Sally's Bones (5 page)

The Monday after Bones's coming-out party, Sally decided to take the bus to school. Now that the dog was out of the bag, she no longer saw any reason to keep her friend under wraps. With her books clutched to her chest and Bones hanging out of the carrier on her back, Sally arrived at the bus stop.

Because it had been a while since she'd opted for automotive transportation, Sally had left her house extra early to be sure she wouldn't miss her ride. As she rested her Bones on an empty park bench, she watched the early morning parade of dog walkers and joggers pass her by.

“Check out that little guy,” Sally said as she pointed to a moping English bulldog. Though his owner pulled the leash with all his might, the immovable beast refused to budge. “Poor pooch seems down in the dumps. Maybe Viola Vanderperfect ruined his birthday too.”

“Grwoof,” Bones said as he nuzzled his nose into Sally's arm. She hugged him to show she was all right.

“That dog seems off his game too,” Sally said in reference to a frantic Jack Russell terrier that raced from twig to stick, in search of something he clearly could not find. A little girl chased after him, leash in hand, but Sally didn't think the kid stood a chance.

“Ggruff, ggruff!” Bones added, pointing his snout toward the jogging track that circled Merryland's reservoir.

“No way!” Sally gasped as she watched a pack of Pekingese pursue a terrified runner, yapping shrilly as they nipped at his heels. “What the heck is going on?”

“Something terrible, that's what,” an approaching woman replied.

Sally recognized her neighbor and smiled. “Hi, Miss Punch,” she said politely.

“Hi, Sally, honey,” Judy Punch responded as she hurried past. “Sorry, darling. No time to chat. Mr. President and I are on a mission,” the heavyset woman said, referring to the little dachshund that pulled her forward by his leash. “Pray for us that this horrible ordeal gets straightened out soon.”

Before Sally had the chance to ask what she was talking about, Miss Punch and Mr. President were halfway down the block, and the school bus had arrived. Her concern for anyone other than herself and Bones instantly vanished.

“Here we go,” she whispered to the creature in her carry-on as they boarded the bus.

The clamor of boisterous boys and gossiping girls died down immediately. Every eye was on Sally and the contents of her backpack. Dropping her head, she made for the nearest bench, managing to sit before anyone noticed how terribly her knees shook.

“Hey, Sally.” Tommy Gunn and Danny Boi plopped onto the bench across the aisle from hers. Sally regarded them out of the corner of her eye.

“Yeah, so, crazy party on Saturday, huh?” Tommy continued. He looked at the little skull that peeked out of her bag.

“Wouldn't know. I wasn't invited,” Sally said, staring ahead.

“Well, yeah. I mean, at the restaurant, then,” Tommy stumbled.

“Yeah, at the restaurant,” echoed Danny.

“You know, when your dog thing, or whatever, ran around and knocked into people and stuff?” Tommy shook his head at the memory. Sally tensed and placed a protective hand on Bones. “That was pretty, well, you know…cool.”

“Yeah, cool,” Danny agreed.

Sally whipped around to face the boys, who instinctively recoiled. “Cool?” She repeated the word as if Tommy had said it in Finnish.

“Heck, yeah,” Tommy hollered and pumped his fist in the air. “Super cool! Skeletor there—”

“Bones,” Sally corrected. “His name is Bones.”

“Sure, OK.” Tommy waved his hands in surrender. “
Bones
is a pretty awesome little guy. Maybe we could, you know, if you both wanted to, maybe check out the tire swing at recess?”

Sally's eyes bulged. She stared at Tommy until he began to shift nervously in his seat. She wondered if he had any idea to whom he was speaking. Sally had known Tommy since they were toddlers, but he had never so much as glanced in her direction. Could he actually be interested in befriending her now? As Sally opened her mouth to speak, a voice that was not hers replied.

“She doesn't want to play on some dirty swing set. Do you, Sally?” Chati Chattercathy asked. She shook her head vigorously, silently answering her own question, and Sally, hypnotized, mimicked the side-to-side motion. “You can spend recess with me and the girls.” Chati pointed to a quartet of smiling, lip-glossed faces a few rows back. They waved in unison.

