A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron Read Free Book Online Page A

insisted.
    I was happy to be Molly and I was happy to be with Clarity and go with her out to her car. Trent drove and she climbed in the backseat with Rocky and me. Rocky greeted me as if we’d been apart for days and days, and then we went about the business of wrestling with Clarity in the backseat.
    “So what is your mother going to say?” Trent asked. Rocky had seized Clarity’s long hair in his teeth and was pulling on it as if he thought it would come off, setting his legs and growling. Clarity was laughing. I jumped on Rocky to get him to cut it out.
    “CJ? Seriously.”
    Rocky and I were climbing all over Clarity, squirming. She struggled to sit upright. “God, I don’t know.”
    “Will she let you keep her?”
    “Well, what am I supposed to do? You saw what happened. It’s like Molly and I were meant to be together. It’s fate. Karma.”
    “It’s not like you can hide a dog in your house,” Trent said.
    Clarity was looking down and seemed unhappy, so I put my paws on her chest and tried to lick her face. In my experience, being licked by a dog can cheer up just about anybody.
    “CJ? You seriously think you can hide a dog in your house ?” Trent said.
    “I could hide a pack of wolves in the house if I wanted. She never looks at anything but the mirror.”
    “Okay, sure. So for the next ten years you’re going to have a dog and somehow your mother won’t find out.”
    “You know what, Trent? Sometimes things aren’t practical, but you just do them because it’s the right thing.”
    “Right, that makes sense.”
    “Why do you do this? You always have to argue.”
    They were both silent for a moment. “I’m sorry,” Trent finally said. “I was just looking out for you.”
    “It will all work out; I promise.”
    “Okay.”
    “But, um, go past my driveway, okay?” Clarity said. “Don’t pull in.”
    The car stopped. Clarity picked up Rocky and passed him up to the front. My brother and I looked at each other. Rocky wagged his tail, his ears back. I had a sense that this was good-bye, that we were going to be apart, now. That was okay, because our fates were always for people to decide and Clarity had decided she needed me and that was that. Going with her was what Ethan would have wanted. What wasn’t okay was that Rocky was a front-seat dog and I wasn’t, except that Clarity opened the door and we got out together, so there was no more car ride for me anyway.
    The car drove off. “Okay,” Clarity said. She sounded a little worried. “Let’s see how quiet you can be.”
    She set me down and we approached a house. Some dogs had marked the bushes out front, but they were old scents—there was nothing to indicate there were any other dogs here. Clarity picked me up and carried me swiftly inside, up some stairs, down the hall, and into a bedroom.
    “Clarity? Is that you?” a woman called from in the house.
    “I’m home!” Clarity yelled. She jumped on her bed with me and started to play. Then she froze as footsteps came down the hall.
    “Molly! Shhhh!” she said. She thrust her legs under the covers, raising her knees, and shoved me into the tented space. I sniffed her feet as I heard a door open.
    “Ta-daa!” a woman’s voice sang out. I knew that voice: it was Gloria, Clarity’s mother.
    “You bought a fur?” Clarity said, sounding angry.
    “You like?” Gloria responded. “It’s fox!”
    “A fur ? How could you?”
    I decided that the game was for me to get out from the covers. I started to climb toward Clarity’s head, and her hand came in and pushed me back down.
    “Well, it’s not like I killed anything. It was already dead when I bought the coat. And don’t worry, I’m sure it was what you call it, free-range.”
    “Until they trapped it, you mean. God, Gloria. You know how I feel about this.”
    “If you feel that strongly about it, you don’t have to wear it.”
    “As if I ever would! What were you thinking?”
    “Well, I’m sorry, but I need it for