11:22 a.m.
Alex sprinted up the concrete stairs to the upper playground.
“Be there be there be there,” he whispered, taking the steps two at a time. He’d already made a hurried deal with the universe: if he took the steps two at a time, she’d be there.
When he reached the top, the playground was empty. There was nobody in sight.
There was no sign of Nunu anywhere.
He called out tentatively. “Nunu?”
He tried again, louder. “NUNU!!”
He shaded his eyes and scanned the park. Down at the ball field, something in the dugout caught his attention. He sprinted over: it was his backpack, lying on the bench.
But no Nunu.
Alex turned in a circle, confused. This doesn’t make any sense, he thought. Nunu never left his side; most of the time, he couldn’t get rid of her. How could she just disappear?
Alex felt panic well up inside him as his brain jumped right to the worst-case scenario: Stranger Danger. They’d been taught it a thousand times in school. “Stranger Danger,” their parents recited, over and over. So she had to know not to talk to strangers. But his parents had also taught Alex to watch after his sister when they were out together. If he could forget, so could she.
He tried to think back to when he’d last noticed her. It was at the end of the ballgame, when she was playing with the Gameboy. He hadn’t seen her since then.
Alex swallowed hard to keep from being sick.
He felt a nudge on his leg and looked down: the dog had brought him a stick.
“No. We have to find Nunu.”
Alex pushed on, searching the bathrooms and double-checking the playground. He ran across the huge, grassy expanse of the soccer field. Rex loped around him and kept bringing him sticks, looking hurt when Alex ignored him.
Alex turned back to the park and cupped his hands to his mouth. “NUNUUUU!!”
Rex tipped his head back and unleashed a long, serious howl.
“Shhh! Be quiet so I can hear!”
But every time Alex yelled, the dog howled right along with him.
They made their way around the edge of the park. Alex kept his eyes peeled.
“C’mon, Rex! Look for Nunu!”
The dog didn’t seem to understand. He just kept getting tangled in Alex’s legs and then veering off to sniff around benches and dig inside trash barrels.
Alex forged his way along a wild and overgrown creek bed, criss-crossing the muddy banks of the stream until it abruptly disappeared through a metal grate into a slime-slick culvert running under a four-lane road that bridged the far edge of the park. Alex tried the grate: it was welded shut. He peered inside but couldn’t see anything.
Next to the culvert, a dusty maintenance yard ran all the way back into the shadows under the four-lane bridge. On the left, huge concrete pipes from an older sewer repair job lay scattered around. Over to the right stood an old shed, the door hanging slightly open.
Alex squeezed through a hole in the fence and hurried toward the shed.
“Please be there. Please be there.”
He reached the door and yanked it open.
The shed was empty.
Up to now, Alex had been able to hold it together. Now his knees started to shake. Tears burned his eyes.
Behind him, Rex begin barking furiously.
Alex backed out of the shed. The dog was on the other side of the maintenance yard with his head inside a four-foot-wide concrete pipe, tail rigid, back feet bouncing nervously. Alex sprinted over and shoved his head in beside the dog’s.
Nunu took one hand off the Gameboy controls and waved. “Hi, Alex.”
Alex grabbed her by the hand and dragged her sideways out of the pipe.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE??”
“Playing Dora.”
“YOU RAN AWAY!”
“I couldn’t see the screen in the sun.”
“I’VE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!”
“Why are you yelling at me??”
“I’M NOT YELLING!”
Once again, Rex howled right along with Alex.
When Alex and Nunu saw what was happening, they both got the giggles and couldn’t stop. Rex stopped howling and let loose a happy bark.
“Sorry I yelled at you,” said Alex.
“S’okay.”
“I was worried.”
“Not me.”
Alex rolled his eyes, then grinned at his dog, who was scratching intently behind one ear, like nothing had happened. “You’re lucky I’ve got the greatest rescue dog ever.”
“HEY, CRYBABY!”
Alex spun around. Jordan and his goons were up on the bridge. Calvin seemed to be arguing with Jordan, but Jordan shoved him aside, then whipped his arm forward.
The beer bottle was in mid-air before Alex realized Jordan had thrown it.
“NO!”
The bottle hit with a sickening thud, followed by the sound of shattering glass.
The dog yelped once, and then his front legs buckled.