Fast Cars (Working Title)

Chapter 10

Jax scratched at the bathroom door and whined.

"I'm coming," Don said as he slipped into his tshirt.

"You spend more time in the bathroom than a teenage girl," Maisy muttered as he sat on the bed.

Don shrugged. "Cold showers."

"Why do you take cold showers? There's plenty of hot water."

Don raised an eyebrow and looked up at her.

Maisy's lips formed an 'o' as she blushed and looked away. "Oh."

"Don't worry about it. I promised." He slipped into his shoes and stood. "You ready, Jax?"

Jax danced by the door.

"You're leaving me?"

"Bolt the door and take a shower. I'll probably be waiting in the hall when you get done."

Her worried expression followed him across the room.

"You want to postpone your shower and come with us?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Get dressed."

Hope shined in her eyes.

Don sat back on the bed and called Jax over. He moved through commands, testing the dog.

The bathroom door cracked open. "Will you teach me?"

"What?"

Maisy stepped into the room wearing her bikini top and a pair of shorts.

"You might want to wear jeans. We're learning to shoot today, remember?"

"I thought we'd come back here after walking Jax."

Don shrugged. "Okay. I'm not in a hurry."

She slipped into a pair of tennis shoes and stood. "Will you teach me how to make Jax do what I want?"

Don chuckled. "It's more of me giving him permission to listen to you. But, yeah. I'll teach you the basic commands. Do you want to stop in the lobby and snag a bagel or something?"

Her stomach growled. "Sure."

Don held the door open. "Let's go. Jax, heel. For simple commands, like heel, sit, stay, come and the like, I just use English. For other commands, Jax has been trained in German."

"You speak German?"

"Uh, no. I know dog commands in German. It's a traditional language to train the dogs in. In some departments, police dogs are imported from Germany, Belgian and Czechoslovakia. Jax was just a street mutt."

"He doesn't look like a mutt."

"Pretty sure he's not."

"So, where did you learn dog training?"

Don smiled and pushed the button for the elevator. "I took a class at a college."

"You were in college?"

Don shook his head and stepped out of the elevator. "It was a free class offered at a college. I'd just gotten Jax and wanted him to do more than just being a pet. It was an intensive twelve week course with your mutt. We both learned a lot. And I got called in for having a beaten puppy."

"What happened?"

"I really couldn't prove where I'd gotten him. I could prove that I was providing food, shelter and veterinary care. Beyond that, there wasn't much anyone could do. ASPCA backed off at the end of the course when Jax was one of the best students and was so much healthier than he was when we started. They've checked in from time to time but Jax passes all their inspections." Don picked a table in the corner and pulled out a chair. "Jax. Tuck under."