The Rescue

48

Bettina sits with her back to her desk in the little cubicle, Teddy and Felix on the floor before her in an ongoing spectacle of affection. Wade Johnson stands at the entrance, arms crossed.

She composes herself as Teddy talks about how he kept the dog out of Mabel’s surprise litter, named him Joe, let him live and sleep in his room, spent every second of time that he could with him, but he was in school so it was never enough. And how they played the hide-and-find game and Teddy saw that Joe had a great nose and memory, and even Wade at Excalibur K-9 who was a friend of his dad was impressed, and took him on for training even though Joe was small and kind of stubborn sometimes and didn’t like to fight those big monster men with all the pads. But later he passed every Class I course, setting record times in his detection tests. And the reason Joe did so good, Teddy tells Bettina, is because he thought it was fun to make his humans happy.

Bettina feels her heart breaking off in slabs, like a calving iceberg. “That’s so... beautiful.”

Teddy smiles at her. He’s a slender boy with straight black hair and a sweet, toothy smile.

“How old are you, Teddy?”

“Fifteen. I can get my learner’s next month. How old are you?”

“Twenty-six.”

He looks at her in apparent sympathy. Bettina doesn’t know if it’s aimed at her advanced age, or the fact that Teddy thinks he’s getting his dog back.

Not without a fight, though, she thinks, telling herself that where Felix goes isn’t up to her or Teddy. She considers Wade Johnson, standing just outside her cubicle with a look of forbearance.

“Do you know who Felix’s father was?” Bettina asks. She won’t call him Joe because Felix was never theirs — never Strickland’s or the DEA’s, or Aaron’s, or Wade Johnson’s or now, Teddy’s.

“I think so. I saw this Mexican street-looking dog hanging around our yard when we got back from church one Sunday. He ran away fast and Mabel had dried slobber on her, and she was tired and acting guilty. I saw him again a week later but he wouldn’t come or let me get close. He was wild, I could tell. No collar and some ticks around his eyes. I gave him some water and food but he ran off later. I didn’t want him around Mabel. By the time Joe was a couple of months old, he looked like that Mexican street dog and Mabel put together. Mostly the street dog, though. He got Mabel’s big head, and the curvy shape of the street dog’s body. I guess his crazy ears came from both.”

Bettina likes Teddy Delgado enough to hug him. The fact that Felix seems to love him more than he loves her breaks her heart a little more. Another piece of the iceberg sloughs off.

“What happened to your mom and dad?”

She listens to his story about the accident, and how it happened on the same day Joe shattered every Excalibur record in his mock Class I certification exam. How it was the happiest day of his life and Joe’s, too, and they stayed home alone that evening with Shelly babysitting because Mom and Dad were out to celebrate their twelve-year anniversary with Uncle Art and Aunt Nancy.

Bettina feels ashamed that she’s envious of Teddy and Felix. Wishes she could put her jealous heart in a box and chain it to an anvil and drop it off a pier.

“And the wreck happened on their way back,” he says.

Teddy Delgado looks almost frail, but Bettina feels the emotional energy coming off him like electricity.

“And your aunt and uncle took you in, but not your dog?”

“Aunt Nancy has allergies, but Uncle Art said I was too young to take care of a dog. They wanted me to focus on school. Now that I’m older, I’ll be able to do both.”

“You’ve talked to them about this?”

“Kind of. If that falls through, Mr. Johnson will take Joe.”

“Yes, I’m happy to,” says Johnson. Bettina notes both the firmness and the kindness in the old man’s voice.

Teddy gets up off the floor and pulls out his wallet. Felix sits at his feet, staring up at him. “I’ve got sixty-six dollars. Will you take it for Joe?”

Before she even speaks, Bettina knows she’s going to lose him. Still, she will not be told what to do. “I’m so sorry, Teddy, but I can’t. I paid for him and I own him and he’s mine now.”

“But he was mine first. I raised him and they took him away.”

“It’s not up to you if he goes or stays,” Bettina says.

“Then it’s not up to you either.”

“You’re right. It’s up to Felix.”

“Joe.”

Bettina swivels her chair away from Teddy Delgado and her dog, pops a tissue from the box by her monitor, blows her nose. Gets a clean one and wipes her eyes. Pivots back to them.

“Felix, come.”

He comes slowly, saber tail wagging humbly.

“Sit and stay.”

He sits, looks back at Teddy, then Bettina.

“Teddy, please back away, go outside my cubicle.”

Wade steps away and Teddy backs into the doorless entryway, his suspicious eyes on the dog and Bettina.

Felix watches Teddy, then joins him, sitting at his feet again.

“Felix, come,” says Bettina.

He looks at her but does not come. Looks up at Teddy, tail wagging tentatively, shyly.

“Felix, come.”

He wiggles over to her, and Bettina leans forward in her chair and he licks her face.

“I love you, Felix.”

Who now walks back to Teddy and lies down, puts his head between his paws, and looks up at Bettina with that same furrowed concern he’d first given her in the Wrangler on their way from the Clínica de Veterinarea to Laguna. And a hundred times since.

Hello and goodbye, she thinks.

“Teddy, keep your money. Felix is yours.”

“He’s Joe.”

It is finished, she thinks.

“Yes. You and Joe.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Let me follow you home and say goodbye to Joe there,” Bettina manages. “I want to see where he’ll be so I can picture him with you. I’ll need to stop by my apartment first, then I’ll follow you to La Jolla.”

“Yeah, sure!”

Teddy cleans and jerks Joe off the floor — a lot of dog for a skinny boy — and Joe eagerly licks his face.

He looks at Bettina innocently. “You can come visit him anytime you want, Ms. Blazak. Either at my uncle’s and aunt’s, or at Mr. Johnson’s.”

“Absolutely,” says Johnson.

“I’m going to take you up on that.”

Teddy sets down Joe, who wiggles over to Bettina and lies down on her feet.

“We can all play hide-and-find,” says Teddy. “Or go to the dog beach at Del Mar and let him run free. I’ll text you every day to tell you how he’s doing, and send pictures too. Thank you so much for giving Joe back to me. I’ll protect him forever. He’ll never get shot again.”

And Jalisco New Generation won’t know where to find him, Bettina thinks. Even if they don’t believe Frank’s lie about the Gaslamp.

Leaving Bettina’s cubicle with Teddy, Joe moves forward on-leash in that small-footed way of his, almost a prance but not quite, checking out the floor smells, of course — dropped Food is always possible, maybe a crunchy dead fly — then looking up at his Boy as the air scents flow into his nose.

He recognizes the carpet cleaner and the random nameless smells that ride in on the soles of shoes, but the strongest scent is Teddy’s, huffing out from his pant legs with each step.

Joe’s heart is filled with love for Teddy and Dan and Bettina and his mother, even Aaron.

Catches the smell of Bettina behind him.

He’s surrounded by some of his favorite things.

He trots along, reaching around to grab the leash in his teeth, one of his favorite games with Teddy. Teddy yanks at it in small but increasingly strong pulls. Elated now, Joe lets go.

He’s going home, the happiest day of his life.

Again.

He tries to celebrate by chasing his tail but gets caught up in the leash and Teddy has to untangle him.