"Carr-DogsNight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carr Michael)MICHAEL CARR A DOG'S NIGHT Michael Carr hails from Springville, Utah, and attended the Clarion workshop in 1993. He notes with pleasure that this story, his first professional sale, was inspired in no small part by the behavior of his black Laborador retriever, Helaman, who seems to be convinced that the paper boy is up to something most sinister. What Snuffles encounters is far more diabolical in the following tale, which begs the question of whether every dog truly does have his day. Snuffles was a good dog. Not a very smart dog. In fact, just smart enough to know that he didn't know the half of what the masters were up to. But when Boss said "Good dog," he wagged his tail and thought, "Yes, I am a pretty good dog." Which is why the creatures digging in the back yard bothered him so much. All night, he could hear them scratching in the garden, and during the day he could smell their rotten scent all through the yard. One night when Boss didn't bring him inside at the regular time, he saw one peek its gnarled, horny head from one of the holes. Its lips curled into a mossy leer. Snuffles shot toward the front yard, yelping and trailing a string of pee like a naughty puppy. When Boss heard his barks, he called Snuffles inside, and the dog obeyed, still shaking with fright. Every night, Snuffles barked when he heard the creatures digging, but Boss didn't seem to understand. "Shut up!" he said, putting down his newspaper in disgust. "You'll wake the baby." "But Boss," Snuffles moaned. "Boss, Boss...in the yard, Boss. Go look. Go look." He looked to Bitch-With-Pup for understanding, but she just looked disgusted and turned back to feeding the Pup its bottle. Boss said, "Stop whining, or you're sleeping outside." That much Snuffles understood, and he certainly did not want to sleep outside, near the creatures and the work they did at night, so he went into the bedroom and lay down on his pillow, head on paws. Outside, the maddening sound of the creatures digging continued unabated. The next day, Snuffles followed Boss out to work in the garden. Boss filled the wheelbarrow with compost and started to shovel it onto the carrot patch. "What's this?" Boss leaned against the shovel and eyed the holes with a frown. Snuffles wagged his tail anxiously. "Looks like those damn gophers came back." Not Those-Damn-Gophers. Snuffles liked Those-Damn-Gophers. They were fun to chase. He couldn't smell them anywhere. He couldn't even smell You-Mangy-Cat. The creatures must have eaten him, too. Boss went to the shed and brought back the box with the bad, don't-eat pellets. He poured some in the first few holes, then shook the box and grunted. "I'll tell you what, Snuffles," Boss said. "I'll run down to Stanley Seed and get some more gopher bait. You keep an eye on things until I get back." He pointed to the holes. Snuffles let out an inadvertent moan, "No, please." His tail crept unhappily between his legs. "That's right. Good dog." Snuffles took his guarding duties quite seriously. When You-Mangy-Cat came slinking into the yard to spray its scent, Snuffles happily chased it away. When Boy-on-the-Bike banged a rolled.up paper against the door, Snuffles roared in from the back yard to chase the boy away before he disturbed Boss. But today Snuffles was scared. Boss's car crunched its way out of the driveway. The dog hunkered down to wait about ten feet from one of the holes. "Snuffles," a low voice said from the hole. "Snuffles, are you hungry?" Snuffles cocked his head and looked at the hole. He let out a low growl. One of the creatures popped its head from the hole. Snuffles growled again. He wanted to run inside and hide behind the couch, but Boss had told him to wait. Another creature looked out from a second hole. "Are you hungry Snuffles?" More creatures appeared. They were all munching on something. After every bite they licked their chops and belched as if it were the most delicious meal they'd ever eaten. The first creature, who looked bigger and mossier than the others, and had long, curved horns, held out a hand for Snuffles to see. Steak! Partially cooked and fatty like the tidbits Boss or Bitch-With-Pup fed him from the stove. Only these were big pieces. The rich, meaty smell filled the air, overpowering the creatures' sickly odor. He took two steps forward. "That's right, Snuffles," the big, mossy one said. "Yummy, yum, yum, yum." It licked its lips with a narrow, darting tongue. The creatures didn't look so threatening, Snuffles realized. No, they looked downright friendly with those wide smiles. He must have judged them wrong, that's all. He wagged his tail and took another step forward. "Good boy. See, we're your friends. What a good dog." It dangled the steak in front of Snuffles' nose. Snuffles' mouth felt wet and slobbery. He swallowed his saliva, licked his chops and leaned toward the meat. He would snatch up a piece, then run back to the lawn and eat it. He opened his mouth. The creature leaned forward slightly, an eager look on its face, and the dog hesitated. Underneath the rich steak smell, he could smell something nasty. He jumped back with a yelp. They weren't eating steaks at all, he could see, but were munching on the bad, don't-eat pellets Boss had poured in the