Free Night Howl by Andrew Neiderman Page B

have patrols up this street frequently. What’s there to be afraid of, anyway? I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for everything.”
    “Yeah, I’m going mad.”
    “Come on, Clara.”
    “You don’t believe me though, do you?” She searched his face for a revelation of truth.
    “Of course I do. I told you, it must have been a stray.”
    “But you said dogs don’t do that—go into other dogs’ houses so quickly after the first dog has died. You said the vet said ...”
    “I’m sorry I told you that. Look, they’re animals. They can’t be programmed like machines. They do unpredictable things, just like people.”
    “That’s not what you thought before, Sid.” She looked down at Bobby, who had his hand on his shoulder. “Are you having pain again, honey?” she asked. Without answering, he got up and embraced her around the legs. “Come into the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll give you an aspirin.”
    “Well I just can’t cancel on this,” Sid said, following them into the kitchen. “All the preparation has been done, schedules changed, people set up for meetings...”
    “I didn’t say you should cancel anything,” Clara said.
    “Not in so many words, but...”
    “Look, I’m just being silly. Humor me. Ignore me.” She reached into the cabinet for the aspirin. “Here,honey,” she said, handing one to Bobby. He made a face. “It’ll make you feel better.”
    “Take it, champ,” Sid told him. The little boy plucked the pill reluctantly from his mother’s opened hand and swallowed it quickly with the water chaser.
    Clara looked at Sid. “I’m sorry,” she said.
    “Come back into the living room and watch some television,” he said, putting his arm around her. “There’s a good movie coming on. It’ll get your mind off things.”
    “All right,” she said. She was beside him on the couch when the ambulance went by again. “I wonder what it was.” Then she added, “They didn’t have their siren going.”
    “So?”
    “Means it doesn’t matter how soon they get to the hospital,” she concluded.
    Sid’s eyes widened with the realization. When the police car stopped and the spotlight was turned on, the whole family went to the living room window.
    “Just like the chief promised,” Sid said. “He wasn’t bulling me.”
    “What’s he looking for, Daddy? King?” Bobby asked.
    “No, not King. I told you, King’s dead. They’re looking for another dog that looks like King.”
    “Why do they have to look for him?”
    “Because he’s a stray dog, a dog nobody cares about, a dog somebody left or abandoned.”
    “I told him that, Daddy,” Lisa said. “I told him all of that, but he doesn’t want to believe me.”
    “He will after a while. Right, champ?” Sid said. He rubbed the top of Bobby’s head and looked out as the police car started away. “Lisa, how about some popcorn?” he said.
    “Yeah,” Bobby said excitedly, “with butter and salt.”
    “Okay.” She shot a quick look at Clara. “I’m going to do it all by myself, Mom.”
    “Okay with me. These two could keep you cooking and cleaning all day and night. Maybe something happened to Mr. Strasser,” she whispered to Sid.
    “I was thinking that.”
    “I wish there was a way to find out.”
    “I’m sure we will,” he said.
    She embraced herself.
    “Come on,” he said. “Let’s smooch on the couch.”
    “What’s smooch?” Bobby asked. Clara laughed for the first time all day.
    After Lisa made the popcorn, they sat contentedly, the four of them huddled near each other, as magnetically attracted to the warmth and closeness of one another as they were to the glow and the movement on the television screen. The kids were absorbed by the movie, but both Clara and Sid were looking through the set, their eyes turned inward to their own thoughts. It still seemed like a bad dream. Only a short while ago, King was in here with them, his head down on his front legs as he slept beside Bobby. From time