Bella's Story Read online

  “Bella!” Lucas called. “You ran up the slide! Good dog, Bella!”

  After that we played Chase-the-Ball-Up-the-Slide a lot. And then we’d head home.

  I loved our home. Mom would be there and I would run to her for hugs. Sometimes she was lying on the couch and sometimes sitting in a chair and sometimes walking around, leaning on a special stick that I learned early on not to chew.

  If she was sitting, I’d put my front feet up on her lap so she could pet me properly, and she would laugh and tell me, “Down!” but I knew she wanted to pet me as much as I wanted to be petted, so it didn’t matter what she said.

  I loved when Lucas put food in my bowl. I loved when he held me on his lap. I loved him. My world had Lucas at its center. If my eyes were open, they were looking for him. If my nose was twitching, it was searching for him.

  Every day brought new joys, new things to do with Lucas.

  “Bella, you are the best little puppy in the world,” he told me, kissing me.

  I was Bella, and Lucas was my person. We were together, and that was perfect.

  And then something horrible happened.

  5

  One day Lucas knelt down on the floor and put one hand on either side of my face, looking right into my eyes. “I’ll be back, Bella. I have to go to school, but you know I’ll be back.”

  And then he left, shutting the door behind him. He was gone for so long I thought he had forgotten me. I thought I would never see him again. I sprawled on the floor in front of the door so if he came back I could greet him immediately.

  “He’ll be home soon, I promise, Bella,” Mom told me. I heard my name but didn’t wag my tail.

  Then, finally, at long, long last, Lucas came home! I went berserk, running around the room, jumping on and off furniture, squirming and wagging and yipping and licking his face while he laughed at me. I was so happy that was over with!

  But then, the next morning, the exact same thing happened.

  And the day after that!

  It was impossible to believe, but apparently this was going to be how my mornings were going to go, now.

  “Okay, Bella,” Lucas would say. “I have to go to school now.”

  I’d whine and squirm a little bit, because when he talked to me like that, I knew what was coming.

  Lucas would stand up, walk quickly to the door, open it, and go outside. Then he’d shut the door behind him. I would be inside, and Lucas would be outside!

  This was terrible.

  I’d cry. I’d pace back and forth in front of the door.

  “Bella,” Mom would say from the couch. “Bella, it’s okay. Come here, Bella.”

  I’d go to Mom and sit beside her for a little while. She was not Lucas, but she did okay at stroking my head and scratching my ears. It was a little comforting.

  “I miss him, too,” Mom would tell me. “He’ll be back.”

  I knew I had to wait for Lucas. I would wait and wait as hard as I could.

  And then I would bark. If I barked loudly enough and long enough, Lucas would hear me and come home. I knew it.

  “Bella!” Mom would say over the noise I was making. “Bella, stop. Please. Bella, no more barking!”

  I wondered what she was making noise about. Maybe she was barking in a human way, so that Lucas would come back soon. We both needed Lucas to come home and show that he still loved us and would never leave again.

  The barking always worked. Lucas always came home. I’d fling myself at his feet, frantically happy. I’d bite at his pants and jump up on his legs until he sat down to pull me into his lap. I’d lick his chin and push my face into his hair, so happy to be with my person again that I almost forgot how horrible it was when he was gone.

  Lucas usually took me for a walk as soon as he got home, which made our reunions even more wonderful. I figured out as we went on these walks that Do-Your-Business had to do with peeing and pooping. If Lucas said those words and I left a puddle or a pile on the ground, I got a treat.

  It still wasn’t as good as Chase-the-Ball, but it seemed to make Lucas happy.

  Even better than Chase-the-Ball was another game, one I figured out all by myself. It was called Chase-the-Squirrel.

  Lucas and I were heading back home after a nice long walk full of delightful smells when I spotted a tiny, furry creature sniffing the grass near our front door. Immediately my whole body stiffened. My nose tracked the little thing. It was running! It needed to be chased!

  I chased it. The leash slipped out of Lucas’s hand, which made the game even better. I could put all my energy into my legs, and I shot across a lawn with my tail thrashing the air. I’d get the squirrel!

