CHAPTER 12

The dogs, along with their puppy and cat accomplices, ran as fast as they could away from the shelter as the officer quickly hopped into his van. Hugo turned to see King catching up with them.

“Sorry I let that officer get away!” King said, panting as he ran his fastest.

“That’s okay,” Lulu said. “You couldn’t distract him forever. You were a wonderful squeaky ball!”

They shot out of the shelter’s parking lot, but the van was gaining on them.

“What do we do?” asked King nervously as the van got closer and closer. “If he catches us . . .” King trailed off, shuddering.

“Let’s split up!” said Hugo, thinking fast. “He can’t chase all of us at once. We’ll meet up at the dumpster where we left our collars.”

“Good idea,” said Napoleon. “Pickle, it’s just behind the bakery with the balloons. Where you—ah—were surrounded by admirers.”

Lulu and King nodded in agreement.

“Sure, I suppose that’s worth a try,” said Pickle begrudgingly. “I wouldn’t mind seeing some of my fans again.”

“But . . . ,” the puppy whined softly. “I don’t know where that is. Or how to get there. I’m not even really sure what a dumpster is!”

“Whoa, cool! A puppy who’s even younger than me,” King interjected.

“Stick with me,” Hugo said to the puppy. And as soon as they got to the next intersection, all the dogs and Pickle scattered, running wildly in different directions.

The van skidded to a halt, and turning to look over his shoulder, Hugo could see a confused expression on the officer’s face. It was the same as the look on Mom’s face when the kids were all running around too fast for her to keep up. The only difference was that Mom’s expression was still full of love.

It was every dog or cat for themselves now, except for Hugo, who made sure the puppy kept up. They bolted through the busy downtown streets, doing their best to outrun and evade the van.

“This way!” Hugo called. Then, “That way! Quick!” As they crossed a street, a van stopped in front of them, blocking their path. Uh-oh, Hugo thought. But then he looked up to see that it was a different van! Phew.

“For a second, I thought it was the animal control officer,” Hugo said.

“Um . . . ,” the puppy replied, turning to look behind them. Hugo turned, and barked in shock. The officer’s van was coming right at them from the other direction!

“Gotcha,” the officer said. Or at least that’s what it looked like from far away. Hugo was pretty good at reading lips. It was either gotcha or goat cheese, but Hugo figured that gotcha made a lot more sense in this context.

“I think we’re stuck,” said the puppy.

“Follow me,” Hugo said confidently. Then he crouched and ran quickly underneath the van in front of them. Once they were through, they sprinted down the sidewalk.

“Don’t worry, we’re close to the dumpster,” Hugo said. “I think it’s just around here—”

But before he could finish, a little boy and a little girl jumped up from their seats at an outdoor café and got in front of him.

“Mommy, look!” the little girl screamed excitedly. “Two doggies! Can we pet them?”

“Please, Mommy? Can we, please?” the boy added.

“Can we let them pet us, Hugo?” the puppy asked, giving Hugo some sweet, pleading puppy-dog eyes. “Pleeeaaaase.”

Hugo thought about it. One quick pet couldn’t hurt, he decided.

“All right, but then we have to run!” Hugo said, stopping and sitting for a moment as the kids’ hands ran through his fur. He kept his eyes on the street behind them, in case the van turned the corner.

The pets, pats, and rubs were wonderful. But Hugo knew the dumpster was nearby, and that they needed to get there as soon as possible.

Just then, a voice Hugo knew shouted from across the street.

“I recognize that dog!”

It was the baker from the café.

“That’s one of those dogs who messed up my kitchen! Someone catch it!”

And then the officer’s van turned the corner!

“Well,” Hugo said, turning to the puppy. “Now it’s really time to run. Come on, before he sees us!”

They bolted as fast as they could, under the legs of the kids and through a lot of tables and chairs at the outdoor café until they reached the end of the block. They turned the corner onto a smaller street, still running their fastest until Hugo stopped abruptly. He held his nose in the air, sniffing his surroundings, and then found it.

