right now?

“Are you with your dad?” he asked.  “I hope you are.  I want you to at least get something good out of this, because you went down doing the right thing.”  He sniffed.  “I guess I just came here because… because I wanted to say goodbye.”

“And if I say no?”

Every hair on Toby’s body instantly stood up and saluted.  “Pete?!” he squawked.

“Right behind ya.  I always wondered if you had something to do with that boot camp Kodi gave me.”

“Pete!” cried Toby, whirling around.  He jumped at his brother, laughing and crying all at once.  He forced himself to back away when Pete winced.  Bandages still adorned his body like a dog half-mummified, and Toby knew from some of the marks that Pete would bear scars for the rest of his life.  But he was alive!  “How?!”

Pete shrugged, wincing at a pain in his shoulder as he did so.  “Agh.  I don’t know.  The boss was about to blast me when there was another bang somewhere.  He jumped, and the gun went off but missed my head.  I guess he thought it was some kinda sign thing, cause he didn’t try again.”

“Huh,” Toby huffed.  He could see how the second explosion from the gun going off could have been hidden amongst the echoes of the first.  “Wonder what it was?”

“Probably just a tree branch blowing,” Pete guessed.  Both he and Toby knew this often happened, when sap froze and expanded inside of a limb during cold seasons until the branch exploded entirely.  “Whatever it is, I ain’t complaining.”

“Me neither,” laughed Toby.  Then something else hit him.  “We’ve got to tell Mom about this!  I’ll go let her know.”  He started to dash off, but Pete stopped him.

“Don’t tell her,” he said with a look of kind-hearted mischief on his face.  “I want to see her reaction when she finds out.”

Toby could barely keep from laughing, until a problem hit him.  “How will I get her to come here?” he asked.

“Easy, just do the blindfold thing like you did that time with Luna.”

“Gotcha.”

“Toby, what is this?”

“Just follow me, Mom,” Toby urged, tugging gently on the rope.  “It’s a surprise.”

She sighed.  “I appreciate the thought, but I’m really not in the mood for a surprise right now.”

‘Oh, you will be,’ thought Toby.  Beneath his calm exterior, he was positively giddy as he led her into Pete’s yard.  Pete gave him a wink as they walked past him.  “OK,” he whispered.

Terry shook the cloth from her eyes and looked around.  “Toby,” she asked, sounding like she might cry, “Why did you bring me here?”

“Cause I asked him to, really nice.”

Terry jumped and spun around, staring at what she evidently took to be a ghost.  “Pete?” she gasped.

Pete didn’t wait for her to come to him.  He trotted up to her and rubbed his face in her fur just like a puppy.  “Well I ain't the Easter bunny.”

“Pete!” Terry cried, nearly toppling him over in her excitement.  Her tears soaked his fur as she threw herself upon him, frantic to assure herself that her son was really back.  “You’re alive!”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “but not for long if you don’t gimme some airspace.”  Once he got her calmed down, he explained about the shot.  “I don’t know how it happened,” he admitted, “But it did.”

“Who cares how it happened?” asked Terry.  “All I care about is that you’re okay.”

Pete hung his head.  “A couple weeks ago I would’ve thought you were lying,” he confessed.  “Mom, I’ve been a jerk.”

“Pete,” she told him, nearly weepng at the sound of that on wonderful word, “Forget about that.”

He let out a sigh.  “I just want to say, well…”

Terry cut him off with one of those looks only a mother can give.  “Pete,” she told him in as stern a voice as she could muster (meaning it was as cracked as a vase whacked with a baseball bat), “I’ve been waiting years for this, so please don’t spoil it by bringing up the past.”

Pete couldn’t help but laugh, and Toby discovered for the first time that when it was a real laugh, a sincere laugh, Pete’s laughter could sound very nice.  “Okay, Mom.”

Toby smirked.  “I, uh, hate to interrupt, but I’ve got a question for Pete.  How soon will you be up to walking around town again?”

“Eh, maybe two days.”

Toby nodded.  “Two days, then,” he decided, “We start lessons again – if you’re ready.”

Pete got that old look on his face again, and Toby would have worried if he hadn’t known that this time Pete’s intentions were for once in the right direction.  “Oh, I will be.”

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” asked Pete.  He and Toby had already spoken with Rex, and now were facing up to stage two.  Ironically, now it was Pete who felt like backing out.

