Rodney came out of the side door.

  “Hey, Rodney,” JayB called, “your dog just ate a whole pizza.”

  Rodney walked up to us and threw up his hands. “Why’d you let him do that? That can’t be good for him.”

  “He seemed disinclined to take instruction,” JayB said with a shrug.

  “Rodney, you missed the whole crime!” Maddy blurted. “Why did you take so long in the bathroom? You knew I was waiting. I could have been killed!”

  Rodney frowned.

  The loud wail, a familiar sound made neither by dog nor any other animal, increased in volume until two cars screeched into the parking lot. People jumped out, looking agitated.

  This was exactly what I had feared. Spartan was a bad dog, and now angry humans had come to shout at us. One bad dog can spoil the day for the entire pack.

  The people yelled, “Get down! Get down!” which is what I’m accustomed to hearing when I’m on the couch, but wasn’t sure what to do in this instance. I followed Odin’s lead. He dropped to his belly, so I did, too. Oddly, Alana, Rodney, and JayB fell to their knees with their hands in the air, while Maddy sat with her hands on her hips.

  “The man you’re after just ran down the road,” Alana called, pointing.

  The people who had arrived, one of whom was a woman, had spread out and were surrounding us, though Spartan had lost interest and was sniffing some weeds with Phoebe, my precious Phoebe, by his side. She was learning precisely the wrong lessons from Spartan. When people were upset, they needed their dogs.

  “Hey!” Maddy snapped. “Do I look like a bank robber to you?”

  The new arrivals glanced at one another. One of them dropped his hands and put something on his belt, and then the others did as well. “Ma’am, this isn’t a bank. This is a gas station.”

  “The guy who held up the place took off down the road. That shar-pei over there was in his car and wouldn’t let him drive off in it,” JayB informed them.

  “What?” cried Rodney, delighted. “Spartan? Spartan did that?”

  The new people exchanged looks.

  “All right,” the woman decided, and she and a man jumped into one of the loud cars and sped down the road.

  I looked up and wagged because Walter was coming out of the building.

  “Dad, are you okay?”

  Walter frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Sir, would you put the bag down and step away from it, please?” one of the remaining men requested in a firm voice.

  Walter put a bag on the ground, puzzled.

  I thought bitterly that it was probably more food for Spartan.

  We spent a good part of the day in that hot parking lot. Everybody wanted to talk to everybody else. We dogs were taken for an occasional walk around the property, but that was the extent of any enjoyable activities.

  Phoebe found a stick and shook it and then sat down and started chewing it, eventually gnawing it to bits. I eyed it several times, but I knew a stick is more fun with a person on the other end of it. Plus, if I approached her, Phoebe would run away with the stick, but that was not the kind of game I wanted to play right now. I was still feeling ill about the obvious way she’d chosen Spartan over me.

  Walter seemed the most agitated. “We need to get moving,” he kept saying. He looked repeatedly at his wrist.

  Eventually, we all slid back into the big new vehicle. We settled into the same spots where we’d been lying before—Odin and I in the middle with Maddy and Rodney; Spartan and my sweet Phoebe in back, sprawled next to Walter.

  “Well, that was exciting,” JayB drawled as the car began moving. He glanced at Alana. “Our first holdup together.”

  She shook her head but was grinning.

  “Man, I’m so proud,” Rodney boasted. “I mean, my dog saved our lives.”

  “Did you train him to do that?” Maddy asked.

  “Well,” Rodney waffled, “sort of. I’ve trained him for a lot of things.”

  Alana and JayB exchanged glances.

  “We aren’t going to make it all the way to Denver, are we?” Walter fretted. “We’ll have to cancel our hotel reservations.”

  There was a silence.

  “So now what?” Maddy challenged. “Not only did we not get a reward for the crime spree, but we’re too late to inspect our rooms. Now I’ll never know what Denver looks like with me in a hotel.”

  “There’s got to be places between here and Denver, though. Doesn’t Kansas have some towns?” Rodney asked.

  “Might be difficult to find a hotel that’ll take this many dogs,” JayB observed.

  “Just great,” Walter muttered.

