Buster by Caleb Huett (ebook reader library txt) 📕

Something about the way she said this caught his attention and gave him an idea for what to say next. “Do you still talk to Sloan?”

I’d never heard that name before, but Mia’s head snapped up to look at Tonio, with the least-chill expression I’d seen on her so far.

“Why are you asking me that?” she said defensively.

“You were best friends.”

“Yeah, but why do you care?”

“She was nice. I thought you might know if she was okay.”

“Of course she’s okay. She’s always okay.” Mia turned the hose back on and waved Tonio out of the way to wash off the shampoo. “She’s the person who taught me that quiet people like you are paying attention, too.”

“Is that why you asked me to hang out?” Tonio pressed. “Because I’m quiet?”

Mia looked uncomfortable for the first time as they rubbed Leila with some old towels. Leila and Mozart had both stopped playing around and were taking concerned poses as they listened to Mia.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I thought you’d be like Sloan, maybe.”

“Do I—”

“But you’re not anything like Sloan.” Suddenly, Mia seemed frustrated. “She doesn’t have to ask a bunch of dumb questions; she just knows what to say. And she doesn’t have anxiety, either.”

“I’m sorry,” Tonio said. “I thought you’d like talking about her.”

“Of course I like talking about her!” Mia glared. “You don’t get it. I knew this would happen.”

Knew what would happen? I underspoke to Leila. She didn’t answer me. I nudged Tonio, but he was frozen, surprised by Mia’s sharp tone. She must really miss her friend, I said to Leila.

We all do, she answered. But we’re handling it. All right, Miracle Dog? You take care of your human, and we’ll take care of ours.

Handling it? I asked. What does that mean?

“I don’t need other friends, okay?” Mia said to Tonio. “I asked you to come because I didn’t want to wash Leila by myself. You can go anytime.” She shoved her hands in the pockets of her overalls and walked away with a stomp that was a little too intense to match the casual way she tried to hold her posture. Mozart followed behind at her heels; Leila watched her go with a sad droop to her tail.

But Tonio swallowed and raised his voice. “Do you know what kind of dog Buster is?” he almost-yelled after Mia. “I think he might be a vizsla, but also maybe some poodle or something.”

She stopped and turned her head around to answer. “No way. Terrier, maybe, but poodle?”

He whispered loudly through nearly clenched teeth. “I just think there might be some poodle.”

Mia put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. Don’t you know anything about dogs?”

“No!” Tonio almost-cheered, relieved she had turned back around. “I don’t know anything about dogs at all!”

Her chin pushed up into the air. Her Crunchsquish gum popped. “Well, you can help me feed the dogs, if you want. And I can tell you about them.”

Tonio’s hands clenched and unclenched around his box of cards. “Okay,” he said. Mia started walking in a different direction from the one she’d been heading in a moment before, and Tonio moved to follow her. I stuck to his heels, tail wagging with pride.

“Pride. Interesting word choice, Buster.” Pronto stepped out of his bumper car, thick coat rippling over his intimidating muscles. He walked along the front of the Court’s audience confidently, making Lasagna waddle around in a circle to watch him. Buster didn’t bother. “Because right now I feel the opposite of pride. I feel shame. Shame that so many of my fellow dogs are ignoring our sacred laws to try to make a few children happy.”

Lasagna hopped back around to look at the judge. “Your Honor—”

“I’ve been very patient,” Pronto interrupted. “I cannot allow Buster to continue misleading the Court without offering the Law’s perspective.”

The judge nodded. “Make your point, Speaker.”

“Do you know what human happiness looks like?” He turned to the crowd. “It looks like a puppy, adopted into a family for its cuteness, and then abandoned when it grows up. It looks like a greyhound, forced to race until the humans stop making money. It looks like Laika, may she watch over us always, sent to space alone with no hope of return. They take our childhoods, our strength, and our lives for their happiness.” The husky shook his head sadly. “When they know we have minds, they’ll try to take those, too.”

A sadness swept over the expressions of the crowd, and a few dogs arched their noses into the sky in the traditional salute to Laika. Lasagna and Buster saluted, too, but Buster’s head was bursting with frustration. Her name in Pronto’s mouth felt gross, especially because he was just using it to get people mad at Buster.

Pronto continued. “Human happiness is temporary, and they never try to fix it themselves. They always try to get someone or something else to do it, and these children, Tonio and Mia, are no different. Instead of pulling themselves up and dealing with their own problems, they’re begging at all sorts of tables: first other humans’, like therapists and friends, and then, when that doesn’t work, they turn to us. You fell for it, Buster. You and Mozart and Jpeg and Leila. Mozart’s just a puppy, of course, so maybe he can be relocated, but for the rest of you, The Farm seems the only correct option.”

“One case at a time, Pronto.” The judge’s pose was serious. “We’re here to talk about Buster.”

“I am talking about Buster, Your Honor,” Pronto insisted. He stepped back into his bumper car and hit his paw against the dashboard. “The Court didn’t punish him severely enough last time, and now there are three other dogs turned Bad by his influence.”

A dog’s bark rose from the crowd, breaking the silence. “OKAY, BUT WHO’S SLOAN?”

Pronto’s head shot around to glare into the crowd. “That doesn’t matter.”

Lasagna’s tail wagged.