George Knows Read online

  I get up, lean back into a bow on my hind legs, rock forward, straighten and stretch my front legs and stand. A good shake from head to tail and I am good to go.

  I am a hunter and ready to catch my quarry. Or at least find it.

  Auntie Heather turns her attention to the Badge Dude that likes her. “Officer James, would it be all right if I take Karly, Belinda, and George with me to look for Joey. We all know the woods well and George has certainly proven how talented his nose is.”

  “I assumed you’d be involved in the search.” The Badge Dude pulls out a small bit of paper and touches Auntie Heather’s hand as he passes it to her. ’Kay, Peeps, there are better things to worry about, aren’t there? Get your minds out of the clouds, please. I hate spring.

  “Call that number if you find anything,” he says with too much white tooth showing in his smile. Looks almost like a snarl.

  “Of course I will,” Auntie Heather smiles back. There is a Horrible Hodag out there probably making dinner of The Creep and she is smiling. This is serious business, not smiling time.

  “What’s your number Ms. Martin?” He has a small pad and a pen out, ready to write. He can’t remember a number? This is what Peeps are made for—storing memories. Silly creatures. Auntie Heather takes the stuff from him and scratches something with the pen onto the paper. She hands it back with that stupid smile.

  Ick. Springtime. That’s got to be it.

  Time to find a mate. Now, if a cute basset Girlpup dog moves into the neighborhood, it’d only friendly to stop and say hi. Always willing to do my part to increase the Pack. I wouldn’t be all stupid about it.

  “George. George? George! Stop daydreaming. We have work to do.” Was Auntie Heather blushing? That’s why it’s good to have a fur coat, can’t see me blush. Not that I ever would need to.

  Auntie Heather bends down with one of The Creep’s dirty T-shirts. As if I don’t live with him, and forgot what his smelltaste is. I sneeze concentrated saltmudpondfrogsourboy. Never changes unless he’s is eating, or with his friends, and then he smells like a Boypup cocktail, I like his smelltaste best while he’s eating. Boypup smelltaste isn’t bad in general.

  Auntie Heather whispers to me, “It’s just to make this look good. You know exactly what to do, you brilliant boy.”

  She says just the right thing. I am not sure why they want him back, but he is a member of my Pack. I grin, raise my tail, and put my nose to the grindstone, err, ground.

  Smelltasting, sniffing, snorting to clear my palate and sniffing again.

  I search for his scent, nose high to catch anything in the air, nose low to catch any smelltastes on the ground trapped in the plants and the dirt.

  There! My tail sticks straight up, an exclamation point to tell Auntie Heather and Karly I am on the right track. “Arroooooo!”

  I pull on Karly’s leash. The smelltaste is old. Easy enough to follow, but if they want him back fast we need to move it.

  “Hurryhurryhurry,” I bay. On the track! “Hereherehere!” Karly, speed your butt up!

  Karly is slowing me down too much. I could stop fast, which would loosen the leash and make it easy to slip my head out of the collar, but then I’ll lose her.

  Too much trouble to find two pups when I have her already.

  I snuffle a sigh and keep pulling.

  “George, you’re pulling my arm off!” Karly scolds me. It’s her brother whose arm is at risk. She picks up my thought and runs faster.

  Roquefort’s smelltaste stops me for a moment. I look behind me. He’s got my rear. That’s what friends are for.

  The trail swirls all around me. The air is filled with saltmudpondfrogsour smelltaste. I can’t tell where it’s going. Karly trips when I slow down to get my bearings. She jerks hard on her leash as she falls over something. Peeps are too tall. I grab the leash and pull it out of her hand. Leatherrubberplastic mixed with footsweat with the main note of saltmudpondfrogsour fills my head. I would’ve found it if she hadn’t tripped over it by accident.

  My Girlpup tries to take it away from me. I tug it back. “George, give!” She is actually commanding me to do something. I’m very proud of her. In a “gee, maybe she has a spine” way. Though, of course, I don’t want her to do it again. Opening my jaw I drop the shoe neatly into her hands.

  Salty tears roll down Karly’s face. “Oh, no! It’s Joey’s sneaker. George, find the other one.”

