George Knows

by Mindy Mymudes

  Nothing.

  It doesn’t spark any memories for me. I turn around, scuffing my paws a little, hoping to turn up more scent clues. Nothing other than the bad smell fills my nose and covers my tongue. I want water. I want…Karly! Karly is near the thing. The fur on the back of my neck prickles, making me look bigger. I run to her, baying, barking, yelping. She is theretherethere. Karly! I rush to her.

  She trips over my back.

  “Why do you always have to trip me, you blockheaded freak? Look where you’re going and don’t run into me,” she shouts. My ears and tail droop and my tail stops wagging. Why yell at me? I am her protector. Her auntie tells me every time we see her—it’s my duty. I must protect her from the Bad Thing I don’t recognize. I sniff.

  Still nothing.

  All I smelltaste are Karly’s anger and the Badge Dude. Is it scared away? I hope so. Karly doesn’t understand there is something bad out here.

  I put my nose back to the ground and continue to inhale. There is sweet grass. I bite off a mouthful, enjoying the tearing as I rip and chew. More scents come from the ground.

  A squirrel.

  My ears rise, my nose quivers.

  No, I’m not here for squirrels. Or the bouquet of chipmunks, bunnies, cats, deer that flows over my nose and tongue.

  Drool.

  Musky, bloody from a kill, hawk remains.

  No, no, no. I shake my head before I lower it again. My loose skin and ears fall forward catching up the lovely scent. I ignore the wonderfulness and search for something not normal.

  The gassulfurdrysnakecatstink smelltaste is weak. I follow the trail until it’s stronger and new. There are other scents that shouldn’t be here—drybitterdust of broken plates and glass. The sharphardtang of cold, old metal. More bones, not tasty. Not new. Oh no, more Peeps’ bones. I feel bad. These were Peeps that could feed and pet me and now they are gone.

  I trot to Karly, butt her leg with my muzzle and boofle. I have news. She shakes me off her leg.

  Figures.

  Auntie Heather is back without The Creep and I walk to her. I concentrate at her and we connect in a way that Karly needs to learn.

  I try to teach her, though she’s not always a good student.

  “Yes, George, you’re a very good teacher and familiar. It’s hard; she’s becoming a teenager you know,” Auntie Heather croons quietly to me as she bends down to ruffle my ears. I curve my head into her hand. No, I don’t know about this teenager thing. Is it something to do with Karly’s new smells? “Now, what did you find?” Aunt Heather asks.

  As best as I can, I let her smelltaste what I found. She looks at me oddly. “That is different; I wonder what you found. Excellent boy. Good job. Lead me to the trail.” She pats her leg, as if I need encouragement. This is important, my Pack must be kept safe. Grrr. I will get The Bad Thing and kill it, or make it go away forever. Grrr. Now I am angry it dares come on my territory. I lift my leg on the closest weed and pee on it. I slowly walk with Auntie Heather, leading her and peeing on trees until my tank is almost empty.

  Mine.

  ‘This whole place is mine,’ I say by pee-mail. Stay away. I bay a warning just in case it can hear me.

  I almost step into a hole. It smells rotten and I hack before my mouth fills with the scent. I look more closely at it. The hole isn’t a hole—it’s a big footprint, as big as two of my own paws, and I am no slouch in the foot department. The smelltaste puddles in the top of the print and settles in the long deep grooves at the top.

  Claw marks.

  I look for more of the prints.

  None.

  Where are the other four? Is it a pogoing Bad Thing?

  There are trees all around and I want to lift my leg again.

  Only a trickle. Darn, well, it’s enough, anyway. I drop my leg and see there are scratch marks shredding the bark of the tree that sometimes drops lots of round seeds on my head. It climbs. That’s why I sometimes get the scent, and sometimes it’s faint or gone. This is one time that Karly’s looking up is useful. I jump up and lean against the tree. “Aroooo!” Come on Karly, Auntie Heather, comecomecome, see what I’ve found!

  Auntie Heather is first and sees the scratches, bark hanging in strips. She raises her hand and pets the bark and grooves.

  “Poor tree. It looks almost like buck rub, but they do that in fall. What on Earth?” she says. Her face is sad. I fall back to my paws and press my gorgeous self on her legs. That always makes her happy. Auntie Heather is very soft and hurt living things make her upset. I can fix her.

