Buster by Caleb Huett (ebook reader library txt) 📕

Both of Tonio’s parents followed him into the hallway and shut the door for privacy. I, of course, could hear everything.

“I think I’m allergic to him. I must be allergic to dogs,” the boy said. So that’s what this is about, I thought. The sneeze.

“I don’t think so, honey,” his mom said. “We just took that allergy test, remember?”

Tonio was breathing fast, with just the top part of his lungs. He was almost panting, like I do after a long run. His voice was different—it was moving up higher, and quicker. Not slow and quiet like he’d sounded before.

“My nose feels weird,” he said, then paused to gasp a few times. “I think it’s … because of the dog. I can’t breathe.”

“Try to slowly take a deep breath.” I could tell Mr. Pulaski was reciting advice he’d heard before, something he’d said a bunch of times. “We’ve been here for a while—if you had a severe allergy, it would have acted up sooner.”

“Maybe not! Maybe—maybe—maybe it’s because I held the leash for the first time. I touched him, and I’m allergic, and you already paid for him, and now—” His voice broke. He was crying.

That’s when I realized he was having a panic attack. Jocelyn had pretended to have them so I’d know what they looked like, but I’d never witnessed a real one before. Because of his anxiety, Tonio was worrying more about his sneeze than most people would. He thought something was wrong with him, and that was making him scared. The fear made him panic—and when someone panics, it’s harder to breathe. Then when it got harder to breathe, he thought it was because of the sneeze. That convinced him the allergy must be really bad, which scared him more, which made his breathing even worse. A bad circle.

I tried to decide what a Good Dog would do. My training was to help when he was having a panic attack, but I was only supposed to respond to what I saw, not what I heard from another room.

But he was hurting. And if I could just go out there and distract him, maybe I could help. I could pretend I really did have to go out: The trainer would open the door, I could distract Tonio, and that would break the bad circle.

Then I thought about the fire. I thought about the trouble I’d already gotten into.

I couldn’t risk it.

I’ll help you next time, I thought. I laid down on the ground and tried not to hear him crying. I promise.

His parents seemed too flustered to help much. They kept asking if he was okay every few seconds, and if he needed to leave. He didn’t, or couldn’t, answer. I felt terrible. Jocelyn and I waited another five minutes, and I listened to his crying stop, his breath slow.

“I’m sorry,” Tonio mumbled. “We can go back inside.”

“You don’t have to apologize, sweetheart. If this is already bothering you, then it’s probably a bad idea. We should stop.”

Tonio gave in. “If you think so. Yeah. We can just go home.”

I looked up at Jocelyn. She couldn’t hear anything. She was just sitting there tapping on her phone while my new family walked away! I couldn’t stand it anymore! I pawed at my trainer’s ankle and whined. I tucked my tail down low. I’m not pretending! Well, I am pretending, but I’m pretending to not be pretending! Listen to me!

The trainer finally understood. “I guess it’s time to check on them, anyway. Let’s go.” She grabbed my leash and opened the door. Perfect.

Tonio and his parents were getting ready to go.

“Heading out already?” Jocelyn asked.

Tonio’s mom sighed. “I don’t think this is going to work out.”

“Are you sure?” Jocelyn gave them a concerned look. “What happened?”

I tugged my way over to Tonio and bumped up against his hand. I licked the back of his palm, and after a moment, he scratched the top of my head. I rubbed my face all over his hand while the adults talked and tried to hold his attention. I was betting that he wasn’t really allergic, and hoped with all my heart I was right.

I stepped back just a little and shook my body again, like I was wet. He shook his hair, and some of the last few drops sprinkled down. Good! Yes! Now pay attention. Watch me. I lifted my paw up and rubbed it along my nose.

He must have thought I was rubbing at the water drops or something, because he didn’t do anything. I rubbed my nose, bumped the hand he had petted me with, then rubbed my nose again.

Tonio watched me, then looked at his hand. He tilted his head like a puppy again, took a deep breath, lifted his hand up to his face, and rubbed it all the way down, from his forehead to his chin.

I wagged my tail. Good. Yes. I touched my nose to his knee and took a looooooong sniff. He held his hand in front of his nose and took a deeeeeeep breath.

“I didn’t sneeze,” Tonio mumbled. “I’m not allergic.”

“What’s that, honey?” Tonio’s mom looked down at him. He was grinning.

“I didn’t sneeze! I touched him all over with my hand, and then I touched my face, and I’m not even itching. I don’t think I’m allergic, Mom!”

“Maybe not, but I still think we pushed you into this too quick. We should go home, talk about it.”

Tonio shook his head. “I want to try. I want to take Buster home.”

I wagged my tail. Yeah, you do!

“Ready if you are,” Jocelyn said. She held the leash out.

Mr. Pulaski asked Tonio, “Are you sure?”

The boy watched me closely. I wagged my tail and sniffed around like I wasn’t listening. Like I was just a Good Dog.

Tonio reached out and took the leash.

Pronto was rolling his eyes before Buster finished the sentence. “Your Honor, the accused has already broken Dog Law twice, and he’s barely