  I don’t smelltaste or see another shoe, even after scuffing the leaves away. Peeps don’t usually walk around with only one shoe. At least, I don’t think so. Joey is a Boypup, though. Maybe he lost it running. Running from The Horrible Hodag?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Auntie Heather catches up to us and looks at the sneaker Karly’s holding. She takes it, turns it around and around, her face forming those beautiful wrinkles.

  “This is Joey’s shoe, for sure?” She’s got it in one hand and puts her other on Karly’s shoulder.

  Karly nods, more tears spilling from her eyes. Tears are weird. Dogs don’t do tears. Waste of salt and water if you ask me.

  Not that anyone ever does.

  I paw her leg. Auntie Heather moves her hand and my Girlpup bends down to hug me. I lick the tears off her face. My Girlpup needs me.

  Auntie Heather walks around the area. Silly, she can’t smelltaste anything, she’s a Peep. What’s she doing? Roquefort trails behind, scrubbing his nose. Or sniffing his paws. Hard to tell with a raccoon.

  “Can you feel it?”

  Karly and I shake our heads. I trundle over to Auntie Heather. There’s nothing to…there’s a dead spot in front of us. No sound, smelltastesfeels.

  Nothing.

  Just more fogcloud.

  We all run toward the spot—I am fast on my paws—my Pack behind me so I can protect them. Except there’s nothing to protect them from.

  How does The Horrible Hodag do that?

  “It’s spreading,” Karly says through tears. “What are we going to do now? What if it fills the whole woods?”

  I sniff, hoping to find Joey’s scent. If I could find where he went in, maybe Karly could get a rope and pull us out when I find him.

  Auntie Heather rustles through the bag she carried with her. “I wish I’d had more time with the book at the house. I brought it with the hope maybe we could figure something out quickly. If the ceremony needs special tools, it’s going to take time to gather them—and we don’t have a lot of time if Joey’s in there.” She points to the fogcloud. As if we don’t know he is.

  The book is pulled out with another rustle. It smelltastes funny here. Like what? Bittersweetsalttears. Not Auntie Heather’s. Books don’t cry. Oh, yeah, it’s magic. I guess it can do anything.

  Well, then, so can I. I yank my head back and pull Karly’s leash out of her hands. My neck is very strong. I trot to the blankness. My head jerks back as Auntie Heather stomps on the handle. I try to pull away. She lodges a foot in the loop, trapping me.

  Neat trick.

  “Even if you had a longer line, I wouldn’t let you in there. You and Karly already tried that. Finding Joey by wandering around in that fog is worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

  What’s a haystack?

  “Concentrate. I’m not sure you could feel him even if you two managed to bump into each other.” I stop pulling. I know better. “Stay calm and help me work through these pages. Roquefort, do you feel anything from the book?”

  Roque crawls up Auntie like she’s a tree and looks over her shoulder. I wish I could do that. I’m glad she’s talking to him so I can hear. I hate not knowing what’s going on. Auntie Heather must overhear my Girlpup’s and my conversations.

  Since she seems to be in my head already.

  She shakes hair out of her face and takes her foot off my leash.

  “Keep out of trouble.” Auntie Heather licks a finger. I could help her with that, even if it is a weird thing to do. It isn’t grooming time. She flips through the book until she reach
es the pages I found. She looks at Roque who is pointing to something on the page.

  Handy.

  I wish I had fingers. Looking at my gorgeous paws with their strong claws and at Roque’s little hands with only sharp nails I change my mind. My nose is good for pointing. I am perfect as I am. A strong, magical familiar with an abundance of gifts.

  Pant. Pant. Pant.

  Drops of saliva fall from my mouth. Is it getting hot? Karly pulls her shirt away from her neck. Sweat drips from Auntie Heather’s nose. Roque is staring in the direction of the river. Probably looking to take a swim in the cool water. Yup, it’s good to be me. I pant and sweat from my paws. It makes them smell like popcorn.

  Yum.

  Popcorn.

  Does Auntie Heather have snacks in her bag?

  She kneels next to me, Roque sitting on her shoulder, fingers clinging to her neck. Auntie Heather shifts her shoulder. He chatters something and moves his paws to the top of her head.

  “So, does anyone see or feel anything from this?” She turns each page from the group I released at the house.

