Arts & Entertainment

Chapter 19

The day was wet and windy and awful, but the three had made progress

Little Zoe and JoJo and the cat had left Kaya in her new home, and then, in pouring rain, had crossed the street, and trotted through parking lots and behind houses until they had to slow down and start walking again. The cat had gone first, and JoJo had trotted behind Zoe, keeping her running in the right direction, keeping her from bumping into things. 

The day was wet and windy and awful, but the three had made progress. They had walked behind houses and behind hedges. They had stopped when they had to rest, and had walked again when they felt they could. Little Zoe was the slow one, and the others matched their pace to hers, and still made steady progress.

Wet and exhausted, they had spent the night beneath a porch of an abandoned house. This morning, the cat catches mice and voles, and they drink water from an old can that yesterday's rain filled.

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They trot along beside the road. The cars zoom by, one after another after another.

They walk the whole day, barely stopping. It is cold, and Zoe is tired and she is starting to feel that this whole thing is misguided, that she will never find the girl with the limp and the woman who smells like flowers, and the man who held her on his lap. She is beginning to think that no matter how scared she had been, she shouldn't have run.

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And she is missing the old dog. That big dog was sweet and kind, and she was slow. When the old girl wanted to stop, they stopped. Now, with just the cat and the new dog, there is not much stopping. The new dog walks between Zoe and the road, though, just as Kaya did, and guides her along the way.

They pass house after house where no one seems to live. This is where we stayed, Joey tells them. This is where we stayed in the summer. And when my people left, they left me here. It makes Joe sad to think of his people. He thought they loved him. But who would leave someone they love, just leave them there, with no food and no water and no goodbye? He hurries the little dog on. He wants to get out of there.

They trot past marshes that smell like fish and rot and salt. The cat treads along the water's edge, running back and forth, crouching and pouncing and not really trying to catch anything.

Finally, they start onto a bridge that crosses the highway. Jojo knows where they are, and he knows that they are near food.

They turn east, in entirely the opposite direction they have been traveling for so long. Zoe hesitates, but Joey prods. Come this way, he says. I remember this.

Zoe's feet are sore, her legs are tired and she feels turned around and lost. She is thirsty and hungry, and without the big dog, it seems that the promise has gone out of the day.

But then, there are buildings and the sounds of people and the smells of food. Jojo goes up to a door and barks.

Nothing happens.

He scratches his paw against the door. Nothing.

He stands up, then, and pulls over the trash can that sits by the back door. The lid falls off, and he tears the bag apart. Zoe and the cat come over, and the three sift through the trash. Sure enough, there is food, plenty of food, and they are eating it when the door of the restaurant opens and a man comes out.

He starts yelling, and gesturing, but the three are starving, and they are scared, but they keep eating. The man yells louder and louder, and then he starts throwing rocks at them, and finally, they run.  They run into the bushes, and they run as fast as they can, until they are hidden. Then they turn around and watch as the man picks up the trash.

The night is cold, but they are out of the wind. They curl up together and sleep, unaware that they are being watched.


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