Zoo Breath (11 page)

“An empty jar?”

I grinned at him and flicked my eyebrows. “It just looks empty.”

Rubin frowned, squinting at the jar.

I nudged Willy’s knee with mine. “What you guys doing? Still the manga books?”

Willy nodded. “They’re kind of weird.”

Rubin slouched in his chair, his leg
bouncing. He lifted his chin at the jar on the table. “So what’s it for?”

“This,” Julio said, tapping the lid with a finger, “is for what’s inside it.”

Rubin frowned. “It’s empty.”

“No, no, no,” Julio said. “Inside this jar is … rare air.”

I laughed.

Willy looked closer. “Really?”

Julio picked up the jar and peered into it. “You can hardly get this kind of air, it’s so rare. It came from a special place.”

“Pshh!” Rubin snorted.

“No, really, Ruby. You want to smell it?”

“Aw, man!” I said, screeching my chair back.

Willy slapped my arm with the back of his hand and nodded toward Mr. Tanaka, who was giving me squinty librarian stink eye.

“Sure, I’ll smell it,” Rubin whispered, leaning close.

Julio gave Rubin a grave face. “I don’t
know, Ruby. If you smell it, it will go inside your lungs and we won’t get it back. Then what will me and Calvin do?”

Rubin chewed on his thumbnail. “Well … can’t you just go get more where you got it from?”

Julio nodded, as if considering that. “Sure … yeah, we could do that, right, Calvin?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Julio. It was a dangerous place. But sure. Let him smell it.”

Julio put the jar close to Rubin’s nose. “You ready?”

“Ready.”

“Take a deep breath when I open it, because it’s going to fly out fast and you might miss it if you don’t suck it in quick.”

“Yeah-yeah, let it loose.”

Julio unscrewed the lid. “Now!”

Julio lifted the lid away and Rubin took a huge breath, his nose nearly inside the jar.

He sat back and considered it.

Julio raised his eyebrows. “Well?”

“Well what?” Rubin said, clearly disappointed. “It was just like regular air. But … kind of … swampy?”

I burst out laughing.

Mr. Tanaka tipped back in his chair and crossed his arms.

I stopped laughing. Tried to, anyway.

Mr. Tanaka shook his head and let the front legs of his chair drop back to the floor. “Knuckleheads,” he mumbled.

Willy picked up the empty jar. “So what kind of air was it?”

Julio looked from Rubin to Willy, Willy to Rubin.

Building up the suspense.

He leaned close. “Dog fut,” he said.

Rubin squinted. Then he got it.

“Ahhhh!” He grabbed his throat and ran outside to gulp in some fresh air. “You stupit!” he shouted.

Me and Julio fell out of our chairs and rolled on the floor. So funny! Even Willy cracked up.

Mr. Tanaka stood and pointed to the door.

We gathered up our stuff and Rubin’s and headed out.

“Bozos,” Mr. Tanaka mumbled as we filed by. But he was grinning. “Now I can say I’ve seen everything a school librarian can possibly see.”

Julio flicked his eyebrows. “We got more if you—”

“Git!” Mr. Tanaka said.

S
treak came slinking out of the garage when Darci and I got home from school. I squatted down and sat on my heels.

“Ho, man! What now?”

Even Darci puckered up. “What is that smell, Calvin?”

“Barf. Look.”

She must have gotten into something down at the river that made her sick.

Streak inched up closer, her head hanging down. She knew she was in trouble. Luckily Mom was at work. And Stella wasn’t home yet.

“You just can’t stay out of trouble, can you?”

Streak barked.

“Time for another bath, you mangy mutt.”

“Can I help?” Darci asked.

I nodded. “Sure. Go change. We’re gonna get wet.”

Darci ran into the house.

I unfolded the crinkly pool and popped out the air valve. As I was blowing it up I saw something green near the paint cans.

“Ah, man. Not Petey.”

I picked up Darci’s stuffed parrot. Streak had been gnawing on it. Luckily, she hadn’t ripped it apart, but it was crusty with dried dog spit.

I took the pool and Petey out on the lawn. “Jump in, girl. It’s this or get sent back to the Humane Society.”

Streak tilted her head.

“That’s right,” I said. “So stop fooling around. We’ll make it quick.”

Darci came out and pulled the hose over.

I held Petey up. “Look what Streak had. We need to give him a bath, too. I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

Darci grinned and ran back to turn on the water.

I held the hose at arm’s length. Sometimes centipedes came squirting out with the water. Nothing this time. I let water spill into the pool.

Streak watched as I gave Petey a quick bath and laid him out to dry in the sun.

“You know what, Darce? We should brush Streak’s teeth, too.”

We gave Streak a
double dose of dog shampoo and ran water over her head. She liked it.

“Now are we going to brush her teeth, Calvin?”

“Sure. Go get an old toothbrush. Look under the sink in our bathroom.”

Darci ran into the house and I got Chewy’s old toothpaste from the garage. It didn’t smell all that great, but it was for dogs, right? I ran back before Streak could jump out of the swimming pool.

“Got something special for you, girl.”

She smelled it.

Darci came back with a red toothbrush.

“Isn’t that Stella’s?” I said.

“It’s her old one. It was in the bottom drawer. There weren’t any under the sink.”

I shrugged and squeezed out a double dose of toothpaste. “Open her mouth, Darce.”

Darci wrapped her arms around Streak’s muzzle and I peeled back her lips.

“This will taste good,” I said. “You’ll like it.”

Crazy. I was brushing a dog’s teeth! It was funny. Streak licked it up and smacked her lips as I worked the toothbrush around her spiky teeth. Then I got the hose and squirted water into her mouth. She barked at it.

Darci ran over and turned off the water.

“There,” I said, squatting with my arms over my knees. “How can anyone complain about your breath now?”

Streak nosed me like, Hey, thanks! That was great!

When Darci came back I handed her the toothbrush. She ran inside to put it away.

Streak jumped out of the pool and shook. Already the sun was drying her black-and-white coat. I gave her a hug.

“This is the cleanest you’ve been since you were born, I bet.”

Streak sat and scratched, her back leg working.

“And believe it or not, you smell sweet … sort of.”

Late that afternoon when Mom got home I was sitting on the grass with Streak, trying to think of what to say in class. Was toothpaste better than mouthwash? Or maybe dogs should just stop eating fish heads and carrying around dried-up dead toads.

Mom parked in the garage and came out. She kissed the top of my head, then got
down close to pet Streak. “Oh my!” She scrunched her nose.

“What?” I asked.

“Her breath smells like a peppermint swamp.”

Maybe I needed stronger toothpaste.