fence.
“Mmmm-hmmm,” Amber answered absentmindedly. “He’s a friend of mine.”
Kato wasn’t quite sure he liked the sound of he.
Twenty minutes later Kato and Amber were sitting in the boiler room under the hospital with a gray mutt.
“Dogs hang out in the boiler room under the doctors’ in Anchorage, too,” Kato commented.
The mutt laughed. “Yeah, I’ve been to a lot of places, and it’s sort of a trend. You know, the hospital, always heated, and it provides a good hangout for everyone, not to mention a place to stay for us street dogs. But it’s also important that when the humans come to put fresh coals in the boiler, no one is caught. Did you see Twister, the calico cat at the entrance?” The mutt plowed on without waiting for a reply. “He sits and watches for the humans. When Twister yowls, we all know to scoot on farther under the building, where no one can see us.”
“Cool,” Kato replied shortly. He did not like the way Amber was smiling at the mutt.
The mutt grinned at him. “I’ve forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Tomek. Just ask for my name, and anyone can tell you where I am. Usually,” He added as an afterthought.
Kato liked this dog less and less every second. Not only did Tomek seem to think that he was top dog, Kato had to compete with him for…
Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, he forced himself to smile. “My name is Kato. Nice to meet you.”
Tomek laughed. “You’re a city slicker, aren’t you? I like you, Kato, I like you.”
Kato felt a growl rumbling in his throat, but luckily Tomek didn’t notice it. He had struck up a conversation with Amber. Kato found his concentration ebbing. How long had they been here? He guessed that he and Amber had been out of the house for about two hours, but it might have been two days, he was so bored!
“What do you think, Kato?”
Tomek’s voice sliced through his thoughts. Surprised, Kato jumped. “Huh?” he replied stupidly.
“We were just talking about how if the humans can’t get the railroad farther than Nenana, they might as well not have it at all,” Amber explained, saving him.
“Oh, yeah, yeah…” Kato said. After about forty-five more minutes (though it felt like forty-five hours), Amber stood up. “Well,” she sighed. “It’s time we were going. Bye, Tomek!”
“Bye, Amber!” Tomek called. “Bye, Kato”
“Goodbye, Tomek,” Kato growled, and he followed Amber out the boiler room door.
“You hungry?” Amber asked as they made their way down the street.
“Starving!” Kato said emphatically, noticing for the first time how hungry he was.
“Good,” Amber replied. “I was hoping that you’d be as starved as I am! I’ll take you to Jada’s. Her owner always gives away free food.”
Relieved that this new dog was a she, Kato followed Amber down the street. On the way he told her about Anchorage, his hometown. She listened to him, only asking an occasional question. He loved the way that she looked at him.
Soon they stopped in front of a small brick house. “This is Jada’s place. She usually hangs around with her owner,” Amber explained.
She padded down the dirt walkway to the house. The yard was unkempt and overgrown, but Kato thought it looked rather nice.
When Amber got to the door, she whined and scratched on it a little bit. Soon an elderly lady opened it. She smiled at the dogs. “Hello puppies!” She said. “Come on in and I’ll give you something to eat.”
Kato and Amber walked through the doorway. A chunky, red-colored husky was lying on the carpeted floor. She stood up when she saw them.
“Hi, Amber,” she said, smiling at them. Her voice was higher-pitched than Amber’s. “Who is your friend?”
“Hi, Jada.” Amber greeted her friend. “This is Kato. His owner is visiting mine for two months.”
“Hi, Jada,” Kato said. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Hey, Kato,” Jada replied. “Pleased to meet you, too. I hope you like it here.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kato told her. “It’s great!” He decided not to mention his dislike of Tomek.
At that moment, the woman put three bowls of food on the floor. In them were strips of chicken, just unfrozen, it seemed. While they ate, Amber and Jada talked about the goings-on in town, and Kato gave his opinion on everything. When they had all finished their meal, Amber beckoned to Kato.
“Thanks, Jada,” Amber said. “But we should get going.”
“Oh, you’re welcome. Always glad to have company!” Jada replied. “See you ‘round!”
“Bye, Jada!” Kato called. “It was nice meeting you!”
“Goodbye, Kato,” Jada responded as the door shut.
Kato and Amber spent the rest of the afternoon in the park, running around and exchanging words with other dogs. At dusk, Kato and Amber began to make their way back to the house.
“Thanks,” Kato told Amber. “You didn’t have to do that. I had fun with you.” Against all his better judgment, Kato added “with you” on purpose.
Amber smiled radiantly at him. “You’re welcome. My pleasure. I had a lot of fun, too.”