hole. Poison. The first time Snuffles had smelled the pellets, he'd dug down into one of Those-Damn-Gophers' holes after them. A few minutes later, he felt weak and sick all over. He threw up behind the pee-tree, then lay down on the porch panting. Boss had found him and rushed him to the nasty place where they stuck you with needles and stuck things up your butt. "Get out of here!" Snuffles shouted. "I'll kill you! I'll rip your arms out!" The creatures opened their mouths and made a sound like banging on cans with sticks. Laughing. "You're a dead dog," the big one said. The leader. "We're taking over." "A coup." "We'll kill the man and his woman." "Rip down his house." "Take the baby." "You'd better not sleep tonight." Snuffles whined and crept further back. He didn't understand, but he knew that the creatures were Very Bad. The creatures popped back into their holes. Shortly, the digging sounds resumed. He could feel them under his feet. They were everywhere in the yard. Snuffles shouted over and over, until the others in the neighborhood joined in a chorus of barks and howls, and the masters came out of their houses and hollered for the dogs to shut up. That night snuffles slept between the two bedrooms. He jolted awake at every sound and growled. "Quiet, Snuffles," Bitch-With-Pup said from the darkness. Boss snored loudly. Good. Bitch-With-Pup wouldn't bother crawling out of bed to send him outside. Eventually, Snuffles fell asleep and dreamed. "Snuffles. Snuffles." Busy chasing a rabbit across a field, the dog paused when he heard his name called. He saw Boss waving the frisbee on the other side of the field. "Snuffles. Wake up Snuffles," Boss said. But his voice sounded funny. It sounded like one of the creatures. Snuffles awoke with a start. "Snuffles. Are you awake?" He cocked his head. A bit of moonlight shone through the kitchen window and onto the carpeted threshold between the two bedrooms where Snuffles lay. He couldn't see where the voice came from, but it sounded dose. "Over here, Snuffles." He climbed to his feet and looked down the heating vent. The voice seemed to come from down there. He whined. Maybe it was Boss, playing a joke. Yeah, a trick. Boss liked to play sometimes. "We're here, Snuffles. We came like we promised." No. It wasn't a trick. Snuffles turned and looked toward the bedroom. The Pup slept quietly in its crib. He turned back to the hole and growled. The creatures went quiet. In the masters' bedroom, the snoring stopped. He could hear Boss shift a little in his bed. The snoring started again. "Stop growling," Bitch-With-Pup warned from the darkened bedroom. "Go to sleep." He turned back to the vent. It was quiet. A few minutes passed. A sudden movement caught his eye. The leader of the creatures stood on the counter next to the sink, behind the glasses Bitch-With-Pup had lined up on a towel to dry. It beckoned for Snuffles to come closer. Carefully, Snuffles climbed to his feet and made his way across the kitchen floor. He didn't want to bark and wake up the masters until he was sure the creature couldn't slip away and hide. There had to be proof. "Snuffles," the creature whispered. "I bet you really want to bite me, don't you?" A low growl came to the dog's lips. He suppressed it. The creature had made a mistake, Snuffles could see. It stood too far onto the towel, the edge of which dangled over the counter. One tug on the edge, and the creature would come spilling to the ground, Snuffles would grab it, and Boss would see. He stepped forward, tilting his head curiously. With a snarl, he leapt forward, grasping the towel in his teeth and jerking backwards with his head. The creature moved impossibly fast. It leapt nimbly to one side, then with a second leap, jumped to the stove, where it slid between the stove and the wall. As it did, it laughed. Too late, Snuffles tried to stop his pull. The glasses poised on the edge of the counter for a moment, then slid down towards his head, one after another. They rained down on him in a series of crashes. In an instant, the light came on and Boss stood glaring at him. Boss stared at the glass on the floor with a terrible look on his face. It wasn't him. Couldn't Boss see? Boss marched into the front room, opened the door and pointed. "Out." Snuffles slinked toward Boss, tail unhappily between his legs. He hesitated. Boss grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him outside. Snuffles glanced over his shoulder and saw creatures boiling from the vent in the kitchen like a swarm of oversized rats. Some had horns, others arms that hung to their feet, long claws on the end of their hands. Their eyes glowed red in the dark, and they made their way toward the bedroom in a quiet line. The big one turned to Snuffles and sneered. Snuffles struggled against the hand on his collar. He growled and barked. What were they up to? "What are you barking at?" Boss asked in his disgusted voice. He didn't turn around to look. "Do you hear rocks rattling in your head?" And suddenly Snuffles realized. Boss was wrong. He had made a mistake. The thought stunned him for a moment, and he didn't know what to do. He turned and snapped at Boss. His teeth clamped down on the fleshy part of the man's hand. With a cry of pain Boss released the collar and jumped backwards. Snuffles ran through the front