Waggit's Tale (16 page)

“Hello, Laura,” said Waggit's woman. “Nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you too, although I must say I didn't think it would be this soon,” said the doctor. “How long is it since Digby went to the great kennel in the sky?”

“It's just over a month.”

“Where did this one come from?” asked the doctor.

“Well, I got him from the pound,” said the woman, “but I first met him in the park. He'd obviously been abandoned.”

“He's cute,” said the doctor, turning toward Waggit. “Let me tell you, young man,” she said to him, “you have just won the dog equivalent of the lottery. This woman will spoil you to death if you're not careful, and if I'm not careful.”

“I'm not that bad,” said the woman.

The doctor gave her a look that said “Yeah, right!” and then bent over Waggit. The sudden movement startled him and he snarled in fear.

“Hey,” said the doctor, “we'll have none of that, but since you want to show me your teeth we'll start the examination there.” She lifted up his jowls to expose two lines of very white incisors.

As the mutt in the waiting room had said, the doctor prodded him, listened to his heart, and stuck needles in him, some of which took blood out, others of which put stuff in. At the end of the examination she turned to the woman.

“Well, you're in luck,” she said. “He's as fit as a flea,
none of which he has, by the way, which for a stray living in the park is remarkable.”

Little did she know how fanatical Tazar was about hygiene and the need for team members to take regular baths in the Deepwater.

Easy though the examination was, Waggit was glad to be out of there and rushed toward the door as they turned to leave. Without having to be told, he headed back in the direction of the apartment. The woman hurried to keep up with him.

“You have a clean bill of health,” she said, “so I suppose we're stuck with each other.”

Waggit wasn't listening. He had only one thing on his mind—supper! He was, after all, a three-meals-a-day dog now.

T
he first time that Waggit realized he was happy, he was lying on his back having his stomach scratched. The sun was streaming through the windows, warming his fur; the bed upon which he was lying was soft and squishy; the stomach that the woman was scratching was full. Life was good; he felt safe for the first time. Of course his life was different from the one he led in the park. One of the biggest changes was the way he was now dependent upon the woman for everything. If he wanted to go out he had to wait until
she took him out; she decided which dogs he would play with; he ate when she gave him food, although he had discovered that if he stared at her hard enough she usually got the message. Gone were the days when he and Lowdown would suddenly decide to wander off to the Bigwater, or when dinner depended upon what you could hunt or scavenge. Life was much more structured now, and this was the price that he paid for the happiness he was feeling.

He could only live this way because he had begun to trust the woman. He relied upon her for everything, and she had not let him down, and although he didn't fit into the life of a house dog the way that Polly and Jack did, the fit was good enough. He felt that he could finally relax and let down his defenses. The only cloud that cast a shadow on his happiness was that the team didn't know what had happened to him. He felt a responsibility as the only dog who had ever come back from the Great Unknown to tell them about his experience. And he missed them. Every time he and the woman walked along the horse path he would scour the bushes looking for one of them. There were times when he thought he saw a pair of eyes or a flash of fur, but nothing more. It worried him that his deci
sion to stay with the woman would mean that he would never again see his friends.

The woman had been working a lot recently, and this meant that Waggit was alone at night. Although he didn't like it he was used to it now. It was during one of his nights alone that he came up with a plan. The next evening the woman got ready to leave for work, settled him on his bed, checked to see that he had an adequate amount of water in his bowl, patted him on his head, and left through the front door. It was now the middle of the summer and the day had been hot, so the air-conditioning was working in the apartment. This meant that all the windows were shut tight to keep the cool air in. However, Waggit knew that there was one window in the bathroom that she kept open a few inches. He waited for a while after she left, since it was not unusual for her to leave behind her music or cell phone and come rushing back in to retrieve the forgotten object. Sure enough, she came back in a few minutes.

“Stupid cell phone,” she said, as if it were the cell phone's fault that it had been left in the kitchen. She picked it up, said good-bye to Waggit again, and rushed through the front door. When he decided that she
had really gone, he went to the bathroom and, sure enough, there was an opening big enough for him to get his head through.

He climbed up onto the toilet that was under the window, after knocking the lid down with his nose. He then stuck his head through the window. The gap was too small for him to crawl through, so he went as far as he could and pushed up with all his might. At first the window didn't budge, and he thought he might have to forget the idea, but on the second heave he felt it give a little. The third time was a charm, and it went up so quickly he fell out. He landed on the metal staircase outside the window with a thump that knocked the wind out of his body for a while. He got up, caught his breath, and quickly ran down the stairs. He had a limited amount of time before the woman returned, but he also had to make sure that none of the building's residents saw him as he made his way down to street level. Or almost street level, as it turned out, for the staircase stopped at the second floor. It ended with a ladder that didn't reach the ground.

