Gladys

People said if you got too close to a speeding train it would suck you into its vortex. Ground meat, that was your fate. Gladys had never quite believed it, but now she felt something pulling Jude, pulling so hard she needed to hold on to him with all her might.

It was True, not the train. True was calling him just the way she’d called Gladys.

“Caboose!” Spider shouted as Jude swung him down from his shoulders and took off, ducking under the barriers, flying across the tracks. Grabbing Spider’s hand, Gladys raced after him. The rails still hummed. The heat bit her skin.

True and Freddy were nowhere in sight.

They ran down the alleyway. Trash cans overflowed with empty chip bags and ketchup-streaked napkins, and the smell of beer and burgers seeped through the screen door. Cautiously peering inside, Gladys spotted Freddy behind the bar where a guy in a delivery uniform hunched over a glass of beer. The TV on the wall played the baseball game. True was nowhere in sight.

“This damn town!” Freddy said. The delivery man looked more interested in his beer. “I swear on my mother’s grave, it’s circling the drain.”

“Hey,” Jude was whispering. Gladys turned to see him peeking under a wooden bench a few feet from the door. “Hey you.”

A rope was tied around one leg of the bench. When Gladys crouched beside Jude, she saw True’s blue eyes staring back at them. She had to clap her hand over her mouth to keep from shouting with happiness.

“It’s us!” she whispered between her fingers.

True cowered, pressing herself against the brick of the building. When Gladys reached toward her, the fur along her spine shot up in a ridge. She bared her fangs, showing her spotted gums. A growl deep in her throat made Gladys skitter back, heart knocking against her ribs.

“He’ll bite you!” Spider cried. “He’ll rip you up!”

“Quiet!” Jude warned his brother. He knelt down and untied the rope from the bench.

“She’s too scared,” Gladys whispered. “She won’t come out.”

“Keep an eye on the door,” he ordered.

Gladys sidled over and spied through the screen. Freddy was getting more agitated.

“I got a mangy mutt knocking over trash cans, crapping in my alley,” he told the delivery man. “Like my business isn’t already in trouble? One of my customers tried to pet it and it almost bit her.”

“It bit her?” The man finally looked up.

“Not actually but...”

Jude was kneeling beside the bench, one hand on the ground and the other resting on his thigh. Spider tugged at him, whining and trying to pull him back, but Jude pushed his brother away. Jude looked different, from up above. Gladys could literally see another side of him, and not just literally but also...also whatever the opposite of literally was. Her breath caught in her throat as he slowly extended one hand, keeping it flat to the ground. True’s nose poked out and sniffed it. Her whimper was a question. Gladys remembered how Jude had soothed little Mateo into a deep, peaceful sleep. How he’d let his gentle out from wherever he kept it hidden.

“I called animal control and guess what?” Freddy’s voice rose. Glancing back, Gladys saw him pick up his golf club and tap his open palm. “No more animal control.”

“That’s a dirty shame,” the delivery man said.

“Looks like I have to take matters into my own hands.” Freddy stepped out from behind the bar. “That mutt’s going on a long car ride.”

“Jude!” Gladys said. “Hurry!”

As True eased out from under the bench, Spider backed away, eyes huge. “The spooky dog!” He scrambled up onto a metal trash can, which fell over with a clang that echoed up and down the alley. Garbage flew. Spider hit the ground with a shout. Gladys saw Freddy charge toward the door, clutching the golf club.

“He’s coming!”

True was off like a shot. Somehow Jude managed to catch hold of her rope and race after her.

“Grab Spider!” Jude yelled.

Gladys caught Spider’s hand and they ran, too, skidding on trash and knocking elbows as the screen door banged open and Freddy burst through. Throwing a look over her shoulder, Gladys saw a slash of metal and a face the color of uncooked meat.

“What the hell?” Freddy cried.

Spider might whine like a mosquito but he ran like a jackrabbit. They burst out of the alley into the sunshine of the street and kept on going. When she dared to look back again, Gladys saw Freddy leaning on the golf club.

“Thanks, whoever you are!” he hollered. “Good riddance to bad rubbish!”

Jude disappeared around the corner. When she and Spider caught up, he was behind the old toy store, huffing and puffing.

“I should go back and pop that guy,” he said.

“I agree, but please don’t.”

Gladys had seen Jude angry before. He was angry at least half the time. But this was different. The anger was rolling off him in big, crashing waves. Spider leaned against her and slid his thumb in his mouth, and she knew he felt his brother’s anger, too.

“It doesn’t matter,” she told Jude. “You saved her.” True smelled awful, like pee and garbage. She was panting, her skinny sides heaving. Gladys longed to touch her but didn’t dare. “Poor girl,” she said. “Poor thing.”

“Don’t say that.”

“What?”

“She’s brave. She ran away. You got what you wanted, didn’t you, Pook?”

One ear went up. Something flickered in those beautiful blue eyes, and Gladys thought of trick birthday candles that, no matter how many times you tried to blow them out, lit up again.

“It’s gonna bite you, Jude,” Spider said, but by now even he didn’t seem to believe that.

Up went the other ear. Each was a perfect triangle, except for the notch in the left one. True nosed Jude’s fingers, then closed her eyes and breathed a soft doggy sigh.

Gladys and Jude looked at each other.

“We found her,” he said, voice full of wonder.

“Of course we did!” she said, voice full of joy.

He grinned. A smile so big, it was a smile and a half. They’d found her. Gladys was a helium balloon, rising into the glorious, golden, late-day sunlight.

Till Spider asked, “Where you taking it?”

Back to earth sank Gladys.