room, then scrambled over the slick kitchen floor and into the Pup's bedroom. Behind him, Boss yelled and cursed. The creatures were scaling the side of the crib. Long hands reached through the slats and grabbed at the Pup. One of them jumped inside. It pulled back the blanket and wrapped its claw around the sleeping Pup's ankle. "Get away!" he shouted. He ran into the bedroom, barking and biting at the creatures. He grabbed one by the arm and threw it from the crib. Its skin felt tough and chewy like the bicycle tire he'd found in the shed, only it burned his mouth. They scratched him with sharp claws, and bit him on the flanks. He yelped his pain, and turned his jaws to snap back. They were all over him, too many. He The light flicked on. The creatures disappeared down the vent in the Pup's room. The grate slipped quietly into place behind them. Too fast. Boss stood in the threshold. "What the hell are you doing?" Boss yelled, blinking against the light. He rubbed his hand where the dog had bitten it. Snuffles crouched on the floor. He looked around for the creatures; they were nowhere to be seen. The Pup started to cry in its crib. "That does it." Boss reached down and grabbed him roughly by the collar. "Now you're sleeping in the shed." Wrapping herself in a bathrobe, Bitch-With-Pup came in. Snuffles whined at her, hoping she would understand. She picked up the Pup and clutched it against her chest. "What is wrong with him?" she asked Boss. Boss shrugged. "I don't know. He broke the glasses, he woke the baby. He bit me." "No," Snuffles whined. "No, not hurt. Good dog." "Oh, Snuffles," she said. "What is wrong with you? First the glasses, and now this?" They had an awful look on their faces. It was the look of betrayed trust. The same look they'd given him last winter when he'd chewed up Boss's leather glove, only a hundred times worse. Snuffles felt sick and weak all over. Boss dragged him out to the shed. "Bad flog. Bad dog. Bad. Why don't you understand? Now you have to sleep in the shed." The door banged shut behind him and Snuffles could hear the latch draw shut. His skin burned. He could feel where the creatures had bitten and clawed him. But when he leaned over to lick the wound, his skin was whole. He wanted to lie down and sleep, and forget the sound of mistrust in Boss's voice. How had he been so stupid? They had tricked him into getting thrown out. He'd thought they wanted to break a few things, and really they wanted to steal the Pup." He had to save it. Something tapped against the window above Boss's worktable. Snuffles looked up to see red eyes staring back at him. It was the leader with the long horns and the mossy face. "Ha! Ha! Snuffles," it said through the glass. "You've lost." He growled. "Oh, what are you going to do?" it sneered. "Bark at me? I'm scared, Snuffles. Terrified." The creature disappeared. He ran over to stand against the table and press his nose against the glass. Row after row of red eyes crawled into the holes in the garden; underneath were the tunnels that crept up under the house. There were two ways to get out of the shed, Snuffles had discovered. The first was the door -- latched firmly shut when Boss left. The second was the window; if Boss left it open, he could leap onto the table and squeeze through. But it was closed. They were coming. Any minute they would squeeze through the vent and grab the Pup. They would swarm over the bed and kill the masters. Snuffles trotted to the far side of the shed. He eyed the window for a moment, then broke into a run. He leapt onto the table and smashed into the window. Crack! His head smacked painfully against the glass. It cracked all the way across but didn't break outward like he'd hoped. He jumped down from the table, snorting and shaking his head. A ringing sound filled his ears. He ran to the other side of the shed and charged the window again. This time it broke apart, shards of glass tinkling to the ground below. The hole was big enough for his head, and widened as he squeezed his body through. Razor sharp fingers sliced his skin in a dozen places along his back. He fell to the ground and jumped to his feet. The nasty smell filled the yard. He could hear them under his feet, crawling through their tunnels. He heard a sound like the Pup crying. Growling angrily, he sniffed on the ground. Just under his feet, he could hear sounds: the creatures scrabbling under the ground, the Pup whimpering. This was the main tunnel. He dug furiously into the grass. In an instant, he had burst into their tunnel. The creatures growled and scratched at his snout with long daws. They tried to pull the Pup through, but the tunnel had collapsed enough that the Pup wouldn't fit. Snuffles grabbed the Pup by its sleeper and pulled it onto the grass. The creatures screamed and pulled on the Pup's feet. The Pup had a glazed look in its eyes. It whimpered a little, but didn't cry. Something was wrong with it. "Snuffles!" Boss shouted. He stood off the back porch, looking at the dog. He wore his bathrobe and slippers and had an angry look on his face. "What are you doing?" The Pup whimpered again. It lay on the ground at Snuffles's feet, its face cut and scratched. Boss shouted angrily and came toward Snuffles with his hand outstretched. "No, Boss. No. Not hurt Pup. Look!" Boss saw the ring of red