The Dog in the Freezer (6 page)

That night, Jerry brought home Chinese takeout. I shared my fried rice with Michael. She was crazy for it. She cleaned out the carton. She ate more than I did.

“You're starting a bad habit,” Jerry said. “She's going to beg for table food all the time now. Give her dog food.”

“I don't like dog food.”

“I'm not asking you to eat it, Lucas.”

She went over and got her nose in Jerry's dish. “Who invited you?” Jerry said, pushing her away.

“Don't be mean, Jerry. She's young, she's growing, she needs a lot of food.”

“Not mine,” Jerry said. “Go on, you garbage can, get away.”

“Don't call her that.” I wrapped my arms around her. “Her name is Michael.” She was warm and smooth, and I could feel the thick muscles under her coat. She kept looking around at me with those big goofy deer eyes like,
What do we do next, Lucas?

MICHAEL ENROLLS IN SCHOOL

“Look, Michael, I want to impress my friend Glori by training you, and you're not cooperating. Sit!” I said.

She jumped.

When I said come, she yawned.

When I said heel, she lay on her back for me to scratch her belly. It was all a game to her.

“Michael, no scratching, no playing, no getting your ears stroked till you listen.” I snapped my fingers. “This means come. Okay? You got it?” I snapped my fingers.

She wandered off to investigate a piece of paper in the corner of the room.

I grabbed her and held her down. “You have to sit when I tell you to sit. Sit!”

She wriggled out from under my hand and barked, like this was a really good game.

“Okay. I give up.”

Glori held her dog obedience class in the afternoon. I didn't know which afternoon, but I found out by going to McKessney Park. I was lucky. The very first time Michael and I went there, a faded red pickup truck drove up, and Glori was in the passenger seat. Her dog was in back and a guy with a shaved head was behind the wheel.

“Michael,” I whispered, “now we do it. We're going to make a great impression on Glori. When I say come, you—”

Just then Michael spotted Belle, Glori's shepherd, and
like a shot she was off. She threw herself at Belle, sniffing around the way dogs do.

“Is this your dog?” Glori said. “Call her off.”

“Michael, come here. Michael!”

I had to run after her, but that wasn't the worst of it. When I picked her up, she nipped at me. “Hey!” I slapped her on the muzzle.

“She shouldn't be biting,” Glori said. “And you shouldn't be hitting her.”

“I wasn't. And she doesn't,” I said quickly.

“She needs to be trained.” Glori was frowning. “An untrained dog is an unmanageable dog.”

“She's my first dog,” I said.

“I know. I know.”

So she did remember me. “I want to enroll her in the class.”

“Give me a paw,” she ordered, and took Michael's paw in her hand. “Let's see if she's going to cooperate. Shake, girl.” She moved Michael's paw up and down. “That's the way, girl.” She tickled Michael's ears and did it again. “Shake.”

The paw went up and down, then the petting and the praise, then the paw again.

“She's doing it!” I said. “She's shaking.”

“Of course she is. She's going to do really well. Shake,” she said, and Michael put out her paw.

I stuck out my paw, too.

“Oh, you're a couple of cute pups,” Glori said.

PROFESSOR GLORI

Glori was a great teacher. Even after one class, Michael behaved better. She actually came when I called her and sat when I told her to sit. Jerry thought the training class was a brilliant idea. “You really showed initative there, Lucas. I'm proud of you. Things are shaping up for you now.”

There were three women and another boy around my age in the first class, but the boy never showed up again.

The guy in the red pickup always dropped Glori and Belle off. Sometimes he hung around. Sometimes he left and came back later. I didn't like him. I was always glad when he left.

At the start of each class, Glori would give a little lecture. “Dogs are pack animals, like wolves. There's the top dog, the alpha dog. It's like a ladder and on the next rung down there's an underdog, and a dog under that dog. And so on. Dogs want to know their place. Since most dogs don't live in packs, but with their owners, you have to be the top dog. Even if it's only one dog, you're the leader of the pack. Don't ever forget that.”

