have spaced out for a while. “Jesse, this is no time to daydream,” she
said, sitting down on my bed and nearly crushing my feet. Her name was
Becky, but I liked calling her Oz – short for Aussie. She was tall and thin
like me, with green eyes. I had also inherited her reddish-orange hair.
Mine, however, poofed out like I'd just been electrocuted.
“Oz, what’s wrong?” I asked from under the bedcovers. “What did
the officer say?”
“You need to train Duma.”
“Why?” I turned to Duma, who was playing with his private parts.
Oz nudged him so he would stop. “The neighbors have been calling in
about him.”
“So?” They always called in about him.
“Jess, tomorrow morning at seven he’s scheduled to be put to sleep.”
“Put to – what?” I shot out of bed, feeling sick to my stomach, and
started pacing around the room. “But you just said I needed to train
him—”
“Jess, I need you to listen to me. You know he goes wandering into
our neighbors' homes. And you know he has bitten eight kids this
month–”
“They can’t kill him!” I glanced at the collection of clocks and
watches on my desk. My favorite digital watch read: 8:49 AM.
“Jesse! He can still be okay.”
I waited for her to explain. Duma sat calmly at her feet, watching me,
as though I was the one in trouble.
“Jess, sit down, please. They’re going to bring in a few renowned vets
tomorrow to run some more tests on him. If they feel that he’s harmless,
he won’t be euthanized or sent to the animal shelter. They’ll leave him
be. Meanwhile, you’re going to have to train him as best as you can.”
“That’s impossible!”
“I know. But it’s all you can do at this point. I’m going to go talk to
the neighbors who filed the complaints. I’ll be back soon.”
Oz planted a kiss on each of us before leaving. Duma jetted across the
floor, clenching a stale fruit snack in his teeth.
“Stop eating those, Duma! Do you want them to put you to sleep?”
Duma halted and lifted his head at the word “sleep,” as if that meant
something to him. “You are so stupid. Come on. We’re going to
Katie’s.”
