Pickles shook a few times, as if she were wet, then ran across the grass to the alien.
“Look at that!” Aggy said. “She likes you!”
Another dog appeared, this one small with a pushed-in face and long hair. Logan thought it looked like Chloe, and worried it would start yapping like Chloe and bring his mom—and maybe the police—outside before all the dogs were back and the extraterrestrial safely returned to her spaceship. But, like Pickles, it kept its snout shut and ran to the alien.
Next was Ollie. Then a pug. Then a pit bull. Then Nilla, the puppy. They all remained silent, and all rushed to the alien. The rest of the dogs arrived, one by one, and all followed the same routine. All, that is, but one. This one was a fat old beagle/dachshund mix that looked like a cow, and went straight to Aggy.
Aggy hugged him and rubbed him and kissed him all over his face. Festus thumped his tail on the ground like a drumstick on a drum.
The porch light switched on. Logan’s mom leaned against the glass of the window, her hand shading her eyes.
“Logan?” she called.
“I have to go,” the alien said.
“Yes, you should,” Logan said, his heart racing and sinking at the same time.
“Thank you so much,” Aggy said.
“Yes. Thank you, ma’am,” Logan added.
“Such a polite, clever, and dedicated young man,” the alien said, her golden light glowing. “And such a dear friend your co-operative is.”
Then she opened her mouth and was gone.
“Logan?”
His mom had opened the back door and was standing on the porch, still shading her eyes.
Logan glanced at Aggy, unsure how she would view a boy his age doing what he really wanted to do, then went ahead and did it: he flew across the yard and into his mother’s arms.
His mom laughed and cried and peppered him with kisses, all the while saying, “I have been scared out of my wits!” “We looked everywhere!” “Where have you been?” and “Do you know what I’m going to do to you once I get over being relieved?”
Finally, realizing they weren’t alone, she said, “Where did all these dogs come from?”
The animals rushed up to them, frantic for attention. Except for Festus, that is.
“They’re the dognapped dogs,” Logan said. “We found them.”
“Is that Aggy?” his mom asked.
Aggy stepped out of the shadows, Festus at her heel.
“It’s me, Jenny,” she said.
“Your mom called. She’s beside herself with worry.”
“I was helping Logan. With the dogs.”
“You found all the missing dogs?” Logan’s mom asked. “Just the two of you? Because I could have sworn there was someone else with you. Someone … taller.”
Aggy looked to Logan.
“It was one of the aliens, Mom,” he said. “The nice one. She helped us.”
His mom’s brow wrinkled, then relaxed. “And you two got the dogs back.”
“That’s right,” Logan said. “The Canine Rescue Unit got them back.”
“The Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit, you mean,” Aggy said.
“Right,” Logan said. “You do believe us, don’t you, Mom?”
His mom exhaled, long and slow. Her whole body loosened. Her mouth opened into a generous smile. All her teeth showed.
“Of course I believe you,” she said.
“The boss alien was wrong then,” Logan said. “He said human adults don’t listen to kids. They just humor us.”
His mom squeezed him. “How he ever got to be boss, I’ll never know.”