During class, Glori gave each dog a lot of attention. “People, I want you to hug your dog every day. Talk to your dog. Get down there on all fours, on your dog's level, and hug him and show him how much you love him. Lucas, demonstrate how you love Michael.”

“Yes, Professor Glori.” I wound my arms around Michael's chest and hugged her.

“Look how happy Michael looks,” Glori said. “Aren't you, Michael?”

Glori was nice to everyone, but I thought she was extra nice to Michael. And to me, too.

I never missed a class. I came early, so I could talk to Glori before the others arrived. I brought bagels to share with her. I took pictures of the class with my camera and gave them to her. On one I wrote “For Professor Glori.” I didn't tell her I liked her, but I think she knew. When class was over, and if her boyfriend wasn't back, I'd hang around and talk to her some more. It was a lot about dogs, but other things, too. I found out she was in college, and that the guy in the red pickup
was
her boyfriend, and his name was George.

One day he stayed and ate all the bagels. I had four of them in the bag and he didn't even say thanks. I didn't like anything about him. Not his name. Or his sleeveless sweatshirts. Or the rings he wore on his fingers or the chains around his neck.

Glori showed me a silver ring he'd given her. It was in the shape of a snake with ruby eyes. It was too big for her, and she wore it on her thumb. George had a lawn-mowing business. She'd worked with him at the beginning of the summer until she got the job running dogs.

“You're better off without him,” I said.

“Why? Don't you like him?”

“He thinks he's so big.”

“Oh, you're just too young to understand some things.” And then she lectured me. “When you tear someone
down, it's a sign of weakness, not strength, Lucas. You need to learn to look beneath the surface, to understand a person's true character. When you get older, you'll see.”

“He loves himself too much,” I said. “That pearl in his ear. What's that for?”

“He's different. He's not like everyone else.”

“He's an alpha dog.”

Glori laughed. She pulled my ear. “Are you jealous, Lucas? I can be friends with more than one person.”

One day Michael and I walked her and Belle home. There was a wire fence around her house and two more dogs in the yard: A miniature collie that belonged to her sister and Boy, her mother's old black Labrador. The dogs came to greet Glori, but they were really excited about Michael.

We watched the dogs playing for a while. Glori started asking me a bunch of questions, about my father and my uncle and why I was in Cliffside Park this summer.

“Is Jerry like a father to you?”

“No,” I said.

“Why not?”

“He's just not.”

“What does that mean? Be more specific.”

“I don't know. He's okay.”

“Okay? Does he like you?”

“I guess so. I'm in his house. He invited me to come.”

“And do you like being there?”

I got down with Boy and scratched him under the chin. “You really know how to ask questions,” I said.

“I should. Journalism is my second choice if I don't get into medical school—”

“So I'm your guinea pig?”

“That's right.” She tapped me on the head. “Sure you are.”

I wanted to tap her back, but I didn't know if I should. I liked her touching me. I wished she'd do it some more.

THE GIRL IN THE BAGGY SHORTS

One day there was another girl in the truck with Glori and George. They all got out and stood there talking. The other girl wore work boots and a shirt so short it showed her belly button. After a while she and George drove off together.

“Do you like Esther?” Glori asked me after the class. I was holding a pocket mirror up for her while she pinned her hair back.

“She's okay,” I said. “Cute belly button.”

“Cute, nothing!” Glori grabbed the mirror back from me. “That's really stupid, Lucas. You guys!”

“Glori, I didn't mean—”

“Oh, I know what you meant.”

“Glori, I—”

“No! I don't want to hear anything else. Good-bye, Lucas.”

I sat down under a tree. Michael went sniffing around. I was supposed to work her, practice the lesson. Send her out and call her back. Walk and make her heel and sit. I didn't do any of it. “Michael. Here!” She came right over.
I got my arm around her. “You think Glori's really mad at me? Maybe she won't want us in the class. You think?”

