Fool's Moon, page 14
Caught up as she momentarily was in thoughts of food, she almost missed the glimpse of white canine rump trotting down the sidewalk and vanishing around the next corner. A rump that looked oddly familiar.
Ruby hit the brakes. If she didn’t know better, she would have said the dog butt in question belonged to Zuki.
Impossible.
When she’d left the house, the pit bull was either inside or else out in the enclosed courtyard, which had no accessible gateway in or out. It had to be another white pittie she’d spied. And, unfortunately, it wasn’t uncommon to see abandoned dogs—or dogs belonging to irresponsible owners—wandering her neighborhood.
Sending out good thoughts that the pup in question stayed safe from speeding cars, Ruby accelerated in the direction of the big neon Rx sign the next block down.
Thirteen
“I don’t think I like this plan. Too much can go wrong.”
The doleful sentiment came from Zuki, who was crouched beneath an oily drop cloth in the bed of the battered black picking up truck belonging to the PAWN human, Luis. Brandon and Ophelia had been beneath the drop cloth with the pit bull, but now that the truck was moving, they’d crawled out from under it and were peering over the closed tailgate at the passing traffic.
“The plan has gone fine so far,” Ophelia pointed out as she glanced back over her furry shoulder at the canine. “We made it to PAWN without seeing any street dogs, and we got into the truck without the human seeing us.”
With that last, it had helped that the camper top was missing its rear window, so that the truck bed was open even if covered. Ophelia and Brandon had each bounded inside with a single leap. Getting Zuki into it, however, had taken a bit more effort.
After a bit more conversation on the way to PAWN, the canine had decreed that no way was she letting Ophelia and Brandon make the dangerous journey alone. Fortunately, the overhang where the truck had been parked also sheltered a few metal boxes and wooden crates. The pit bull had used them as stairsteps, gripping the top edge of the tailgate with her strong paws to pull herself in. But there was no guarantee that wherever they stopped would have the same convenient setup; hence, that portion of their plan that left Zuki waiting in the truck.
“Let’s make sure we all understand,” Ophelia went on. “When the human stops at the house to do his deal—we’ll be like Army felines and call it the drop-off spot—Brandon and I will jump out. We’ll run to our old house to check on Luciana and make sure the son hasn’t stuck her in a box. Zuki will wait here in the picking up truck until we get back. She’ll also see if she can figure out what the human Luis is doing. Then we’ll all ride back to PAWN together and run home before Ruby gets there.”
She gave her tail a quick flip, like a snapping whip, for emphasis. “Easy as a mouse eating cheese.”
“But I should go to the house with you, in case there’s trouble,” Zuki protested.
Brandon shook his fuzzy head. “Once you climb out, there’s no guarantee you can get back into the picking up truck again … at least, not without someone seeing you,” he pointed out. “Besides, you can’t go walking around the streets of Palm Beach with us. We can fade into the shadows, but you’ll stick out like a sore paw with that white fur. Dogs don’t run loose there, not ever. Particularly not … well, dogs like you.”
“You mean, pit bulls?” Zuki asked in a small voice, ears drooping.
Brandon nodded, looking a little embarrassed. “No offense. But you know how humans like to judge canines. If someone sees you, they’ll call the animal shelter people, and a truck will come after you. And if they catch you, they might not call Ruby to come get you. And then … ”
He trailed off, but they all three knew what he meant. The life expectancy of a pit bull at the animal shelter wasn’t long.
Ophelia rushed over and gave her canine friend a quick head rub. “Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen to you if you hide in the truck and wait. The plan’s a good one. And you have a job, too, keeping an eye on Luis.”
“But what if you and Brandon don’t make it back to the truck before the human leaves again? It’s not safe for you to try to walk home again all that way. What if you fall off the bridge and drown in the Intracoastal?”
Ophelia rolled her green eyes. Seriously, didn’t Zuki know that cats never fell into anything? Besides which, like all other domesticated animals, she and Brandon both had a built-in sense of time as accurate as any human clock.
Aloud, she said, “That’s easy. If you and the picking up truck are already gone before we get back to the drop off spot, we’ll run back to the old house and stay with Luciana. She’ll hide us and keep us safe from the son. She’ll probably even drive us back home to Ruby.”
She realized as she said it that she was thinking of the Botanica as home now, rather than the old house. The notion made her whiskers twitch just a little. She’d never forget her first mom, the old woman, but now that several weeks had passed since her death, her image was slowly fading in Ophelia’s mind. But her soft scent—a combination of lilacs and talc—and her gentle touch were still strong in her memory.
The truck gave a sudden lurch, and Ophelia quickly returned her thoughts to the matter at hand.
“Look, we’re going fast now,” she cried, running back toward the tailgate. Clinging tightly with her front paws and peeking over its edge, she added, “And I can see the water. Wheeee!”
“Shhhh!” Brandon warned. “Luis might hear you.”
“Wheee,” she repeated in a whisper, obediently lowering her voice as she stuck her velvety nose to the wind.
