Blame It On The Dog. Amy Frazier

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СКАЧАТЬ the dog off-leash when this happened?” the officer asked.

      “No,” Sam admitted. “But a leash does no good. Her kid can’t handle that overgrown mutt.”

      “Is this true, ma’am?”

      “Occasionally…yes.” What else could she say as her neighbors stared her down?

      “Did he bite anyone?”

      “No! He’s not a biter!” Selena felt insulted on Axel’s behalf.

      “He’s a barker!” Isadore exclaimed, warming to the exchange. “Day and night, night and day. Try teaching a dance class when you can hear his yapping over the music.”

      “And he never met a garbage can he couldn’t overturn,” someone at the back of the group groused. “Or a lamppost he didn’t christen.”

      Selena felt outnumbered. “In our defense, we had a meeting with a dog behaviorist.” She couldn’t believe she was using the odious Jack Quinn to bolster her case. “He says he can turn the situation around. We signed up for three sessions.” Semi-truth if you considered that, until now, she hadn’t planned on seeing him again.

      The control officer looked dubious. “Do you have a receipt?”

      “Somewhere.” Maybe.

      “You’ll need to bring it down to our offices. And, later, proof of course completion. Successful completion. There’s a fine if you don’t comply. Worst-case scenario if there are more complaints, we can impound the dog. So this is serious business. Understand?”

      “I understand,” Selena said with sinking heart.

      The officer leaned the capture pole against the building, then pulled out a notebook. “In the meantime, I’m writing you a ticket. For disturbing the peace.”

      Selena knew this was the time to keep her mouth shut, but when she looked at the ticket, she couldn’t contain herself. “A hundred bucks!”

      “And you need to clean up this man’s produce.”

      “I’ll take care of it.” Although, as she picked up and inspected Chilean and New Zealand kiwis, pomegranates and mangoes, she wasn’t sure how. Other than asking Jack Quinn for help. More difficult than turning tail and admitting she might need that overbearing man was the thought of convincing Drew of the need.

      Drew had liked Jack less than Selena had.

      After restacking the saleable fruit and paying for two very large sacks of bruised items—Axel gave new meaning to the phrase “doggie bag”—Selena trudged up to her apartment.

      “I’ll finish up on the roof,” Maxine said on the landing. “Call if you need reinforcements.”

      Inside the apartment an uncharacteristic silence met her. It seemed both boy and dog—who were nowhere to be seen—knew they’d stepped in deep doo-doo this time for sure. “Drew!”

      “In here.” She followed her son’s dejected voice into his room.

      He was sprawled on his bed next to Axel. A telephone book lay on the floor, open to the yellow pages. “I tried to find someone else, but there’s no listing for dog shrink.”

      “No matter what Mr. Quinn calls himself, I think we’d have to look under dog training.” Selena sat on the edge of the bed. “But we need to talk first.”

      “You don’t really want to use this guy, do you?”

      No, she didn’t, but her reasons went beyond Jack Quinn’s untested approach to Axel’s reformation. “Why don’t you want to use him?”

      “I didn’t like the way he looked at you.”

      So her son’s reasons weren’t too far from her own. Except she didn’t know how she felt about the intense way Quinn looked at her. “He knows I’m the one paying,” she offered in explanation. “I think he was trying to convince the comptroller Axel needs help.” She rubbed the dog’s belly. “But we already know that, don’t we?”

      “I guess. That doesn’t mean we can’t get help somewhere else.”

      “I’ve been thinking about that.” This wasn’t easy for her to admit. “First, Robert recommended this guy. And when I called Dr. Wong for a vet reference, she said he’d be her first choice, too. I wouldn’t know any of these other people in the phone book or their qualifications. Second, I paid Quinn up front. I know he said we could get a refund, but that might end up a hassle. Third, remember it took a week and a half to get him over here? We need help now. If we have to wait another week-and-a-half to get someone new, Sam’s not going to be happy. I bet I could call this Quinn character right now and tell him it’s an emergency, and he’d set up our second visit, pronto.”

      “You think?”

      “I won’t get off the phone till he does.”

      Drew buried his face in Axel’s hairy hide. “I saw Animal Control from the window. Are they gonna take him?”

      “Only if we don’t do something quick. I hate to admit it, but we already have the wheels in motion with this guy Quinn.”

      “Okay.” Drew didn’t sound in the least convinced. “Call him.”

      “Do you still have his card?”

      Drew rummaged in his wastebasket and pulled out two ripped halves.

      Selena took the pieces, then went into the kitchen to make the call.

      He picked up on the first ring. “Jack Quinn here.” She could imagine his deep-set eyes. His stern look relayed over air and wire to skewer her right here in her home.

      “H-hello,” she croaked. “This is Selena Milano. You were here a few days ago.”

      “I remember. Axel, right?”

      “Right. Well…it seems we can use your help after all.”

      The long pause caught her off guard. “Mr. Quinn?”

      “It’s Jack. I was looking through my schedule. Do you want to come to my center for the second session next Tuesday?”

      “Um…we sort of need something yesterday.”

      “Someone’s lodged a complaint.”

      She hated that he was right. “Y-yes.”

      “I’m sensing, even with the complaint, you’re not committed to this process.”

      “Oh, I am! It would break Drew’s heart—and Axel’s—if anything should separate them.”

      “All right. I can show you and your son everything Axel needs to be happy and well-adjusted. But are you willing to see Axel as a dog, not a furry child? Are you willing to follow my directions?”

      She thought about this.

      “Selena?” СКАЧАТЬ