“Gran, what are you doing!” Harriet cried as she jumped up from her position.
“Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” said Gran irritably. “It’s just a dog.”
“But… whose dog is it?” asked Brutus, eyeing the creature suspiciously.
“Chase’s dog, of course. Though he doesn’t know it yet.”
“Chase’s dog!” Brutus cried. “But Chase already has a pet. Me!”
“Well, so now he’s got another one. And besides, Chase always wanted a dog.”
“But Gran!” Harriet practically wailed.
Gran held up her hand.“No need to thank me. You’re welcome.”
And with these words, she strode out again. Then, as if she’d just remembered, she opened the door a crack and said, “Oh, her name is Windex, by the way.” And was gone.
Chapter 5
We all stared at the little dog. Though at the moment it was hard to know whether it actually was a dog. We only had Gran’s word for it. It looked more like… a bat. It had big bat ears, and big bat eyes that stared at us piteously, and a small almost hairless body.
“What are you?” asked Harriet finally.
“Are you going to eat me?” asked the doggie, looking at the four of us with abject fear written all over its features. And I could imagine what it was thinking: being dumped on a couch with four big cats hovering over it, staring it down. Not a fun welcome!
So I decided to do the right thing and held out my paw.“My name is Max,” I said. “Welcome to the Pooles.” Though in actual fact I should have said the Kingsleys, of course. Hard to get used to such a minor thing as a name change.
The doggie watched the approach of my paw and produced a sort of panicky yelp then attempted to jump down from the couch and get as far away from me as possible!
Now I am a big boy, of course, and probably dwarfed this creature several times, but this was simply taking things too far.“I won’t hurt you,” I assured the batlike thing.
“Max may look like a bruiser,” said Brutus, “but he’s just a big softie. Me, on the other hand,” he continued, pushing out his chest, “am a bruiser, but you’ll find that I’m a nice bruiser. A bruiser who takes care of his own. A bruiser, in other words, who’s one of the good guys.”
The little doggie wasn’t convinced, though, and was still measuring the distance to the floor and contemplating ways and means to escape from this dreadful place.
“And my name is Harriet,” said Harriet. “Like Max, I’m a big softie, and I’m also a great friend of dogs. Two of my best friends are dogs, actually. Rufus and Fifi. I don’t know if you’ve met them? They live next door and they’re very nice. For dogs, I mean.” And she plastered an ingratiating smile onto her face, hoping to impress it upon this newcomer that we were a dog-friendly environment and there was nothing to be scared of.
Her heartfelt appeal failed to grip, though, and the dog continued her escape attempts.
“I’m Dooley,” said Dooley. “Are you a bat, Windex? Cause you look like a bat. So are you a bat? If you are, that’s fine. I’ve never met a bat before. Can you fly?”
The doggie now paused from its endeavors and fixed Dooley with a curious look.“Why would you think I’m a bat, cat?”
“Because you look like a bat,” Dooley said. “Only I can’t see your wings, so now I’m thinking you’re probably a bat that doesn’t fly. So how do you get around? And is it true that you live in a cave and only come out at night? Do you sleep hanging upside down?”
The doggie now produced a sort of diffident smile.“You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?”
Dooley shook his head.“Why would I want to pull your leg? Do you even have legs? Oh, you do. That’s great. So you’re a bat with no wings but with legs. Which makes you a very special kind of bat.” Then his eyes widened. “Oh! I know! You’re Batman!”
“I’m not Batman,” said Windex. “I’m a dog. In fact I’m a Brussels Griffon.”
Dooley frowned.“You don’t look like a dog.”
“Well, I can assure you that I am a dog.” He studied Dooley for a moment. “You know? You’re like no cat I have ever met. You’re… weird.”
“Gee, thanks,” said Dooley happily. “You’re also weird, Windex.”
The doggie produced a grin as he took us all in.“If I’d known this was a cat household I’d have told that old lady I’d pass. But maybe you guys are not as bad as you look.”
“What do you mean?” asked Harriet prissily. “We all look wonderful. Though I look a little more wonderful than the others, of course, but that’s because I was born this way.”
“So Windex,” I said, “have you come here to stay?”
She shrugged.“I’m not sure. I used to belong to Eileen Dobson, but Eileen moved into a place where they don’t like pets, and so I was sent to this place where they collect pets that aren’t wanted anymore. And then some old lady showed up with an orange guy in tow and said she’d adopt me. And now all of a sudden I’m here with you guys. So am I staying or am I going? Honestly I don’t know anymore. It’s all very confusing. But what I will tell you is that I’m pretty tired of being shuffled around all the time.”
“So your human didn’t want you anymore?” asked Dooley. “That’s so sad.”
“Oh, she wanted me plenty, but the place where they took her doesn’t care about pets.”
“You’re lucky, cause this place loves pets,” said Dooley. “In fact they adore them. Though mostly cats, not bats. But I’m sure that in time they’ll learn to love bats, too.”
“He’s not a bat, Dooley,” said Harriet. “He’s a dog.”
“And I’m not a he but a she,” said Windex.
“Oh,” said Dooley as he tried to wrap his mind around this. “We’re having a baby soon,” he announced.
Windex frowned at this.“You’re having kittens? But I thought you were a he, not a she?” Then he glanced to Harriet. “Oh, you mean you’re having kittens? Congratulations.”
Harriet’s face morphed into a perfect pout. “Please don’t mention the K word, dog.”
“What did I say?”
“It’s a touchy subject,” said Brutus. Then he lowered his voice. “We’ve all been neutered,” he whispered.
“So who’s having the baby?”
“Odelia,” said Dooley. “And so we’re getting ready to move next door for the next thirty years, unless the baby is a girl, in which case we might stay here, if she proves to be nice.”
“I’m sure the baby will be nice enough,” I told my friend.
Though to be absolutely honest, I wasn’t sure if Odelia would be thrilled to find a dog on her couch when she arrived home later today. As if four cats wasn’t enough to contend with, now she’d have to take care of another pet. Timing is everything in these matters, you see. When parents suddenly show up with a puppy, their kids most likely will be over the moon. When an aged grandparent foists a quirky-looking dog on her pregnant granddaughter, her response might not be as exuberant as she would have hoped.
And just when relations between the natives of the Kingsley home and this relative newcomer were starting to thaw a little, Odelia suddenly came storming in, clutching her phone and looking a little feverish.“Let’s go, you guys,” she said. “There’s been a murder!”
Chapter 6
We arrived at the apartment block in Chase’s car. Odelia preferred to be driven around everywhere these days, as she had a little trouble squeezing behind the wheel of her own aged pickup. And Chase actually preferred to be his pregnant wife’s chauffeur, driving at a snail’s pace and braking well in advance of any crossroads and generally being the most careful driver the world has ever seen, much to Odelia’s annoyance, actually. She likes to keep up a good pace, and to get from point A to point B in an expedient way.
“So what have we got?” asked Odelia as Chase helped her out of the car.