Now she understood why humans liked to drive around in these big metal cans instead of running about on their own two paws. It was exciting, feeling the air ruffling her fur and watching the scenery rush past. It didn’t even matter that they were looking backward, so that objects seemed to be rushing away from them.
And the sprawl of city lights was something she’d never seen before. She blinked in amazement at the way the countless small bright lights looked like a careless heavenly canine had dumped all the stars from the sky onto the ground. It was almost as beautiful as watching the morning sun dance on the blue ocean.
With such fantastic things to be seen, maybe they should go driving around in the picking up truck every night!
Zuki joined them at the tailgate now, pink tongue flapping in the breeze as her jaws lolled open in a big canine grin. Ophelia gave a quick purr of contentment, glad that her friend had accepted her apology after their spat earlier that day. Even though the pit bull would have to stay behind in the picking up truck, Ophelia couldn’t help but feel safer knowing that she’d be nearby. And if something bad did happen, she had no doubt that Zuki would find a way to come to their rescue.
A few minutes later they were over the bridge and onto the island. Even while she enjoyed the sights, she was careful to keep watch on where they were. Like a canine, a feline had an excellent sense of direction and could find his or her way back from any place. But, just in case, she wanted to make very sure she knew where they were.
Now Ophelia could smell familiar scents in the air—fish, salt, night-blooming flowers. Beside her, Zuki was eagerly sniffing, too, her black nose quivering. Doubtless, the canine was sorting through all the smells with the same speed and efficiency as Ruby’s laptop sorted data. All Ophelia knew was that the air was different here from that of the streets near the Botanica.
They were getting close to their old home!
The truck slowed, and then abruptly stopped. Brandon rushed to the front of the camper top and peered through its window, which allowed him to see through the truck’s rear windshield to what was happening beyond.
“What’s going on?” Ophelia softly asked, padding over to join him. “Are we already there? I didn’t see our old house go by yet.”
“We’re at a gate. I remember it from last time,” Brandon whispered back. “Luis had to talk to the human in the little house next to the street. They were laughing about something for a while, and then the human opened up the gate so we could drive in. He did the same thing when we left.”
Before he could explain more about the gate, headlights abruptly flashed behind them, momentarily silhouetting them both against the topper’s window.
Ophelia gave her brother a quick nudge. “Get down,” she hissed. “We’d better make sure that no one sees—”
“Duck!” Zuki yelped from her spot at the tailgate as she followed her own command and swiftly flattened herself against the picking up truck bed. “That car behind us … it’s Ruby’s bug car! And I think she saw me.”
“Are you sure it’s her?” Ophelia hissed as she crawled on her belly toward the tailgate. “Maybe someone else has a bug car like that.”
Zuki shot her an exasperated look. “I’m sure. I can tell her car sound from everyone else’s. Besides, she has the top down, and I can smell that froofy perfume water she likes to spray.”
“What’s she doing?” Brandon wanted to know as he, too, scrambled toward the back of the truck. “Is she following us?”
His question was directed at Ophelia.
“I don’t think so. But I’ll take a look.” She eased herself up so that only her eyes and flattened ears rose over the tailgate’s edge. Enough light came from the gate guard’s small house that, to her feline eyes, it was almost bright as day where they sat parked. Luckily, the car had pulled up close enough now to them so that she could see past the twin beams shooting from the big round lights that gave the car its bug-eyed look.
For her own part, Ophelia squinted so that her eyes wouldn’t give out a telltale glow and draw the human’s attention. From her vantage point, she could clearly see Ruby, who was wearing a strange red cloth wrapped around her head. She appeared to be ignoring the picking up truck and was instead searching through a big black bag on the seat beside her.
“She’s not looking at us at all,” Ophelia reported in a whisper as she ducked back down again. “Remember, she’s supposed to be at that party that JoJo told her about—the one for a bunch of human females. She must have driven the car somewhere else, first, and then she drove here. That’s why she’s behind us.”
“I hope you’re right,” Zuki said in a doleful tone, squeezing her eyes shut and covering them with her paws for good measure.
Ophelia rolled her own green eyes. Zuki reminded her of a statue of three monkeys that Ruby had for sale in the Botanica. She didn’t know why a monkey would put its paws over its eyes, but with Zuki it seemed she hoped doing that would make her invisible to any human.
Before Ophelia could helpfully point out the futility of that, the truck abruptly moved forward again. She popped her head up again. “I’ll keep looking to see if she follows us, just in case.”
She watched as the gate swung shut behind the truck, trapping the round-eyed bug car behind it. She kept on watching while the truck moved steadily forward and the round lights got smaller and smaller. If the bug car ever made it past the gate, she told herself, Ruby would have to drive very fast to catch them!
The truck slowed as they reached a corner where a thorny white-flowered bougainvillea hung over the top of a tall gray stucco wall. Red lights on the back of the truck flared and then flashed. Ophelia had figured out during the drive that this signaled to other humans that they were stopping and turning. Not a smart trick if you were trying to hide from someone! Though, of course, the PAWN human could not know about Ruby.
Still watching what was happening behind the truck, Ophelia saw the gate—which was now far behind them—open long enough to let Ruby’s car through. The bug’s round lights, which had shrunk almost to pinpricks, began to grow larger again as the small vehicle headed toward them.
