Max's Story Read online

  That wasn’t what she should be doing! I meant to show her how things should be, but CJ, giggling, launched another rustling paper ball toward us.

  Sneakers immediately stopped pretending that she didn’t care and jumped toward it. Of course I had to chase her, barking excitedly. She seized the ball in both front paws and for some strange reason flopped onto her back, bringing up her back paws to tear at the paper.

  What an odd thing to do! It seemed as if she were showing me her belly and throat, giving in to me. But she had not let go of the ball with the treat inside it. Plus she had those back paws up in a threatening way.

  What was going on, exactly?

  I wanted to snatch the newspaper ball away from her, but her claws looked very sharp. I hesitated. She should obviously give the ball to me, since I was in charge. But how was I supposed to make it clear to her, since she didn’t seem to understand?

  “Here, Max!” CJ called. “Here’s one for you!”

  A ball of crumpled-up newspaper bopped me on the nose. I jumped back, barked at it in disapproval, then jumped on it to bite it hard. I’d show that ball! I’d show Sneakers how to tackle something like this!

  Sneakers and I chased paper balls up and down the hallway and CJ laughed with delight. A few people even opened their apartment doors and peered out. When they saw what was going on, they smiled.

  Finally Sneakers decided she was done. She sat down and began to lick one paw and rub it over her face. CJ collected all the chewed-up pieces of paper that we were done with.

  “That’s better, huh?” she said, bending down to stroke Sneakers’s head. “Nobody should be cooped up in an apartment all the time.”

  Then she picked up Sneakers. How strange! Why would she do that? I sat at her feet and barked impatiently so that she’d remember I was her dog and pick me up instead.

  “Come on, Max,” she said, and opened the apartment door. I followed her and Sneakers back inside.

  * * *

  The next morning, CJ seemed in a big rush. She gulped down a bowl of cereal with milk and then ran around to shove pads of paper and pencil cases and markers into a backpack while Jillian sat in the living room, holding a steaming mug in her hand and looking at the TV. CJ took me outside to pee, but just as I was ready to head out for an interesting walk, she scooped me up and hurried back inside.

  “Not now, Max! I’ll be late!” she said as I squirmed in protest.

  She dumped food and water in my bowls, and then she did something totally unexpected.

  She ran out the door. She left. Without me!

  I was so surprised that all I could think to do was sit next to the door and bark as loudly as I could, so that she’d realize her mistake and come back. But for some reason she didn’t. It made no sense at all!

  “Oh, be quiet!” Jillian said irritably. I looked over at her with impatience. She was no substitute for my girl.

  Jillian put her coffee cup in the sink, wandered into her bedroom, and came out wearing different clothes. She settled down at a table in the living room and began to tap her fingers on a small plastic box while she frowned at a screen. The tapping made an interesting sound, and since CJ didn’t seem to be coming back right away, I went over to sit at Jillian’s feet to see if what she was doing had anything to do with me.

  “Shoo,” Jillian said, not looking down at me. This was not entertaining. I gave up and went back over to the door, waiting for CJ to return.

  She did not return.

  I waited some more.

  Nothing happened.

  I wandered into the kitchen and ate a few pieces of food that somehow remained in my bowl. Then I looked around for Sneakers’s food, but it was still unfairly high up on a counter, where I could not get at it.

  Perhaps, since there was nothing else to do, it was time that I taught Sneakers what it meant that I was her boss. Then maybe I’d get some of her food.

  I sniffed and figured out that the cat was in the bedroom that CJ did not sleep in. The door was open a crack, so I nosed it wider and went in.

  I had been right; Sneakers was there, curled up asleep on the bed, almost invisible in the midst of a soft, silky gray quilt. She didn’t even twitch an ear when I entered.

  I sat down and barked, so that she’d know I’d come into the room.

  She lifted her head, gave me an irritated look out of her yellow eyes, and put her head back down. As if I didn’t even matter! And the bed was too high. I could not get up on it at all.

  I barked a little more, just to let her know how I felt.

  “Quiet, little dog!” Jillian yelled from the other room.