“There!” Hugo said, nodding to a nearby alleyway. He led the puppy down the alley until they reached the dumpster. Pickle was waiting for them.

“Did I mention that cats are faster than dogs?” Pickle asked.

“I’m not sure,” Hugo answered, out of breath.

“Well, I did!” Pickle said proudly. “Of course you don’t remember. Cats also have better memories than dogs, and—”

Pickle was interrupted by the puppy’s yelps. She was barking at the sight of Lulu running down the alley toward them.

“Shh,” Hugo said to the puppy. “We don’t want the officer to hear us.”

When Lulu got to the dumpster, she was relieved to see that Hugo and the puppy were already there. “Sorry that took me so long,” she said. “I stopped to get some pets.”

“Oh, so did we!” said the puppy.

Pretty soon after that, King arrived, wagging his tail with delight as he saw that Hugo and Lulu were safe and sound.

“Whew! That was close,” King said, sniffing his friends’ butts. “He almost caught me . . . and then I stopped for a minute to get some pets.”

“Did we all stop for pets?” Hugo asked.

“I didn’t,” came Napoleon’s voice as he trotted down the alley toward the dumpster. He had a long stick of salami hanging out of his mouth. “I stopped for a snack.”

They each found their collars behind the dumpster and helped one another wiggle them back on.

“Hello, King,” King greeted himself as Lulu helped him slip his collar over his neck. “It’s good to see you again.”

“We should split up and go home,” Hugo pointed out. “We don’t have much time. The officer could catch up to us soon.”

“My house is close to here,” Pickle said. Then she lowered her voice and looked away. “But I might need . . . a little . . . um . . .” Pickle lowered her voice even more, embarrassed. “A little . . . help . . . getting back into my yard.”

Hugo, Lulu, and King shared a look.

“Can you say that a little louder?” Lulu asked. “You, a cat, need help from us, ‘dirty,’ ‘stinky’ dogs?”

Pickle huffed and then led all the dogs out of the alley.

They carefully looked both ways to make sure the officer wasn’t in sight, then cautiously followed Pickle back to her house. Walking through the tree-lined streets, Hugo took in the familiar scent of the grass of his neighborhood. He recognized the bushes and the dirt, and he was pretty sure he could smell King’s pee, from before.

“Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of my own pee,” King said, also noticing. “We’re almost home!”

When they got to Pickle’s house, her front door was locked, and the gate to the backyard was still closed.

“If I could just get a boost, I could jump back into my tree,” Pickle said. “Then I can get over the fence and into the yard.”

Hugo was the tallest of all the dogs, so they immediately turned to him. Helping Pickle wasn’t something he was super excited to do, after the way she had treated them . . . but then he remembered that he was part of the reason she was locked out of her yard in the first place. Plus, helping someone in need is what a good dog would do, he thought.

“All right, get on my back,” Hugo said. “But be carefu—OWW!”

Pickle, sprightly as ever, was already on his back, and boy, did her claws hurt. Hugo stood up as tall as he could and positioned himself underneath the tree.

“Okay, ready to jump?” Hugo asked.

“I was born ready to jump,” Pickle replied confidently. “Every cat is.”

“All right. One, two . . .” But before Hugo could get to three, Pickle had jumped off his back, high into the air, and landed successfully on her branch. Hugo immediately felt relieved that her sharp claws were out of his fur.

Pickle turned away and spoke softly again. “Uh . . . I want to say . . . like . . . thank you . . . or whatever.”

“What was that, Pickle?” Lulu asked, turning her ear closer to the tree. “We really can’t hear you when you whisper.”

“I said . . . THANK YOU!” Pickle turned to face them. “I appreciate the help.”

“You’re welcome!” said King.