“Oh, well, I don't—”

“Of course, your dead dog can come too,” Chati added emphatically as she slid onto the bench behind Sally's. Bones popped out of his carrier to greet her. Surprised by the sudden proximity to the object of her frightened fascination, Chati lurched back, breaking the spell she had cast over Sally.

“You don't have to be scared of him,” Sally snapped, her face flushing red in knee-jerk fury. “He's not going to hurt you.”

“I-I'm not,” Chati stuttered. “I was just…” Tommy and Danny laughed, and Chati's lip began to tremble.

Though Sally's heart would not yet believe it, her head was beginning to make sense of what was happening. Bones was an overnight fascination, and, simply by association, Sally had moved up the sixth-grade social ladder. Still, despite the fact that, for once, the taunting wasn't aimed at her, Sally couldn't help but feel surprising, if somewhat irritating, pity for her embarrassed classmate. She glared at the laughing boys across the aisle. They immediately quieted.

“Never mind, Chati. It's fine,” Sally sighed. “I was a little scared of Bones at first too.”

“You were?” Chati asked breathlessly.

“Sure,” Sally admitted. “But then I got to know him, and we've been best friends since.” She tickled her little pet, who licked her in gratitude.

“Omigosh, you have to eat lunch with us, Sally,” Chati declared. “I want to hear ev-er-ee-thing!” Chati shifted her gaze to the friendly corpse that panted happily at her. She leaned in a brave two inches and added, “Maybe, if I get to know Bones, I can pet him too?”

Sally shrugged and nodded. Clapping wildly, Chati returned to the back of the bus where her girlfriends waited for what was sure to be an exhaustively detailed debriefing.

Tommy and Danny continued to steal glances at Bones for the rest of the ride to school. Sally managed to ignore them until Bones, tired of the boys' obvious gawking, unleashed a tirade of fed-up barking, causing them to fall off their bench and into the aisle. Sally couldn't help but laugh.

When they arrived at school, Tommy called to Sally as they disembarked from the bus. “I know you're doing lunch with Chati today, but maybe we can hang tomorrow?”

Sally shifted from one foot to the other. “Um, maybe,” she replied.

“Cool!” Tommy said. He and Danny high-fived.

Glancing over her shoulder at Bones, Sally shrugged. “Guess we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

“Grwoof,” Bones agreed before slipping down into his carrier and out of sight.

As the students of Merryland Middle School shuffled through the front gates, few of them noticed the local lawman standing off to the side, surveying the crowd. Had they offered him a glance, as Sally did, they surely would have been drawn to the little man who skulked beside him. Squat and fat in a starched white uniform, he had a deeply creased scowl tattooed across his face and the words “Dog Catcher” embroidered on the breast pocket of his jacket.

Sally felt her breakfast like a brick in her stomach. She quickly looked away. “Stay cool, boy,” she whispered to Bones. Camouflaging herself in a flock of fifth graders, she was nearly in the building when a familiar voice called out.

“Hey, Sally,” said Officer Stu as he motioned her over. His smile was wide, but his eyes looked troubled as they moved between Sally and her backpack.

“Hi, Officer Stu,” Sally said in the calmest voice she could muster. “What's up?” She smiled at the lanky policeman, whom she had known since she was born. When her parents were given the wrong baby, it was Stu who solved the mystery of the mix-up. After that, he had always made time for Sally, and he was one of the few, if not the only, Merrylanders who seemed unfazed by her preference for graveyards over malls.

“Heard about your birthday dinner at Miss Muffet's,” the kindly cop began. “Sounds like it was a real to-do.” He paused, extending an invitation for Sally to take up the narrative. With her silence, she declined. “Well,” he continued, “heard you had a special friend at that party. A different kind of friend. Want to tell me about that?”

Sally remained silent. She liked Officer Stu and might have told him everything were it not for the nasty troll-man loitering nearby, who licked his lips as he noisily sucked air in through his mouth. His squinty black eyes feasted on Sally's backpack, and she turned slightly, attempting to shield it from the grotesque gentleman's hungry stare. The bell signaling first period rang. Sally jumped.

