Baxter (2 page)

“Oh, no!” Aunt Amanda put a hand on Elaina’s shoulder. “That’s terrible.”

Katana shook her head. “So many people are losing their jobs these days. It’s awful.”

“I’m not even that upset about the job part,” said Elaina. “I didn’t exactly love being a receptionist at an office building. But at least I was able to support myself — and Baxter. I could afford an apartment and food and vet bills — just barely, but I could. Without a job, I’ll have to move, right away. If I stay in my apartment even a few more days, I’ll owe a whole month’s rent, and I can’t afford that.”

“Where will you go?” Lizzie asked.

Elaina sighed. “I’ll have to stay with my
parents. They already told me I was welcome. And they still live in the big old house I grew up in, right by the beach.”

“That doesn’t sound
so
bad,” said Aunt Amanda. “Baxter will love the ocean.”

“You don’t understand.” Elaina burst into tears all over again. “I — I can’t take Baxter with me.” She sank down to sit on the floor next to her puppy. Then she gathered him into her arms and began to wail the way the Bean sometimes did when he was extra-tired or really hungry. Big, loud, gasping, runny-nosed sobs. Baxter licked her face, as if he were trying to wipe away her tears. Elaina kissed his nose. Sniffling, she said, “My parents have these two ancient Siamese cats, Mischief and Junior. They’ve been around forever, since I was twelve years old or something. Mom already told me there is no way she will let their lives be disrupted by having a puppy come into their home. Mom treats those cats like they were her babies.” She began
to wail again. Then she buried her face in Baxter’s neck.

Aunt Amanda patted the top of Elaina’s head. “I can understand your mom’s feelings,” she said. “It really wouldn’t be fair to the cats. Older animals deserve quiet, happy lives.”

Elaina sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I know,” she admitted. “But what am I going to do? I’ve been on the phone all afternoon, calling every friend I can think of, trying to find Baxter a home. All my friends know that Baxter is a real handful because he can’t be left alone. Not ever. Not even for fifteen minutes. Nobody wants to deal with a problem dog like Baxter. And how can I take him to a shelter? He’d never get enough attention there.”

Lizzie looked at the puppy in Elaina’s arms. She looked at Aunt Amanda. “Maybe my family —” she began.

Aunt Amanda’s eyes lit up before Lizzie could finish. “Yes! That’s a great idea.” Aunt Amanda
turned back to Elaina. “Lizzie’s family fosters puppies,” she explained. “They’re very experienced, and very responsible. They’ll give Baxter a safe place to live until they can find him just the perfect home.”

Elaina began to look more hopeful as Aunt Amanda spoke, but when she heard the last part, about finding Baxter another home, she burst into tears once more and hugged her puppy close.

Lizzie felt sorry for Elaina. She knew how awful she would feel if she ever had to give up Buddy. It was hard enough to give up each of the puppies that her family fostered, even though she knew they were going to good homes. Having to give up her own puppy was just about the worst thing she could ever imagine. Her eyes met Aunt Amanda’s. “Should I go call my mom and ask?”

Aunt Amanda nodded, and Lizzie slipped away, into her aunt’s office. She dialed and waited for
someone to answer at home. When Mom picked up, Lizzie spilled out Baxter’s story. “So? Can we foster him? Please?” Lizzie held her breath. She had been
mostly
honest about Baxter’s problem with separation anxiety, but maybe she hadn’t told Mom every little detail about how challenging he might be to foster.

“What about going to the Santiagos’ cabin?” Mom asked.

Lizzie’s stomach flipped. The cabin! How could she have forgotten? Her best friend Maria’s family had a very special weekend place, a tiny cabin deep in the woods. It was a two-hour drive north, way up in the country, far away from any other houses. It was near a small lake, and there was a canoe to paddle, and a hammock to lie in, and a big porch. Maria had told Lizzie so much about the place that Lizzie almost felt as if she’d been there already. She could just picture the cozy cabin in the middle of the piney woods, smoke spiraling from its stone chimney. But
she had never been there. Not yet. Maria’s parents had always said the cabin was too small for company.

Recently, Maria had finally convinced her parents to let her bring a friend — Lizzie, of course — to the cabin. But when Lizzie had asked her parents if she could go, Mom had said she wasn’t sure Lizzie would really enjoy being off so far in the woods, and Dad had worried about her getting homesick. Lizzie had begged and pleaded for days, but they’d just kept saying, “We’ll see.”

