Toby Part Seven: Broken Memories 

           ‘I really should do this more often,” thought Luna as she trotted along a path through the woods. She was idly hoping to run into Loki, the wolf cub she and Toby had helped out just a short time ago. It didn’t look like that was going to happen, but the quiet stroll was nice all the same.

           Suddenly she froze, sniffing the air and turning her ears every which-way like radar dishes. There was a deer nearby, although the snow was deadening the smell too much to tell anything else about it. But the scent of deer alone was enough to stir the wolf’s blood in her, even though she had no interest in actual hunting.

           She slowly crept through the woods, slinking from tree to tree until she saw the deer- a doe, now that she was close enough to get a better scent. She studied the animal, toying with the idea of chasing her a short distance.

           Above her head, a small branch dropped its load of snow onto an old, dead branch already loaded with snow and beginning to crack. The extra weight was too much for the limb, and it gave way with a loud crack and a louder crash. The doe, startled by the noise, bolted away into the woods.

           Luna never saw the deer run. The branch had landed on her head, knocking her out cold instantly.

           About an hour later, a man came along following the tracks of what he thought to be a wolf. With him was his dog, a husky named Pete. “Another day, another hide,” the man grinned. He stopped. “And it looks like this one‘s going to be our easiest yet, huh boy?” he chuckled, seeing a furry form lying crumpled beneath a downed branch. He approached the body cautiously, then stopped as the animal began to stir. In a flash he had his gun shouldered, cocked, and pointed straight at his victim’s head. But as the “wolf” slowly rose to its feet, the hunter spied a collar around its neck.

           “Aah, false alarm,” he muttered as the dog rose to its feet. “Darn. I coulda’ sworn those were wolf tracks. Okay, pooch, let me see who you belong to.”

           Luna sat up in a daze as the hunter brought her tags around where he could see them, but Pete recognized her right away. “Is there anywhere I can get away from you and that mutt?” he grumbled.

           Luna stared at this strange dog. “Who are you?”

           Pete scowled. “Okay, skip the games.”

           Luna struggled to figure out who the hunter and dog were, and why she had such a headache, but her whole memory before waking up was a blank. She shook her head. “No, seriously. I can’t remember.”

           Pete looked at her skeptically. “You don’t remember me?”

           “I don’t even know my name.”

           Pete remembered all the times Toby and Luna had gotten in his way. It was less than two weeks since he’d been kicked out of his gang because of them. And then there was losing to Toby in the race to see who would be on the mail team, not to mention getting shown up shortly thereafter when Toby came back home a hero for saving the team from a bear. Why should he help out any friend of Toby, especially Luna?

           Then another thought hit him. This situation could be just what he needed to get back at both of these pests. “Your name is Luna,” he told her.

           Luna furrowed her brow. “Luna…” she said slowly, trying it out. “I guess that fits. Do I…I mean, should I know you?”

           Pete pretended to be surprised and concerned. “Well of course you should,” he said. “I’m your boyfriend.”

           Luna followed Pete and his master back to town, then up and down several streets as the man tried to find her address. “Ah, here you are, girl,” he said as they stopped in front of Luna’s house. “Now you’d best stay here until your owners get back.”

           Luna obediently sat down on the steps. “See you later, I guess,” she said to Pete.

           “Yeah, catch you later,” said Pete. His mind was clicking away at a frantic speed. He decided to go tell a friend or two about this. Sneaky and conniving as he was, he needed a few ideas if he was going to pull this off…

           “Hi, Luna.”

           Luna looked to see a brown dog coming in her direction. Aside from the color he looked similar to Pete, but his nose was a little bigger and his fur was a bit smoother. “How’s it going, Luna?”

           Luna stared blankly at him. “Do I know you?”

           The dog blinked. “Of course you know me, Luna. I’m Toby, remember?”

           “Sorry, but I hit my head this morning and now…”

           “Hit your head? Are you alright?”

           “Yeah, I’m fine. I just can’t remember anything, that’s all.”

           “Huh. That’s weird.” Toby looked at the ground as if it held some answer to this problem. After a moment he looked up. “Any idea what might fix it?”

           “No…” she started to say when a thought hit her. “Hey, maybe if I saw something familiar, it would jar my memory.”

           Toby nodded. “I think I know a place or two that might do the trick. Come on.”

           For at least an hour, Toby showed Luna everything he could think of. But none of it worked. The closest anything came to actually jarring Luna’s memory was when he showed her the supply lot where the used to play as puppies. Despite her efforts to remember anything at all about the place, all she got was a headache and a vague notion of pain in her back and legs. “I appreciate the effort, Toby,” she said at last, “but I’m not remembering any of this.”

           “Luna!” called a distant voice.

           Luna shrugged. “Sorry, I have to go.”

           Toby had been thinking so hard he had missed the call. “Huh? Why?”

           For some reason, Luna didn’t want to say straight out who was calling her. “Someone’s calling for me.”

           “Really? Who?”

           Luna started trotting away. “My boyfriend.”

           “What?!”

           “Hey, gorgeous, where were you?”

           “Sorry,” said Luna. “I was being given a tour of my hometown.”

           “Oh really?” asked Pete. “So who was your tour guide?”

           “He said his name was Toby.”

           Pete growled. “Not him again.”

           “What’s wrong?”

           “Stay away from Toby, Luna. He’s bad news.”

           Luna laughed. “Bad news? Him?” She found it impossible to match up the dog she had just met with any notion of “bad.” “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Toby?”

           “Oh, I’m sure.”

           “Brown fur, smooth coat, slightly big nose?”

           “Yeah, a nose that he’s stuck into my… I mean our business one time too many.”

           Luna thought about it. Toby seemed nice enough. He acted like a perfect gentleman, and that largish nose of his was, in her opinion, kind of cute. Still, there was that odd notion of pain in her back legs that she had felt when he showed her the lot where they had supposedly played together so often. Was it some kind of vague memory? No, that was silly. How could such a nice dog have been responsible for anything like that? And yet somehow…she suspected he was.

           “Anyway, let’s not worry about that little pest. I want to introduce you to the friend of m… ours, who I told you about before. He knows you almost as well as I do, and he‘s really good with cases like