“That’s still the plan.” Lucas nodded. “Everything works out, I will start in the fall.”
Finally—finally—they stopped talking to each other and I got into Olivia’s car. I sat in the backseat and stuck my nose out the window.
I knew that I would never fully understand what had just transpired. I did not understand why I was put in the room with the crates and all the dogs, nor why Lucas waited for so long before finally coming to get me. I just knew that we were a family and that I would never leave home again.
*
We were back to getting up before the sun was light, taking a walk, and then going out again after dark. “It’s the only time we can be sure the dog catcher isn’t out,” Lucas told Mom.
“We’ll move out of Denver city limits,” Mom declared.
“Where? Aurora bans pits. Commerce City bans pits. Lone Tree bans pits,” Lucas said bitterly.
“I am sure there is someplace we can go.”
“Someplace we can afford? After we break our lease here? Where do we get the security deposit? How do we move our stuff?” Lucas demanded. “We don’t even have the money to buy a car!”
“Stop it! I won’t have you talking like this. The only time anyone is defeated is when they give up,” Mom said sternly. “Let’s start looking for an apartment now.”
That night when Lucas took me for a late-night walk, I could smell the truck with all the animal odors far behind us. Lucas did not turn around to see it, but I knew it was there.
Ten
The next morning when we went outside, there was wet snow on the ground and the sky was still dark. Lucas made a small chuckle. “Springtime in Denver, Bella.”
The lack of people and cars made for a peaceful, hushed environment. Smells were muted, and my paws were instantly soaking. It was wonderful. The foreboding in Lucas’s manner changed as he stood laughing at me rolling in the delightfully cold blanket. I was snorting and sneezing and wanted to play all day, but once I had done Do Your Business we turned around.
Mom was waiting at the door when we went up the steps to the porch. “Any sign of animal control?”
“No. They’re not going to be out this early,” Lucas told her. “And then tonight I’ll wait until late to take her out again.”
“Poor Bella. That’s such a long time to wait.”
“She’ll be okay. I don’t know what else we can do.”
“I’ll keep searching online for a new place.”
“Okay, Mom.”
“Rents have gone up so much.” She sighed.
“Did you talk to your case manager?”
“Yes. It’s not hopeless, just time consuming. I can submit an appeal once we’ve actually located a place.”
“Time is the one thing we don’t have,” Lucas observed gravely.
“Don’t look like that. We’ll be fine.”
Lucas made a frustrated noise. “We’re never going to find a place where Bella’s allowed, that’s on the bus route, that we can afford, and that qualifies for your subsidy.”
“Don’t say never. I promise we will.”
Lucas stroked my head. “You be a good dog, Bella. I have to go to work now.”
Mom and I spent the day together. I was so content just to lie there, to not be in a room with barking dogs, to know that I was home and that Lucas would be back and would smell like Olivia. Outside, sun heated the air and my nose told me the snow had melted.
That night Lucas went outside without me, carrying cat food, and then returned. “No sign of the dog cops,” he told Mom. He hooked my leash and I danced around in excitement. I went to the door, whimpering to get out.
I could smell that my mother was in the den on the other side of the fence, and that Lucas had given her and the other cats some food.
I could smell something else, too. One street away, that truck was back, the one with the crates on the back. My happy mood vanished—was it coming back for me? I did not want to ride the truck and go back to that building. I looked up at Lucas.
“It’s okay, Bella. We’re safe.”
I heard the sound of the truck’s distinctive rumbling as it eased onto our street. The smells became much stronger, but Lucas apparently couldn’t sense them.
Lucas pulled gently on the leash. “Let’s go, Bella.” That truck was moving, coming closer. I did what Lucas wanted, moving ahead of him on the leash, and then suddenly he froze. The truck roared loudly and pulled in front of us and stopped. Hat-man jumped out.
“By the authority of the city of Denver I am seizing that animal,” he declared.
Lucas knelt by my side, fumbling with my collar. I tensed—time to do Go Home?
Hat-man raised a hand. “If you release that dog and I catch him off leash I will dart him.”
Lucas was afraid and angry. “No, you will not.” He took a step toward home.
“Don’t make this difficult, kid,” the hat-man said softly. “I called for backup as soon as I saw you step out on the curb. Anything you try now will just make it worse.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I am enforcing the law.”
“We’re moving. Isn’t that what you want? What Gunter wants? We’ll move away and won’t be able to see him tear down the house where you said there were no cats. We just need time to find a place. Okay? You guys win. Just let us have a few days.”
“Can’t do it. You don’t think everyone says this? If we gave everybody with a pit bull extra days, we’d never pick any of them up. Place would be overrun.”
“Please.”
A car pulled up behind us. There were bright, flashing lights on its roof. Two people got out. They had dark suits and metal tools on their belts. Both were women. One was much taller than the other. Police.
“This is a pit bull. It’s been picked up before. The owner is resisting,” Hat-man greeted. “I need you to arrest him for failing to comply with a legal order.”
“That’s a pit bull? You sure?” one of the women, the tall one, asked.
Hat-man nodded. “Been certified by three ACOs.”
“Maybe,” the woman replied doubtfully.
“We don’t get involved in that decision,” the other woman said.
“It just doesn’t look like a pit bull to me,” the taller woman said.
“What you think doesn’t matter,” Hat-man said angrily.
Both women regarded him without expression. Then the taller one turned to Lucas. “What’s your name?”
“Lucas Ray.”
“Well Lucas, you do need to surrender the dog to animal control,” she told him kindly.
“But they want to kill her! It’s not fair. She just got out of the dog pound yesterday. That was one day ago,” Lucas replied. “We’re going to move out of Denver, we just need time.”
I yawned anxiously, feeling Lucas’s distress, Hat-man’s rage, and the tension in the two women.
“You couldn’t give him a few days to relocate?” the taller woman asked. “Seems like a reasonable request.”
“No. I am doing my job here. You need to arrest the kid for refusing to surrender the animal.”
“Please do not point your finger at me,” the taller woman said coldly.