Michael barked. She had developed this goofy way of barking, halfway between a whine and a bark, that was like talk. Maybe nobody else understood, but I knew what she meant.
Cool it. It's going to be all right, Lucas. Come on, let's play!

•  •  •

Esther, the other girl, was there again on Thursday and hung around with George while Glori ran the class. For a while they sat on the hood of the truck. He had his head in her lap, and she was smoothing his eyebrows. Glori kept looking over at them.

Then Esther slid off the truck and George chased her around. She jumped into the cab and blew the horn.

“Will you guys cut that out,” Glori yelled. “Just stop!”

George froze, like he was playing statues. Esther was smiling at him from inside the cab.

“There's a class going on,” Glori said. She looked upset. She ended the lesson ten minutes early, and they all drove off together.

“I hate him,” I told Michael. “What a pig. How many girlfriends does he need?” I wanted to do something for Glori. Something great. Maybe I'd die for her. No, I didn't want to die, but I wanted her to know I would if I had to.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BAGEL SHOP

I saw Glori at the bagel shop, sitting by herself in a corner. She looked sad, but when she saw me she waved me
over. “Hi, Lucas. Where's Michael?”

“I left her home.” I sat down and offered her part of my bagel. “Nice and hot,” I said.

She shook her head. “Nothing for me. So, how're you, Lucas?”

I started blabbing about Michael and how this summer had turned from bad to brilliant, all thanks to Michael. “And you,” I said.

“Me? That's nice.” She played with the silver ring George had given her. “How're things going with your uncle?”

“Good. Jerry does his thing, and I do mine.”

“Your uncle should be more like a father to you, a role model. That's what your mother wanted. That's why she sent you here. He should be thinking about you more. He's selfish. All he thinks about is himself.”

“He got me Michael.”

“He got you a dog, but where's he? Does he really care about you? All guys think about is themselves.”

“Jerry's okay,” I said. Why was she acting so upset about him? She didn't even know him.

“You've got a right to be disappointed, Lucas. I know what it's like to be disappointed in someone.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

I didn't know what to do. I handed her a napkin. “Did I do something wrong, Glori? Are you mad at me?”

She wiped her face. “Not you. You're fine, Lucas.” She took my hand. “Don't ever change. What a stupid thing to say. You're
going to change, but I wish you could stay the way you are. With that face. You still care.”

“You're crying again,” I said.

“I'm not! George is not worth crying over. So he's got him a new girlfriend. So he had one before me and he'll have one after her.” She took another napkin and dried her eyes. “I don't care anymore. They deserve each other.”

She pulled the ring off her thumb. “It's nice, isn't it? He said it was mine. Now he wants to give it to Esther.”

“You don't have to give it back,” I said. “He gave it to you, so it's yours.”

“Yeah,” she said. “You're right, Lucas.” She put it back on her finger. “He can give her something else.”

JERRY ASKS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION

“Hey, old son, the time is getting close,” Jerry said. He was standing by the calendar counting off the days. “You're going to be going home in a week. Isn't your mother's school over on the eighteenth?”

I got up and looked at the date. I'd forgotten about the time. My uncle hadn't. He'd marked off each day.

“So is Mom ready for Michael?” he asked. “Does she know you're coming home with a dog?”

“I guess so.”

“Did you ask her?”

“No, not yet.”

“Don't you think you better?”

“She's going to say no. The building doesn't allow dogs.”

“Hey, think positive. There are always loopholes. Believe it, or old Michael goes to the dog pound.”

Was that supposed to be one of Jerry's bad jokes? Michael in a dog pound! In a cage! With people she didn't know! Not able to run. And nobody to love her. Suddenly I felt sick. Sick and stupid. And then I got scared. Where were my brains? What
was
going to happen to Michael? There were no loopholes. It wasn't Mom, it was the building. We'd lived there six years and nobody had an animal.

MOM ANSWERS THE QUESTION

I left a message for Mom to call me. Waiting for her to phone back, I kept getting these white flashes in my stomach. She was going to say yes about Michael. She was going to say no.…Yes.…No.…Yes.…