eyes standing just out of Snuffles's reach, the eyes looking up from the hole. "What the hell?" Boss said. He stood, shaking. "Snuffles, what is it?" The big creature with the horns said, "Go back to bed." "Who are you?" Boss said. "What do you want?" His voice sounded afraid. The big creature said, "The baby. Give us the baby." "The baby?" Boss asked. His voice sounded funny, like something was stuffed in his mouth. "No," Snuffles said. "Not hurt the Pup." He stood protectively over the Pup, who was strangely quiet, much like Boss. He didn't know if this was a test, or if there was something wrong with Boss. "You stay out of this, dog," one of the creatures snarled. They turned back to Boss. "Give us the baby, and we'll leave you alone." Boss stood stiffly. Something was wrong. He was quiet for a moment. It was as if someone had hit him over the head. "Take the baby." The creatures surged forward, hissing and clacking their teeth. "No!" Snuffles shouted. "I'll kill you all." The creatures attacked. Snuffles seized the first in his jaws and shook it back and forth. It screamed and clawed at his eyes. He tossed it back into the pack. Boss stood, unmoving. "Wake up!" Snuffles shouted. He bit Boss on the leg, hard. The man shouted. But it seemed to jolt him from his stupor. He shouted and kicked at the creatures. "Rick," Bitch-With-Pup cried from behind them. "What is happening?" "Get in the car!" he screamed at Bitch-With-Pup. "Take the baby and lock the doors. And don't look out the windows. Don't look at them." "What?" she asked. "What are you talking about?" And then she saw. She kicked her way through the creatures, snatched up the Pup and ran toward the car. It was parked in the driveway about thirty feet away around the side of the house. Snuffles heard the door slam shut. The creatures screamed and gnashed their teeth. There were too many of them, and they were too strong. Boss fought ferociously -- that's why he was Boss, after all -- but the creatures kept coming. The big one laughed. He stood on the patio, watching. He was the one who had to be stopped, Snuffles realized. None of the others mattered. The dog broke through the creatures surrounding him. One latched onto his leg, but he threw it aside. Snuffles reached the patio. "Come on," the big one shouted. "Come on. I'll kill you. I'll tear you apart." It ran at Snuffles, clawed hands outstretched. Snarling, the dog leapt to meet the creature. He grabbed it in his jaws, and shook it, even as it tore at his muzzle. "No," Snuffles growled between shakes of his head. "I'll kill you." It struggled and screamed. The creature hooked one of its horns along the dog's face, narrowly avoiding his eye, but Snuffles knew if he let go, the creature would slip away into the night and he wouldn't get another chance. Blood splattered on his muzzle, and he didn't know if it was his or the creature's, but he didn't stop biting and shaking until the creature hung limply in his mouth. The yard became suddenly quiet. Boss stood gasping, and the rest of the creatures stood back a pace, their eyes on the dog and their dead leader. Snuffles growled. Suddenly, the creatures turned and fled to their holes, disappearing as quickly as they'd come. A few stayed behind, dead or wounded. Boss got his axe from the shed. He chopped at the dead and dying creatures until a wet sheen dripped from the blade. Snuffles sniffed out one that hid in the long grass by the shed, and caught another trying to crawl back to its hole. He tore it in half. His mouth burned. The sun crept into the sky, and as it did, the bodies shriveled like worms on hot asphalt. Boss stood and looked over the yard. He wiped his bathrobe against his face, then his hands on the grass. Boss said, "We'll pour gas down the holes and burn the little bastards out." So that's what the creatures were. The-Little-Bastards. "Yeah, Boss. Yeah." "And if that doesn't work, we'll shove the hose down there and drown them. And if they're still there, we'll bring a backhoe in here and root them out." Scratches covered Boss's legs, but he didn't seem to notice. He looked down at the dog. Snuffles cringed a little, sure that the punishment for breaking out of the shed would be swift and severe now that The-Little-Bastards had been defeated. But instead Boss bent and scratched Snuffles's ears with both hands, carefully avoiding the dog's wounds. "You are a good dog. I'm sorry I doubted you." He looked over the dog's body. "Poor boy, you're hurt, aren't you?" Snuffles's heart leapt with joy. He wouldn't be punished. His tail wagged furiously. Bitch-With-Pup got out of the ear, the Pup sleeping in her arms. She said, "What a good dog. I think he deserves a reward, don't you Rick?" "Sure," Boss said. "A big reward." "What do you want Snuffles? A nice juicy steak? How about we go camping next weekend, if you're healed up enough by then?" Boss scratched his head again. "She's right, boy. Anything you want. What will it be?" Snuffles panted excitedly. "Oh boy, oh boy. I want to sleep on the bed." The masters looked at him. Bitch-With-Pup said, "I think he tried to say something." "What was that, Snuffles?" Boss asked. Snuffles panted. "I want to sleep on the bed. Every night. On the bed. On the bed!" But of course the masters didn't understand. They never did. MICHAEL CARR A DOG'S NIGHT