“I promise to be sort of . . . a little bit . . . nicer to you. In the future,” Pickle said. And then Hugo was pretty sure he heard her mutter, “For a week or so, anyway . . .” as she jumped out of the tree and into her backyard, out of sight.

“My place is a few blocks away,” Napoleon said. “I’ll get going now. See you guys around, I guess.”

Napoleon started to walk off alone, but King barked to get his attention. “Hey!” he called out. “We’ll come with you. In case you need any help sneaking back in.”

“I should be all right on my own,” Napoleon said, but King, Lulu, and Hugo followed behind, with the puppy still sticking close to Hugo’s side.

“We insist!” said Lulu.

“We’ve been following you around all day,” Hugo said. “What’s one more stop?”

Hugo assumed it would be easy to sneak Napoleon back into his house. After all, Finn seemed to pay very little attention to Napoleon’s comings and goings.

When they got to the house, King wagged his tail. “This is where you live? I’ve definitely peed on this lawn.”

“So have I,” Lulu said, sniffing the grass.

“Same,” Hugo chimed in. This was a solid lawn for doing his business, both kinds. He’d smelled the scent of dog on the grass, but hadn’t realized that one actually lived here. He had just thought it was a popular place for the pee-ers and poopers of the neighborhood. “How come we’ve never seen you before yesterday in the park?”

“Haven’t been here long,” Napoleon said. “Just moved in a couple months ago, and my people have been a bit busy adjusting to new jobs and new friends and stuff.”

They were surprised to see the front door propped open. It looked like they wouldn’t have to do much sneaking after all, Hugo thought. Napoleon turned to the other dogs when they reached the edge of the lawn.

“Today was pretty fun,” Napoleon said softly, with an expression on his face that Hugo hadn’t seen before. “I’m sorry if I ever went too far. Can’t help it sometimes.”

“That’s okay,” Hugo said with a smile. “We’ve all been there.”

“Yeah,” Lulu agreed. “It was nice getting to know another dog in the neighborhood!”

Hugo, Lulu, and King affectionately sniffed Napoleon’s butt goodbye, then hid in the bushes to watch as Napoleon slowly trotted up the front path toward his house. Before he could reach the front door, two adult humans burst through it, running out onto the lawn to embrace him.

The dogs all watched, surprised, as the two adults fawned all over Napoleon, giving him millions of pets and kisses.

“This must be the wrong house,” King said. “These people look like they like him.”

“I think those are his people parents!” Hugo said, watching the curious scene unfold.

“Napoleon!!! Oh my gosh, you’re okay!” Napoleon’s dad said.

“Where were you, little guy? We were so worried!” His mom gave him a huge hug as Finn, the teenager from the park, walked out onto the front stoop. Hugo was pretty good at sensing human emotions, and although he could tell Finn was happy to see Napoleon, he was also something else: embarrassed.

“When animal control called and said they had him, but he escaped . . . I wasn’t sure he’d make it back here.” Napoleon’s dad scratched him behind his ears.

“We were so worried,” Napoleon’s mom said again. “Thank goodness for your microchip! But you better not wander off again, okay?”

They turned back toward the house and spotted Finn standing there, by the doorway.

“You’re in big trouble, kiddo,” Napoleon’s dad said to Finn. “You can’t let him sneak out like that.”

Finn mumbled something, then dropped to his knees and gave Napoleon some hugs too.

“You’re grounded until you prove you can take better care of him,” the dad said sternly, and Finn nodded apologetically.

“And I still think we should talk about some basic training classes,” the mom said. Hugo could see what looked like a mixture of excitement and horror on Napoleon’s face.

“You’re right,” the dad added. “We were so busy with the move, we didn’t have time. But it’s a good idea.”

“That nice woman Erin, from the neighborhood association, gave us some recommendations.”

“That’s great! I’ll make some calls,” Napoleon’s dad said. Then he looked back down to Napoleon. “How’d you get back home, anyway?”