  But the little furry thing was even faster than I was. It streaked across the grass to a nearby tree—and then it did an astonishing thing. It ran up the tree!

  How unfair! I could not run up the tree. Instead, I danced around under the branches, and then put my front legs on the trunk and barked as loudly as I could, frustrated. I looked frantically at Lucas. If he would just help me up the tree, I could get that squirrel! I knew it!

  Lucas came panting up, but for some reason he did not boost me up to the squirrel. He just grabbed the leash and took me home.

  That was okay. I knew where that squirrel lived, now.

  One morning when Lucas took me outside, the ground was different! It was covered in something fluffy and white that felt extremely cold on my paws.

  I stared in astonishment. I looked up at Lucas. What was this new white stuff? Had he put it there?

  “It’s just snow, Bella!” he told me. “Just snow. Do your business!”

  I peered suspiciously at the Snow Do Your Business.

  Holding the leash, Lucas ran a little way out into the cold whiteness. “Come on! It’s fun!”

  I ran with him, because he was my boy. The white fluff flew up all around me. I stuck my head into it. I snorted when it got into my nose. I bit at it. It tasted cold and watery. Lucas laughed, so I pulled my head out of the snow and gazed at him adoringly.

  I decided I loved Snow Do Your Business!

  Sometimes the ground was covered with Snow Do Your Business, and some days it wasn’t. Either way we would go to the park and I would run up the slide. The world grew warmer and greener, and Lucas and Olivia and I took walks and chased balls and squirrels, and everything was marvelous, except when Lucas went away and I had to bark to make him come back.

  Then something truly marvelous happened. It was called summer.

  Summer meant Lucas stopped going away. He stayed home! At last he had figured out that he was not supposed to leave me. I didn’t know why it had taken him so long—I had always known that we should be together all day long.

  And we were, for so many long, wonderful days. Until the day that Lucas, for some reason, started talking about school again.

  I did not know what school was. But I did not like it. When Lucas said school, he left. And every so often, Mom left, too! She would go out the door, leaning on her stick, and be gone a long time! When this happened, all the responsibility of barking and barking would fall on me.

  It was a lot of work. But I did it for Lucas.

  Lucas always paid attention to my barking and came back home. It just took him such a long time! One day after he’d finally returned and greeted me and petted me and put on my leash, we went out for our walk. I was playing Chase-the-Squirrel, and Lucas was playing Chase-the-Dog, when someone shouted.

  “That’s the dog!” the person cried out. “Get him!”

  The squirrel that I was chasing had gone up a tree again. And Lucas still hadn’t figured out that he was supposed to help me when that happened! While I was barking at that irritating squirrel, Lucas came up to grab my leash and tug me away.

  I wasn’t finished playing, but I went with him.

  “Hey, kid,” a man said. He was dressed in dark clothes and wore a hat. I wagged at him as he approached, because he carried the odor of dogs on him. Behind him was a w
oman who was frowning. I wagged at her because I could smell cats.

  “Yes, Officer?” Lucas replied.

  The man and the woman stopped. I strained to go see them and lick their hands, but Lucas held me back.

  “You know you’re not supposed to let your dog run loose,” the man said sternly.

  “Sorry,” Lucas answered. “She loves to chase the squirrels so much, I just dropped the leash to let her go. I won’t do it again.”

  “What kind of dog is it?” the man asked.

  The woman pointed her finger. “It’s a pit bull! He let a dangerous pit bull run around in the neighborhood. He does it all the time! A child could have been killed!”

  Whatever we were doing seemed like it was going to take some time, so I flopped down on the ground and rolled on my back, because if they were just going to stand around the least they could do was take turns giving me a belly rub.

  “Ma’am, thank you for calling animal control. I can handle it from here,” the man in the hat said to the woman, his voice heavy with patience.

  “I’m telling you, you have to arrest this dog!” the woman cried.

  The hat man sighed.

  “I guess she’s a pit bull,” Lucas said. “I mean, she doesn’t look like it, but I was told her mother was a white pit bull. Maybe that’s why Bella has this white star on her chest.”