Michael Carr hails from Springville, Utah, and attended the Clarion workshop in 1993. He notes with pleasure that this story, his first professional sale, was inspired in no small part by the behavior of his black Laborador retriever, Helaman, who seems to be convinced that the paper boy is up to something most sinister. What Snuffles encounters is far more diabolical in the following tale, which begs the question of whether every dog truly does have his day. Snuffles was a good dog. Not a very smart dog. In fact, just smart enough to know that he didn't know the half of what the masters were up to. But when Boss said "Good dog," he wagged his tail and thought, "Yes, I am a pretty good dog." Which is why the creatures digging in the back yard bothered him so much. All night, he could hear them scratching in the garden, and during the day he could smell their rotten scent all through the yard. One night when Boss didn't bring him inside at the regular time, he saw one peek its gnarled, horny head from one of the holes. Its lips curled into a mossy leer. Snuffles shot toward the front yard, yelping and trailing a string of pee like a naughty puppy. When Boss heard his barks, he called Snuffles inside, and the dog obeyed, still shaking with fright. Every night, Snuffles barked when he heard the creatures digging, but Boss didn't seem to understand. "Shut up!" he said, putting down his newspaper in disgust. "You'll wake the baby." "But Boss," Snuffles moaned. "Boss, Boss...in the yard, Boss. Go look. Go look." He looked to Bitch-With-Pup for understanding, but she just looked disgusted and turned back to feeding the Pup its bottle. Boss said, "Stop whining, or you're sleeping outside." That much Snuffles understood, and he certainly did not want to sleep outside, near the creatures and the work they did at night, so he went into the bedroom and lay down on his pillow, head on paws. Outside, the maddening sound of the creatures digging continued unabated. The next day, Snuffles followed Boss out to work in the garden. Boss filled the wheelbarrow with compost and started to shovel it onto the carrot patch. "What's this?" Boss leaned against the shovel and eyed the holes with a frown. Snuffles wagged his tail anxiously. "Looks like those damn gophers came back." Not Those-Damn-Gophers. Snuffles liked Those-Damn-Gophers. They were fun to chase. He couldn't smell them anywhere. He couldn't even smell You-Mangy-Cat. The creatures must have eaten him, too. Boss went to the shed and brought back the box with the bad, don't-eat pellets. He poured some in the first few holes, then shook the box and grunted. "I'll tell you what, Snuffles," Boss said. "I'll run down to Stanley Seed and get some more gopher bait. You keep an eye on things until I get back." He pointed to the holes. Snuffles let out an inadvertent moan, "No, please." His tail crept unhappily between his legs. "That's right. Good dog." Snuffles took his guarding duties quite seriously. When You-Mangy-Cat came slinking into the yard to spray its scent, Snuffles happily chased it away. When Boy-on-the-Bike banged a rolled.up paper against the door, Snuffles roared in from the back yard to chase the boy away before he disturbed Boss. But today Snuffles was scared. Boss's car crunched its way out of the driveway. The dog hunkered down to wait about ten feet from one of the holes. "Snuffles," a low voice said from the hole. "Snuffles, are you hungry?" Snuffles cocked his head and looked at the hole. He let out a low growl. One of the creatures popped its head from the hole. Snuffles growled again. He wanted to run inside and hide behind the couch, but Boss had told him to wait. Another creature looked out from a second hole. "Are you hungry Snuffles?" More creatures appeared. They were all munching on something. After every bite they licked their chops and belched as if it were the most delicious meal they'd ever eaten. The first creature, who looked bigger and mossier than the others, and had long, curved horns, held out a hand for Snuffles to see. Steak! Partially cooked and fatty like the tidbits Boss or Bitch-With-Pup fed him from the stove. Only these were big pieces. The rich, meaty smell filled the air, overpowering the creatures' sickly odor. He took two steps forward. "That's right, Snuffles," the big, mossy one said. "Yummy, yum, yum, yum." It licked its lips with a narrow, darting tongue. The creatures didn't look so threatening, Snuffles realized. No, they looked downright friendly with those wide smiles. He must have judged them wrong, that's all. He wagged his tail and took another step forward. "Good boy. See, we're your friends. What a good dog." It dangled the steak in front of Snuffles' nose. Snuffles' mouth felt wet and slobbery. He swallowed his saliva, licked his chops and leaned toward the meat. He would snatch up a piece, then run back to the lawn and eat it. He opened his mouth. The creature leaned forward slightly, an eager look on its face, and the dog hesitated. Underneath the rich steak smell, he could smell something nasty. He jumped back with a yelp. They weren't eating steaks at all, he could see, but were munching on the bad, don't-eat pellets Boss had poured in the hole. Poison. The first time Snuffles had smelled the pellets, he'd dug down into one of Those-Damn-Gophers' holes