He wasn't sure what to do next. Looking down, he saw that it was obviously too far for him to jump. A cat might have made it, but Waggit had never wanted to
be a cat, a species he viewed with a certain amount of contempt. He leaned against the ladder to get a better view, and suddenly to his surprise it started to slide down under his weight. He leapt back, and then realized what he had to do. Very carefully he hooked one paw around the outside of one of the rungs, and swung himself out and grabbed on to the ladder with his other three paws as best he could. With him stuck in this precarious position the ladder started to go down. He could feel himself slipping, and clung on desperately until, just a short distance from the ground, he fell. As he landed on the sidewalk below, the ladder began to go up again. It was obvious that however he was going to get back into the apartment, it wouldn't be this way.

But he would have to worry about that later. Now he must get to the park as quickly and as stealthily as possible. He chose one of the smallest and quietest roads as his route, and as an added precaution he walked slowly, pausing to sniff fire hydrants and streetlights, and looked behind him frequently as if waiting for his owner to catch up. In this way he managed to pass unnoticed by any humans until he got to the wide avenue that ran alongside the park. Standing
in the shadows of a church on the corner, he waited until there was a sufficient gap in the traffic, then ran with all his might across the road and into the park.

It was exhilarating to be back on his home turf by himself, and he quickly made his way to the tunnel. As he approached it he heard a voice coming from the bushes where the sentries kept watch.

“Hold up there, friend,” the voice said. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

“Who are
you
?” asked Waggit.

“I'm the one asking the questions, friend,” said the voice. “And you're the one what ain't answering them.”

“I'm Waggit,” said Waggit.

“There's no dog here by that name,” said the voice. “There used to be, but he's long gone, gone to the Great Unknown.”

“No,” said Waggit. “
I'm
Waggit.”

“Well,” said a different voice that was reassuringly familiar, “if this isn't a miracle. It
is
Waggit!” And Tazar came down the path, his tail high and his head cocked. He went up to Waggit and sniffed him all over.

“Waggity boy,” he said, “welcome back. How did you make it? What happened? No, don't tell me, wait until you can tell everybody. Olang, come here!”

Tumbling out of the bushes came a very young dog who wasn't nearly as tough as his voice sounded. He scrambled clumsily down to where Tazar was standing and took his place beside him.

“This is my son, Olang,” said Tazar proudly. “We're training him to be eyes and ears. He's pretty good, don't you think?”

“Well, he had me worried,” admitted Waggit.

“Yeah, he's a good boy,” said Tazar. “Olang,” he continued, “standing in front of you is a living wonder. This is Waggit, the only animal I ever heard of who got captured, taken to the Great Unknown, and not only lived to tell the tale but has come back to tell it to us.”

“Is this one of the kids who I saw you with up at the Deepwoods End?” asked Waggit.

“Yes,” said Tazar. “They grow quick, don't they? I'm sad to say his sister didn't make it, but this one—he's the image of his old man, don't you think?”

Waggit didn't think so, actually, but he didn't say anything, for Tazar was so proud of what was in fact an unremarkable-looking puppy.

“I'm sorry to hear about your daughter,” he said. “What happened?”

“Oh, life in the park, you know. Some make it,
others don't,” said Tazar. “It's just the way it is. Come, come, let's go to the others. They will be amazed to see you, and so pleased. We were distraught when the Ruzelas got you; it hasn't been the same around here since.”

The three of them went into the mouth of the tunnel; Waggit stood there and in front of him he saw the entire team. There was a stunned silence and then pandemonium broke out. Everyone licked and sniffed and nudged him; they asked question after question, no one bothering to wait for an answer before asking another one. The noise in the tunnel was deafening. As his eyes got used to the low light, Waggit suddenly saw in the back of the tunnel, lying on a pile of newspapers, his old friend Lowdown. He went over to him. Lowdown struggled to get up onto his feet, which took some time. When he finally made it, his back legs trembled. Slowly and painfully he walked up to Waggit.

“My friend, my very good friend, welcome back,” he said. “We have all missed you, but no one has missed you more than me. How are you?”

“I'm well,” said Waggit. “Better than you, I think. What's the matter, Lowdown?”

