From Down Here Chapter 15
Lucy has been doing something with her phone, but it hasn't sounded to Kojo as if she's been talking to Tim. He hadn't heard her talking to anyone. Her eyes are wet and there's water on her face as she presses something else. "Sergeant Grey, it's Chen, have you heard anything about Tim?"
Kojo watches Lucy's face, hoping she'll hear what she wants to hear. But her eyes are wetter and there's more water on her face. She puts her phone back in her pocket. "Kojo, I have to go. They took Tim to the hospital. I don't know how much he's hurt. Sergeant Grey didn't know. I need you to take care of the puppy. Can you do that?"
Kojo doesn't understand everything Lucy says, but he knows the word hospital and knows it's where Tim was before when he was hurt. And he knows Lucy is very unhappy. He presses against her and licks her hand. She strokes his side. "You're a good boy."
Kojo watches as Lucy leaves. At least the puppy had her milk and is OK. He nuzzles her. Lucy said to take care of her. He will.
The puppy is beginning to whimper again. Kojo thinks it's about the time Lucy and Tim usually wake up, but he can't be sure. Lucy didn't come back. Neither did Tim. Kojo hopes someone comes who can make puppy milk. He's hungry too, but remembers what Lucy said about taking care of the puppy. He hears a truck pull into the driveway, but it sounds more like Nolan's truck than Tim's truck. Then he catches Nolan's scent. He runs to the door.
As he comes in, Nolan scratches Kojo behind the ears. "Hi there. Tamara has an overnight babysitting job and Lucy's at the hospital with Tim, so she asked me to come look after you and the puppy." Kojo looks up at Nolan and rubs against his legs. Nolan strokes his head. "Tim's going to be all right. He needs some time to heal, but he'll be all right." Kojo understands all right and his tail wags hard.
"Yeah, Tim will be OK," Nolan says, rubbing Kojo's flank. "And I can mix up the milk for the puppy. I'll have time to take you for a walk, but it will have to be a quick one. Sergeant Grey wants everyone in early today for an update." Kojo barks his appreciation for "walk" and watches as Nolan mixes up the puppy milk. "My son Henry had a puppy. But I haven't had to take care of one in years. I remember the paper though. I can change it real quick and then we can go out. And I think Genny's going to bring her boys over after they get out of school. She said something about it when I told her how to clean the filter on her air conditioner yesterday."
Nolan puts a bowl of puppy milk on the floor. Kojo watches as he gathers up the papers. He takes one of them into the bathroom and Kojo hears what Tim calls a toilet, making water noises. Then Nolan puts down new paper and washes his paws in the kitchen. "OK, puppy's all set." Kojo grabs his leash and brings it to Nolan. Nolan clips it to Kojo's collar and puts a poop bag in his pocket. "Right! Ready to go. But try to make it fast. Grey will come down hard on anyone who's late this morning."
Kojo's not sure what "come down hard' means, but it doesn't sound good. He'll try to get his poop out as fast as he can. And he needs to get back to the puppy.
Kojo is bringing the puppy back to the paper when he scents Genny and the young ones coming. The littler one goes straight for the puppy. "See Mom, she's good. She's on the paper. Can we keep her?"
"We don't know how many messes your Uncle Tim and Lucy had to clean up," Genny says. "And right now we're here to feed her and make sure everything is all right while your Uncle Tim is in the hospital and Lucy is with him. So go make the puppy some milk and put out the food for Kojo. Then you can take him for a walk if he wants to go."
"The puppy too?" Tyler asks.
"You'll have to carry her," Genny says.
The littler one pets the puppy. "I'll carry her."
"We can't keep calling her 'the puppy,' Tyler says mixing the puppy milk in the puppy's bowl. "We should name her. Uncle Tim said we could."
The tops of Genny's arms move up and down. "What do you want to name her?"
The littler one looks at the puppy's face. "She looks like Skye in Paw Patrol. Can we call her Skye?"
Tyler puts the puppy's bowl down in front of her. "Do you like Skye, puppy?"
The puppy just starts lapping her milk, but Skye sounds good to Kojo. His tail wags.
"Kojo likes it," the littler one says.
"All right, call her Skye," Genny says. "Now feed Kojo and let's get the walk done. You boys have homework."
"Can we call Uncle Tim and tell him Skye's name?" Tyler asks.
"Uncle Tim may be asleep. But we can call Lucy," Genny says. "She can tell Uncle Tim."
"When can Uncle Tim come home?" the littler one asks. Kojo understands that question and pays attention for an answer.
"Soon," Genny says. "Lucy told me he's doing well." That sounds good to Kojo.
It's dark and Skye and Kojo are asleep when the sound of the door opening and Lucy's scent wake him up. She only turns on one light as Kojo goes over to her. She reaches down to pat his head. "How are you doing, Kojo? How's Skye?"
Kojo doesn't want to wake Skye by barking, so he just wags his tail.
"OK," Lucy says. "You probably want to know how Tim is." Kojo wags harder. "He's going to be OK. But he hurts a lot. And he's going to hurt a lot for a while. So it's going to be harder for him to walk you and cook for you. And you can't jump on him. Do you understand?"
Kojo couldn't understand everything Lucy said, but he understands hurt. He doesn't want Tim to hurt. He doesn't want anyone except the bad guys to hurt. So he'll try to make Tim feel better. He rubs against Lucy. She needs to feel better too. Lucy presses her mouth to his head. "You're a good dog."
Lucy goes into the bedroom and closes the door, but Kojo can still hear sounds from inside. Lucy is crying. It's not loud, more like the puppy whimpering. He wishes there was something he could do. Kojo settles himself on the floor in front of the bedroom so he can go to her in case she wants him. He decides not to go to sleep but to stay there, just in case Lucy needs him to help her feel better. When Skye wakes up in the morning and starts whimpering for her milk, Kojo is still by Lucy's door.