  Magic raises a short Mohawk from my neck to the base of my tail. It prickles. Karly is sitting cross-legged across from our auntie. Her forehead is crinkled in concentration, she shivers and goose bumps cover her skin. The magic is strong. Now to figure out where it’s coming from.

  I place my nose on the open page where I feel the most zappage. The heat is getting stronger. I can’t tell if it’s coming from the book or the fogcloud. The page is cool. I slide my nose over pictures I don’t remember seeing before. My nose is dry from the heat and I give my strong black scenting machine a good lick with my long tongue. I feel better and touch the page again. Roque bends over Auntie Heather’s head to see better.

  His teeth clatter and he purrs with excitement. He points out a picture of a tree with a clawed-up trunk. A cloud shape covers the top.

  I move my muzzle to the tree. As my wet nose touches the picture the air shimmers and letters slowly darken across the page.

  Meaningless shapes.

  Hopefully Auntie Heather and Karly can read them. I do worry about the Boypup, it’s been a long time and The Horrible Hodag has horrible quills. I don’t want The Creep to get punctured. It hurts like fire.

  I try to think of his good points. He drops nummies sometimes. When he was little I groomed his face. It was always covered with snacks and baby drool.

  Yum.

  I drool on the page and the words stop darkening.

  Karly looks at the page and back at me. “Look, George’s snot and drool made the words show up. The picture changed too.” My Girlpup points with excitement. I look again. What do you know? The fogcloud lifted from the tree. The air around the book is cool, too. Sweet.

  “George saves the day!” My Girlpup cheers. Roque coughs and climbs off his perch and leans into my Girlpup’s legs. She continues to stroke him. Auntie Heather must have very strong shoulders, the raccoon isn’t a lightweight. “And you too, Roquefort.” Karly reaches over my head to scritch behind Roque’s ears. Hey, what about me? I did the hard part. I nudge under Karly’s other hand to get my own ear rubbies.

  “Can you read it?” My Girlpup stops rubbing Roque’s and my ears and takes the book, turns it upside down, shakes her head, and gives it back to Auntie Heather. “What’s with the cloud in the tree? What’s it mean?” She is talking so fast that spit is raining over the page. The letters begin to fade. I quickly nose the page and they darken again. Everyone gives a sigh of relief.

  Except me. I am confident in the power of my wet nose.

  Auntie Heather stands with the book. She paces back and forth. Back and forth. Back and…whoo, enough already, you’re making me sick.

  She peers over the top of the book at me. “Hmmm. I think we can do this.”

  “Do what?” my brilliant Girlpup asks. She’s chewing on a fingernail. Silly thing to do—she doesn’t let them grow out to do any good digging or scratching.

  Auntie Heather taps the page with the eraser end of a pencil. When did she get that? “We need to light fires all around the fogcloud. We’ll add the herbs from the concealing spell and conceal the fogcloud.” Auntie Heather beams.

  “Seriously? We’re going to conceal a fogcloud that conceals things?” My Girlpup’s eyes have a lost look. Sometimes I worry she’ll never understand magic. Yep, Karly’s a witch, she can do magic. I’m a familiar, I am magic. Oh, and a magnificent creation. She stills needs to learn that magic isn’t found in a cookbook. I twist my head to the book. Well, most magic isn’t found in a cookbook.

  I’m going to get sparkly stuff up my nose again when they perform the spell. I sneeze with the memory.

  “It should work. Whatever is under that fogcloud will show up once it’s concealed. Then we’ll find Joey.” Auntie Heather pulls stuff out of her bag. I sneeze again just for the heck of it. Roquefort wipes his eyes. Guess my sneezes were too close to him. “That’s enough, boys. Karly, take them and see if you can’t find enough branches to make a ring of fire.”

  My Girlpup paces around the fogcloud. “How big a ring? This thing is huge.”

  Good point. All I can see is a wall of the stuff. Not sure where it ends. I follow my nose, trying to get a feel for the border. Auntie Heather stomps on my leash again. Sigh. This is Karly’s, not mine. Take it off already.

  “Let’s just do this part in front of us. If it works, and we need to, we can work our way back.” Auntie Heather stoops to pick up some twigs. She grimaces and puts a hand on her back. Healer, heal yourself. I’ll get the branches. Those twigs are useless for a good fire anyway.

  The bigger twigs are off the deer trail we walked in on. I trot over to a large one. There is a stupid rock in the way and my claw catches on it.

