Buster, Caleb Huett [great novels .TXT] 📗

tickle in my hearing off to the side and turned my head just in time to see a puppy flying past, a little tricolor collie, inches from my face. He cocked his head, looked right at me, and winked.

A big necklace covered in diamonds glittered between his teeth.

The world sped back up. “Excuse me!” a girl yelled, diving past Mrs. Chambers. She didn’t see Tonio until it was too late, tripped on his tennis shoes, knocked the leash out of his hand, and they both fell onto the sidewalk.

Before I even had time to think about it, I was chasing the puppy.

“BACK OFF, GRAMPS!” the puppy barked as he looked behind him, silver chain threaded around his lower teeth. “THE NECKLACE IS MINE!”

He dodged around Video Garden, out of the square. All four of my legs scrabbled on the pavement as I struggled to turn—I’m not a big dog by any means, more small-to-medium, but sudden turns can still be a challenge.

As we rounded the corner, I realized I knew this dog. Mozart was his name—I knew him from the shelter I’d been sent to by Dog Court the first time. Which meant the girl was Mia Lin, whose parents ran the shelter.

There was a fire escape on the back of Video Garden, and he used that to jump onto the roof. I leaped along behind him as closely as possible, and when I got to the top, he ran to the edge of the roof to jump to the next one. “Stop!” I barked. “It’s too far!”

He glared behind as he picked up speed, fluffy legs pounding the roof as hard as they could. I went into overdrive as his front legs lifted off the ground. I opened my mouth, ran the last few steps to the edge, and leaped.

I glided over him, and his head jerked up to look at me. The end of the necklace floated up like it was moving through Jell-O, and I reached out to clamp down on the opposite end of the chain.

The weight tugged my neck down and slowed my jump. I whipped my head around and flung Mozart as hard as I could. He flopped onto the roof and braced himself against the edge—while I dangled by the necklace over the side.

“I’m not—nngh—strong enough!” he whimpered. I scrabbled my paws against the roof.

I kicked my front paw up, up—and finally caught the ledge. With a tug from Mozart and a push on that leg, I rolled up onto the roof, panting.

“What”—I gasped—“are you doing with this?”

Mozart pounced on my neck and started biting, but he was too small to do any damage. “Rrr!! RRRR!!!!!”

“Hey, hey, now! Stop that!” I rolled over and pinned him easily under my front legs. “I just saved your life.”

“I would have been fine,” he growled. “Leave me alone.”

I made a big show of flopping my head down over my paws and resting my weight on his side. “We can just sit here all day, then. Until you tell me.”

A low rumble came out of his throat for a few seconds, but then he sighed and gave up. “Mia said she needed money. So I was getting some.”

“This isn’t money. This is a necklace.”

“I know that!” He batted at my face with his front paws. “But I’ve got ways. I was gonna sell it. That store has so many jewels! They don’t need all of ’em.”

“So you did steal it from a store.” I shook my head. “You’re not acting like a Good Dog.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Mozart spat. “Miracle Dog.”

I winced. Of course, he already knew. Everyone at the shelter did. But it didn’t matter; I was right. “I know you want to help Mia, but right now you’re not helping. If she wanted you to do this, she wouldn’t be yelling at people to stop you, right?”

He tried to snap at my ear. “She’ll understand when I come back with cash!”

I snorted. “No, I think she’d understand even less if you did that.” I looked him in the eyes. “Let’s take this back, okay? We can talk about it more later.”

“….….….……”

“Okay??”

“….….….….….….…… Fine. I’ll take it back.” He relaxed under my legs.

I wagged my tail. “Good. Let’s go.” I lifted my weight off him and stretched as I stood up.

“Gotcha, GRAMPS!” Mozart scooped up the necklace with his mouth and, before I could grab him, bolted to the edge of the building and jumped down, winking as he did. “Later, lose—”

“Gotcha, Mozart! Finally.” Mia’s voice came from below. I ran to the edge of the roof and looked down—she’d caught him, and he was wiggling uselessly as she pried the necklace away. “Now I have to go apologize to Louis. What has gotten into you?”

I was glad she found him, but something was missing. I couldn’t quite put my claw on it, but something wasn’t right. There she was, and there he was, and there the necklace was … but there was something I was supposed to be doing, right? What was it again?

My tail fell between my legs. Tonio! I was supposed to be watching him, and I’d just run off! Where was he? I jumped off the roof onto another dumpster with a loud CLANG, then ran past Mia and around the corner as fast as I could.

“Tonio?” I barked, even though I knew he couldn’t understand me.

He was leaning against the side of the building, breathing heavy by the Video Garden window display that said Grow into a New Movie Today! As soon as he saw me, he burst into tears.

“Oh no, Tonio, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I whined, and licked at his face. Why was he crying? I was only gone for a second. “I didn’t mean to leave you alone, I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t know what to do,” he blubbered. “Everything happened so fast, and then Mia from school was here, yelling at me to help, and you were gone, and I didn’t know if you’d run away for good,