  I could tell that everyone, especially Walter, was unhappy. I looked at Phoebe to see if she understood we were all in trouble because of Spartan, but she was sniffing his face.

  Right in front of me.

  “I’ll start looking for a hotel up ahead that’s dog-friendly,” Alana volunteered, waving her phone.

  “Looks like rain on the horizon. See the cloudbank?” JayB asked.

  “It’s completely black!” Alana exclaimed. “And we’re driving right toward it. Is that wise?”

  “We don’t really have much of a choice.”

  “That kind of cloud, out here in Dorothy-land, drops a tornado every time,” Maddy declared grimly. “It’s why there are trailer parks.”

  “Man, I remember as a kid, this tornado wiped out a whole block,” Rodney bragged. “Blew the roofs off, knocked over trees. Bam.”

  “Well, Rodney,” JayB chided, exasperation creeping into his voice, “do we all think it’s a good idea, when you’re driving across western Kansas, to talk about tornadoes to someone who’s never been through one before? Someone like, oh … I don’t know. Alana?”

  Rodney thought about it. “Yeah, he’s got a point, Alana. Don’t worry, though. I’ll walk you through what to do if we get hit by one.”

  “Are you honestly saying we’re driving toward tornadoes?” Alana demanded.

  “If we see one, we should pull over and lie down in a ditch,” Rodney advised. “Facedown. Cover yourself with plywood, if you’ve got some.”

  “Why don’t you do that now, Rodney?” suggested JayB.

  Alana laughed, but she seemed nervous.

  “Whatever you do, don’t hold a metal pole over your head, even if it seems to make sense at the time,” Rodney continued.

  “Would you let her look for a place for us to stay, please?” Walter begged. “You’re distracting her. I’m sick of the inside of this van.”

  “I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” JayB reassured Alana.

  “Except that Spartan caused us to fall hours behind schedule,” Walter groused. “That’s what to worry about.”

  “Patience is a virtue, Dad.”

  There was a lot of silence in the car this time. No one seemed in the mood to talk. This meant I was able, not only to smell, but to actually hear the sudden explosion of odors from Spartan. All the dogs raised their heads in shocked amazement. It was fragrant and tantalizing and thick upon the air, probably the most attractive aroma I have encountered in my life.

  Now I was completely disheartened. Spartan was introducing another, even more powerful element into the competition for Phoebe’s affections.

  “Oh my God,” Rodney blurted. He contorted and rolled down a window. The roar of outside air swirled in.

  “What is it?” Maddy shouted over the noise.

  “I think,” JayB guessed, “it’s what happens when a pepperoni pizza is filtered through a shar-pei.”

  “Do something, Rodney!” Walter yelled.

  “Yeah,” JayB agreed, “you’ve given Spartan all that training.”

  “Well…” Rodney looked a little confused. “I mean, yeah, but I don’t think I’ve ever … All right.” He twisted back to look at Spartan. “Spartan. No.”

  Odin, Phoebe, and I all flinched at that word, but Spartan simply stared back at Rodney stonily, filling the interior of the big car with another glorious blast from under his stubby tail.

  Alana reached forward and fiddled with buttons. Soon there was air blowing strongly from vents along the front and top of the vehicle. Phoebe nuzzled Spartan, while I watched miserably. Why couldn’t I manufacture that sweet smell so Phoebe would want to be with me?

  Every time Spartan unleashed another volley, the people in the car would make noises, like, “Arghhh!” and “Uhhhhh,” and the windows would go down. I could smell a storm, wet and cold. Each blast of outside air told me the rain was rapidly approaching.

  “Temperature really dropped outside,” Rodney observed. “Feel that?”

  “You’re just trying to distance us from your dog’s farts,” Maddy accused. “Maybe instead of acting like a typical guy, you could show a little focus.”

  “Oh…” breathed JayB.

  I turned and stared at him, feeling a strong change in his mood as he tensed in his seat.

  “What is it?” Alana asked.

  “Guys,” Rodney protested, sounding wounded, “I don’t think you should judge me by my dog’s gas.”

  “If I don’t judge it, who will?” Maddy challenged. “He’s your dog, so it’s your problem, that’s the law.”