after them. A few minutes later, he felt weak and sick all over. He threw up behind the pee-tree, then lay down on the porch panting. Boss had found him and rushed him to the nasty place where they stuck you with needles and stuck things up your butt. "Get out of here!" Snuffles shouted. "I'll kill you! I'll rip your arms out!" The creatures opened their mouths and made a sound like banging on cans with sticks. Laughing. "You're a dead dog," the big one said. The leader. "We're taking over." "A coup." "We'll kill the man and his woman." "Rip down his house." "Take the baby." "You'd better not sleep tonight." Snuffles whined and crept further back. He didn't understand, but he knew that the creatures were Very Bad. The creatures popped back into their holes. Shortly, the digging sounds resumed. He could feel them under his feet. They were everywhere in the yard. Snuffles shouted over and over, until the others in the neighborhood joined in a chorus of barks and howls, and the masters came out of their houses and hollered for the dogs to shut up. That night snuffles slept between the two bedrooms. He jolted awake at every sound and growled. "Quiet, Snuffles," Bitch-With-Pup said from the darkness. Boss snored loudly. Good. Bitch-With-Pup wouldn't bother crawling out of bed to send him outside. Eventually, Snuffles fell asleep and dreamed. "Snuffles. Snuffles." Busy chasing a rabbit across a field, the dog paused when he heard his name called. He saw Boss waving the frisbee on the other side of the field. "Snuffles. Wake up Snuffles," Boss said. But his voice sounded funny. It sounded like one of the creatures. Snuffles awoke with a start. "Snuffles. Are you awake?" He cocked his head. A bit of moonlight shone through the kitchen window and onto the carpeted threshold between the two bedrooms where Snuffles lay. He couldn't see where the voice came from, but it sounded dose. "Over here, Snuffles." He climbed to his feet and looked down the heating vent. The voice seemed to come from down there. He whined. Maybe it was Boss, playing a joke. Yeah, a trick. Boss liked to play sometimes. "We're here, Snuffles. We came like we promised." No. It wasn't a trick. Snuffles turned and looked toward the bedroom. The Pup slept quietly in its crib. He turned back to the hole and growled. The creatures went quiet. In the masters' bedroom, the snoring stopped. He could hear Boss shift a little in his bed. The snoring started again. "Stop growling," Bitch-With-Pup warned from the darkened bedroom. "Go to sleep." He turned back to the vent. It was quiet. A few minutes passed. A sudden movement caught his eye. The leader of the creatures stood on the counter next to the sink, behind the glasses Bitch-With-Pup had lined up on a towel to dry. It beckoned for Snuffles to come closer. Carefully, Snuffles climbed to his feet and made his way across the kitchen floor. He didn't want to bark and wake up the masters until he was sure the creature couldn't slip away and hide. There had to be proof. "Snuffles," the creature whispered. "I bet you really want to bite me, don't you?" A low growl came to the dog's lips. He suppressed it. The creature had made a mistake, Snuffles could see. It stood too far onto the towel, the edge of which dangled over the counter. One tug on the edge, and the creature would come spilling to the ground, Snuffles would grab it, and Boss would see. He stepped forward, tilting his head curiously. With a snarl, he leapt forward, grasping the towel in his teeth and jerking backwards with his head. The creature moved impossibly fast. It leapt nimbly to one side, then with a second leap, jumped to the stove, where it slid between the stove and the wall. As it did, it laughed. Too late, Snuffles tried to stop his pull. The glasses poised on the edge of the counter for a moment, then slid down towards his head, one after another. They rained down on him in a series of crashes. In an instant, the light came on and Boss stood glaring at him. Boss stared at the glass on the floor with a terrible look on his face. It wasn't him. Couldn't Boss see? Boss marched into the front room, opened the door and pointed. "Out." Snuffles slinked toward Boss, tail unhappily between his legs. He hesitated. Boss grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him outside. Snuffles glanced over his shoulder and saw creatures boiling from the vent in the kitchen like a swarm of oversized rats. Some had horns, others arms that hung to their feet, long claws on the end of their hands. Their eyes glowed red in the dark, and they made their way toward the bedroom in a quiet line. The big one turned to Snuffles and sneered. Snuffles struggled against the hand on his collar. He growled and barked. What were they up to? "What are you barking at?" Boss asked in his disgusted voice. He didn't turn around to look. "Do you hear rocks rattling in your head?" And suddenly Snuffles realized. Boss was wrong. He had made a mistake. The thought stunned him for a moment, and he didn't know what to do. He turned and snapped at Boss. His teeth clamped down on the fleshy part of the man's hand. With a cry of pain Boss released the collar and jumped backwards. Snuffles ran through the front room, then scrambled over the slick kitchen floor and into the Pup's bedroom. Behind him, Boss yelled and