Now Mom was acting as if Lizzie
was
going to be allowed to go to the cabin. They must have decided she could go after all. “Maybe I could bring Baxter with me,” she said.

“Hmmm,” said Mom.

“Or if not, I can just stay home,” Lizzie said quickly. “Mom, please? You have to see this puppy. He is so incredibly cute. You won’t believe it. And we’ve never had a Portuguese water dog before. It would be a real experience.”

“Well . . .,” said Mom.

“Pleeeease?” Lizzie begged. “He’s really a good boy, as long as he’s around people. And I can tell that he gets along great with other dogs.”

“Oh, all right,” said Mom. “I’m sure your dad will agree. He’s on his way to Aunt Amanda’s right now, to pick you up. I guess he’ll be bringing you
and
Baxter home.”

Lizzie let out a long breath. “Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.” When she hung up, Lizzie felt herself grinning.
Hooray!
A new foster puppy. And one of the cutest ones ever.

“Guess what?” Lizzie burst out as she charged back into the room to tell the great news. Then she stopped in her tracks and fell silent. Elaina still sat on the floor with Baxter snuggled up on her lap. They both looked up at Lizzie with the saddest eyes she had ever seen. Lizzie realized that she didn’t have to say a thing. Elaina knew that the time had come to say good-bye to Baxter.

Elaina gave Baxter one more kiss on his head and put him down on the floor. “You be a good, good dog,” she told him as she stood up. Baxter gazed at her with his head tilted, wagging his tail gently from side to side.

What’s going on
?
Why are you so upset
?

Lizzie could tell that the little pup had no idea what was about to happen. Elaina turned to Lizzie. “Take good care of my boy,” she said. Then she walked quickly out of the room, without looking back.

“Elaina was so upset,” Lizzie told Maria the next day as they walked home from school. “I can understand why, too. I’m already totally in love with Baxter. He is the cutest puppy ever.” She put her hand over her mouth and raised her eyebrows high. “Oops. Don’t tell Buddy I said that.”

Maria was coming over to the Petersons’ to meet Baxter. Then Maria’s parents were going to pick the girls up and take them grocery shopping for the trip to the cabin. It was definite: Lizzie could go. And Maria’s parents had already agreed that Baxter could come, too — as long as he and Simba got along. Maria’s mom was blind, and Simba, a big yellow Lab, was her guide dog. Lizzie was sure that would be no problem, since
Simba was so easygoing and Baxter was great with other dogs.

Baxter and Buddy had become friends the second they’d met. Now the two puppies met Lizzie and Maria at the door, wagging their tails so hard that their bodies wagged, too. “Oh, he’s adorable!” Maria squatted down to hug Baxter. “Look at his furry face. And his coat is so silky.”

Baxter wriggled happily as he kissed Maria’s cheek.

I love attention. Any kind of attention!

Buddy nosed his way into Maria’s lap, pushing Baxter aside.

What about me
?

Maria laughed. “Of course I love you, too, Buddy.” She kissed the brown puppy on his nose
and petted the white heart-shaped spot on his chest. “You’re the sweetest puppy ever.”

“Baxter did very well while you were at school,” Lizzie’s mom reported. “He stuck close to me all day. I can tell that he misses Elaina, but his behavior has been perfect.”

The girls took both puppies out in the fenced-in backyard to play until Maria’s parents arrived. Buddy and Baxter raced around the yard, barking their heads off. First Buddy chased Baxter; then Baxter chased Buddy. Then they started to wrestle, rolling and tumbling over each other in a blur of light brown, chestnut, and white. Every so often, Baxter dashed over to the birdbath to stare at the water in it, and touch it with his paw. Then Buddy would run over to nip at him, and the wrestling would start all over again.

“It’s probably great for Baxter to be distracted like this,” said Lizzie. “Maybe it will help him miss Elaina a little less.”

When Maria’s parents arrived, Maria’s mom took off Simba’s harness and let the older dog join Buddy and Baxter in the backyard. The two puppies jumped at the big dog’s legs, growling and chewing on his ankles. Simba stood patiently, nosing at one puppy, then the other. Finally, he wagged his tail and gave each of them a lick on the cheek.

“See? They get along great.” Lizzie picked up Baxter and brought him onto the deck to meet Maria’s parents.

“Hey, cutie,” said Mr. Santiago. He thumped Baxter’s sides. “What a good boy.”

Mrs. Santiago knelt to run her hands over Baxter’s coat and feel the shape of his head. “He’s lovely,” she said. “His fur feels like Maria’s hair did when she was a baby.”