“Oh, just age,” said Lowdown, “and unfortunately there's only one cure for that. Let me tell you, the golden years ain't as golden as they'd have you believe. But I can't complain. These good animals look after me well. I want for nothing—except maybe to run with you down by the Deepwater one more time, but I don't think that's going to happen.”

“Don't you believe the old fraud,” interrupted Tazar. “He goes out hunting while we're all asleep. That's why he's so fat. He'll outlive us all.”

Waggit only had to look at Lowdown to realize that this was Tazar's attempt to lift his friend's spirits, and it broke his heart to see the way his friend had aged.

“You were so much better the last time I saw you,” said Waggit, “and I haven't been away that long.”

“Well, that's the park for you,” said Lowdown. “You grow up quick here and you grow old quick too.” He paused for a moment. “But, you know, I wouldn't live anywhere else.”

This made Waggit feel a bit awkward given the decision that he had made to stay with the woman, but he said nothing. He looked around and saw all the faces of the team eagerly watching him, waiting to hear his story. They were all there—the Ladies Alicia,
Alona, and Magica; Cal and Raz; Little One and Little Two, both of whom were now enormous; Gordo, who was still enormous; Gruff; and Tazar himself.

“Well,” Waggit said, “here's what happened to me since I was here last.”

And he started to tell the story of being taken by the Ruzelas, of arriving at the Great Unknown, of Bloomingdale, of being rescued by the woman, and of his friendship with Polly and Jack. As the tale unfolded, his audience reacted in different ways. Anger and fear accompanied the capture and transportation to the Great Unknown; sadness and pride were produced by the account of Bloomingdale's stoic bravery; puzzlement and confusion seemed to be the overwhelming reaction to the story of rescue and the kindness of the woman.

“You mean she searched for you?”

“She wasn't working with the Ruzelas?”

“She just, like, wanted you to live with her?”

“She hasn't beaten you?”

They found it difficult to believe that a dog could be truly happy living with a human being. In a way it shifted the whole basis of their world; this was one of the enemy that wasn't acting like an enemy at all.

“But,” said Tazar, “there was one thing she couldn't give you—freedom. Once you've tasted liberty, it's mighty hard to live a life of constraint. We may not have soft beds, we may not have fancy meals, but we bow our heads to no one.”

“I have to tell you, Tazar,” said Waggit, “there's not a whole lot of head-bowing going on with the house dogs, petulants, or whatever you want to call them, that I've met. I'll introduce you to Jack. You never saw a more unbowed head!”

“Well, if life with the Uprights is so good,” said Tazar, “why have you come back to the park? Why not stay with your new friends? Why do you want to live here again?”

This was the moment that Waggit had been dreading. To tell them that he didn't want to live with them anymore, that he preferred living with a human, seemed to be the worst act of disloyalty, even treachery, to dogs who had been his friends and had saved his life. Even though his stomach was in knots, and his heart was racing with anxiety, he took a deep breath and prepared himself to let them know his decision.

“I don't want to live here,” said Waggit. “I just wanted to come back and tell you what happened to
me, and that I'm all right and not to worry.”

There was a stunned silence.

It was broken after a few moments by Lowdown.

“You mean that you're leaving us again?”

“I have to, Lowdown,” said Waggit. “Well, that's not true. I don't have to—I want to. I love you guys, and I owe you all more than I can ever repay, but life in the park is hard. You know that. You live with fear and uncertainty every day, and I've been given the chance to live another way. The woman loves me not because I'm a good hunter, or a fast runner, but just because I'm me. If the price I have to pay for a little peace and security is to wear a leash, then so be it.”

“We love you for who you are,” said Magica, “at least I do.”

“I know you do,” said Waggit, “and this isn't coming out at all the way I wanted it to. I'm not putting down the way you guys live. You're warm and generous and a lot of fun, and like I said, I owe you big-time. I just need to give this a try. She's a good woman, and she really cares for me.”

“So be it, little brother,” said Tazar in an uncharacteristically soft, low voice. “We've all got to find our own way. Maybe your way is different from ours, and
then maybe it isn't. Maybe we'd all do what you're doing, given the chance.”

The team instinctively knew that it was now time to say good-bye. They came up to Waggit one by one and brushed against him, sniffed him, licked him, and murmured “Good luck,” or “Don't forget us,” for they were truly sad to see him go. Tazar was the last one to say his farewells.

“You
are
a good hunter,” he said, “and we miss you for that. But we mostly miss you because you're a fine dog. Go in peace, with our good wishes, and know that you will always have a home with us whenever you want one, for we are your family.”