Arrow’s face matched theirs, while Luna’s expression seemed, if anything, amused.

“Toby, what’s going on?” asked Charlie.

“What do I have to do, drag my basket over?” Toby asked.

“Would you really do that?” asked Arrow, trying to picture Toby pulling a wide basket through the doggie door.

Toby shook his head, walked over to Luna, and set himself down next to her.

Charlie and Connie stared at each other as Connie’s mother came into the room, wiping her hands on a dish towel.  “What’s going on?” she asked.  Both kids started talking at once.  “One at a time, one at a time,” the woman reprimanded.

Connie spoke first.  “Toby just came over with his food dish and leash!”

Her mother raised an eyebrow.  “Any other dog and I’d be surprised,” she remarked.

“I think Toby wants to stay here for awhile,” Charlie observed.  “Would, uh… would that be a problem?”

“I don’t know,” Connie replied.  “Luna’s expecting puppies, see…”

Mrs. Calvin’s mouth twitched at the corner.  “And I think I know who’s the daddy too,” she muttered.

Luna rubbed her nose under Toby’s chin, hoping the humans would take the hint.

“Well,” giggled Connie, “It looks like Luna wants him to stay.”

Charlie nodded, noting the way Toby had positioned his feet.  “And he sure wants to,” he added.  “The last time he planted himself like that was when he heard my dad talking about taking him to the vet for his shots.”

Both children turned to Connie’s mother, who threw her hands up in a display of reluctance.  “Fine,” she conceded.  “Why not?  What’s one more dog when we’re going to have six anyway?”

Arrow was glad at first.  Having Toby around all the time would mean that at least for a while longer, she’d still be getting the same amount of attention as before.  Right?

Then she looked at the two of them.  ‘Yeah, right,’ she thought glumly.

 Convincing Charlie’s parents to let Toby stay was no easy task, but somehow he managed to talk them into it.  “Just watch him,” Charlie’s father warned the Calvins.  “He’s a real rascal.”

“What, he finally figured that out?” asked Luna.

But strangely enough it was Luna who soon began acting strangely.  She took an interest in closets or any close space, causing Toby and Arrow no small amount of confusion.  “You’ve always liked the outdoors,” he pointed out.

“I know,” she replied.  “I can’t explain it.”

“Maybe it’s because she’s part wolf,” suggested Arrow.  “You know, the whole den thing?”

This seemed to make sense, but after a talk with both their mothers, the soon-to-be parents discovered that it wasn’t just a wolf thing.  “All mother dogs do it,” Terry explained.  “It’s just instinct.”

Toby and Luna accepted this, seeing it as nothing too strange to handle.  Luna’s family came to accept it as well, although it did ultimately cost them the use of the coat cabinet in the living room for the time being.  It was the next thing that really started Toby worrying…

One night, Arrow woke up to find herself alone.  Luna usually allowed her to sleep in the closet with her, although there wasn’t enough room for Toby to fit in too.  But there was now, because Luna was nowhere in sight!

 “Mom?” asked Arrow, staring around.  She ventured out of the closet, which was always left open so Luna could enter and exit as she pleased.  “Mom?” she whispered to the darkened room.  ‘Did she leave?’ she wondered.  It didn’t make sense.  Why would she leave home when she was pregnant?  There had to be some other explanation, but anxious as she was she had no idea what it could be.

After a moment she walked up to Toby and began nudging him.  “Dad,” she whispered.  “Where’s Mom?”

“Mmm-mm-mm-mmmf-fff,” Toby mumbled in his sleep.

“Dad,” Arrow persisted, moving from his shoulder to his face and butting her head against his cheek.  “Mom’s gone.”

“Mm-mm-mrrr,” Toby protested.

‘I’ll bet he’d be up in no time flat if Mom was trying to wake him up,’ thought Arrow.  Irritated and slightly paranoid about the whole business, she nipped his ear.  “Ouch!” Toby cried, finally beginning to rouse from his slumber.  Sleepily he lifted his head and stared blinking at Arrow.  “What’s going on?” he yawned.

Arrow jerked her head toward the closet.  “Mom’s disappeared,” she replied.

Instantly, Toby was on his feet.  “Do you know where she went?” he asked.

Arrow shook her head.  “No,” she replied.  “I just woke up, and she wasn’t there.”

Toby looked in the closet.  ‘What, he doesn’t believe me?’ wondered the pup.

“Well, she’s gone alright,” Toby agreed.  He put his nose to the floor and began to sniff, tracking Luna’s scent.  It led straight to the pet door.  “You’d better stay here, Arrow,” he instructed.

As Toby disappeared into the night, Arrow sat dejectedly in the living room.  “Sure,” she muttered.  “It’s not like you want me around now anyway.”

Toby followed Luna’s scent out the dog door, down the street, and into someone’s back yard.  There she was, rooting through the garbage.

“Luna?” he asked.  “What are you doing?”

Startled, Luna spun around with her hackles up.  When she saw it was Toby, her look of surprise was quickly replaced by one of embarrassment.  “Toby!  I, uh…didn’t know you were awake.”

“I wasn’t,” Toby replied with a yawn.  “Now would you mind telling me what you’re doing?”

Luna blushed.  “I don’t know.  I just had this sudden craving for Chinese food.”

Toby lifted an eyebrow.  “Okay, that’s weird.  Why Chinese?”

Luna shrugged.  “I don’t know.  But I knew these people were Chinese, so I figured it would be the best place to go.  There’s not a lot, though.  They don’t waste much.”

Toby could see that.  There was hardly any food left, although he suspected this had more to do with Luna’s strange appetite than a lack of garbage.  “Well, you’d better come home.  It’s too cold for you to be outside.”

Luna smirked in a clear effort to hide her uneasiness.  “This from a dog who’s part bloodhound,” she replied.  But after grabbing one last bite, they headed home.

“You found her,” Arrow remarked tonelessly.

Toby yawned.  “Yeah, so I did,” he grumbled.  “Nothing to worry about, just a garbage raid.”

Arrow tilted her head.  “I thought you said good dogs don’t dig through garbage when they’ve got people,” she pointed out.

Luna started to protest, then realized that she had said that on more than one occasion to correct Arrow for the same misdemeanor.  “I’m going back to bed,” she announced, disappearing into the closet.  After a moment, Arrow followed her.  But as she lay next to Luna, avoiding contact with her belly so the kicking wouldn’t keep her awake, she knew she had touched a nerve.  How much longer before she touched one too many?

The following morning, Their neighbor Mr. Young came to the door and complained that he had found his garbage overturned, with dog tracks leading directly to their front door.

“Bad Toby!” scolded Connie, shaking a finger at him.

“Me?” he protested, although of course no one understood.  “But I didn’t do it!”  Arrow, meanwhile, began to worm her way under the couch lest any blame should fall on her.

“I don’t think Toby’s the culprit,” noted Mrs. Calvin.  She gave Luna a knowing look.  “I think it’s someone who’s eating for more than just herself now.”

“But Luna’s never done anything like that before,” Connie pointed out in her dog’s defense.

“She’s never been pregnant before, either,” their Dad pointed out.  He gently took Luna by the head and held the top of her head to his nose as he inhaled.  “Yep, she’s the one alright.”

“We’re sorry about this,” Mom apologized to Mr. Young.  “We’ll keep an eye on her from now on.”

“Tank you,” Mr. Young replied in his Chinese accent, and he left.

Luna’s family decided to give her extra food, but night after night she kept raiding various people’s garbage, looking for scraps.  There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to her crazy eating.  One night she wanted sausage, the