The Case of the Lost Boy (3 page)

“I thought you wanted a dog,” Mom says.

“I just want to go home,” Connor grumbles. “Back to our
real
house in California.”

Mom grips the steering wheel extra-tight. “I know you miss your dad and your friends,” she says. “But we’re going to be happy here in Minnesota, Connor. You’ll see. Your dad and I will watch for sales on airplane tickets. We’ll send you back to California for a visit as often as we can afford to.”

Connor stares out the window.

I don’t know where California is, but it must be far away if you have to fly there in an airplane. Connor must miss his dad as much as I miss Kayla. I put my paws up on his seat and lick his ear to show him I understand.

Mom pushes me down. “You stay in the backseat, boy,” she says.

“I will,” I tell her with my eyes. But she is driving, so she doesn’t notice. She probably wouldn’t understand even if she did notice. Most humans her age don’t understand Dog at all.

“We need to come up with a name for him,” Mom tells Connor.

I already have a name. But Mom and Connor don’t know that.

“What do you think of Buddy?” Mom asks.

Buddy? That’s a wimp’s name! My name is King. K-I-N-G. I am the King of Crime-solving. That’s what Kayla says. And she is my queen.

“Don’t you think Buddy is a good name for a dog that’s going to go to school?” Mom asks. “We want him to be everyone’s buddy.”

I put my paws back up on the front seat. “Tell her no,” I say to Connor. “Tell her you want to call me ‘King.’”

Connor shrugs. “Whatever,” he says. Then he turns around and looks at me. I think he wants to pet me.

“Go ahead,” I tell him. I stretch my neck closer to him. “You can pet me.”

But he just sits there. I can’t tell whether he understands me or not.

We drive a little farther, and then my nose starts to twitch. Something smells familiar.

I can see it through the front window.
It’s the park!
The park where Kayla takes me to play detective. You’d be surprised how many mysteries there are to solve in a park.

I stare out the side window. I check out the kids who are playing ball ... and the kids who are playing on the climbing toy ... and the kid who is reading on the bench.

None of them is Kayla.

Mom turns at the corner. We are close to my house.
Very
close.

Mom pulls into a driveway, and I am going crazy inside myself. Kayla, the other Mom, and Dad live in the Carrs’ old house, just behind this one. What luck! I can to go back to my house and look for clues.

“Look,” Mom says as she opens the door for me. “He knows this is his house already.”

No. My house is the one
behind
this one
.

Now I know why I smelled my neighborhood on Connor and Mom. They
live
in my neighborhood. I can tell they haven’t lived here very long, though. There are boxes piled everywhere. I sniff at a couple of them. Laundry soap. Electric stuff. And ... something else I can’t quite make out.

“Are you hungry, Buddy?” Mom asks. She shakes some dry food into a bowl.

Oh, boy! FOOD!!!

And it’s good food, too. Big colorful pellets. A blend of wonderful things like chicken, fish, and liver. Much better than those little brown pellets they had at Barker Bob’s. And way better than the mushy stuff at the
P-O-U-N-D
.

They also have a nice big bed for me. Oops. Maybe not.

Mom grabs me by my brand-new collar and pulls me off the bed. “No dogs on the furniture!”

But wait! They have another bed for me. It’s in Connor’s room, and it’s just my size. I can reach it without jumping. Mom points to it and says, “Lie down.”

I lie down. This bed is like Kayla’s pillow except it’s for my whole body, not just my head.

They also have a really cool bird toy. It’s soft and squishy. You can tug it. You can carry it around. You can even make it squeak. I think I could live here ... if I didn’t already have a family.

Mom leaves Connor and me alone. As soon as she’s gone, Connor gets down on the floor and starts petting me. Ha! I knew he wanted to pet me. He’s very good at it, too. He doesn’t just rub my head a little bit like some humans do. He runs his hand down my whole back. Mmm. Heaven. He must really like me.

Hey, I wonder if he likes me enough to let me be on his bed when his mom isn’t looking? I hop up. He does not push me off.

I can see out his window from here. I can see over the tall wood fence into my backyard. I see the big tree where I chase the squirrels. I see Kayla’s swing set. I see my house. There are no lights on inside.

Connor plops down on the bed beside me. He wraps his arms around me and buries his head in my fur. Kayla used to do that.

“It’s not that I don’t want you, Buddy,” he says.

“
King
,” I tell him. “My name is King.”

Connor sits back up. “I used to want a dog really bad. But my dad is allergic to dogs so we couldn’t ever have one.”

I’ve heard of dogs who are allergic to people, but I never knew people could be allergic to dogs.