  Most of the time.

  Like now.

  She smiles down at me and sees The Bad Thing’s print. Oh. Yeah. Almost forgot. I snuffle at it, letting her know I see it, too.

  The loud crashing sound tells me Karly is coming even though she is downwind. We’ll need to work on stealth. She’ll never catch a bird at this rate.

  When Karly gets closer I “aroo” to get her attention—she needs to hurry up and see this. It’s importimportimportant! I jump around to attract her attention, making as much a racket on the leaves and sticks as she does. It’s kind of embarrassing, actually. Karly sees me and frowns.

  Or, not at me.

  She’s brushing off sticky spider webs. It’d be better if she’d save them. They are good for bandages. Auntie Heather gives me a smile as she strokes a tree with heart-shaped leaves. She agrees. The tree’s bark is hanging in shreds. It won’t heal without some help.

  The area stinks like The Big Bad Thing. What is it? I don’t know of any animals that scratch like that in the spring. No lightning storms here in forever.

  This is a clue.

  To what?

  “What made those?” Karly asks. I push the gassulfurdrysnakecatstink smelltaste into her mind and chortle. Even when it goes straight to her brain she can’t interpret what she smells. She only gets the smelltaste of her brother’s room, and snakes. “Oh, yuck. George, you didn’t have to share.”

  I shake my head. She could use her nose, as poor as it is. Auntie Heather needs to remind my Girlpup that I am her teacher. I poke my nose into the print. Karly comes closer and investigates.

  “Wow. That is the biggest print I’ve ever seen. It’s so round, like an elephant’s foot with claws.” She holds her hand over it like she’s comparing the sizes. “Maybe it isn’t a print. Maybe it’s something else.” She doesn’t sound convinced.

  I snoofle the ground for more.

  Nothing. I hate only getting nothings from the monster.

  What walks on only one foot?

  “That’s can’t be…that’s not a ginormous paw print, is it?” she asks my auntie. “What made it?”

  That, Girlpup, is a good question. Now, leave me alone so I can investigate. I don’t need special tools, either.

  Is that the trail? There are so many leaves, when was there a windstorm? I am excited, and stop in front of a pile of fresh green leaves mixed with old brown leaf skeletons. I flex my paws and scrape at the ground, my thick claws and wide feet tearing it up, flinging everything under my butt. I hear Karly shout out and tuck my head between my front paws to look behind me.

  Whoops.

  Karly is directly behind me. Dirt and leaves cover her head.

  “George, I mean it; I’m going to hang you by your ears from the clothesline. You’re doing that on purpose.”

  I decide her comment is beneath my notice and dig faster. I stop to investigate each piece as some broken wedges of dirty plates fly out of the hole, and a dull silver knife. Good thing it’s dull. I nose the thing and dig even faster. Maybe there is food on another piece.

  “Oh my. I think I’ll go get the police. They should see this,” Aunt Heather says as she pats the tree and heads back to where the bones are. So, why didn’t the Badge Dude follow us? I know where the important stuff is.

  I stop digging when only dirt comes up and turn to investigate my pile.

  Hmmm.

  There’s a fork, something that looks like a t
hick curved straw with a little hole, some buttons, a metal mug, and more bits of plate.

  No food on it.

  Rats.

  Karly grabs a stick and stirs my treasures with it. Hey! Stop it, they’re important. I stand in front of them. “George, it’s all useless junk.” She picks up one of the plate pieces I cleaned. “I can’t believe you licked this, it’s nasty.”

  “What is so important that you dragged us over here to look at this. A bunch of scratches, a footprint, and a junkyard. Not a single bone. George, you’re a blockheaded freak.”

  That’s her special pet name for me. The treasures are mixed with dirt so I nudge them out into a separate pile. Karly says “squirrel” in her mind and I swish my tail. It forms a lovely crescent down my back.

  “George, unless it’s an emergency I don’t want you reading my mind. There isn’t a squirrel except for you.”

  Oh sure.

  Go ahead and tease me.