Brandon also had stuck his head up past the tailgate to keep watch. Now, as the truck swung around the corner, he observed, “She’s driving too fast. Do you think she’s lost us?”
“She never found us in the first place,” Ophelia pointed out, “so it would be hard for her to lose us. But let’s see if she takes the same turn.”
They watched the intersection, waiting for the headlights to
appear. A few moments later, the bougainvillea lit up from the beams shooting from the bug car’s eyes, but to their relief Ruby’s car kept on driving past.
“She didn’t turn,” Ophelia triumphantly told Zuki, who was still doing the “see no evil” routine with paws over eyes. “See, she’s going to the party, just like she told us. C’mon, you can get up now.”
The pit bull obediently dragged herself to a seated position again, though she kept her ears low as she kept a wary look out the back. “Are we there yet?”
“Almost,” Brandon replied, sticking his nose over the tailgate again. “Our old house is … there!”
He waved an excited paw in the direction of a tall, sand-colored wall spilling over with green palm leaves.
Ophelia leaped up so that her front paws were on the tailgate’s edge. “Home!” she yowled. “I almost forgot what it looked like.”
She stared wide-eyed as the truck drove along the high wall—so tall that a human couldn’t look over it—that separated the grounds from the street. Though, of course, she could barely see the wall, since it was hidden behind a long green stretch of hedges that was almost as tall as it. Near where the wall started was an opening where a wide trail of smooth rocks led from the street all the way to the small houses where the cars lived. But, as always, that trail was blocked by a heavy black iron gate that kept everyone out who didn’t belong.
As they drove past the gate, she glimpsed the son’s long black car, the one that growled and roared depending on how fast it was going. Parked, it was silent, but that didn’t mean she trusted it. As for the old woman’s yellow car, she didn’t see it, though maybe it was in its small house where she used to keep it.
Too swiftly, the truck drove on, passing a smaller gate that looked like the first but was only big enough for a human to walk through. As they left the house behind, it was all she could do not to leap out into the street and run back to the gate. A glance at her brother told her he was thinking the same thing, though he shook his fuzzy head at her. They had to wait until they reached the place where the human was going first; then they would come back.
Fortunately, the truck slowed again a couple of blocks later, rear lights flaring red as it turned into a short driveway. As with the old house, the driveway here was blocked by a black gate made of metal sticks with points on their tops.
“This must be it,” Brandon whispered, peering through the camper top window and the rear windshield to see what was happening beyond. “He’s entering the code to get inside.”
Ophelia hurried to join her brother at the window and watch. Besides the back of his head, this was the most she’d seen so far of the human, Luis—a bare, muscled arm with a light covering of black fur. He was reaching out the truck window toward a big stucco column where a small silver box covered with numbered squares was mounted. He started pressing the squares, and she watched with interest as light glinted off the big silver ring that he wore on one finger. Next came the faint sound of grinding metal, and the big iron gate began a slow slide to one side.
Zuki tilted her blocky head. “If you’re going to go, you’d better jump out now before the truck starts moving again.”
“Right.” Brandon nodded and then turned to Ophelia. “It’s not too far to the house. I can go by myself, if you want to stay in the truck.”
“No way.” Ophelia gave a little hiss and trotted back to the tailgate, calling over her shoulder, “I’m sticking to you like a mouse stuck in a trap. Now hurry up.”
“Remember the plan,” Zuki urged, worry tinging her words. “Run to your old house and check to make sure that Luciana is all right. Then come back here and wait at the gate until you see the truck.
You can jump inside again while the gate is opening . Brandon told me that the human doesn’t stay too long when he does his deals, so don’t get sidetracked chasing lizards.”
“For kibble’s sake, we’re not kittens. You’re worse than Ruby with all your worrying,” Ophelia yowled.
Then, seeing Zuki’s ears droop, she gave her friend a quick purr and added, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. You’re the one who’s taking a risk, hiding inside the truck. Be sure you stay out of sight.”
Brandon, meanwhile, had his head out the back of the camper top doing a quick reconnoiter of the street. “It’s clear. Ready, go!”
With a synchronized leap, the pair bounded out of the truck and lightly landed on the concrete drive. Their black fur momentarily glowed red as they were illuminated by the truck’s brake lights. So they wouldn’t be spied, they ran off to the other side of the truck, concealing themselves in the shadows spilling from the second stucco column.
By now, the gate had opened wide enough so that the vehicle began moving forward. Zuki raised up in the truck bed, sticking her white muzzle over the tailgate’s edge.
“Be careful,” she softly called as the gate began closing again.
Ophelia and Brandon waited a few moments until Zuki and the truck vanished down the drive; then, wordlessly, they bounded down the strip of grass along the roadside headed back in the direction of their old house.
A few minutes later, they reached their destination. As before, the human-sized gate was closed, but it was no barrier to a sleek feline intent on entry! Besides which, it was away from the lights at the big gate that made the slick stone path almost glow in the night, making it a safer spot to begin their mission.