“But my mom and dad just got divorced,” Connor goes on. “So now we can have a dog. My mom says she wants you for school, but I know she really got you for me. To make up for having to move so far away from Dad and all my friends.”

I’m not sure anything can make up for having to leave part of your family.

“The thing is ... ” Connor leans closer to me. “This might be Mom’s new home, but it isn’t mine. I’ll probably go back to California someday. And I won’t be able to take you with me.”

Connor lets me sleep in his bed with him all night long. What Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

The next morning, Mom pours some more of that yummy food into a bowl and sets it on the floor for me. Then Connor slips me pieces of bacon under the table. Mmm! I LOVE bacon. It’s my favorite food!

After breakfast, Mom says, “Connor? Please take Buddy for a walk.”

I sit up. Walk? I LOVE walks. They’re my favorite thing!

“Okay. In a minute,” Connor says.

He gets up from the table and goes to his room.

I follow him. “We
are
going for a walk, aren’t we?” I ask him with my eyes.

He doesn’t answer. He grabs some papers and coins from the top of his dresser and stuffs them in his pocket.

Papers and coins! When Kayla brings papers and coins on our walks, we stop for ice cream. I LOVE ice cream. It’s my favorite food!

We go back out to the kitchen and Connor snaps the leash to my collar. Then we are on our way.

Oh, boy! Birds. Squirrels. Rabbits. Fresh air.

“Slow down, boy,” Connor says, tugging on my leash.

Oops. I forget that humans can’t walk as fast as dogs.

I try to walk slower. I try to walk right next to Connor. Humans like it when you walk right next to them.

“KING?” I hear a loud, familiar voice. “KING, IS IT REALLY YOU?”

“Mouse!” I cry. Mouse is my friend—my best friend who is not human. He lives two houses down from Connor.

“Slow down, Buddy!” Connor says again.

But I am so excited to see Mouse that I can’t slow down. Maybe Mouse knows what happened to my people?

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Mouse yells even though I am standing right in front of him. He can’t help yelling. He is just a loud dog. He is the biggest, loudest dog on our block.

It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other that we are sniffing each other like crazy through the fence.

“WHERE’S KAYLA?” Mouse asks. “AND WHO’S THAT KID WITH YOU?”

“This is Connor,” I tell Mouse.

There’s something that happens to humans when they get scared. They look different. They sound different. They
smell
different. It’s hard to describe unless you’re a dog. But trust me. My new friend Connor is scared to death of my old friend Mouse.

Lots of humans are scared of Mouse. It’s weird because Mouse is probably the friendliest dog on the whole block. I don’t think he would even hurt a flea.

“Hi, Connor,” Mouse says in a voice that is soft for Mouse, but still pretty loud.

Connor backs away. “Let’s go, Buddy,” he says, yanking on my collar.

“BUDDY?” Mouse says as Connor drags me away. “DID THAT KID JUST CALL YOU BUDDY?”

“It’s a long story,” I tell him over my shoulder. “Hey, have you seen my people?”

“NO!” Mouse says. “I’VE BEEN ASKING AROUND. NO ONE HAS SEEN YOU OR YOUR PEOPLE IN A LONG TIME. I WAS GETTING WORRIED.”

I’m still worried. I wish I could stay and chat, but Connor is in a big hurry to get away from Mouse.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” I tell Connor.

Connor tries to cross the street, but I pull him back.

“Let’s go this way instead,” I say.

I’m happy that Connor follows me. This is the way to Kayla’s house. All we have to do is keep going straight until we get to the corner. Then we turn ... and we turn again at the next corner ... and pretty soon we’ll be there! Then maybe we can search for clues. Searching for clues is another part of my plan.

It’s been a long time since I last walked through my neighborhood.

I can smell a fresh rabbit hole in the Tuckers’ yard. I want to check it out, but my collar tightens as Connor pulls me back. I guess I will have to check it out later.

Oh, no. Did the Gormans get another cat?

We turn the corner. Who is this guy walking toward us? I have never seen him before. I don’t think he lives around here.

I don’t like the way he is looking at us. And I really don’t like the way he smells. He smells ...
dangerous
.

“Hello,” he says to Connor.

I keep walking. I don’t want Connor to talk to this man.

But Connor stops and says hello anyway.

I don’t understand why Connor is afraid of Mouse, but he’s not afraid of this man. Can’t he smell the danger?

“Nice dog,” the man says through his teeth.

He’s lying. He doesn’t think I’m a nice dog at all. He wants to hurt me. He wants to hurt Connor. I can’t explain how I know this. I just do. Just like I know when a human is happy, sad, mad, or scared. It’s a skill most dogs have.

I growl at the man to warn him he’d better leave me and Connor alone.