Chapter 26

Bobby’s Story

Colin put the feather and tag into his pocket. Bobby was gone just a few minutes, then came running around the side of the building. “Let’s go before he sees me with you two,” Bobby said.

Tramp knew Bobby had helped Calico. But he wasn’t sure what he had done with Pauly and Finn. Maybe Calico was right. Maybe he let them go, saved them. Maybe not. Maybe he needed a quick bite on his pant leg.

Tramp led them to the corner of Hennepin and Twenty-sixth Street, stopped and looked both ways. The memory of his visit to the vet reminded him always to look. Better cautious than dead or being carried into an animal clinic.

“He’s pretty careful since he got hit.” Colin said as they made their way past the Victorian houses that lined the streets leading to Lake of the Isles. Tramp couldn’t hear what Bobby was telling Colin.

Tramp stopped on the dirt path that had been worn smooth and free of grass by the herds of runners that circled the lake every day. Straight ahead was Deserted Island. The boys stood quietly. Colin’s squinting eyes and flared nostrils had been replaced by a shaking head. Tramp walked over to an empty wooden bench, jumped up onto the seat and barked, “Sit down. Easier to talk sitting down.”

They sat with Tramp in the middle, his head on Colin’s leg, his tail on Bobby’s.

“So, let me get this straight,” Colin said. “You weren’t taking Calico and the bird and the kitten out to the island to get rid of them? You took them there to help them escape?”

Tramp didn’t think people changed. The Holdens had gotten rid of him when he was a pup, Big Bob had gotten rid of him soon after. Bobby had sprayed rocks on him on the Fourth. Suzette’s owner treated her like a prisoner. They were all bad guys. And they’d just keep being bad guys. Colin and Shannon, Liz and Emmett—they were the good guys. But maybe Bobby was partly a good guy.

Bobby said, “One day this guy shows up with a puppy he said was his. Dad introduces him as his Uncle Rodney. I’d never heard of Uncle Rodney. Mom wasn’t exactly happy to see him. He gave the puppy to dad and said to sell him and keep the money. It was his present to dad. Then Rodney started bringing animals we had never sold before—prairie dog pups, iguanas, parrots. All needed new cages, new food, lots more work. Rodney lives on Twenty-second Street, in the house across the alley from you guys,” Bobby said, his face parallel to the ground, like he was searching for coins lost in the grass.

Tramp’s ears stood straight up. Suzette’s house? The mean guy was Uncle Rodney?

“Which house?” Colin asked.

“Got a big fence all around it. I’ve never been inside, but I can always tell when Dad’s been to see him. He leaves after dark and the next morning there’s a new somebody in the pet store. He says he’s been to see a family selling their pet, like he bought Tramp. But I know this is different. Dad only got puppies and kittens from people before. These animals are different. They’re all special, rare kind of. I know when he’s been to see Uncle Rodney.”

Tramp shook his head. Suzette’s house. Rodney was the guy with the cold voice.

Bobby rubbed his hand up and down Tramp’s spine. He stood up and looked around, there was no one around. Tramp could hear pine cones hitting the ground on the island. Bobby sat back down. Tramp put his head on Bobby’s leg.

Colin said, “I found three bags on the island. Calico and the bird you called Pauly came out of two of them. What about the third one, the smaller one?”

“I heard dad talking with mom the night he brought Calico home. I thought it sounded great. He told her Rodney got a new job finding animals for people. Sometimes, he said, the people move or change their mind. That’s when he brings what he called “the orphans” to us. No room in his house. Dad said it was a great deal. We could use the money. I didn’t worry until Pauly arrived the next day, and dad put Calico and Pauly next to each other. We usually keep the birds and cats on opposite sides of the store. This was weird. I watched Pauly dance to the music from the old movies, and Calico sort of hummed and danced with him. Like they had been doing this as a team for a long time. I thought all cockatoos danced. They don’t. Pauly was special. And a dancing, humming cat? Calico was special. They were quite a pair.”

“Why didn’t they sell? Why not put them on TV?” Colin asked.

“They only did their act at night, when no customers were around. Like they knew something was wrong,” Bobby answered.

“Ahh,” Colin said.

“When Calico arrived, she slept a lot. Then one morning we woke to find three kittens in Calico’s cage. She’d been pregnant when Dad got her from Rodney. The kittens threw Dad into a frenzy. ‘How can I market this non-performing team with three kittens around?’ he said.

“Two kittens sold right away, easy. They hummed like Calico, but the third, Finn, didn’t sell. He didn’t hum. He just sat there. Dad said to take Finn to the island, ‘Leave the bag on the hill on Deserted Island. Nature will take its course.’ He said I had to do it because I knew how to use the canoe and nobody would notice me out in a canoe on the lake. So, I took Finn the next morning. I couldn’t leave him inside that bag. I was supposed to leave it tied shut. I opened it and I ran. I don’t know whether he made it or not.”

“Keep going,” Colin said.

“Keep going,” Tramp barked.

“A couple of weeks after you got Tramp, Uncle Rodney and Dad went into the back room and locked the door. They yelled at each other, I don’t know what about. Next morning Dad told me to take Pauly to the island, just like I had done with Finn. I was supposed to leave him in the bag. Let nature take its course. I loved Pauly. I opened the bag. Last I saw, he was walking around, looking kind of lost. I figured he’d just fly away. I saw Finn’s empty bag and ran.”

Bobby’s voice cracked, “Calico stopped humming. She stopped eating. Dad tried to get her to perform when a customer came in. She just lay down and acted like she was asleep. One Friday night, Officer Johnson showed up at the door. He must have been the reason Rodney was so nervous. Dad saw him at the door and told me to take Calico in the back. After the cop left, Dad told me I had to go to Deserted Island just one more time. He said he was quitting. He wouldn’t take any more of Rodney’s animals.”

Bobby scratched behind Tramp’s ears, and Tramp knew Bobby’s hands told the truth. “I took Calico out to the island. The other bags were still there. I opened the bag and told her to come out. She stuck her head out and crawled back in. I ran. I tried to forget all of it. I did what I was told. Dad never brought it up again.”

Bobby’s shoulders were shaking. “Then you came and showed me that white feather and the tag. You knew. Tell me you have all three of them. Tell me they’re not…”

Colin stood up. Walkers and runners were passing, but they paid no attention. There was no noise except Colin shifting back and forth from one Nike to the other.

Bobby stood and walked to the edge of the lake. Water licked at his shoes. “Pop didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have a choice,” Bobby said.

Colin joined him at the edge of the water. “Calico’s safe,” he said softly. “I have her in a safe place for now. We have to find Finn and Pauly,” Colin said.