I wagged. My mother rubbed her head on my neck. I licked her face, but she did not like that and turned away from me.
I remembered Big Kitten, watching me from the rock. Sometimes cats have to stay where they are when dogs move on. This was one of those times. When I climbed back down the hill, I knew my mother was motionless behind me, gazing at me as I left.
It was how cats say good-bye.
I could think of nothing to do but Go Home again and see if Lucas was there this time. I crossed the small stream, scaled the bank, and went through the park, passing the slide I had climbed and jumped off so many times. It was much smaller now, for some reason.
I made my way toward our street, but before I got there a truck came around the corner, one with dog smells and a stack of dog crates on the back. I stopped and so did the truck. A fat man with a hat got out of the front seat.
I knew this man.
“Well, I don’t believe my eyes,” he declared.
I did not wag. I watched him suspiciously.
“Come here, girl!” He reached to the side of his truck and brought out a stick with a loop of rope on the end of it. “Treat!”
I was suddenly very afraid. I did not believe Hat-man would give me a treat, even though I was aware he had done so in the past. He was one of those who would keep me from Lucas, and he would do it angrily. He was a bad man.
I turned from him and ran.
*
I cut through yards, hearing the truck start up behind me. I got to our street and turned, dashing past our house and down the sidewalk next to the busy road. Darted through traffic. Cars honked and made a shrieking sound. I heard the truck coming closer. I tore across the parking lot. Up to the door at Go to Work.
No one was there to let me in. Frustrated, I trotted alongside the edge of the building, passing hedges, up a sidewalk. People were sitting outside, smoking like Sylvia while the sun went down.
I heard the truck rumble into the parking lot right behind me.
There was a big glass door and when I approached it, it slid open in a manner similar to the way the doors had parted in the place where there was a shelf with chickens set out for me. No chicken aroma greeted me this time—just the scents and sounds of many, many people. But the open door was an invitation, and I trotted inside.
Everywhere people were milling around, sitting in chairs, talking. Behind a big desk right in front of the door a woman jumped to her feet. “Oh! A dog!” she said in alarm.
Though I had never entered through this door before, I could smell where to go. Several people reacted to me as I moved past the woman, but I ignored them, my snout to the floor for guidance.
“Anybody know whose dog that is?” she called out.
Because the air was full of so many people I did not smell anyone I knew until I heard a familiar voice. “Bella? Bella!”
It was Olivia! She was standing on the other side of a room full of soft chairs and people talking. She put a hand to her mouth and some papers slipped from her hands. We ran to each other and she dropped to her knees. I jumped up and licked her face and could not stop the whimpers from rising in my throat. I was full of joy and relief and love. I flopped down for a tummy rub and then leaped to my feet and put my paws on her chest. She laughed, falling back.
“Oh, Bella, Bella,” she kept saying. I licked the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t believe it. How did this happen? Where have you been? Oh, Bella, we searched so hard for you.”
Another woman came over to join us. “Is this your dog?” she asked.
“No. Well, in a way. It’s my fiancé’s dog. It’s been—my God, it’s been more than two years. We had to send Bella away because of the breed laws in Denver, and by the time Lucas found a place to live and we went to get her, Bella had run away. We drove all over Durango, we put up posters, and then we thought probably something bad had happened to her. But you’re here, Bella! A miracle dog!” Olivia rubbed my ears and I leaned into her, groaning. “Oh, Bella, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what you must have gone through. Where’s your collar?”
Olivia had the scent of Lucas on her skin, and I couldn’t stop drinking it in. Olivia would lead me to him. My long journey was over. I was overjoyed to be back with my human family! I could not stop circling Olivia’s legs, even when she stood back up. I put my feet on her hips, trying to climb up to kiss her face.
“Uh, Olivia? Is that your dog?” another woman asked. It was the same person who had been sitting behind the desk. I wagged, knowing that now I was with Olivia the woman would not be upset with me.
“Yes. It’s a long story. She used to come here all the time when she was a puppy. I guess she found her way back.”
“Oh. Well, there’s an animal control officer here,” the desk-woman said.
“Sorry?”
“He said he was chasing the dog and saw her come in here.”
“Huh,” Olivia replied. “And?”
“He says you have to surrender her. You have to bring the dog out,” the desk-woman said apologetically.
“I see.”
“Do you want me to have him come back here?”
Anger was a rare emotion for Olivia, but that’s what I felt coming off her now. “No. Tell him I said to … Just tell him no, I’m not bringing the dog out.”
“Well … he’s an officer of the law, Olivia,” Desk-woman said cautiously.
“I know.”
“I think you pretty much have to do what he says, don’t you?”
“No, actually, I have a different opinion.”
“What are you going to do?”
*
Olivia led me down a long hallway to a very familiar part of the building. I wagged furiously as we turned the corner and pushed in through some heavy doors. People were sitting in a circle of metal chairs in the center of a big room with a slick, clean floor.
“Sit, Bella,” Olivia commanded. I did Sit, excited to be there with her. “Uh, hi?” she called. “I’m really sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I have sort of an emergency.”
The people reacted to what Olivia had just said, straightening in their chairs, which squeaked.
“What is it?” a man asked, standing. I wagged, overjoyed. It was Ty!
“Bella came back,” Olivia said. I wagged even harder at my name and broke from Sit, running to Ty and jumping on him.
“Bella!” He laughed delightedly as I pawed him. “How in the world?”
“Bella?”
Mom! I dashed to her on the slick floor, panting, whimpering, and leaping up to lick her face. She bent over. She also reeked of Lucas—Mom and Olivia would help me find him! I was doing Go Home at last.
As soon as I got to her I realized that the people sitting in the chairs were all my friends. Layla stood. “Bella?” I ran to her, then turned to Steve, and Marty and Jordan put their hands on me, and my friends were all calling me and laughing and clapping.
“How did she get here?” Mom asked.
I flopped down for a tummy rub. Ty knelt next to me.
“Good dog, Bella!” Marty said.