  Her voice was so different from CJ’s. CJ’s voice, when she talked to me, was gentle and kind and, most important, happy. I could tell she was glad just to be with me, the same way I was glad just to be with her.

  But right now I wasn’t with her. Where had she gone? Where were Duke and Jay and Honey, the pack I was responsible for? I was left in this apartment with a cat who didn’t know I was in charge and a woman who didn’t talk to me the right way, didn’t reach down to scratch behind my ears, and probably wouldn’t be feeding me any treats.

  It was lonely. I had not been lonely before. In the shelter I had been with my mother and my sisters, and with other dogs who had shortly learned to follow my directions. Then I’d been with CJ. Now CJ was gone.

  I sighed.

  It was a very long morning.

  At last I heard something from the hall—footsteps. There had been footsteps up and down it all morning, but none of them had been the right ones. Now I heard them, and a thrill seemed to vibrate through my whole body. I was at the door, quivering with impatience (and also with the need to pee) when CJ opened it.

  “Shhh, Max. Easy, Max. I’m glad to see you, too,” she said.

  She dropped to her knees to pet me and rub both her hands down my body from my ears to my tail. I wiggled with pleasure. Finally she’d figured it out! She was back to fix her mistake, and she wouldn’t leave without me again.

  But she didn’t seem happy, and I couldn’t understand why. I was here now! We were together! Why was her voice heavy? Why did her shoulders slump?

  Jillian was still at the table, tapping that black plastic tray. I couldn’t see why she wanted to do something so boring for so long, but it didn’t matter. My girl was back!

  “How was class?” Jillian asked, not looking up.

  “Okay,” CJ said, in a voice that meant nothing was okay.

  “What did your teacher say about that thing you were drawing yesterday?”

  CJ rolled her eyes. “He said it seemed inauthentic.” Her voice was heavy on the last word.

  “Does that mean he couldn’t tell what it was, either?”

  CJ dropped her backpack to the floor with a thud. I got ready to lift my leg against it.

  “Max, no!” CJ cried out. She snatched up my leash from where it was hanging on the doorknob. “Max, wait!”

  “I told you so!” Jillian said irritably, finally looking up from her tapping. “Dogs and apartments don’t mix!”

  CJ didn’t answer, because we were hurrying outside. I had to wait until we were all the way on the sidewalk before she put me down and I could pee at last.

  8

  After I’d finished, CJ turned back to the apartment building, but then she turned around again. “Come on, Max,” she muttered. “Let’s get some fresh air. Well, sort of fresh. Well, it’s air, anyway.”

  I was already tugging impatiently on the leash. I’d waited inside all morning! I was ready to be on the move at last, with CJ. I towed her down the walkway that led from the glass door of the apartment building to the sidewalk. Just where the two paths met, CJ hesitated.

  The sidewalk was full of feet. Boots thumped, high heels clacked, sandals flopped, sneakers ran. A boy whizzed by on a skateboard. CJ jumped back. “Watch out, Max!” she said.

  But I could smell something on that sidewalk that was too interesting to back away from. A s
tub of hot dog, less than an inch long, still nestled in a chunk of bun. Someone must have dropped it, and it was just lying there. Waiting. Waiting for me.

  “Max!” CJ protested as I pulled with all my strength, tugging her onto the sidewalk and into the crowd going by.

  I snatched up the hot dog and ate it in two gulps. Delicious! And then CJ and I were walking, with people all around us. Where were we going? I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. It was enough to be outside, in the city, in the warm sun, in the company of my girl.

  CJ and I strolled along, and I could feel her grip on my leash ease up. I could tell that other dogs had been here before us. In one spot I smelled Duke, and in another Honey had peed on the sidewalk. I sniffed their marks extra hard.

  As I sniffed, CJ slowed down to look into a store window. Then she speeded up to go around people sauntering more slowly than we were. I stayed right ahead of her, making sure everything was safe. Just like I was supposed to.

  Up ahead I spotted a big square hole in the sidewalk, with a fence along one side. As we got closer, I could see that the hole had stairs going down inside it. Hot air full of smells wafted up. Interesting! I pulled CJ toward it.

