Dog Days

As Bad As It Gets

Bad news?" Larry asked Carlos. "What about?" "You know how I promised you could have my paper route when I moved away this fall?" Carlos asked. "Sure," Larry said. "I've been counting on it." "Well, things have kind of changed," Carlos said, kicking at a rock in the dirt. "You aren't moving?" Larry guessed. "Is that it? Your folks decided to stay in town? Hey, that's not so bad. At least you'll still be around. So that's really good news." Larry understood what people meant when they said they had "mixed feelings." He hated the thought of not getting the paper route, but he was glad his friend wasn't going away. Carlos shook his head. "I wish that was it. I'm still moving. But my cousin is coming to town. My mom's making me give him the paper route. I told her I promised to give it to you, but she says family comes first."

"Oh, man . . ." Larry didn't know what else to say. Everything was supposed to get better in the fall. That's all that had kept him going. Now it looked like things would never get better. He felt like he'd just opened a huge bag of dog food and found that it was filled with nothing but hard clumps of dirt. "Hey, I'm sorry," Carlos said. "I really wish I could give it to you." "Yeah, I know. It's not your fault," Larry said. "So," Carlos asked, "are we going to play some ball?" "Not right now," Larry said. "Maybe later." He went over to get Paul. "We're leaving?" Paul asked. Larry nodded. He walked off the field with Paul and headed toward home. No matter how much he loved baseball, he just couldn't enjoy the game right now. He needed to be with his dogs. They were waiting for him. Paul went inside. Larry stayed in the yard. He played with the dogs and brushed them. "I don't know what I'm going to do, guys. But don't worry," he told them. "I'll figure out something. I'm not going to let you down." Shaking his head, Larry filled the water bowl for the dogs and got them some food. He finished the last of the old bag and opened the new bag. He looked from the full bag to the crumpled, empty sack. It was amazing how quickly one turned into the other. Unless he got some money real soon, there was no way he'd be able to keep feeding the dogs.

Larry spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the dogs and trying to think of a way to make money. Maybe I can sell some of my stuff, he thought. He realized he had hardly anything worth selling. He looked at the porch where he'd left his glove. The glove was only a year old—just now perfectly broken in. He could get some money for it, but he didn't know if he could bear to give it up. Larry scratched Duke behind his left ear and rubbed Hobo's back. "I'll sell my glove if I have to, guys. That's a promise. Like Carlos said, family comes first. And you're part of the family." "Larry, it's almost six," Paul called from the back porch. "Mom says to come in for dinner." As Larry walked into the house, he thought about the strange things he'd seen during the past two days. He thought about the dog in the alley and he thought about his own life. As much as every day seemed different, he realized that most things fell into cycles and patterns. Dinner at six. Baseball in summer. School in September. Every week his parents paid bills. Every week he collected papers and cans. Every weekday his dad went to work. Every weekend his mom went to her job. Patterns and cycles, cycles and patterns. Over and over. He knew there were things he could always count on. He could always count on Paul to wander. He could always count on kids showing up at the park to play ball. And just like his dogs could count on him, he could always count on his parents to make meals.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinnertime, someone was always there for him. But who was there for the dog in the alley? "Dinnertime!" he said out loud. Everything fell together in Larry's mind. There was an answer. Larry knew what he needed to do tomorrow. He was so excited, he had a hard time falling asleep that night, but finally, he drifted off. When Larry awoke the next morning, it was too early to try his plan. So he got dressed, fed his dogs, and played with them for a while. Finally, late in the morning, he searched for Paul. He found him watching cartoons in the living room. "Come on," Larry said. "I've got something to show you." "Where are we going?" Paul asked. "You'll see," Larry said, feeling a little like one of those detectives in the movies. "I have a plan." I sure hope I'm right, he thought. Larry knew this could be his last chance to save his dogs. It was the bottom of the ninth, bases were loaded, and he was down to his last swing.