cursed. The creatures were scaling the side of the crib. Long hands reached through the slats and grabbed at the Pup. One of them jumped inside. It pulled back the blanket and wrapped its claw around the sleeping Pup's ankle. "Get away!" he shouted. He ran into the bedroom, barking and biting at the creatures. He grabbed one by the arm and threw it from the crib. Its skin felt tough and chewy like the bicycle tire he'd found in the shed, only it burned his mouth. They scratched him with sharp claws, and bit him on the flanks. He yelped his pain, and turned his jaws to snap back. They were all over him, too many. He dragged one from the side of the crib and bent down to tear its throat out. The light flicked on. The creatures disappeared down the vent in the Pup's room. The grate slipped quietly into place behind them. Too fast. Boss stood in the threshold. "What the hell are you doing?" Boss yelled, blinking against the light. He rubbed his hand where the dog had bitten it. Snuffles crouched on the floor. He looked around for the creatures; they were nowhere to be seen. The Pup started to cry in its crib. "That does it." Boss reached down and grabbed him roughly by the collar. "Now you're sleeping in the shed." Wrapping herself in a bathrobe, Bitch-With-Pup came in. Snuffles whined at her, hoping she would understand. She picked up the Pup and clutched it against her chest. "What is wrong with him?" she asked Boss. Boss shrugged. "I don't know. He broke the glasses, he woke the baby. He bit me." "No," Snuffles whined. "No, not hurt. Good dog." "Oh, Snuffles," she said. "What is wrong with you? First the glasses, and now this?" They had an awful look on their faces. It was the look of betrayed trust. The same look they'd given him last winter when he'd chewed up Boss's leather glove, only a hundred times worse. Snuffles felt sick and weak all over. Boss dragged him out to the shed. "Bad flog. Bad dog. Bad. Why don't you understand? Now you have to sleep in the shed." The door banged shut behind him and Snuffles could hear the latch draw shut. His skin burned. He could feel where the creatures had bitten and clawed him. But when he leaned over to lick the wound, his skin was whole. He wanted to lie down and sleep, and forget the sound of mistrust in Boss's voice. How had he been so stupid? They had tricked him into getting thrown out. He'd thought they wanted to break a few things, and really they wanted to steal the Pup." He had to save it. Something tapped against the window above Boss's worktable. Snuffles looked up to see red eyes staring back at him. It was the leader with the long horns and the mossy face. "Ha! Ha! Snuffles," it said through the glass. "You've lost." He growled. "Oh, what are you going to do?" it sneered. "Bark at me? I'm scared, Snuffles. Terrified." The creature disappeared. He ran over to stand against the table and press his nose against the glass. Row after row of red eyes crawled into the holes in the garden; underneath were the tunnels that crept up under the house. There were two ways to get out of the shed, Snuffles had discovered. The first was the door -- latched firmly shut when Boss left. The second was the window; if Boss left it open, he could leap onto the table and squeeze through. But it was closed. They were coming. Any minute they would squeeze through the vent and grab the Pup. They would swarm over the bed and kill the masters. Snuffles trotted to the far side of the shed. He eyed the window for a moment, then broke into a run. He leapt onto the table and smashed into the window. Crack! His head smacked painfully against the glass. It cracked all the way across but didn't break outward like he'd hoped. He jumped down from the table, snorting and shaking his head. A ringing sound filled his ears. He ran to the other side of the shed and charged the window again. This time it broke apart, shards of glass tinkling to the ground below. The hole was big enough for his head, and widened as he squeezed his body through. Razor sharp fingers sliced his skin in a dozen places along his back. He fell to the ground and jumped to his feet. The nasty smell filled the yard. He could hear them under his feet, crawling through their tunnels. He heard a sound like the Pup crying. Growling angrily, he sniffed on the ground. Just under his feet, he could hear sounds: the creatures scrabbling under the ground, the Pup whimpering. This was the main tunnel. He dug furiously into the grass. In an instant, he had burst into their tunnel. The creatures growled and scratched at his snout with long daws. They tried to pull the Pup through, but the tunnel had collapsed enough that the Pup wouldn't fit. Snuffles grabbed the Pup by its sleeper and pulled it onto the grass. The creatures screamed and pulled on the Pup's feet. The Pup had a glazed look in its eyes. It whimpered a little, but didn't cry. Something was wrong with it. "Snuffles!" Boss shouted. He stood off the back porch, looking at the dog. He wore his bathrobe and slippers and had an angry look on his face. "What are you doing?" The Pup whimpered again. It lay on the ground at Snuffles's feet, its face cut and scratched. Boss shouted angrily and came toward Snuffles with his hand outstretched. "No, Boss. No. Not hurt Pup. Look!" Boss saw the ring of red eyes standing just out of