Buster by Caleb Huett (ebook reader library txt) 📕

“We caught a human along Juicy Fun’s perimeter. He was talking to himself about if he could jump the fence, and wondering, quote, ‘whether I would even make a difference if I climbed the fence, anyway, because what am I going to do, ask a bunch of dogs I don’t know to give Buster back? It’s not like I even really know what’s really going on, or whether I’m making things worse. I should probably just go home.’ ”

Buster’s tail wagged on its own. That sounds like Tonio!

“We thought he would go home after all that, but then he started climbing the fence, anyway, so we went ahead and captured him just in case.”

“Well,” the judge said with the tiniest bit of humor in her voice, “at least that buys us some time. He can’t tell anyone else if he’s here.”

Buster couldn’t contain himself. “Please let me see him! None of this is his fault, and he must be so scared. At least let me talk to him.”

The judge drank a few laps of cold coffee from her bowl while she considered his words. “Fine. This case is growing more complicated than I expected, anyway. I need time to discuss today’s events with the other judges of the Court. Officer Sergeant, take Buster to his human and keep an eye on them. Lasagna, Pronto, take care of whatever you need to and meet me back in my office. We’ll need to finish this privately.”

“Thank you!” Buster’s tail wagged. He jumped up and down with relief in his bumper car, all thoughts of the crowd, and the Law, and this horrible, horrible day gone for a moment. “Thank you so much, Your Honor!”

Sweetie bobbed her head. “The rest of you go home to your humans, if you’ve got them. It’s early, and you don’t want them wondering where you’ve been. Up! Come on, up, up … Good. Good dogs. Court adjourned.”

The three pugs formed a tight triangle around Buster and herded him alongside Officer Sergeant, away from the bumper cars. Buster wondered if he should be mad she’d turned him in, and she wondered if she should be angry at him for breaking the Law. Both of them felt bad.

“Dog Court isn’t evil,” she said to break the silence. “And neither is the judge. We have to worry about a lot more than just one human.”

“I know.” Buster was going to leave it at that, but he found himself getting more frustrated than he expected. “But if we aren’t worrying about any one human, then who are we worrying about? Because it sounds like we’re just worried about us.”

“So what if we are?” The officer knew she wasn’t supposed to argue with a prisoner, but she outranked the bailiffs, so they weren’t going to say anything. “We have to keep our own people safe.”

“Safe from what?” Buster huffed. “Tonio?”

“You know they aren’t all like Tonio. Most humans aren’t.” They came to the edge of a huge Ferris wheel at the center of the park, twinkling with colored lights on every box but not moving. Officer Sergeant dismissed the pug bailiffs and stepped through the loop on Buster’s leash to make sure he couldn’t run away.

“I was a pet before I was an officer of the Court. They weren’t— They didn’t—” She searched around for the words, then decided it wasn’t her job to find them. Buster didn’t need to know all the details. “I left because I had to. Not all humans care about us, Buster. You had two chances, with two different sets of humans who loved you, and you threw them both away because you wanted to feel like a hero. That’s not anybody’s fault but yours.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything. Sergeant stood on her hind legs in the operation booth and pulled a lever. The Ferris wheel rotated slowly around, and Buster caught a whiff of paint, paper, card stock, sweat, and a little bit of his own scent layered under human kid smell. Tonio!

Buster patted the ground in relief. He hadn’t been away from his human for this long since they’d met, and he was more than ready to see him again. The carts swung around, and around, and around—and then finally Sergeant pulled the lever and stopped the spinning.

Tonio jumped to his feet on the other side of the cart’s bars. “Buster!”

Buster barked back and wagged his tail. “Tonio!”

Sergeant pushed a button, unlocking the cart. Tonio took a step out, and she growled. “No chance. Get back in there.” Buster translated into simple Underspeak, and Tonio nodded. “Okay. Sorry.”

The officer jerked her head toward the Ferris wheel. “Get in, Buster.”

“Uh, what? I have to get in that?”

“We don’t know how long the judge will be. I can’t watch you all day.”

Buster’s tail tucked between his legs. He shifted uncomfortably from paw to paw. “Okay, but could you—”

“Get in, Buster. Now or never.”

He braced himself and ran into the cart before he could change his mind. Sergeant pushed a button and the door swung shut on them while Buster hopped up on his hind legs and licked at Tonio’s face. Tonio laughed and pushed him away. “The face? Really? Come o— Ah! Your tongue got in my mouth!! Gross!!!” Buster bumped up against Tonio’s legs and let the boy pet him, briefly forgetting where they were.

Then the cart started moving.

“What?!” Buster yelped. “Can’t you just leave us on the ground?”

Sergeant posed apologetically. “It’s the rules! Sorry, Buster. We’ll get you when the judge is back.”

Buster whined and pulled himself away from the bars. He laid down in the cart and shut his eyes tight, trying not think about how high up they were going.

“Are you scared, Buster?”

He whined again. Yes. Aren’t you?

“I’m not really scared of heights, I guess. I am a little scared that no one’s been around to inspect this in a long time, probably, but—”