some rest and I’d explain everything to Mr. Matheson. I wanted to ask him if he thought he’d be up for adoption day tomorrow but thought better of it. He had enough to recover from with last night’s events in his perfect house, which was, I now knew, far from perfect.
I ended up performing the part of Queen Titania, but it wasn’t with my first choice king. Instead, Mr. Matheson took on the role of King Oberon. We got through it okay, with him reading the lines from the book and me doing my very best to block out the voice of Ashton speaking the king’s part. I had to fight back disappointment and not miss a single gesture or word, and I tried not to wince when Mr. Matheson spun me around to face him when he said, “Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?”
“Bravo!” Mr. Matheson bowed and applauded me when it was over and the rest of the class followed suit.
Kate gave me a hug and said I did an awesome job, but despite the fact that I knew I’d probably get an A, I felt incredibly empty, like a balloon that had just had all the air let out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When I got home that afternoon I had what seemed like a million emails about the adoption day. People wanted to know if they would be allowed to take the dog they adopted that day. My answer back was yes, if the dog was already spayed or neutered and microchipped and given all its shots. If the dog still had to be neutered or spayed, the pickup would be a day or so later. Any questions about adoption fees and dog licenses I forwarded to New Hope Steve, as I had affectionately started calling him. We emailed each other at least once a day with updates. If half the people who said they were going to come showed up, there would be a big crowd at the shelter tomorrow. Steve had started calling me “Bree the Great,” because he said I was just that.
There were also a few more “Found Danny” emails, but I had lost the excited, anxious feeling I got when I read about each dog and opened the picture attachments. I knew none of them would be him. And they weren’t. I forwarded those emails to Rayleen, who was doing a great job finding fosters and homes for the Danny dogs. I was trying very hard not to give up hope with each day that passed, but I was still filled with dread that he was gone forever. I had put the letter that Rayleen had asked me to write to Danny in the canvas tote bag that I was taking with me downtown tomorrow. I had also packed my digital camera, knowing that I wanted to have adoption day recorded and saved for all time.
While I was finishing replying to the last of my emails, my dad put his head into my room and announced that the three of us were going out to dinner at my mom’s favorite Greek restaurant in Malibu.
“I know you’ve got an early start tomorrow, Bree, but I want to make this a special dinner with my two girls before I leave.”
How could I say no?
We drove down Pacific Coast Highway with the sun casting shimmering golden light across the ocean. I watched as the glowing ball inched its way over the horizon and closed my eyes, like I always did just as it disappeared, and wished.
“Please let us adopt all the red listed dogs and some of the others, and please, please bring Danny back to me.”
I opened my eyes to see that my mom had turned around and was staring at me. There was an expression on her face I had never seen before. She looked different, softer, and was focused intently on me. Then I realized what it was. The newsmom was,
in that moment, completely still.
“Friends?” she asked quietly.
I sat there staring at her, not saying a word. I wanted more than anything to feel close to her, but she flip-flopped on me all the time. My mom was never consistent. There was only one thing that was truly consistent about her: she was always busy.
Dinner at the Greek Taverna started out with thick, rich lentil soup and warm bread served on the casual red-and-white patio tables. My dad told us more about the political strife and government problems in Afghanistan, and my mom asked me all about how the scene in drama lab with Ashton had gone. I shared a few details and she seemed genuinely upset to hear that Ashton hadn’t been able to perform with me. But near the end of dinner, over the delicious, rich baklava that was the restaurant’s most popular dessert, my mom reached over and touched my arm.
“Bree, honey. You know I’m really going to try and be there tomorrow. Dad will be there for sure, and I’m going to make every effort.”
“I understand, Mom.” I looked at her. “Work comes first.” I thought about how I was disappointing Kate tomorrow and how my mom might have to disappoint me. “You can’t be in two places at once. I get it.”
A look passed between my mom and dad. I was usually pretty good at reading the newsparents’ silent communication, but for once I had a hard time deciphering it.
“That’s very big of you, kiddo,” my dad said.
My mom reached over and squeezed my hand.
“I’m really going to try to be there.”
On the drive back home I could see the Santa Monica Pier lights twinkling in the distance and the Ferris wheel at the end of the boardwalk going around and around on its never-ending circular journey. I wished I was high up on it, spinning effortlessly in the cool, dark night sky. Above the world where people disappointed and hurt one another. I wanted to be far away, in a place where animals didn’t suffer and weren’t abandoned. A place where friendships lasted forever and parents understood that being there for their kids was all that we ever wanted.
“Why so quiet?” my dad asked as the electric gates to our home swung open.
“Thinking,” I said.
“Good thoughts, I hope,” my mother said as she got out of the car and made her way up the steps to our house. I followed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I barely slept a wink all night, but at seven A.M. I was awake and dressed in my “Underdogs to Top Dogs” T-shirt and a pair of jeans that were now reserved strictly for the shelter. Rayleen picked me up an hour later.
She played Elvis’s “Hound Dog” about five times in the car and made me sing along loudly with her, like a coach pumping her team up before the big game.
“Don’t sell too hard, sweet pea. Let people show interest in the animal first before you jump in and give ’em a hundred reasons why this is the greatest dog in the world for them. Let ’em feel the spirit of the dog, even though the shelter often brings out fear in ’em and they’re not their shining best. We’ve set up a few extra private play yards so the potential new owners can get some private time away from all the yapping and barking.” Rayleen babbled at top speed and drove that way, too. We reached the shelter in record time.
It was all the brightly colored balloons that I first saw. They were tied to every pole and tree and door handle outside the normally gray, plain building.