  “Everybody shut up,” JayB said tensely.

  The car fell into a shocked silence. I felt a heavy sensation as we surged ahead. “Okay, listen up,” JayB continued urgently. “See that, right at the edge of the squall line? That’s a funnel cloud. And it’s descending.”

  “A funnel cloud? And you’re going faster? Straight at it?” Alana asked shrilly.

  “No. I mean yes, but I’m aiming for that overpass up ahead,” JayB responded evenly. “The second we get there, I’ll stop, and everyone bail out.” He raised his voice. “Got it? Climb up the side as high as you can, close up under the steel beams. Okay? I’ll be right behind you with the dogs.”

  Dear Diary:

  When a dog is a bad dog, it makes all the other dogs uneasy.

  When we see a dog misbehaving, we can anticipate that the people will be unhappy. Nothing makes us more anxious than unhappy people. Cats, of course, are different. A person can say a harsh word to a cat, or use the most dreaded word of all—“no”—with a cat, and the cat won’t care at all.

  Spartan is a bad dog. Odin knows it, and I know it. Phoebe doesn’t seem to care. Her jovial lack of concern, which I adore so much, makes her accepting of even a bad dog in the pack. That the dog in question is my rival is all the more vexing. I wish her sweetness were reserved for me alone, but that’s not who she is.

  Love,

  Clancy

  Twenty-three

  Now all our people were afraid, and every dog, except bad dog Spartan, was panting in response. Even perpetually joyful Phoebe, when she glanced at me, had her ears back and tongue lolling out. We could feel odd forces pulling at us as our car lurched, its engine loud.

  “I don’t want to die!” Rodney wailed.

  “Nobody wants to die,” JayB agreed.

  “No, I mean of everybody here, I especially don’t want to die,” Rodney corrected urgently. “I can’t die. I have so much I want to do.”

  “I didn’t get to say my biography!” Maddy wailed.

  “Just do as I say,” said JayB, talking loudly over the rising wind and rain. His wipers began slapping at the glass.

  “It’s touching down! It’s on the ground!” Alana gasped.

  “We’re headed right for it!” Rodney screeched. “Stop! You have to stop!”

  “Almost there!”

  I heard a sound build, oppressive and loud, outside the car.

  “Hang on!” JayB called.

  We all fell forward as the car slammed to a halt.

  “Now!”

  Everyone scrambled, doors popping open, and JayB’s hand snagged our leashes. “Let’s go!”

  I blinked at the dust and rain swirling in the howling wind as we sprang out onto the wet pavement. The growling roar became unimaginably loud.

  We were scrambling up a wet hill that felt like a slick road under our nails. I knew none of the dogs understood—I sure didn’t—we only knew we had to keep up with JayB. At the top of the slope, Alana reached for Odin and Rodney grabbed Spartan. The noise got louder and louder. JayB put his arms around Phoebe and me and squeezed into a tight, shallow space like a doghouse with a low roof.

  The roar was upon us, so powerful I felt it more than heard it. My entire body vibrated. I sensed everyone’s fear, tasted it, but with JayB’s arm around me, I knew I would be all right. People are why dogs can survive in a dangerous world. I pressed up against him, taking comfort from his body against mine. I closed my eyes against the assault.

  The intensity lasted only moments, but they were long moments. I heard Maddy scream something, and Rodney bellowed back, and I was buffeted by a terrible wind. And then a lessening came: a change in pressure, fading noise and wind. The howling rage of the storm had gone off in pursuit of other people, other dogs.

  Now we heard only the rain, a drenching downpour, though we remained mostly dry in our shelter. Nobody spoke, but they were all breathing loudly.

  It got quiet enough that I heard a squeal from Spartan’s butt, and another cloud of wonderful aroma drifted over us.

  “Oh my God, Spartan,” Maddy complained.

  JayB released his tight grasp and everyone sat up, moving awkwardly under the ceiling pressing down on us.

  “I thought for a second there that we weren’t going to make it,” Walter breathed. He laughed shakily.

  “Man, that was intense,” Rodney agreed. “I’ve been through a lot of amazing stuff in my life, but this was, like, a thousand times that.”