  There is a ruffle of leaves as Peeps walk through them. They aren’t quiet, but compared to Karly they sound like a breeze in the trees. I am still in her head and she rolls her eyes at me. “’Kay, yeah, I’ll try to be more quiet. It would be nice to see animals instead of just prints.”

  I shudder. She shouldn’t meet The Bad Thing.

  Not ever.

  The adults gather around my treasures.

  “So what do we have here? Any more bones?” The Badge Dude points to my pile. He crinkles his forehead and grabs Karly’s stick to move some things out of the pile. There are seven round things, some are black and some are brown. They smell like metal. Only puppies eat metal.

  “Interesting. Looks like old American coins. Where would they come from? George, are there more?”

  Karly is shaking her head and isn’t happy. Maybe she wanted the Badge Dude to ask her? How would she know? I snuffle, scrape the ground, snuffle more, and sit down.

  More nothing. “Aroooo!” I bay in frustration.

  “These things may not have anything to do with the bones, but I trust the dog. He’s the one with the nose.” The Badge Dude bends down and gives me a pat. It’s only friendly to put my paws on the cop’s shoulders and lick him on the face.

  “George, off!” My Girlpup thinks she can command me? I turn my head away and ignore her. I am thinking she’s glaring at my neck.

  “It’s fine.” The Badge Dude pushes my front paws off his shoulders and places them on the ground. “You shouldn’t jump up, though, that can’t be good for your back.” That’s nice he’s concerned for me. He straightens up and looks around. He sees the hurt tree and walks over, cocking his head to each side like a big bird. He walks around the tree, about three feet away, before reaching out to touch the shreds of bark.

  “These look fresh. Do you know what caused the gouges?” he asks. I am not sure if he’s asking my auntie, Karly, or me.

  Aunt Heather avoids the paw print as she moves to the tree. “I honestly don’t know. It’s too early in the year for buck rub, and unless you’ve had some reports of big cats or bears, there isn’t anything else that would do that. Certainly nothing that has a print like this.” She points to the print. The Badge Dude bends over it and gives a low whistle.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this and I hunt up north every fall.” He lifts his dark blue cap with one hand and scratches his head with the other. “I’m going to call in some people. In the meantime, we’ll be closing off the area for a while. Thanks for coming out.”

  “Will you tell us what you find?” My auntie asks. “We are organizing a few more demonstrations to keep the park, but we don’t want to get in the way of an investigation. In a way, I guess, this might help keep the bulldozers out of the woods for a while.”

  That’s my auntie. She can make lemonade out of…well, nothing. She has mad skills that way. Take old Peep bones, some junk, stir well, and she’s made soup. It’s a type of magic Karly wants to learn badly. Well, she has some of the badly part down pat. I have no doubts she’ll improve with me as her familiar.

  “When I find something, I’ll let you know what I can.” Badge Dude is grinning at her. What is that all about? I look at Auntie Heather. There’s nothing to grin at here—time to move along.

  Aunt Heather motions that we can go. “Let’s go back to the house. It’s a lovely day to work on healing spells and green magics.”

  Karly’s smile is bright enough to light up the hole I dug. She is nearly jumping up and down. “What kind of healing magic?”

  “You’ll see when we get to my house. This is a special kind of healing that I’m sure you’re ready for.”

  I think we should spend some time doing park magic. I know what the big trucks in the parking lot are going to do. I don’t like it. Witches have protected it forever, keeping the lands and plants healthy. Does Aunt Heather really think the bones and junk could help? I don’t see how. I pant my way to the car. Shotgun!

  “Hurry up slow-poke. George is already waiting next to the car. What are you daydreaming about?”

  I hear with my super hearing. They could move a little faster. I think about taking a nap.

  Karly is still walking slow, looking at the trucks. “I was just wondering how we’re going to save the park. Do you think it’s too late?” She points to the things that destroy the land, and garbage containers in the parking lot.

  Aunt Heather shakes her head as she unlocks the door to the car. “It’s never too late. Our family has preserved these woods for generations, keeping out what doesn’t belong, saving what does. It’s not going to be so easy for anyone to damage it and I suspect this is just what we need.”

  Karly’s face scrunches in confusion. “How? It’s just junk. The police will figure out who the bones belong to and that will be it. How can that save our park?”

