Chapter Twenty One
Torus arrived at the alleyway to find Nevi already there, staring out at the piles of rotting snow that filled the narrow space. She glanced at him briefly when he came up and then turned her gaze back outside. He sat down beside her and surveyed what he could see of the alley.
“He’s not here,” he said. She shook her head wearily.
“That’s three weeks in a row,” she said, resting her chin on her folded front paws. They sat in silence for a moment, and then she spoke again, her voice edged with anxiety.
“Where do you think he is?”
“Probably busy with Patrol,” said Torus.
Nevi snapped her head around and gave him a puzzled look. Then she laughed and said, “Not, Chello, silly, Sandwich Man!”
“Yeah,” said Torus, “that’s what I meant. He’s probably on some…sandwich patrol…”
“No,” said Nevi, turning back out to the alley. “He’s been here every week since before we were even born, probably. He never misses a week and then suddenly he’s gone for three weeks.” She started to sound anxious again. “What’s happening?”
Torus shook his head, silently. He didn’t have an answer. In the three moons since the failed raid on the dumpster in the park, things in the building had gotten steadily worse for the clan. There was never enough food, every place in the building seemed too cold, and the Clan leaders had responded by implementing ‘austerity measures.” All gatherings were cancelled, any surplus food that was gathered was collected for the Clan stockpile, and the Patrol was instructed to report any suspicious activity directly to the leaders.
The Raiders had only gotten together once, immediately after the last gathering, while the rest of the clan was still running panicked back to their dens. When the black fog had lifted from his mind, Torus had found himself in a dark side tunnel, with Chello there pacing back and forth, muttering furiously to himself.
“What’s wrong?” Torus had asked.
“I almost had it,” Chello had replied. “I almost blocked it out.” He stopped pacing and came nose-to-nose with Torus. He whispered intently, “It’s something that happens in our minds, it has to be. So when I thought they might attack, I started concentrating on being angry, like I was at the dumpster. That time I only got a little foggy, so I tried to do it again, and I almost had it, too, but some pigbird came down right at me and…” He turned and struck the side of the tunnel with the blunt end of his needle.
Nevi came into the tunnel then, followed by the others.
“I found everyone,” she said. “I figured we should probably talk about what to do next.”
“I say we do nothing,” said Flinka, pointedly. “There’s enough trouble already, right?”
“So, what, then, we just give up?” said Chello. “Let them take all our food and move into our houses?”
“I didn’t say that,” said Flinka. “I just think maybe we should try to not stir things up too much for a while.”
“Me, too,” said Juke, dully. “Just do our jobs, patrol and forage and wait for a better time.”
“But they’re in our building,” said Chello, almost frantically. “How can that happen?”
“They’re just in the attic,” said Flinka. “So what?”
“So, that’s where we meet!” said Chello. “How can we…?” He trailed off, looking from one face to the next, trying to find an ally.
“That machine is up there, too,” said Torus. “What if they find it and ask the leaders about it?”
“Exactly!” said Chello, beginning to pace back and forth. “We should go up there now and get it! And stay there and keep any birds from moving in.”
“No, we can’t do that,” said Nevi. “We can’t let anyone find out we even know how to get up there, let alone get caught trying to fight pigeons again.” She turned to Torus.
“I wouldn’t worry about the machine. I don’t think they’ll recognize it for what it is, and if they did, they wouldn’t know who built it. Besides, now it looks like…” She searched for the right words, but could only say, “like a piece of junk…”
Torus nodded and wished he could sink into the floor.
Chello was still pacing.
“Okay, so where do we meet, then?”
“I don’t think we should meet for a while,” said Nevi, and he stopped and stared at her. “Not for anything like this, anyway. If the leaders find out it was us that set the pigeons off we might get blackmarked. Or even banished…”
Chello snorted and turned away from the group.
“Banished!” he said, bitterly. “Who wouldn’t want to get banished from this dump.”
Nevi went up to him and turned him around to face her.
“The right time will come,” she said. “Let’s get through the winter, keep ourselves strong, take care of our families and our homes. Everything will change in the spring.”
Chello stared at her in silence, his breath coming fast.
“Maybe so,” he said finally. “If we last that long.”
“We will,” said Nevi. “Rats have been here forever, right? We’ll figure it out, I know we will.”
Torus, and all the others, had stayed silent, but he was skeptical, and remained skeptical, sitting with Nevi in a broken brick wall staring out into a murky late-winter afternoon looking for a human that had stopped coming.
“Still gone?” came a voice from behind them. Chello sauntered up and flopped down beside Nevi.
“Yes,” said Nevi.
“Pity,” said Chello, casually. “No pickles again, then…”
“No, your pickle hunting skills are going to dwindle away to nothing before spring if he doesn’t come back,” said Torus.
“Good to see you, too,” said Chello good-naturedly. “Where’ve you been?”
“Foraging,” said Torus, yawning. “You?”
“Patrol,” said Chello. “You know, looking for those rascals that tried to attack the pigeons at the dumpster.”
Nevi smiled quietly. “Do you have any leads?” she asked.