  “Hey,” Alana said, peering around. “Where’s the van?”

  Everyone went quiet.

  “Did you leave the keys in it, JayB?” Maddy demanded.

  “I don’t think anyone stole it,” JayB responded.

  We gingerly picked our way down the wet slope until we were standing on the wet road. Odin, Spartan, and I all marked the same spot at the side of the road while Phoebe watched us admiringly.

  “There, see?” JayB announced, pointing. “Looks like the van took your advice, Rodney. It’s lying facedown in a ditch.”

  We stood in place, safe from the falling rain, and eventually I wagged a little because I saw our car. It was up ahead, just off the road. It was on its side, like Odin when he sprawled out for a tummy rub.

  “So, no; we’re not going to make it to Denver tonight,” JayB advised Walter.

  “The next town of any size is Colby, Kansas,” Alana observed, peering at her phone. “About an hour west of here.”

  “You do have insurance, right, Dad?” JayB asked.

  “Of course,” Walter replied, looking surly.

  “It have roadside assistance?”

  Walter nodded.

  “Time to make the call.”

  “But what if it’s no longer roadside?” asked Maddy. “Does it cover cornfields?”

  “Maybe if you hadn’t panicked,” Rodney accused JayB, “the van would be okay.”

  JayB shrugged. “Sure.”

  “He look like he was panicking to you?” Alana demanded. “Because he looked like the opposite to me.”

  Everyone was staring at Alana, shocked by her savage tone. She turned to JayB, her hands trembling as she pulled him to her in a tight hug. “You saved our lives,” she murmured into his shoulder.

  Rodney slapped JayB on the arm. “We’re a good team, JayB.”

  Moist, fragrant air brought us smells of vegetation and stone, of unknown animals and richly complex soils. We dogs all lifted our noses, wanting to explore, but we were still on leash.

  “Okay,” Alana announced, “I found a hotel up ahead in Colby that takes dogs. Should I reserve rooms?”

  “Please,” JayB requested. “If the van’s not drivable once the tow truck gets here, we’ll figure out how to get to Colby.”

  “Colby,” Rodney snorted. “You know what that reminds me of?”

  “Cheese?” Maddy guessed.

  Rodney laughed. “Exactly. Good one.”

  We waited for a long time, standing on wet ground, leashes limp in human hands. Phoebe nosed me playfully, but whipped her head around at another emission from Spartan. She was, I recognized dismally, a dog who fell in love based on odors, which was common but disappointing. Except for his magnificent smells, what else did Spartan have to offer?

  “Can’t believe how long this is taking,” Walter grumbled. “I’m going to complain to Triple A.”

  “They should have a squad of trucks standing by, waiting for a call from somewhere in the middle of a cornfield in Kansas,” JayB agreed cheerfully.

  I think we dogs all expected that when the rain stopped, we’d leave wherever we were and go someplace else, but we only traveled a little way, to sniff around our car before returning to the same patch of pavement.

  Spartan barked gruffly when a huge, beeping, growling truck arrived, several men jumping out of it. I was excited to see them—to see anything, really—and Phoebe wanted to play as well, but we were held back while the truck made small movements and the men shouted at each other.

  When our car was back upright, I anxiously watched JayB climb inside it without me. Our car backed up, then drove forward, then steered one way and then another, and then JayB jumped back out. “We’re good!”

  Walter mournfully ran his hand along the one side of the car that had been lying in the mud. “All busted up,” he noted. “Looks like utter crap.”

  “She’ll get us there, though,” JayB countered cheerfully.

  “What if your mother shows up? This doesn’t look like the sort of thing a man of means would drive.”

  JayB stared at him. “My mother?”

  “She called and left a message, gave me her cell number. Thanked me for the flowers. I texted her and told her to meet us in Vegas.”

  Maddy had joined us. “She gave you her cell phone? Oh, she’s leaving the wolfman for sure.”

  Walter brightened. “You think so?”

  “Let’s go, everybody!” JayB called.

  The car made a new rattling sound as we headed out onto the road. Tired from all the unusual activities, we dogs collapsed in our customary places.