He spread the plastic bag flat on the pavement, its edge an inch from the blood puddle. Standing on it, he put on a pair of garden gloves. He spread his feet wide, pinning down the bag, and dragged the dog forward by its front paws. Horrified, Alice saw that some of its insides stayed behind, as if glued to the street. She gagged and turned away. She heard crinkling plastic, then the raspy scrape of the shovel. "There y'go," the man said. To the dog? "You hanging in there? Ma'am? You all right?"
Alice nodded.
"Do you think you can lend a hand? We don't want the bag to tear."
"Of course," she muttered. She faced the man, and tried not to look at the dog. "What should I do?"
"Let's drag it to the back. If you can lift that end of the bag a bit, take some of the weight off. "
She stepped around the man. Crouching, she grabbed the edge of filmy plastic. The man lifted his end and waddled backward, dragging the awful load. The dog was very heavy. To keep from looking at it, Alice focused on the man's head. Though he appeared no older than thirty, his black hair was thin on top. That explains the beard, she thought: balding men often wore beards.
Finally, they reached the rear of the station wagon.
"Lift?" he asked.
"I'll try."
"Got a good grip on it?"
She adjusted her hold. "Okay," she said.
"Now."
They lifted. She felt the plastic stretch as if melting over her fingertips and knuckles. It spread and tore, but then the weight was gone, the dog supported by the tailgate.
The man crawled into the rear of the wagon. He tugged the bag, sliding the dog in after him. Turning away, he climbed into the backseat and left through a passenger door.
Alice shoved the tailgate shut.
"Okay," the man said. He plucked off his gloves and picked up his shovel. "All set. You can probably get someone at the vet's to take it out for you."
"Well, thank you so much for helping." She wondered if she should offer him money. That would be embarrassing, especially if he refused. "We really appreciate it."
"Anytime," he said, and made a wry smile. "Hey, if it pulls through, let me know."
Sick, Alice thought. "I will," she muttered.
Then the man was walking away with a sprightly step, the shovel over one shoulder. She half expected him to start whistling like one of the Seven Dwarfs.
"Hurry, Mom," Rose called.
She climbed in behind the steering wheel. The girl was on her knees, looking over the back of the seat toward the dog. She was sniffing, dabbing at her nose with a wad of blue Kleenex. "Turn around and strap yourself in," Alice said. While Rose sat down and fastened her safety harness, she buckled herself in and started the car.
She drove forward slowly to the end of the block. At the stop sign, she checked the intersection carefully before proceeding.
"Drive faster, Mom. Please!"
"There's no hurry," she said.
"Yes there is!"
On the front lawn of a house just ahead, a boy in overalls was cavorting with a cocker spaniel. Alice watched them as she approached. Thank God it had been a dog, she thought, and not a child. That was too awful even to contemplate. What was wrong with the mother of this boy, letting him romp unattended in the front yard? The spaniel suddenly made a lunge toward the road. Alice shot her foot to the brake pedal, but the dog stopped at the sidewalk, wheeled around, and scampered back into the yard. Sighing with relief, Alice drove past.
The steering wheel was slick under her sweaty hands. She let go, one hand at a time, and wiped them on her skirt.
The shopping trip, she decided, was out of the question. After this ordeal, she was in no condition to face the supermarket. It could wait, or Arnold could go. Either way, she had no intention of leaving the house again today. When she got home, she would shut herself up in the bedroom with the new Sidney Sheldon book and not come out until.
From behind Alice came a low, rumbling growl. The back of her neck prickled.
"It is alive!" Rose blurted joyously, starting to turn around.
In the rearview mirror, Alice saw the German shepherd, forepaws on top of the backseat, fangs bared, bloody saliva hanging in strings from its snout. With a raging snarl, it sprang forward. Rose shrieked. Alice jammed on the brake pedal. The car lurched to a stop, throwing them both into their harnesses, slamming Alice's forehead against the steering wheel. The dog tumbled onto the cushion beside her, its entrails slopping down after it, teeth snapping shut on Rose's wrist as the screaming girl tried to unbuckle her safety belt. It released her wrist and lunged at her throat.
Alice fumbled with her own buckle. She flung the straps aside and threw herself onto the huge beast, hooking an arm around its neck as Rose cowered against the door and shrieked and tried to hold off its snapping jaws. Alice squeezed the thick, furry neck in the crook of her elbow. She shoved her other hand into its mouth, cried out as the teeth tore into her, but clutched the snout and pulled it toward her, away from Rose. Then she was falling backward, the squirming dog heavy on her chest, the teeth still grinding into her hand. "Rose!" she yelled. "Get out!"
The dog writhed and jerked, trying to roll but unable to free itself from Alice's grip. If she let go, she knew it would flip over and go for her throat. Her hand was afire with pain, her fingers weakening, but still she held on.
The door behind her head swung open.
Rose, standing above her, grabbed one of the dog's kicking forelegs. "Let go!" she cried.
"Rose!"
"Let go!"
She opened her fingers, felt the teeth release her. The dog stretched its head up, trying to snap at Rose.
Rose was trying to pull it out of the car! Didn't she realize.
"No!" Alice yelled. The wet fur of the dog's back muffled her outcry.
It was half out of the car, and didn't Rose realize it would go for her? Alice wrapped her arms around its open belly, trying to keep the beast from getting out.
The body suddenly quaked as a thudding, crushing sound filled Alice's ears. The car rocked a bit. The sound came again. Again. Each time, the car swayed and the dog jerked and trembled.
Then it was motionless on top of her.
"Mom? Are you okay?"
As the body was dragged off Alice, she realized what the thudding sound had been — her daughter slamming the car door three times on the German shepherd's head.
Chapter Twenty-nine
What've they got him for?" Benny asked as a young man standing beside a guard shack waved them ahead.
Tanya smiled at the man, and drove slowly past him. "He's supposed to keep out undesirables," she said. "People who don't have any business being here. You get all kinds of crazies hanging around if you aren't careful. Flashers, rapists, that kind of thing. It's because there are so many women around. Every college has trouble like that."
"Really?" Benny asked.
"Sure. Berkeley had about a dozen rapes when I was there. That's one reason my folks were so eager to have me transfer down here and live with you guys."
"I didn't know that," Benny admitted. "I thought you did it just to help Dad."
"Oh, that was part of it, too." She swung into an empty space next to a VW van. "There were all kinds of reasons," she said. She reached for the spiral notebook and the heavy volume of Shakespeare plays on the seat beside her, but Benny grabbed them first.
"I'll carry them for you," he said.
Tanya smiled, and Benny felt a blush spread over his face. She really was so beautiful. Not as beautiful as Karen, though. He wished he could be home when Karen arrived.