34. Giving the Boss the Business

“I say we call nine-one-one,” Aggy said to Logan, who was sitting on the handlebars of her bike as she pedaled.

“No one will believe us,” Logan said over his shoulder. “No one can help us. We don’t have any other choice but to go to my house and hope he keeps his promise.”

“Why would he?” Aggy said. “He has everything he wanted. He has all the dogs.”

“But he tapped noses with me.”

“Stop with the tapping noses, will you?”

“So far he’s kept his word. The deal was the dogs and I get sent home and he takes the shelter dogs. He took the shelter dogs, but he left me here. Now he’ll return the dogs.”

“They’re probably shooting across the universe in their spaceship as we speak!”

“I disagree.”

“Will you stop tipping?” Aggy yelled as the bike started to wobble. “You’re going to make me crash.”

“I’m not trying to! Stop hitting bumps!”

“I can barely see the road ahead of me, with you in my face! And it’s dark!”

“Just hurry up, will you?” Logan said. “Nothing can happen till we get the transmitter there.”

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying. I can just imagine how freaked out my parents are right now. Your mom sure is.”

“Everything will be fine when we get home,” Logan said, though he wasn’t at all sure this was true.

The alley was darker now, due to the kitchen lights along it having been turned off, dinnertime having come and gone. Logan walked quietly beside Aggy, who walked her bike. The lights were on in Logan’s living room. The rest of the house was dark. Logan assumed this meant his mother had returned, but he couldn’t be sure she was still there. If she was, he thought, she might not be alone. There might even be police officers in the house, investigating his disappearance.

He wished he’d arranged a different drop-off point.

“Maybe we should just go in,” Aggy whispered to him as they hunkered down behind the back-yard fence.

“Don’t scream,” a robotic voice said from the other side of the fence, amid a golden, glowing light.

Aggy almost did, but Logan clamped his hand over her mouth.

“It’s the alien,” he whispered, then released her.

“Which one?” Aggy whispered back.

Logan slowly swung the gate open, and they stole into the backyard. They found the female alien hidden in a dark corner, hugging a tree. Logan leaned in close.

“It’s her,” he whispered to Aggy, then to the alien he said, “We have to be careful, ma’am. There are people in the house. You don’t want anyone to see you.”

She nodded.

“Did your boss send you here, ma’am?” Logan whispered. “Is he going to send back the dogs?”

The alien shook her head.

“No?” Aggy gasped.

The alien shook her head again, then hung it in shame.

“Can you beam the dogs here yourself?” Logan asked.

“I could, but he would simply transport them back again.”

“Why are you here then, ma’am?” Logan asked.

The alien placed her hand over her neck, over the light. Golden light streamed between her fingers. “He’s preparing to leave your planet.”

“See?” Aggy said to Logan.

“But I told him I was coming here,” the alien went on, “and I would stay till he returned the dogs.”

“But isn’t that against your contract, ma’am?” Logan asked.

“I won’t be following his orders from now on.”

“Good for you!” Aggy said.

“Can’t he just beam you up?” Logan asked.

“No,” the alien said. “Our kind can resist. Refuse. It would be awful if we couldn’t.”

“What if he leaves you here?” Aggy asked.

“How will you get home?”

The alien shook her head.

“That’s a big risk you’re taking,” Aggy said. “Just for our dogs.”

“He needs me,” the alien said. “He can’t do everything by himself. He’ll send the dogs down.”

“I hope you’re right,” Logan said.

The alien opened her mouth wide.

“Is that him?” Logan asked.

She closed it. “Yes. He’s demanding I return or he will leave without me.”

“You have to go then,” Aggy said. “You can’t stay here. I know Festus will be in good hands with you. Or good fins, or whatever.”

The alien smiled but shook her head.

Logan wracked his brain, trying to think of a solution. The longer he couldn’t, the more frustrated he became; the more frustrated he became, the more angry he got. He felt he was about to blow his top.

“Abyssin, Aleena, Amanin, Ansionians,” he said.

“What are you saying, Logan?”

“I’m alphabetizing the aliens from Star Wars,” he said. “Anomid, Annoo dat, Anx, Anzati … It calms me down when I’m angry … Aqualish, Aramandi, Arcona …”

“Well, stop it.”

“I have it!” Logan said a little too loudly.

“Shhh!” Aggy hissed.

Logan ignored her and spoke to the alien. “Tell your boss to be sure he scoops up the dogs’ poop every day. The poop of thirty-six dogs, that is. Every day. And their pee, too. And tell him he has to feed and water them as well. They’re his responsibility now. If he doesn’t take care of them, they won’t survive the trip home.”

Aggy and the alien stared at him, stumped.

“Well, do it,” Logan said crossly. “Tell him!”

“He probably heard you, but I will tell him,” the alien said, and opened her mouth.

“How is that going to help?” Aggy asked Logan.

“Bosses don’t like to do stuff like that,” Logan said. “That’s why they’re bosses.”

The alien shut her mouth.

“What did he say?” Logan asked.

The alien shook her head. “Nothing.”

“What did you expect him to say?” Aggy asked. “‘Okay. You win. You can have your dogs back’?”

Logan shrugged. “

That’s him again,” the alien said, gaping again.

Pickles appeared on the lawn.