Chance stands on the sidewalk next to me, tapping his foot anxiously as he waits for his mother to appear.
“It’s going to be okay,” I say, but I feel the same anticipation.
A minute later the facility door opens, and a woman steps out. She’s about thirty-five years old, pretty, wearing tight jeans and a loose white T-shirt, and carrying a backpack over one shoulder. She has messy brown hair, the same color as Chance’s. She looks around uncertainly, biting her lower lip.
“Mom!” Chance shouts.
Surprise turns to delight on the woman’s face as she sees Chance and me waiting for her.
“Chancey!” she shouts, and she rushes forward, throwing her arms out wide.
Chance races across the street and leaps into her arms, and I’m flooded with a sense of relief.
Chance’s mom squeezes him tight, the two of them laughing and crying at the same time. He hops down and she holds his face in her hands, staring at him, running her fingers through his hair and across his face, like she’s memorizing every detail.
“Mom, I want you to meet someone.”
He grabs her hand and pulls her across the street toward me.
“Someone? You mean the dog?”
“Her name is Wild,” he says.
“Wild? That’s a scary name, isn’t it? Whose dog is this?”
“She’s her own dog, Mom. And she’s not scary. She’s my friend.”
Chance’s mom nods, looking me over. After a moment she smiles.
“Nice to meet you, Wild,” she says, and she reaches out and immediately pets my head like someone who’s never had a dog before. She should relax and hold her hand out for me to sniff, giving us a little time to get acquainted. She does it all wrong, but it doesn’t bother me. She’s Chance’s mother, and I want to meet her.
She steps back and examines me, hands on her hips.
“I wouldn’t call her cute exactly,” she says. “More like athletic. But there’s something unusual about her. She has intelligent eyes.”
“She’s really smart,” Chance says, throwing me a wink. He puts his hand on my back, gently stroking my fur. I feel a wave of pleasure flow down my spine.
Chance’s mom sighs, looking at me. “How on earth did you get a dog at the group home? I thought they were pretty strict.”
“You gotta know how to work the system,” Chance says with a grin.
“Speaking of the system, we have to get to court,” his mom says, “but I want to hear all about it later.”
“We’re ready to go,” Chance says, and he pats my head again.
“We? Yeah, um, about the dog—”
“We have to take her,” he says. “I can’t go without her.”
A cab pulls up in front of the center and beeps.
“That’s our ride,” Chance’s mom says.
“What about Wild?”
His mom bites her lower lip, just like I’ve seen Chance do.
“Okay, we’ll figure it out,” she says. “You, me, and Wild.”
Chance pumps his fist in celebration.
“I need to talk to you alone,” I tell him.
“I’ll catch up to you in a second, Mom.”
She crosses the street, and Chance turns his back and kneels down, blocking his mother’s view so she won’t see us talking.
“Isn’t Mom great?” he says.
I nuzzle his hand with my nose. “I’m not coming with you,” I say.
Chance looks startled. He stares at me, his mouth open.
“What are you talking about? Mom said it was okay. We can be a family now.”
“The general won’t give up. As long as I’m in the world, his secret is out.”
“We’ll go where they can’t find us.”
The cab honks, and Chance’s mother calls to him from the open window.
“If I stay with you, you’ll never be safe,” I say.
Chance starts weeping, his body heaving against mine as he holds me in his arms.
I lick his face, taste the salt of his tears on my tongue.
“Where will you go?” he asks.
“I’ll find someplace.”
“But you’ll be all alone!”
“I want you and your mom to have a life together,” I say. “She needs you. You need each other.”
“I don’t want to say good-bye.”
“Maybe we can say something else.” I nuzzle his hand again, breathing in his scent.
“Like what?”
“How about, Just for now?” I look into his eyes. A dog and her boy. A boy and his dog.
Chance wipes his eyes and smiles thinly. “Not good-bye. Just for now.”
His mother calls to him. “Chance! We have to leave now or we’re going to be late.”
He stands up, his eyes locked on mine.
“The earbud,” I say softly.
“But if I give it up, we can’t—”
“I’ll hold on to it for you,” I say. “Until the next time.”
“Promise?”
He reluctantly takes the earbud from his ear. He presses the button on my collar, and I hear the mechanical swish of the collar box opening. He replaces the earbud and the box closes again.
“You’re my friend forever,” I say.
Chance points to his ear. “I only hear barking now.”
I whimper and shuffle in place, trying not to cry out and upset him even more.
Chance looks at me for a long moment, then he jogs across the street to join his mom.
I watch him the whole way, waiting until he’s safely in the back of the cab.
“I thought you were bringing the dog?” I hear his mother saying.
“She can’t come,” Chance says.
Those are the last words I hear as I turn and trot away down the street, my heart begging me to stay, but my head knowing that I’m doing what must be done.