“His fur
is
hair,” Lizzie explained. “Portuguese water dogs need to be groomed regularly, just like poodles, because instead of having fur that
sheds, they have hair that keeps growing and growing.”

Maria’s mom kissed Baxter on the head and turned to Lizzie. “Well, I think it would be wonderful to have this boy with us up at the cabin,” she said.

“Yay!” yelled Lizzie and Maria together.

“Then it’s settled,” said Maria’s dad. “Shall we go do our grocery shopping?”

For a second, Lizzie wished she could stay home and play with Baxter. He was such a cute, happy puppy. Also, she was a little worried that he would get that separation anxiety thing. She hated to leave him if she didn’t have to.

But Mom urged her to go along on the shopping trip. “Baxter won’t be alone. Dad and Charles are at a soccer game, and the Bean is at day care, but I’ll be home working on an article,” she said. Mom was a reporter for the local newspaper. “I’ll take good care of Baxter. I promise. You need to make sure you have some of your
favorite foods along when you’re up at the cabin. It’ll help you feel less homesick.”

Lizzie started to argue that she was not going to
be
homesick, but she stopped when Mom handed her a twenty-dollar bill. Twenty whole dollars. Wow. Think what she could buy with that!

“No junk food,” Mom said, as if she could read Lizzie’s mind. But she must have seen Lizzie’s face fall, since she added right away, “Well, maybe a little. It is a special weekend, after all.”

Mom did not usually buy chips or soda or sweets. But she wasn’t a total meanie about it. She did let Lizzie and her brothers eat their trick-or-treating loot after Halloween. Also, every year on their birthdays, Mom would wrap a box of sugary cereal in foil and give it to them as a special present. Charles usually ate the whole box that very day, just because he was allowed to. Lizzie liked to make it last for a couple of weeks by having one small bowl a day. The Bean ate his by the
handful, spilling lots of it onto the floor for Buddy to snorf up.

So Lizzie went along with the Santiagos, and the shopping trip turned out to be fun. Simba led the way up and down the aisles at the store while Maria’s parents piled a cart high with food. Maria and Lizzie each picked out their favorite chips, and Lizzie added a big container of the kind of yogurt she liked, some apples, and a bottle of cranberry juice. Then, figuring she still had some money left from her twenty dollars, she found some puppy treats for Baxter. “He’s been such a good boy,” she told Maria. “He deserves something special.”

But when Lizzie got home, she discovered that Baxter had
not
been such a good boy while she was gone.

“Baxter’s in trouble,” Charles said to Lizzie as soon as she walked in the door.

Lizzie’s mom did not look happy. Lizzie’s dad was not happy, either.

“Naughty uppy,” said the Bean, pointing at Baxter.

Baxter thumped his tail on the floor and gazed at Lizzie, nose down and eyes up.

I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. I was scared to be alone, so I went looking for Elaina. Or you. Or — anybody!

“He’s not really naughty,” Mom said quickly. “It wasn’t exactly his fault. I tiptoed out of the house for three minutes to pick up the Bean at day care. Baxter and Buddy were fast asleep when I left, so I thought they’d be fine.”

Uh-oh.
Lizzie looked from her mom to her dad. “What did he do?”

Dad led Lizzie to the back door.

“Oh, no,” said Lizzie when she saw the giant hole in the screen door. “Don’t tell me —”

Dad nodded. “He jumped right through the screen. Luckily, the gate was closed, so he couldn’t
get out of the backyard. But he must have been looking for one of us.”

“Or for Elaina,” said Lizzie. “Poor Baxter. He must have been so lonely when he woke up and nobody was here. I guess Elaina was right when she told me he couldn’t be left alone for even a few minutes.”

“Lizzie!” Mom glared at her. “I don’t think you told us that.”

Oops.
“I — I meant to,” said Lizzie.

Mom shook her head. Dad put a hand on Lizzie’s shoulder. “You need to be totally honest with us about the dogs we’re going to foster,” he said, looking at her sternly. “Otherwise, how can we make sure we’re taking the best care of each puppy?”

Lizzie looked down at her shoes. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. Then she looked up at her parents. “Can Baxter and I still go to the cabin?”

Mom and Dad exchanged glances. “You’ll have to tell Maria’s parents what happened,” said Mom. “If it’s still all right with them, you can go. This was partly my fault. It wouldn’t be fair for you and Baxter to miss out on your big trip.”