“Whassa matter, girly?” asked the Dog Catcher. “You look a bit pale.” The weaselly little man sucked on his teeth.

“Well, hah, if I hurry on to math, maybe sine and cosine could get me a good tan.” Sally laughed feebly as beads of sweat erupted on her forehead.

“It's OK, Sally,” said Officer Stu. “I'll make sure your teacher knows why you're late.”

“He already knows why,” the D.C. interjected. “It's because 'a what's in that bag. Let's rip it open and see what spills out.” The little man lunged at Sally, who swerved out of his path.

“Now hang on a second,” Officer Stu began, but it was too late. The D.C. had managed to grab hold of one of the ventilation panels on Bones's carrier. When Sally turned, he yanked, and the bag tore open. A bundle of bones tumbled out. Dazed from the fall, the skeleton puppy took a moment to locate his owner, but it was all the pint-sized bounty hunter needed to execute his attack.

A metal collar snapped around Bones's neck. It was connected to a long rod that the D.C. gripped triumphantly in his meaty little hands.

“Let him go!” Sally screamed. Bones barked and tried unsuccessfully to reach his distraught friend.

“Now, there's no need to get hysterical,” Officer Stu lamely comforted, though he seemed as surprised as Sally by this turn of events. Turning to the D.C., he added, “And there's no need to lock the dog up. We agreed only to investigate the situation.”

“What else is there to investigate?” the D.C. snapped. “A crime's been committed, and this
thing
's the clear culprit!”

“A crime? What crime?” Sally demanded. “Bones hasn't done anything wrong!”

The D.C. snorted. “Oh, really? Then you tell me who's been stealing all the neighborhood dogs' bones?”

Confused, Sally turned to Officer Stu. “What is he talking about?”

The D.C. spoke before Stu had the chance. “Between 9:00 p.m. Friday evening—just after your little friend here made his demonic debut—and 6:00 a.m. today, nearly every bone belonging to a canine citizen of Merryland, USA, has been stolen. It's up to me to sniff out the guilty party.”

The D.C. planted his feet firmly on the ground and put his free hand on his hip. Sally imagined him practicing this tough-guy stance in front of his mirror at home. Had he not had a vise grip on her pet, she might even have laughed.

“But that's crazy,” she said as calmly as she could. “Why would anyone take dog toys?”

“I'm not talkin' fuzzy cloth playthings,” the D.C. declared. “I don't even mean rawhides. Someone's been snatching bones. Real, marrow-filled bones! Just like the ones your pooch here is made out of.” Leaning in close to the incarcerated cadaver, the D.C. bared his teeth in a triumphant grimace. “You're mine now, bub. I don't know what you are, but I intend to find out. I'm gonna give you a full examination.”

Tears stung Sally's eyes as Bones tried in vain to free himself. Whistling lightly, the evil D.C. dragged his catch toward an imposing white van. Sally lunged forward, throwing herself on top of her pet.

“No!” she shouted as she pulled on his collar. “You have no evidence. You have to let him go.”

“Evidence?” the D.C. scoffed. “He's a mange-less mutt! I'm taking him in.”

Sally turned to Officer Stu, her onetime champion, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Do something,” she pleaded. “Please!”

The lawman, who had been paralyzed for much of the scene, silently strode over to the D.C. and yanked the snare pole from his hands. “Let the dog go,” he commanded.

“What?” the D.C. cried.

“Sally's right,” said Officer Stu, keeping his cool. “You don't have any real proof that Bones here committed this crime. Everything you've said so far is purely circumstantial. Therefore, you have to set him free.”

“But the town is going nuts!” the D.C. cried. “Dogs are rebelling everywhere—running wild at the dog park, going on hunger strikes in their homes—and their owners are calling for me. I'm the one who can help them.” Pulling Stu aside, he added in a low tone, “It's my turn to be the hero. Don't take this away from me.”