Snuffles's reach, the eyes looking up from the hole. "What the hell?" Boss said. He stood, shaking. "Snuffles, what is it?" The big creature with the horns said, "Go back to bed." "Who are you?" Boss said. "What do you want?" His voice sounded afraid. The big creature said, "The baby. Give us the baby." "The baby?" Boss asked. His voice sounded funny, like something was stuffed in his mouth. "No," Snuffles said. "Not hurt the Pup." He stood protectively over the Pup, who was strangely quiet, much like Boss. He didn't know if this was a test, or if there was something wrong with Boss. "You stay out of this, dog," one of the creatures snarled. They turned back to Boss. "Give us the baby, and we'll leave you alone." Boss stood stiffly. Something was wrong. He was quiet for a moment. It was as if someone had hit him over the head. "Take the baby." The creatures surged forward, hissing and clacking their teeth. "No!" Snuffles shouted. "I'll kill you all." The creatures attacked. Snuffles seized the first in his jaws and shook it back and forth. It screamed and clawed at his eyes. He tossed it back into the pack. Boss stood, unmoving. "Wake up!" Snuffles shouted. He bit Boss on the leg, hard. The man shouted. But it seemed to jolt him from his stupor. He shouted and kicked at the creatures. "Rick," Bitch-With-Pup cried from behind them. "What is happening?" "Get in the car!" he screamed at Bitch-With-Pup. "Take the baby and lock the doors. And don't look out the windows. Don't look at them." "What?" she asked. "What are you talking about?" And then she saw. She kicked her way through the creatures, snatched up the Pup and ran toward the car. It was parked in the driveway about thirty feet away around the side of the house. Snuffles heard the door slam shut. The creatures screamed and gnashed their teeth. There were too many of them, and they were too strong. Boss fought ferociously -- that's why he was Boss, after all -- but the creatures kept coming. The big one laughed. He stood on the patio, watching. He was the one who had to be stopped, Snuffles realized. None of the others mattered. The dog broke through the creatures surrounding him. One latched onto his leg, but he threw it aside. Snuffles reached the patio. "Come on," the big one shouted. "Come on. I'll kill you. I'll tear you apart." It ran at Snuffles, clawed hands outstretched. Snarling, the dog leapt to meet the creature. He grabbed it in his jaws, and shook it, even as it tore at his muzzle. "No," Snuffles growled between shakes of his head. "I'll kill you." It struggled and screamed. The creature hooked one of its horns along the dog's face, narrowly avoiding his eye, but Snuffles knew if he let go, the creature would slip away into the night and he wouldn't get another chance. Blood splattered on his muzzle, and he didn't know if it was his or the creature's, but he didn't stop biting and shaking until the creature hung limply in his mouth. The yard became suddenly quiet. Boss stood gasping, and the rest of the creatures stood back a pace, their eyes on the dog and their dead leader. Snuffles growled. Suddenly, the creatures turned and fled to their holes, disappearing as quickly as they'd come. A few stayed behind, dead or wounded. Boss got his axe from the shed. He chopped at the dead and dying creatures until a wet sheen dripped from the blade. Snuffles sniffed out one that hid in the long grass by the shed, and caught another trying to crawl back to its hole. He tore it in half. His mouth burned. The sun crept into the sky, and as it did, the bodies shriveled like worms on hot asphalt. Boss stood and looked over the yard. He wiped his bathrobe against his face, then his hands on the grass. Boss said, "We'll pour gas down the holes and burn the little bastards out." So that's what the creatures were. The-Little-Bastards. "Yeah, Boss. Yeah." "And if that doesn't work, we'll shove the hose down there and drown them. And if they're still there, we'll bring a backhoe in here and root them out." Scratches covered Boss's legs, but he didn't seem to notice. He looked down at the dog. Snuffles cringed a little, sure that the punishment for breaking out of the shed would be swift and severe now that The-Little-Bastards had been defeated. But instead Boss bent and scratched Snuffles's ears with both hands, carefully avoiding the dog's wounds. "You are a good dog. I'm sorry I doubted you." He looked over the dog's body. "Poor boy, you're hurt, aren't you?" Snuffles's heart leapt with joy. He wouldn't be punished. His tail wagged furiously. Bitch-With-Pup got out of the ear, the Pup sleeping in her arms. She said, "What a good dog. I think he deserves a reward, don't you Rick?" "Sure," Boss said. "A big reward." "What do you want Snuffles? A nice juicy steak? How about we go camping next weekend, if you're healed up enough by then?" Boss scratched his head again. "She's right, boy. Anything you want. What will it be?" Snuffles panted excitedly. "Oh boy, oh boy. I want to sleep on the bed." The masters looked at him. Bitch-With-Pup said, "I think he tried to say something." "What was that, Snuffles?" Boss asked. Snuffles panted. "I want to sleep on the bed. Every night. On the bed. On the bed!" But of course the masters didn't understand. They never did. |
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