  Lucas leaned down and rubbed my chest and tummy. Yes!

  “They were bred to be killers. I have cats who are outside all the time and this dog is a danger to all of them! If you don’t do your job I am going to call your supervisor!” the woman said harshly.

  Hat Man regarded the woman with narrowed eyes. “So you let your cats run free? Do you know that’s against the law?”

  The woman’s mouth dropped open.

  Hat Man peered down the street. “Are your cats out now?”

  “Well. I’ve done my duty and reported the animal,” the woman said curtly. She turned and walked away—no belly rub from her.

  Hat Man knelt next to me and yes, ran his hand gently down my chest and stomach. “Doesn’t seem very dangerous to me,” he remarked.

  “Bella’s the most gentle dog you can imagine,” Lucas replied.

  The man nodded and sighed again. “I’m really sorry you told me she’s a pit bull. Especially in front of a witness. Especially that witness.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucas asked.

  “Pit bulls are illegal within city limits. We can’t come on your property without your permission, but you’re not on your property—you’re on the sidewalk. I’m sorry to say I’m going to have to take Bella with me now.” Hat Man stood up.

  “Wait! What? Take her, what do you mean?” Lucas cried. I got to my feet, wagging, confused and worried. My boy was upset!

  “I have to impound her. It’s my job, son. I’m sorry.”

  “No. Please. I’ll never let her run loose again, I promise!” Lucas begged. I put a paw on his leg because he was so sad and frightened.

  “I wish it were that simple, kid. That lady has called our office probably a dozen times to report you, because you can’t even have a pit bull on a leash here. Understand? Not on the street, not in the dog park, nowhere but your own property.”

  “Please, Officer, please don’t take my dog.”

  Hat Man was quiet. Then he leaned in. “Okay, look. We pretty much ignore that woman, because she calls and says every dog is a pit bull. Rottweilers, bull dogs, you name it. Yours, though, you said it was a pit bull. That’s a different story.”

  “No, I mean, we could do a DNA test or something…” Lucas protested.

  Hat Man shook his head. “That won’t work. It isn’t about DNA, it is about what people think they see. Perception, understand? It’s too late; she heard you say pit bull. So, and you didn’t hear this from me, don’t ever let that woman see your dog again. Understand? I’m going to let you go, but if I see Bella again, I’m going to have to pick her up. I don’t want to get written up by my commanding officer.”

  “I mean, we live right over there,” Lucas replied. He pointed and I looked, but didn’t see any squirrels. “How can I stop her from seeing us?”

  Hat Man shrugged. “I don’t know. I get that you have to take your dog outside sometimes. And remember, I’m not allowed to enter your apartment or even go on your porch. But this is your one and only warning. You want Bella to be safe? You should find someone who doesn’t live in city limits, and give her away.”

  Lucas gasped.

  “I’m just saying, that’s what I would do,” Hat Man said.

  6

  Lucas walked me back home. I was happy to see Mom, but Lucas was sad, so I curled up at his feet when he sat in a chair to talk to her.

  “Oh, Lucas,” Mom said, “that is such bad news. What are we going to do?”

  “We have to move, Mom!” Lucas replied forcefully. “We need to go where they allow pit bulls!”

  “I know there are neighborhoods nearby that are pit bull friendly,” Mom said slowly, “but, Lucas, we can’t just move. We have a lease.”

  “What does that mean?” Lucas asked.

  “A lease is a contract I signed to rent our place for a year. If we move before a year is up, we have to pay a big penalty. It’s more money than I have, Lucas.”

  “A year? Mom, we can’t keep Bella inside our home for a year. I have to walk her so she can do her business.”

  I sat up. Walk? Snow Do Your Business? There hadn’t been any Snow Do Your Business on the ground for some time, but maybe things had changed.

  “I know, Lucas, but what else can we do? I’ll tell you what,” Mom replied. “Doesn’t Olivia’s mother work for an animal rescue? Let’s ask them to come over and see if they have any ideas.”