“Steve’s idea.” Rayleen smiled as we pulled into the still almost empty parking lot. “He wanted it to look extra special for you. He thinks you’re—”
“The greatest.” I laughed. “I know. Well, I hope he still thinks so by the end of today.”
“Close your eyes,” Rayleen instructed as we walked in the direction of the entrance. She crooked her arm through mine and led me up the steps until we were standing right at the top, in front of the main entrance doors. “Now open ’em!”
I opened my eyes and felt an overwhelming desire to shout with joy and cry at the same time. Hanging over the entrance was a huge white banner that said in giant blue letters, “Save a shelter dog. Mutts are miracles,” as we had discussed, but the words that were written in a slightly smaller font below that were completely unexpected. “Adoptions today in honor of Bree and her dog, Danny.” I turned to Rayleen, who put her arms around me as my eyes welled with tears.
“It’s okay. You’re allowed,” she said. I breathed in her wet earth and lavender scent. “Made me cry last night when Steve and I put it up.” She sniffed, as if she were ready to start again herself.
“It’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
“The note,” Rayleen said softly, “the one you wrote to Danny.” She held out her hand and I fished it out of my canvas bag.
“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.
She looked at me with her green eyes. “Make sure he gets it,” she said, and tucked it into the back pocket of her jeans.
The morning went by in a frenzy of dog baths, nail clippings, bows being tied on necks, and cages being cleaned and then cleaned again.
All the volunteers and staff were given the special “Underdogs to Top Dogs” Tshirts to wear once the spruce-up was complete. One of the volunteers had baked two huge tubs full of crunchy biscuits, and the dogs each got to have one before the doors were opened to the general public. The shelter dogs must have felt the excitement, because there was lots of yapping and barking, but for once they sounded happier and less desperate, as if they somehow knew there was something special going on today.
I checked on Neptune, who had been bathed and had a gold ribbon around his neck. He looked like a prince. I patted him on his smooth back and looked into his sad eyes.
“Prince Neptune, today’s the day your new life begins.”
Neptune, of course, had an “adopted” notation hanging on his cage door so everyone would know he was spoken for. Martha had called me twice already this morning, and I had promised her we would have him delivered by six P.M. at the latest.
I was so focused on getting everything ready that I totally forgot to worry about Ashton coming. The only thing that really mattered to me right now was the dogs.
“I just checked and there’s a big crowd out there,” New Hope Steve, who was also wearing the special T-shirt, told the twenty-three staff and volunteers who had gathered together in the office before the main doors were opened. “Let’s give a big round of applause to the girl who made this day happen. To Bree the Great!” he shouted.
I was standing next to Rayleen, and she had to put her hand out to steady me. All eyes were on me, and everyone smiled and looked at me with such kindness and support. These people had all been total strangers to me until just recently, and now they were like my special family. We were all united by a common goal and cause. I applauded them back as hugs and kisses went all around.
“Showtime!” Steve said, and jangled the keys to the shelter’s entrance.
Just before the doors opened I checked my phone. There was a message from Ashton saying that he was so sorry, but he really was sick and in bed at home, and he’d check in with me later to see how it went. He wished me luck. I had another message from Lulu. It said, “I’m outside! Let me in!” I felt a rush of warmth for her. We’d have to make it up to Kate with a special “birthday for three” night next week. I hoped she’d understand.
It is hard to describe how incredible I felt seeing the familiar faces of parents and kids from school, as well as teachers like Mr. Matheson and even the school nurse. The nurse! Apparently she wanted a small dog to keep her company in her apartment in Encino, and I found her the perfect one. A red listed, seven-year-old poodle that needed lots of love and care. She seemed thrilled with him. There were families that arrived with carloads of children and couples looking for a dog for the first time. There was a silver-haired woman who cried nonstop because her fifteen-year-old dog had died last week and she was ready to give another one love. I matched her with a red listed German sheph
erd who was shy and had come in as a stray. Lulu got into the swing of things right away and discovered she had a knack for calming down a biting Chihuahua who had been listed as “unadoptable.”
“I’m calling my mom. I want him!” Lulu yelled as I walked by the cage, where she was sitting on the floor holding him.
Rayleen came to find me in one of the play yards, where I was helping a young couple with an overweight Bassett hound who had been severely neglected by his past owners and was also red listed. “Your dad’s here. He’s in the entrance.” I excused myself and let Rayleen take over.
I walked through the din of barking dogs and the groups of people walking the aisles looking into the cages. I was happy to see that a number of them were already empty. Rayleen had moved Neptune to the inside office holding cage because so many people had been interested in him and were disappointed to learn that he was already adopted. As I checked in on him, curled up and asleep on a blanket, I flashed back to the day that I had watched him get dropped off and abandoned by his owner. Now, freedom and a new beginning were just a few hours away for him.
I turned to see Officer Reyes standing behind me.
“I’ve been telling Neptune here what a lucky dog he is.” Officer Reyes smiled warmly at me. “What you’ve done here today, Bree…incredible.” He held his arms wide-open as if they were encompassing the whole shelter. Then he paused. “You’ve given me back something I’m ashamed to say I’d lost a few years back. You don’t need to place all the red listed dogs to win our bet. You’ve won it already.”
I stood and turned to face him. “No, Officer Reyes, it’s not me who has won. It’s the animals. They’ll be glad to have you back.”
As I approached the entrance I saw my dad standing and talking to New Hope Steve. I was filthy, with muddy paw prints up and down my T-shirt, and a grimy doggy lick or two had probably left its mark on my face, but I didn’t care.
My dad stood and stared at me. I guess I looked pretty bad, but then he smiled.
