From Down Here Chapter 11
At the park, Kojo spots a stick that looks perfect for what Tim calls a game of fetch. Picking it up in his mouth, he brings it to Tim who keeps throwing it further and further away for Kojo to find and bring back. Finally, just before Kojo finds the stick again, a puppy! He smelled many of them at the shelter and knows what they smell like. As he nears the little furry thing, it begins to whimper. Kojo wonders if it has a mother and where she might be. He can't scent her, so she can't be nearby. The puppy sounds lonely and hungry. Forgetting about his stick, Kojo gently picks the puppy up in his mouth, careful not to bite it. He slowly walks back to Tim and looks up expectantly.
"What have you got there, Boy?" Tim asks. "You can't go picking up dead animals. They can make you sick." The puppy whimpers and Kojo puts it down near Tim's paws. "A puppy?" Tim gets down into the grass and examines the small thing. Kojo isn't sure what Tim's looking for, but he finally picks the puppy up and holds it with two paws. "It doesn't look like it's been out here long. Can you show me where you found it?"
Kojo trots back over the grass to the spot where the puppy was. Tim looks around. "I don't see a mother or any more puppies." Kojo yips his agreement. "Some asshole must have just left it here. I'd call animal control, but they're overwhelmed with dogs people left behind when they got out of the city to get away from the bombings.
Kojo nudges Tim, runs a little way back toward Tim's house, then comes back and nudges Tim again. "You want me to take it home? Kojo, I can't take care of another dog right now, especially not a puppy. He," Tim checks the puppy for a moment, "um, she, will have to be housebroken, and I'll have to take her to the vet." Kojo shivers at that word. "She might need special food or medicine or something. There's too much going on right now for me to get into all of that." Kojo nudges him again and repeats his run toward the house. "All right. We can take her home – for now."
Kojo doesn't understand a lot of that, but he understands "take her home." He yips happily.
Tim makes the sound humans make sometimes when they don't have a happy face. "Maybe she can drink some milk or something. But she'll need to be with someone who can really take care of her, ASAP."
This time, when Kojo starts for home, Tim follows him, bringing the puppy.
As Lucy returns to Tim's house for the night, she immediately spots the puppy curled up on a towel on the floor next to Kojo. "A puppy!" With a happy face, she gets to the floor and begins petting the tiny thing. "What's its name?" she asks Tim. "Did you talk to Genny? Did you get it for her boys?"'
"I didn't get it for anyone," Tim explains. "Kojo found it in the park. And tomorrow I'm going to see if animal control has room for it."
"They're filled up above their max. So are all the shelters. He doesn't have a tag, not even a collar. They can scan him for a chip but I doubt he has one. Without a way to locate the owner, if nobody claims him right away, they'll put him down. He's so adorable. You can't just let him be put down."
Tim puts on a mad face. "Then what am I supposed to do, Lucy?"
"Let Genny's boys take care of him, here or at her place," Lucy says. "He's too young to need to run around yet. Genny will find out if they can take care of a dog or not. If they can, maybe she'll let them keep him. If not, at least we'll have time to find him a home. Have you called Genny?"
"Not yet, but how about taking him to the vet and everything?" Tim asks. Kojo gives another shiver and moves closer to the puppy. "Until we nail these guys, I could be out on the streets for shifts at a time."
"The panic is dying down," Lucy says. "It always does until the next crisis. I'll be working regular shifts. If Genny agrees to have her boys test their ability to take care of an animal, I can help out. But you need to call her, Tim. You should call her now."
Tim makes the sound he made in the park. "All right! I'll call her."
"At least he knows how to lap up milk," Kojo hears Lucy say as the puppy drinks from a shallow bowl. "No one will have to bottle feed him. And maybe the vet will have a formula for puppies. They can't need the same thing calves do."
"Since when are you so up on animals, Chen? You pawned Kojo off on me because you said you couldn't take care of him." Kojo doesn't understand that, but Tim doesn't sound happy.
Lucy doesn't sound happy either. "That was when Jackson and I were sharing a place. Kojo had just chewed up half the stuff we had. And Jackson was having trouble having his boyfriend over with Kojo around. I couldn't keep him."
"You just didn't understand how to teach him any discipline," Tim says. "He doesn't chew up anything around here."
Lucy looks really mad. "What did you do? Give him Tim tests like you gave me? Sorry, I don't have your joy in cracking the whip."
Tim looks more unhappy than mad. "Lucy, I don't crack the whip to be a sh*t. I lay down the law to give anyone I teach, you and Kojo included, what they need. It made you a better cop. And it made Kojo a dog we can both live with."
To Kojo, it looks like Lucy is stretching up to be as big as she can. "Then maybe you should be the one helping Genny and the boys with the puppy. You made me a better cop. You can make her a better dog."
Tim shakes his head. "I told you I won't have time."
Lucy puts her face as close to Tim's as it will go. "Yeah, until the bombers are all rounded up. But we both know that better be soon. Then what? Are you going to be there for Genny and the boys – your family? Or are you going to find another excuse?"
Tim's voice sounds strange. "Lucy, you don't understand. My father was…."
Lucy talks when Tim stops. "Abusive to you. I know. Oh God, Tim. Is that why you're holding back? Are you afraid you'll be like him?" Lucy reaches up to touch Tim's face with her paw. "You're not him! You'll never be him. You're Tim Bradford, a man who tried his best to protect an addicted wife and is trying to make a life without her – with me. And you've shown your sister and those boys nothing but love. Don't be afraid to be with them, to show more."
Tim shakes his head again. "How do you know, Lucy? Most people who knew my father had no clue what he was really like."
Lucy presses her whole body against Tim's. "Because I know you. All of you. And you could never hurt those boys."
Tim and Lucy do the thing they do with their lips and Kojo can smell that they want to mate. It's a good scent.