Napoleon glanced into the bushes. Hugo, Lulu, King, and the puppy scattered quickly into entirely different bushes to avoid being seen by the humans. The dad followed Napoleon’s gaze into the distance. Hugo couldn’t be sure whether they had been spotted.

“I guess you must have some friends in the neighborhood,” Napoleon’s dad said as they walked inside together. Hugo thought he saw Napoleon’s tail wag upon hearing that.

Napoleon gave them one last glance over his shoulder as the door closed behind him, and his new friends all wagged their tails goodbye.

Lulu thought about how she would fix her fur as they made their way back to her house. She’d have to move quickly to restore her perfect floofiness before Jasmine got home so that Jasmine wouldn’t notice anything odd.

She knew where Jasmine kept the doggy hair products. Maybe she could get into that drawer, twist off the caps with her teeth, and rub some through her fur? The groomer usually used a blow-dryer, which might be hard to operate by herself. But maybe if Hugo and King helped her sneak back inside, and one of them held the blow-dryer while the other pressed the button . . . The only thing she knew for sure was that she couldn’t let Jasmine see her like this.

“Lulu! There you are!”

Lulu turned to see Jasmine holding the door open. Lulu quickly forgot all about trying to sneak in or fix her appearance. Her tail started wagging wildly upon seeing her best friend.

“Where have you been?!” Jasmine asked. “Oh my gosh, you’re a mess! When I got home and you weren’t here, I was so worried. Don’t you ever do that again!”

Jasmine noticed the other dogs, and puppy, standing in the driveway.

“And Hugo and King? What are you guys doing here? And a little fluffo duffo? I don’t recognize you . . .”

Lulu gave the other dogs a quick nod goodbye, then ran up the lawn, through the doorway, and into Jasmine’s arms. As Jasmine lifted her up, Lulu whipped out her tongue and licked every last part of her best friend’s face. Then she licked it all again.

I’ve tasted a lot of delicious things today, Lulu thought. But Jasmine’s face is still the best of the best.

“Wow, girl,” Jasmine laughed as she closed the door and brought Lulu into the kitchen. “It’s okay, I’m not mad! I’m just so glad you found your way home. It makes my day even better!”

Even better? Lulu wondered.

“I got the part!” Jasmine exclaimed. “I’m going to be in a MOVIE!”

Lulu jumped up and down excitedly.

“I’ve been so excited to tell you all day,” Jasmine said. “Oh, and don’t worry! I already talked to the producers. They’re cool with me bringing you to the set every day.”

Lulu wagged her tail at the thought. She was about to be a movie star. Or, even better: a movie star’s dog! But then she had another thought. Would this mean she wouldn’t get to see Hugo and King anymore? They’d had so much fun today . . .

As if reading Lulu’s mind, Jasmine continued. “Or maybe not every day. You might like to spend some time at Good Dogs too,” she said, looking over Lulu’s muddy fur and smiling. “It must be fun getting to be a dog sometimes, huh?”

Jasmine prepared the table for a celebratory meal, and Lulu noticed a white paper bag on the counter that she recognized. She whimpered at it and nudged it with her paw.

“Oh, girl, that was a surprise for dessert!” Jasmine said. “But you can have a little piece now. To celebrate!”

She opened it up to reveal two delicious-looking and, more important, delicious-smelling vanilla cupcakes.

“They’re from the Chic Patisserie,” Jasmine said. Lulu laughed to herself. She’d have to tell Hugo and King about this the next time she saw them. At first she wasn’t sure if she could eat another cupcake—she’d already eaten more baked goods in one day than she had in the past month! But who was she kidding? She scarfed it down enthusiastically and licked Jasmine’s hands to say thank you.

As Lulu settled into her cozy throne at the table, across from Jasmine, and started slowly and politely eating her home-cooked meal, she couldn’t help but think . . .

Jasmine’s right. It is fun to act like a dog sometimes.

Lulu panted happily as Jasmine tickled her favorite spot, under the chin.

But it’s also nice to come home.