  She pulled back. I stopped. We stood at the top of the stairs. I wanted to go down there. It smelled like no place I’d ever been! Why were we waiting?

  “Hey, are you going up or down?” an irritated voice said behind CJ.

  She jumped to one side. “Uh. Sorry,” she mumbled, mostly to me, as a tall teenage boy dressed all in black, from his spiky hair to his heavy boots, hurried down the steps, not pausing to glance at her.

  CJ sighed, and her body seemed to sag a little. She tugged on the leash, pulling me away from the fascinating staircase. We went back to our walk.

  “Look, it’s CJ!” called out a voice.

  I felt CJ tense up, and my muscles got tight, too. Maybe this was a threat. Maybe she needed my help.

  Three girls came strolling along the sidewalk toward us. One had a backpack like CJ’s, and the other two had slim cases they carried by their sides.

  “Is that your dog?” the backpack girl said excitedly, when she got closer. “I love dogs! She’s so cute!” She had boots on with long strings dangling from them. I was ready to grab one of those strings and give it a good pull when CJ bent down and picked me up.

  “Uh, yeah,” she mumbled. “This is Max. He’s a boy. Careful, though. He’s kind of nervous around strangers.”

  “Are you going to paint him, CJ?” asked one of the other girls. She had blond hair shaved nearly off on one side, long enough to fall over her shoulder on the other. I didn’t like her voice much. It sounded sweet and kind, but there was something wrong with it—like a dog who puts his ears and tail down, trying to look meek, even though you can tell that he’s still about to spring. This girl’s voice was like that. It didn’t mean what it pretended to mean.

  “That would be cute,” the other girl agreed. She stood with most of her weight on one foot, her hip out, her head tilted to one side. When dogs do that, they are trying to see something better. I don’t know why humans do it, but I don’t think that’s the reason.

  “Authentic,” agreed the first girl, the blond one.

  I could feel CJ cringe.

  “That’s a weird thing to say,” said the girl with the boots, glancing at the other two as if they’d puzzled her.

  “Well, no offense. I was only saying,” said the blond girl.

  The boots girl turned her attention to CJ. “Have you ever noticed that people always say ‘no offense’ like it’s your fault they said something really offensive?” she asked. “Can I pet Max?”

  She put a hand out without waiting for CJ to answer. I pulled my head up and showed her my teeth. It wasn’t personal; she seemed nice enough. But she wasn’t CJ.

  The girl snatched her hand back.

  “Wow, I guess CJ has a guard dog,” said the blond girl. Her voice still sounded nice and not nice at once.

  “Sorry,” CJ mumbled. “I’m trying to teach him not to do that.”

  “Trying, not succeeding, huh?” the blond girl said. “Stella, are you coming or what?”

  “Or what, I guess,” Stella said.

  Stella stood and looked at the other two for a few moments. I could tell they were trying to figure out who was in charge, just like I did with the other dogs at the park.

  Stella won. The other two girls walked away. Stella glanced back at CJ and rolled her eyes.

  “Like that’s even an insult? That you have a guard dog?” she said. “Pretty lame. How are you teaching Max not to bite?”

  “Maybe you could help? If you don’t mind?” CJ’s voice was still quiet, but she looked hopeful. “Unless you’ve got somewhere to go. Or something. I don’t mean to make you wait.”

  “No, I’m not going anywhere. Especially not with Laurel and Jenna. They’re such snobs. How can I help with Max?”

  Stella and CJ found a bench along the sidewalk and sat down. CJ put me on the bench between them and pulled the can of treats out of her pocket. My whole body sprang to attention. Treats!

  “Now try to pet him again,” she said. “Not on the top of his head; lots of dogs get a little scared if you do that first thing. Try under his chin or behind his ears. Okay, ready? Gentle, Max!”

  Stella’s hand came toward me. But she did it slowly, and CJ was right next to me, and most important, CJ had shaken a treat out of the can and into her hand. My attention was on that and not so much on Stella’s hand.

  Stella rubbed behind my ear. She wasn’t as good at it as CJ was, but she wasn’t bad. And CJ popped a treat into my mouth.

