Connor lets me sleep in his bed with him all night long. What Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
The next morning, Mom pours some more of that yummy food into a bowl and sets it on the floor for me. Then Connor slips me pieces of bacon under the table. Mmm! I LOVE bacon. It’s my favorite food!
After breakfast, Mom says, “Connor? Please take Buddy for a walk.”
I sit up. Walk? I LOVE walks. They’re my favorite thing!
“Okay. In a minute,” Connor says.
He gets up from the table and goes to his room.
I follow him. “We are going for a walk, aren’t we?” I ask him with my eyes.
He doesn’t answer. He grabs some papers and coins from the top of his dresser and stuffs them in his pocket.
Papers and coins! When Kayla brings papers and coins on our walks, we stop for ice cream. I LOVE ice cream. It’s my favorite food!
We go back out to the kitchen and Connor snaps the leash to my collar. Then we are on our way.
Oh, boy! Birds. Squirrels. Rabbits. Fresh air.
“Slow down, boy,” Connor says, tugging on my leash.
Oops. I forget that humans can’t walk as fast as dogs.
I try to walk slower. I try to walk right next to Connor. Humans like it when you walk right next to them.
“KING?” I hear a loud, familiar voice. “KING, IS IT REALLY YOU?”
“Mouse!” I cry. Mouse is my friend—my best friend who is not human. He lives two houses down from Connor.
“Slow down, Buddy!” Connor says again.
But I am so excited to see Mouse that I can’t slow down. Maybe Mouse knows what happened to my people?
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Mouse yells even though I am standing right in front of him. He can’t help yelling. He is just a loud dog. He is the biggest, loudest dog on our block.
It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other that we are sniffing each other like crazy through the fence.
“WHERE’S KAYLA?” Mouse asks. “AND WHO’S THAT KID WITH YOU?”
“This is Connor,” I tell Mouse.
There’s something that happens to humans when they get scared. They look different. They sound different. They smell different. It’s hard to describe unless you’re a dog. But trust me. My new friend Connor is scared to death of my old friend Mouse.
Lots of humans are scared of Mouse. It’s weird because Mouse is probably the friendliest dog on the whole block. I don’t think he would even hurt a flea.
“Hi, Connor,” Mouse says in a voice that is soft for Mouse, but still pretty loud.
Connor backs away. “Let’s go, Buddy,” he says, yanking on my collar.
“BUDDY?” Mouse says as Connor drags me away. “DID THAT KID JUST CALL YOU BUDDY?”
“It’s a long story,” I tell him over my shoulder. “Hey, have you seen my people?”
“NO!” Mouse says. “I’VE BEEN ASKING AROUND. NO ONE HAS SEEN YOU OR YOUR PEOPLE IN A LONG TIME. I WAS GETTING WORRIED.”
I’m still worried. I wish I could stay and chat, but Connor is in a big hurry to get away from Mouse.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” I tell Connor.
Connor tries to cross the street, but I pull him back.
“Let’s go this way instead,” I say.
I’m happy that Connor follows me. This is the way to Kayla’s house. All we have to do is keep going straight until we get to the corner. Then we turn ... and we turn again at the next corner ... and pretty soon we’ll be there! Then maybe we can search for clues. Searching for clues is another part of my plan.
It’s been a long time since I last walked through my neighborhood.
I can smell a fresh rabbit hole in the Tuckers’ yard. I want to check it out, but my collar tightens as Connor pulls me back. I guess I will have to check it out later.
Oh, no. Did the Gormans get another cat?
We turn the corner. Who is this guy walking toward us? I have never seen him before. I don’t think he lives around here.
I don’t like the way he is looking at us. And I really don’t like the way he smells. He smells ... dangerous.
“Hello,” he says to Connor.
I keep walking. I don’t want Connor to talk to this man.
But Connor stops and says hello anyway.
I don’t understand why Connor is afraid of Mouse, but he’s not afraid of this man. Can’t he smell the danger?
“Nice dog,” the man says through his teeth.
He’s lying. He doesn’t think I’m a nice dog at all. He wants to hurt me. He wants to hurt Connor. I can’t explain how I know this. I just do. Just like I know when a human is happy, sad, mad, or scared. It’s a skill most dogs have.
I growl at the man to warn him he’d better leave me and Connor alone.
“Buddy!” Connor says, like I did a bad thing.
But the growling works. The man takes two steps back, and Connor and I continue on our way.
The man is still watching us, though.
Is he going to follow us?
I hope not. I keep checking over my shoulder, but I don’t see him coming. What a relief.
Connor and I keep going. We turn another corner, and I forget all about that man because we’re on my street now. My house is straight ahead.
I can smell it. I can see it. I run toward it as fast as I can. As fast as Connor can run.
There are newspapers in the driveway. Lots of newspapers. I sniff the entire pile. Interesting. Some of them weren’t delivered by our regular paper girl.
I sniff all around the driveway. I sniff the grass. I sniff the big tree in the middle of the yard. Other dogs have been here. Dogs I don’t know.
“What are you doing, Buddy?” Connor asks as he follows me around my yard.
“Looking for clues,” I tell him.
The only clue I have found so far is: My people haven’t been here in a very long time. I can hardly smell them at all. And this is their yard.
I think Connor understands what I said because he lets go of my leash. Good! It’s much easier to search for clues when you aren’t dragging a human behind you.
I scamper up the front steps. I peer inside the tall, skinny window next to the door. There are no lights on inside. No jackets on the hook. No shoes by the door.
Something is wrong. I can feel it all the way from my head to my tail. If only I could go inside and check things out. I try and wiggle the door open with my nose. It doesn’t budge.
I scratch at the door. But no one comes to let me in.
There’s a window on the back porch that’s sometimes open. Maybe I can get in through there?
I race around the side of the house, but the gate is closed. I can’t get to the backyard.
I check the other side of the house. This gate is closed, too. What now?
Maybe Connor will open the gate for me. I go back around to the front of the house.
But when I get there, Connor is gone.