  Lucas was upset, I could tell, but thankfully not so upset that he forgot T-i-i-ny Piece of Cheese that night. It was one of the most important things we did together.

  The next day, Lucas and I were playing in the bedroom. He pulled a string along the floor. I jumped on it and ran away with it, but it slipped out of my mouth, and he laughed and pulled it along the floor until I could pounce again.

  I was so happy to be with him, to hear his laughter, that I could have played that game all day.

  Then somebody rang the doorbell. My ears perked up. Whenever the doorbell rang, it was one of my jobs to bark a loud warning that a stranger was here. Sometimes Lucas and Mom would join their voices to mine, shouting their own warnings. “Stop it!” they’d yell. “Quiet!”

  It was one of my favorite jobs.

  I was overjoyed to see who it was. Olivia! Plus a woman I had a vague memory of smelling before. Olivia was confused and called this new person Mom, which was strange. Mom called her Audrey, so that’s what I decided her name was.

  At first all the people sat in the living room and talked. Mom and Audrey sipped hot drinks out of mugs and they ate cookies off a plate, but nobody offered any to me.

  “We’ve been trying to fight this law for years,” Audrey said. “If Bella gets taken to a shelter once, they’ll microchip her. If she gets picked up a second time, I’m afraid they’ll put her to sleep.”

  Lucas gasped. I went over and put my head in his lap so that he’d remember everything was okay, and also that I hadn’t had a cookie yet.

  “That’s so unfair!” Olivia said angrily.

  “I know, honey,” Audrey replied. “It’s strange, because you’re not breaking the law by keeping Bella. You’re only in trouble if they catch Bella. Which means the most important thing is to keep Bella out of sight—and sound. I heard her when we rang your doorbell. Does she always bark like that?”

  “Oh, yes,” Lucas replied ruefully.

  “She also barks when Lucas leaves for school,” Mom added.

  Lucas put his arms around my neck and his face on my head. I wagged.

  “Well, that’s something we can deal with,” Audrey said.

  That was when we started to play a new game. It was called N
o Barks.

  I did not like this game.

  First Olivia went outside and shut the door. Then she rang the doorbell.

  I knew it was my job to bark at the doorbell. But Lucas sat down next to me in the hallway and put his whole hand over my snout. “No Barks!” he said firmly.

  We did that several times, even though it was no fun at all. It was as if Lucas didn’t want me to do my job! What was going on?

  The doorbell rang again, and Lucas clamped his hand around my muzzle. I sat down on the floor and stared at him in bewilderment. “Good dog, Bella!” Lucas said. He took his hand off my muzzle and gave me a treat.

  I began to like this game a little better.

  Then Lucas went outside and rang the doorbell, which was very odd. He never did that! Each time, Olivia or Mom told me, “No Barks,” and I realized that if I was quiet, I would be a good dog who got treats. I even tried it when the bell rang and no one said anything to me. Treats! I decided right then that it was better to let the doorbell ring without making any sort of announcement than to do what I had always considered to be one of my most important jobs.

  “Our next problem is harder,” Audrey said. “You can’t keep a dog cooped up inside all day, especially one as young as Bella.”

  Hearing my name, I looked at her eagerly. There had been a lot of treats today, and I was hoping that would continue.

  “The animal control officer told me if he saw me walking her, he would have to pick her up,” Lucas pointed out.

  “Right. But he also said he won’t come up on your porch to take her,” Audrey replied. “And that’s something I think we can work with.”

  I was really excited when Lucas brought out the leash. “Hold still, you silly dog!” he told me.

  “Where does that lady live?” Olivia asked.

  Lucas went to the window and I followed. “Right down there in that white house,” he replied.

  “Okay. I’ll go check to see if she’s in her yard or looking out the window,” Olivia said. She slipped out the door.

  I watched her go, baffled. Didn’t she know we were about to take a walk? Why would she leave now? She must never have seen a squirrel before. I sat tensely, staring up at my boy, who was still staring out the window. “Okay,” he said to Mom and Audrey. “She’s waving.”