“Some,” he replied, “but they never seem to pan out.” He rolled over onto his back and started picking at the roof of the hole with his knitting needle. “I’m starting to think the leaders are losing interest in finding out who did it. All they want to know now is who’s foraging, and where, and when.”
“Since when does Patrol focus on what rats in the clan are doing, rather than on threats from outside?” asked Nevi, irritated.
“Since you-know-when,” said Chello. “I’m surprised they don’t have the Scouts doing the same thing.”
“Who says they aren’t?” said Nevi, with bitterness in her voice. “I just keep my mouth shut about it.”
Chello continued picking at the brick above him. “Well, one of us is very noble and brave, but I don’t know which one.” A small piece of mortar fell out of the bricks and hit him on the forehead. “Ow!”
“Hey, look!” said Torus, pointing out into the alley. “It’s that dog!”
“Really?” said Chello, rushing to right himself.
“It is!” said Nevi. “Maybe Sandwich Man will come back today!”
The dog was wet and bedraggled, shivering and scrawny, with its ears laid back and its tail limp. It rushed nervously into the alley with its nose to the ground, zigzagging its way to the back of the space, up onto a high pile of human junk, and back down to the place Sandwich Man had habitually sat. The dog circled the area three or four times, still with its nose to the ground, and then it went to a relatively sheltered spot on the far side of the alley and flopped down on its side, curling dejectedly with its nose on its paws and its eyes at the empty space in the middle of the alley.
“That’s sad,” said Nevi.
“It looks horrible,” said Torus.
“Stupid dog,” said Chello.
“You stop it,” said Nevi. “It’s obviously lost and Sandwich
Man is gone and it doesn’t know what to do about it.”
“That’s why it’s stupid,” said Chello. “No animal should depend on humans like dogs do. It’s unnatural.”
“I still think it’s sad,” said Nevi.
“I wonder what happened to Sandwich Man,” said Torus, half to himself.
“Why don’t you ask it?” said Chello. Then, before either of the others could do anything, he stepped forward to the edge of the hole in the wall.
“Hey!” he shouted. “Hey you! Dog!”
The dog snapped its head up and stared at the spot the sound had come from.
“What are you doing?” whispered Torus tensely, and Nevi started backing slowly and silently away from the alley.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Chello. “Hey!”
“Rat!?” said the dog lurching to its feet.
“Yeah, you,” said Chello. “The stupid one!”
“Rat rat rat rat!” shouted the dog, running toward the hole. “Rrrrrat!”
Torus and Nevi scampered into the tunnel away from the dog, but Chello stood his ground calmly, holding his needle loosely in his hands.
“RAT!” shouted the dog, reaching the hole. “Rrrrrat! Ratratratrat!”
“Hey!” Chello shouted back. “Calm down! Hey! HEY!”
“Rat?” said the dog, stepping back a little.
“Calm down, alright?” said Chello, quieter now.
“Rrrrrr….” said the dog.
“Where’s your human?” asked Chello.
The dog sat down and looked confused.
“What?”
“Your human,” said Chello, pointing out into the alley. “Where did it go?”
The dog whimpered a little, and then answered.
“Gone,” he said sadly. “Man gone.”
Torus and Nevi crept up carefully beside Chello.
“Yeah, we know,” said Chello, impatiently, “but where?”
“Rrrrrat,” the dog snarled.
Nevi patted Chello on the shoulder.
“Be nice,” she said. Then she turned to the dog. “Where did your human go? Is he lost?”
“Don’t know,” said the dog, still gazing at Chello with a surly expression. “Blue man take.”
“What?” said Torus. “What does that mean?”
“Blue man take man away. Blue man black white car take away.” The dog whined again and looked over his shoulder at the empty place in the alley. “Man gone now long time.”
“The police,” said Nevi, suddenly understanding. “The police took your man away in their big machine, right?”
“Yes,” said the dog. “Man gone.”
“How do you know about that?” Chello asked Nevi.
“I’m a Scout,” she said. “I see stuff…”
Torus called to the dog.
“What do you do, then?” he asked. “What do you eat?”
“No food,” said the dog. “Man give food, now no food.”
“Why don’t you go out and find food?” asked Nevi. “That’s what we do.”
“No,” said the dog. “No find food. Man give food, now no man, no food.”
“What are you doing here, then?” asked Torus. “I’ll bet there’s someplace else you could go to find something to eat.”
“Wait,” said the dog, dejectedly. “Wait for man.”
“What if he doesn’t come?” asked Nevi.
“No!” said the dog sharply. “Man always come. Wait for man. See other man not Man run away. Hide. Then come back, wait.” He slouched as if he had to struggle to keep believing what he said. “Wait for snow gone. Man come then.”
“How do you know that?” said Chello, increculously.
“Man say,” said the dog. “Man say wait. Dog wait.”
The dog turned and went back to his sheltered spot on the far side of the alley. He curled up again and lay watching the empty space, waiting for the snow to melt away.
“That’s so sad,” said Nevi.
“He’ll be alright,” said Chello. “Humans love dogs, remember?” He turned and headed back into the building.
“Good luck,” called Torus as he turned to follow Chello.
“Thank you!” called Nevi.
“Rrrrrat,” said the dog softly, and its tail gave one soggy flopping wag against the cold ground.
* * *