Kato smiled back at her. “I’m glad I have another two months here. I’m really not looking forward to leaving.”
Amber continued to smile, but there was a guarded look in her eyes as she answered, “I’m glad, too.”
The rest of the walk was spent in silence. Kato wondered if he had said too much. Beside him, Amber walked slowly, setting the pace. She looked as if she was thinking. Kato was uncomfortable. He wished that home was closer to the park.
They arrived home at about 6 p.m. An unfamiliar car was in the driveway. Amber bristled. “Who’s that?” she whispered.
A very familiar scent wafted into Kato’s nose. He struggled to name it. At last he remembered. “Pizza!” he laughed, relieved. “It’s the pizza man!”
Amber looked confused for a moment, and then burst out laughing. “All that fuss,” she laughed. “About a pizza man! Let’s go!”
As they padded up to the door, someone walked away from the house and got in the car with a cry of, “Thank you! Have a nice night!”
The two dogs headed into the house, where they were given a warm welcome and pieces of pizza crust. Daddy and Zack both looked exhausted, and they both ate slowly, making Kato wonder what they had been doing all day.
After dinner, Daddy and Zack stood up and went up the stairs. They didn’t come back until around 9:30. “Doing more work,” Kato whispered to Amber.
Daddy just patted Kato on the head and went into his room. Then Zack picked up the two bowls and bustled around a little bit. When the bowls were down on the floor again, they were full of food.
Kato gazed down at the bowl and realized that he wasn’t very hungry. He said so, and Amber nodded. “All right. I’ll meet you in the room in a sec.”
Kato padded into the room. He lay down on the rug, but he wasn’t very tired. For what seemed like a while, he lay on the rug, waiting for Amber. At last she came in the room.
He cleared his throat. “I’d like to do this again. I’m glad Daddy took me here.”
The same guarded look entered the amber eyes that Kato found so beautiful. “I… I am, too. That was fun.” Frowning slightly, Amber buried her nose under her paws and closed her eyes, but Kato could see that she was only pretending to sleep.
For the next month and a half, Kato and Amber’s routine was simple. Walk around town, read the latest news on discarded newspapers, go to the park, visit Tomek and Jada… Tomek sometimes went so far as to accompany them on their walks. Kato hated this, but he learned to deal with it.
Then, on the second week of the last of the two months, disaster struck, and Kato and Amber were right in the middle of it.
They were walking in the park when it began to snow. “Odd,” Kato commented. “It doesn’t usually snow this late into spring.”
“Yeah,” Amber added. “Odd…”
They walked around for another ten minutes, but Kato had a sneaking suspicion all the while that they should have been getting home.
Soon it began to snow harder. The ground became covered in snow alarmingly fast. Soon the two dogs could see nothing except swirling whiteness.
“Let’s get back,” Amber suggested, a trace of fear in her voice.
Kato nodded. He tried not to panic, but this proved to be very difficult. A horrible thought entered his mind.
“Uh, Amber?” Kato asked quietly.
“What?” she snapped, fear making her annoyed.
“Which way is home?”
Amber stopped dead. She turned her head slowly to look at him. “Excuse me?” she squeaked.
Kato stopped, too. “I said: which way is home? I have no idea which way is which in this snow.”
Shock would have been visible in Amber’s eyes, if anything had been visible at all. Kato could tell that she was doing some very quick thinking. “Ummm…” she hesitated. “This way! Follow me.”
She turned in a random direction and began to walk. Kato followed her doubtfully. Soon, Amber stopped. Without saying anything, she turned sharply and went the other way. Kato’s tail brushed up against a tall metal thing, and he knew that she had hit a fence. This happened about five more times, and all the while snow blew in their faces, and they bundled into snowdrifts. Kato began to wonder if they would ever find their way out at all.
Suddenly, Amber’s steps faltered and Kato heard a cry of pain. Despite the snow, he was at Amber’s side in one bound.
“Amber!” he yelped. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Amber tried to stand up, but she fell back down again. “I twisted my paw. I didn’t see the hole.”
“Can you walk?” Kato asked, shoving a howl of despair down his throat.
“What does it look like? Help me stand up. Here, get on that side of me and let me lean on you.”
Kato did as he was told. Wincing in pain, Amber put her injured forepaw across his back. It was slow work, but Amber and Kato finally made their way out on to the street. Amber took her paw off of his back. Still walking, Kato looked back.
“Amber, are you-“
His last word became a screech of terror. He was sinking! There was cold all around him. He couldn’t breath! Panicking, he struggled violently, but that only made him sink deeper.
Then he felt teeth close around his scruff. Going limp, he was
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