  I sneeze and leap into the shotgun seat. You snooze you lose. I paw the window to remind Auntie Heather it needs opening.

  My eyes go round when I hear Karly practically growl, “Oh no you don’t. I sit in front—you sit in back. Auntie Heather, if I have to wear a seatbelt, why doesn’t he?”

  Aunt Heather points to the back. I drop my head and crawl between the seats. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ve seen them at the Pet Food Emporium, I’ll pick one up the next time I need food for Roquefort.”

  I give a good shake and spray drool everywhere once I am in the back. That’s better. Next, I try to turn three times before I lie down. The seat’s too narrow. I thump down on the seat with a sigh. The seat groans and Auntie Heather turns around to look at me.

  “Maybe I’ll get a seat cover too. For a short-coated dog he sheds a lot. His fur is weaving into the fabric. Some of my friends are allergic to dogs, and sometimes I need to drive them to spots of power to heal them. This park has the best one in the area—the water carries a lot of energy. Remember, we saved the old covered bridge. It’s such a lovely site and the perfect place to do healing ceremonies. So much healthy energy.”

  There is plenty of energy everywhere. The river is a magical place, so are the hills. I never did understand why my witches seem to think running water is all that. It’s okay. The water is stained brownish except where it rushes over large, rounded boulders that look like Swiss cheese.

  And now the destruction Peeps want to build houses along the river.

  “What are you feeding George now?” My auntie asks. I am trying to snooze and a few poots escape me. She rolls down the windows.

  “I don’t know. Mom gets it at the grocery store. He likes it. Maybe too much, I don’t think he chews when he eats.”

  “Remind me to talk to your mother about getting him on a better diet. I can pick up a premium food for him at the Emporium while I’m there. A healthy familiar is a stronger familiar.”

  Food is good.

  Chapter Six

  The car bumps up the driveway and wakes me. I didn’t get to stick my head out the window. Rats. I put my paws on the door and woof so they let me out. They might forget me.

&n
bsp; “No one could forget you. Let me get out first.” Auntie Heather laughs as she unbuckles herself from the seat. They don’t really have seatbelts for dogs, do they? I don’t want to wear one. It’s beneath my dignity. Besides, how could I lean out the window and inhale the bouquet of sweet smelltastes in the wind? These are the hot colors of life. No way anyone is making me wear a seatbelt. I sit back and my tail thuds against the back of the seat.

  Karly is out before me. Openopenopen the door, I bark at her. She ignores me. When will she understand we’re a team? Auntie Heather clacks the door open and I hop out. A quick shake to get my fur into place and I am ready to rock and roll.

  And eat.

  I snuffle, but I don’t smell anything. Oh yeah, Auntie Heather is with us. I give her my puppy eyes and look to the door. I think food and worm the thought into her head. Karly needs to open her mind to me like this.

  “I have some carrots. You really have a one-track mind sometimes. Karly, there are some herbs in a basket on the dining room table. Why don’t we go into the gazebo and work out there? It’s too pretty a day to waste it inside. Besides, the magic is stronger out here near the soil.”

  Karly goes into the house. I follow Aunt Heather out to the garden. She yanks up some orange crunchy bones. I try to take them, but she softly hits me on the nose with them. “You might not mind eating dirty carrots, however I’m not too fond of you kissing my mouth when you thank me.”

  This is confusing. She spends most of her time taking care of the Earthmom and she doesn’t like it in her mouth? I wait for her to rinse them off under the hose and paw her leg because she’s not fast enough. I woofle under my breath. Come on already, you’re slower than worms and they are only good for rolling on.

  It takes her forever to rinse them under the hose before she gives them to me. I take them without nipping her fingers and go lay under the big tree to chew. Sweetcrunchiness, they are gone too quickly. Auntie Heather and Karly sit in the gazebo surrounded by plants. Flowers are filled with bees, following stripes on the petals into the stickysweet mouths of the flowers. The bees are lucky the flowers don’t trap them. I respect bees, they like to bite noses and they don’t use teeth. The flying bugs use stingers that hurt like the shots at the vet. I shake a little. Auntie Heather told me vets are important healers and while she can do a lot, the vet can help her keep me healthy.