Chase

Twenty-One

Jeff stayed with the dog while Emily ran back to her place for a laptop computer and a cable. The whole idea of what they were about to try seemed crazy. They were actually going to plug a computer into a dog?

But then Jeff thought, no, they weren’t plugging a computer into a dog. They were just plugging a computer into a dog’s collar. Maybe that wasn’t quite so weird. They made computers so small these days, you could probably fit all kinds of stuff into that band that ran around the dog’s neck.

After all, couldn’t you implant a little GPS chip in your pet these days, so that if it went missing, you could find it? Yeah, that made sense. Of course, you couldn’t really connect to that chip, but maybe this was some variation on that. By putting the chip in the collar, you didn’t have to actually break the dog’s skin, which, when you think about it, is not a very nice thing to do to a dog or a cat or even a gerbil.

That’s probably all this was, Jeff figured. Just a fancy locater for somebody’s pet. And once Emily was back here with her computer, and plugged it into that collar, they’d know who this dog belonged to and could organize a reunion.

The thought of which made Jeff a little sad.

He hadn’t spent a lot of time with this dog, but he liked him. He liked him a lot. But the boy had to face reality. Even if this dog turned out to belong to nobody, there was no way he was going to be able to keep him. Not with Aunt Flo hating pets.

And speaking of Aunt Flo...

She must be having six fits that he still hadn’t returned. He hadn’t even gotten to the dump yet. He was wondering what he’d tell her. The dump was closed? He’d had to go to one in a different county? Flat tire?

Alien abduction?

The dog turned his head slightly and looked up at Jeff from his spot on the beanbag chair. “How ya doin’, buddy?” Jeff asked.

The dog’s tail thumped with slightly more energy this time.

“I guess I never actually introduced myself,” the boy said. “My name is Jeff.”

Another thump of the dog’s tail.

“Jeff Conroy. I’m twelve years old, and I live with my aunt, whose name is Flo. She’s my dad’s sister, or was my dad’s sister, I guess, since my dad is dead. I guess she’s still my dad’s sister, even if he is dead. I don’t know. Anyway, I live with her because both my mom and my dad are dead. It happened last year. Their names were Edwin and Patsy. Edwin is kind of a strange name. You don’t hear it that much. Patsy is sort of normal, although it sounds kind of old-fashioned. I think it’s kind of a nickname for Patricia, which was my mom’s proper name on her birth certificate. Well, I guess it would have been on her death certificate, too. And the girl who’s been helping me and who got you all the food is Emily Winslow. She’s kind of okay, considering when I first met her I thought she was kind of a snot.”

Jeff had no idea just how closely the dog was listening to his every word, understanding him, even feeling sad for him.

“So I help my aunt run her business, and I really, truly hate my life,” Jeff said. “I miss my parents, and I also miss a dog I had once, named Pepper. My aunt made me get rid of him. The only thing that’s made me kind of happy in a long time is finding you.”

The dog twisted his snout towards Jeff and raised his head.

“What?” Jeff said, leaning closer, then gave a little start of surprise when the dog licked him, touching his chin and going right up over his lips, catching the tip of his nose.

“Hey,” Jeff said, and hugged the dog’s head.

Jeff wasn’t sure how long they would have stayed like that, but then they heard a noise downstairs. They both jumped and turned their heads to the top of the stairs.

“It’s me!” Emily cried, running up the steps. She had a computer bag slung over her shoulder. She slid it off and unzipped it in one fluid motion, brought out the computer and put it in her lap after sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her beanbag chair.

The dog watched her closely.

She drew a cord out of the case, plugged one end into the side of the laptop, and handed the other end to Jeff.

“Plug in the dog,” Emily said.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Jeff said. He parted the dog’s fur once again, found the port, and connected the cord to it. “It fits.”

“Of course it fits,” Emily said. “You think I don’t know my stuff?”

“I’m clearly not as into computers as you are.”

She didn’t look at Jeff. She was staring at her screen. “Okay,” Emily said, more to herself than to Jeff. “Tap here... click here... and... nuts.”

“What?”

Jeff scurried around on his knees and looked over Emily’s shoulders. He pointed and said, “What is that?”

“Okay, so the computer has detected whatever program is in that collar, but it’s asking for a password before I can get in.”

“Whoa. So there really is something in there.”

“Well, I guess,” Emily said. “Maybe he’s like a doggie bank machine. Before he gives us any money we have to know the PIN.”

Jeff ignored that. “You’d think if that connection is there so that we can find out whose dog this is, his owner wouldn’t want to slow you down with a password. They’d want you to get in, wouldn’t they?”

“Maybe... They seem to be asking for five digits here.”

“So, like, we pick a number between zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, and nine, nine, nine, nine, nine?”

She half turned her head, not far enough to see Jeff, just far enough to make a face that he could see. “Helpful,” she said.

The dog began to bark.

“Arf! Arf arf arf!”

“What is it, sport?” Jeff asked. “You want something else to eat?” He reached for the bag Emily had brought earlier, dug out a cracker, and put it close to the dog’s mouth.

He turned his snout away.

“Maybe with some cheese?” Jeff said, reaching back into the bag.

“Arf!”

Then a pause.

“Arf arf arf!”

Then another pause.

“Arf arf!”

Yet another pause.

“Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf!”

“What’s with you?” Jeff asked.

Finally, “Arf!”

“Quiet!” Emily said, raising her head and shouting at the mutt. “I’m thinking here! Trying to figure out if there’s some way around this password.”

Jeff waved some cheese in front of the dog’s nose but he rejected it just as he had the cracker.

“Arf!

Arf arf arf!

Arf arf!

Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf!

Arf!”

“He’s driving me crazy,” Emily said. “He doesn’t make a sound for ages and now he’s giving me a headache. Do you want us to find your owner or not?”

Jeff decided to eat the piece of cheese himself. “What kind of cheese is this?” he asked Emily.

“Huh? It’s havarti.”

“It’s good.”

“Arf!

Arf arf arf!

Arf arf!

Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf!

Arf!”

The dog was looking right at Jeff, who realized that he seemed pretty agitated. A far cry from a few moments earlier, when the dog was licking Jeff’s face.

Emily stared in puzzlement at her screen as the dog began to bark again.

“Arf!

Arf arf arf!

Arf arf!

Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf!

Arf!”

“Hang on,” Jeff said very slowly to Emily.

“What?”

“Enter one, three, two... uh, seven, and then... one.” Chipper started to wag his tail while Emily scowled at Jeff. “You just making this up?”

“Just... try it and see what happens.”

Emily typed in the series of numbers he’d given her, held her finger over the return/enter key, then came down on it hard.

She stared, bug-eyed, at the screen.

“It worked,” she whispered. “How did you know? How could you possibly know?”

“The dog told me,” Jeff said.

“No, really, how did you know?”

“I’m serious,” Jeff said. “His barks. He was barking out a series of numbers.”

Emily’s mouth hung open. “That’s totally nuts,” she said. “And yet... I’m in.”

“In where, exactly?”

Jeff was back to looking at the screen with her. There was a lot of white space, kind of like the space on a smart phone before you start texting. At the top was a row of buttons, all with different tiny icons.

“I still don’t believe you,” Emily said. “There’s no way the dog—”

“Look,” Jeff said.

Something was happening on the screen. Letters were starting to appear. Letters that turned into words, and then an entire sentence. Four, in fact.

They both looked from the screen to the dog. He was staring right at them.

Then, more words on the screen.

The dog fixed his eyes on the boy.