“Trust me,” Toby urged him.  “Just remember what I said and talk to her from the heart.”  As an afterthought he added, “And try not to give her a heart attack.”

Pete shook his head.  “I’ll try that,” he answered.  As Toby made himself scarce, Pete walked up to Trixie’s porch and scratched the front door.

“Who is it?” came a voice from within.

Pete cleared his throat.  “It’s, uh, me,” he said half-heartedly.

There was a terrified scream as Trixie recognized his voice.  “Pete?!”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“But you’re dead!”

Had he not felt the way he presently did, Pete would have smirked.  “Funny, I didn’t know dead dogs could talk.”

Her voice was slightly uncertain as she asked, “What do you want?”

Pete took a deep breath and asked, “Can I come in, just for a second?  It’s kinda cold out here.”

Inside the house, Trixie was terrified.  Affirmation of Pete’s demise had reached her weeks ago, and the thought of talking to someone dead left her greatly unsettled.  “I’m sure you can handle it.  Now what is it?”

He swallowed hard.  “I just want to say… well, I’m sorry.”  It sounded foreign, strange, as if he were speaking in some other language.  Human, even.  For all he’d gone through lately, the words “I’m sorry” hadn’t come out of his mouth since he was a puppy.

“Sorry for what?” she asked, sounding… what did she sound like?  Sad?  Confused?  Sullen?

“I guess for saying that thing about… you know, us,” he replied.  “And for keeping on your case when you told me to back off and all.”  There was a long silence.  Way too long for Pete.

“Ask her,” hissed a voice from somewhere out of sight.

Pete looked around.  “What?” he asked in a loud whisper.

“Remember what I told you,” hissed Toby’s voice again.  “You’ve gotta ask her.”

Pete inwardly groaned.  He’d been hoping to avoid that part, but here it was.  “Trixie,” he began, “Would you… uh, can you… Gah!” he grumbled in frustration.  “Will you forgive me?”

There was a long silence again, broken at long last by Trixie’s voice.  “Well, not completely, no,” she replied.  “I don’t think I could really just forget what a jerk you were.”

‘No, no, no!’ thought Toby from under the porch.  ‘This wasn’t how it was supposed to go!’

“But,” she added, “I think I can buy the idea that maybe, just maybe, you really have changed.”

Pete got excited.  “You mean we can pick up where we left off?” he asked.

“No,” came the reply.  “But we can pick up if you’re willing to go for a blank slate.”

Pete took a deep breath to steady himself and nodded, which was rather silly since she had no way of seeing him.  “Deal,” he agreed.

He could actually hear a somewhat shaken smile on Trixie’s face as she said, “Great.  Can we talk more tomorrow?  I’m feeling a little…”

“Sure,” he replied.  “Bye Trixie!”

“Bye Pete.”

Toby watched smiling as Pete walked away.  There was a spring in the dog’s step and a wag in his tail that hadn’t been there in all the years Toby had known him.  Hadn’t been there, in fact, since his father passed away.  Toby could not delve into Pete’s heart and mind, but he could guess the reason.  Gone was the pain and emptiness, the taint of bitter hate, the mask of tough-guy indifference.  For the first time in his real adult life, he was free.

For it's out of the darkness that we learn to see,

And out of the silence that songs come to be,

 And all that we dream of awaits patiently,

 There is life.

Pete, Terry, Yukon, Toby, Luna, Arrow, Exile, Rex © Dragon Tamer

Ewan © Kelev

Trixie © Silver Kia

Lyrics of "There is Life" © Walt Disney Pictures

Dedicated to the various people I’ve disagreed with over time (no need to mention names, you know who you are).  May we too find reconciliation.

Author’s Note:

It’s been a joy writing the Toby series.  My readers, too many to name here, have been very encouraging all this time, and I’ve much enjoyed returning the favor by encouraging and becoming friends with so many of you.  But for now Toby, Luna, and all the rest will be hanging up their collars for awhile.  Don’t worry, God willing they will be back with more adventures in due time, and with the kids along for the ride.  But until that time comes, I will be working on a different series.  I hope to bring every bit as much delight with my new endeavor as with the old, and look forward to hearing the feedback to come.

The old, for now, has gone away,

 To come again another day.

 The new is here, perhaps to stay.

 But as it happens, come what may,

 I hope you like it anyway.