Gladys

Jude was right.

Gladys hated to admit it, but he was.

No way in this galaxy or any other would his mother let him keep True.

It wasn’t because she was mean. Well, she was slightly mean, Gladys was coming to agree. But mainly, Diamond was frightened. To her, dogs were wild beasts capable of attack at any moment, without warning. Inside every dog, no matter how sweet it seemed, lurked the ghost of the one who’d bitten her. When she warned Jude and Spider about dogs, she was only trying to protect her children the way any good, if misguided, mother would.

It wasn’t as if True liked Diamond much, either. In fact, Gladys was pretty sure that, given half a chance, she would pee on Jude’s mother’s shoes.

When Diamond beckoned Jude, True tried to follow him, but Gladys made her sit. Her eyes, though. Her sky-blue, star-blue eyes. Nothing could stop them following him everywhere he went. She whimpered pathetically, and from the look on Mr. Peters’s face, Gladys guessed that he felt just as helpless.

“Jude’s a fine boy,” Mr. Peters told True. “You and I agree.”

His grass, which had looked so perfect the last time she saw it, was a mess of brown spots and dirt divots.

“I’ve lost the battle of the lawn,” he said, following her gaze. Everything the man said sounded as if it should be engraved in stone. Without seeming to realize it, he’d started scratching True in her precise favorite spot. “But as it turns out, I may have won the war. I was spending every blessed minute taking care of this yard, Gladys. Now that I’ve surrendered, I’ve got time for other things.”

“It’s still a very pretty yard.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s imperfect in a pleasant way.”

“I appreciate that.”

Mama had finished her copious explaining and cajoling. She’d turned to Silas and his cockeyed lightsaber, leaving True’s fate up to Jude and his mother. Diamond’s arms were tightly folded and her jaw was set in a way that radiated NO. Even from Mr. Peters’s lawn, Gladys could see that Jude, who’d barely said a word back, was losing.

Mr. Peters rested his hand lightly atop True’s head, and True let him. She’d made up her doggy mind. Here was another human she could trust.

Dogs knew. Just like babies, they knew.

Gladys, Jude, and True had lost the battle. But maybe—maybe not the war.

“Mr. Peters,” Gladys said, “could I ask you something?”