  Delicious! Gentle, Max was starting to feel like a good game. I crunched the treat and looked around for more.

  “Hey, he didn’t try to bite me!” Stella looked pleased. CJ was smiling.

  “That’s great! Would you do it again?”

  Stella and CJ and I played Gentle, Max over and over again. I won every time and got a lot of treats. When CJ finally put the can back in her pocket (too bad!), she and Stella stayed on the bench, talking.

  “You’ve really lived in New York all your life?” CJ asked.

  “Yeah. Why not? You act surprised. Lots of people live here!” Stella said, laughing.

  “I know. Too many!” CJ giggled a bit, too. “I just can’t imagine living here all the time. How do you figure stuff out?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like … I don’t know. Like how to cross the street!” Stella laughed harder. “No, really!” CJ insisted. “Nobody waits for a Walk signal, so you feel like a doofus standing there on the curb. But if I try to cross against the lights, people honk and yell. I just don’t get it!”

  Stella was still giggling. “I don’t know. I just cross when everybody else does. The cars can’t hit all of you. That’s what my big brother always says, anyway. Do you like New York, though? Except for crossing the street?”

  CJ shrugged, dropping her gaze and twisting her fingers in the fur along my back. “I haven’t seen that much of it. Just the school where the art program is, and the apartment where I’m staying. And the dog park.”

  “The dog park? Why the dog park? I mean, I like dogs, too, but it’s not the first place I’d go in New York.”

  CJ shrugged. “My mom said she’d send me an allowance so I’d have some spending money, but she didn’t do it. She’s … kind of like that. So I’ve been walking some dogs in the neighborhood on the weekends. Five bucks a dog. That’s why I go to the dog park.”

  “Oh, I get it. But haven’t you been sightseeing at all? That’s too bad. Really. What about something simple, like Central Park? It’s so much fun when the weather is nice and everybody’s out biking and Rollerblading and playing Frisbee. And walking dogs, too! You should take Max!”

  “I don’t know…” CJ said. Her voice trailed off.

  “You should,” Stella said firmly. “Just look at him. He’s a New York dog—you can tell! He doesn’t let any
body push him around. He’d love Central Park. You should definitely take him there.”

  “Maybe,” CJ said softly. “Sometime.”

  * * *

  CJ took me back home after saying good-bye to Stella, and spent the afternoon in her bedroom, rubbing her pencil on a big sheet of paper and frowning. I didn’t understand why she was bothering to do that. Clearly it didn’t make her happy, and after all, she had a dog to play with. Wasn’t I better than a pencil?

  I guess CJ figured out that I was, because she took me for a long walk and my own visit to the dog park before we settled in for another night.

  In the morning I was surprised to find out that CJ had not learned her lesson, because she left me behind again! And this time Jillian put on her tall shoes, picked up a purse and that coat with the interesting collar, and left as well. Sneakers made it out into the hall this time, but Jillian grabbed her and shoved her back inside, then abruptly slammed the door shut.

  I barked at the door a bit, but that didn’t produce any interesting results. So I wandered around the apartment restlessly. When I felt a need to pee, I squatted near one of the kitchen cabinets and left a puddle on the floor.

  Then I had to figure out what to do next.

  Sneakers had stretched out on the carpet, lying in a patch of sunlight that came through the window. She had her back to me and seemed perfectly relaxed. Only her long gray tail, lying on the carpet, twitched from time to time.

  It looked like the perfect moment to show Sneakers which pet was more important in this apartment. And that was going to be me.

  9

  I made sure everything about me told Sneakers that I was in charge and she was not. Head, ears, and tail lifted as high as I could get them. Legs stiff. Back straight. Hair along my spine bristling. My upper lip curled, ready to show my teeth.

  Then I walked steadily toward the cat. This time she would understand.

  Soon I was within a foot of her. She rolled over lazily and looked at me, her golden eyes glinting in the sunlight.

  She didn’t get up, and that was good. I could tell she had gotten my message. She lay limp on her back, her belly showing. I’d finally convinced her!