  “Arrroooouch!” That doesn’t feel good. Guess I do need my nails cut. I limp to the branch, grab it, and carry it to edge of the fogcloud.

  Karly drops a load of sticks and bends next to me. “Broke that one across the top. Auntie Heather, can we fix it, he’s bleeding a lot.”

  Auntie Heather lifts her head from the book. “Excuse me? Oh my. We should do something about that and we need to be quick about it. I’m very worried about Joey, and you must be as well.”

  Karly and I form the bond we made when we healed the furry-tailed rat, Auntie Heather looking on. She wraps a few green leaves around the claw and the heat from Karly’s and my bond makes it feel better. I shake it, the leaves fall off, and my nail is much shorter than it was. Well, if we can make it work once…

  “Get back to work, Joey’s life might be at stake,” Auntie Heather snaps. “I’m sorry. I…” She breaks off. Yeah, understandable. Peeps can’t do more than one thing at a time.

  Karly and I look at each other and grab sticks, twigs, and branches. We drop them into a wall just a little shorter than me. Roque follows behind us, rearranging all the sticks. Perfectionist. I roll my eyes at him. He doesn’t notice, too busy putting the twigs in some order only he knows. Auntie Heather sprinkles the herb mix from a pouch onto the wall. I never realized it looked like a sock. When she empties the pouch I amble over and nuzzle it. It’s a sock.

  I want it.

  Auntie Heather bops the empty sock across the top of my nose. “Stop being silly. I added some things to the mixture to prevent anything other than the wood you collected from burning.” She pulls out a match and lights the wall. Sparkles fly and twist around the cloud. How come I’m not sneezing?

  “You aren’t in the spell this time,” Aunt Heather tells me.

  She and Karly are watching the sparkly smoke without even blinking. The smoke is gray. No, it’s kind of like dirty dishwater. I tried to drink some once. Too soapy. Um, it’s clearing up, water with sparkly bubbles in it.

  I can see through it.

  A monster, with a smooth, wide head about three times as big as mine, small, round eyes the size of my toes, no ears, and four of my bodies long, is curled around Joey. Sharp spikes are on top of the evil
thing’s head, and there are claws all over its skin, not just its feet. Actually, its legs end in stumps with claws. It doesn’t look like he has feet. Logs with joints. That’s what he walks on. He’s lying down, so I can’t tell how tall he is. Now I can smell the stinky Horrible Hodag. This time I sneeze and cough to clear my poor nose and mouth of the stench.

  Lips pull into a snarl, and growling, I lunge for the monster. It has him! Joey is in real trouble. I hear Auntie Heather and Karly racing behind me. The Horrible Hodag is eating him.

  “No! Stop it! You can’t hurt my friend,” Joey shouts at me, waving his arms to keep me back. What did The Horrible Hodag do to the Boypup? The Creep has always been strange, but this is a bit beyond that. I give him my best basset stare, while watching to make sure The Horrible Hodag doesn’t do anything to hurt my Boypup. My Boypup, huh? I guess so. My Pack.

  My sensitive ears hear Auntie Heather and Karly slowly creep behind me. ‘Kay, I don’t really need sensitive ears, Peeps are loud no matter how much they try to be quiet in the woods. At least my claws don’t clatter on the leaves. Hmmm. I lift my paw and put it down again. All fixed, no pain. I can beat The Horrible Hodag.

  “Grrrrarooorrrrrr. Snap! Grrrrr.”

  Game on monster.

  “Joey, what are you doing with that…creature?” Auntie Heather asks, very softly.

  “I told you, he’s my friend. George, no, no, bad dog. You’re scaring him.”

  Not likely. Steam is curling up from slits where its nose should be and its eyes are dark and spinning. Where are its ears? How can it smellhear anything? Its smelltaste makes me want to puke. Except then I’d have to take my eyes off of it.

  “Grrrr.”

  Leave my Boypup alone you freak of nature. “Arrrroo!” I sound my battle cry and charge in for the kill. I stop short, my neck nearly pulled to my back. Auntie Heather has my leash under her foot.

  Again.

  What is wrong with that Boypup? I face the monster again. “Grrrr.” Give my Boypup back, right now, or I’ll eat you. “Grrr.”