Josh Roseman - The Clockwork Russian and Other Stories

She peered at him a moment longer, then shrugged. “Go on inside. And put some shoes on, would you? Before you step on glass or something.”

He slipped past the human, Sam at his heels. Rex knew the way to Sam’s room — up the stairs, second door on the left. He flopped down on the bed — something Sam let him do only when he knew he wouldn’t get caught — and Sam used his head to push the bedroom door closed. Then he sat in the middle of the room and stared at Rex.

“Sorry,” Rex said again, a whining note in his voice. “Bad?”

Sam barked a couple of times, but Rex didn’t understand him. Besides, he was tired, and the bed was comfortable. He rolled onto his back and fell asleep.

A knock jerked Rex awake. “Door!” he barked without thinking.

“It’s me.” Lee’s voice. “I’m coming in, okay?”

“Lee!”

She’d taken the time to switch from her long black dress into brighter clothes. Her pants were shorter than the ones she’d made Rex wear. Her hair was pulled back like a tail, and his brain argued between licking her ears — which always made her laugh — and not doing it, since she’d pulled away the night before. He did scramble up onto his haunches, the bed a little shaky under him, so that Lee would have room to sit beside him. Which she did.

Sam stared at her, ears forward. Finally, she looked away, hands in her lap. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t find anything.”

Sam’s barking was explosive, a furious sound that made Rex duck behind Lee, made him want to curl his tail up under his body.

“Wait!” she said. “Stop, please!” Rex looked up at her; her eyes were wet. Normally he smelled salt when that happened, but all he smelled now was the bed. Sam did stop, but he was standing up, tail down, lip slightly curled. Rex wanted to run, or hide in the closet, or get as far away as possible. But Lee put her hand on his shoulder and petted him. “Sam, please! Just listen!”

Sam sat, but still looked angry.

“I went to the library, okay? I looked at some other books. They all said this wears off in a few hours. A day at the most. Can you…” She sniffed hard. “Can you wait?”

Sam shuffled down to the carpet and put his nose on his paws. Rex knew that pose: it meant he would lie there and wait as long as it took.

“I’m really sorry, Sam. I didn’t think… and… I mean, you’re the only person who really listens to me, and you thought I could do it, and I didn’t want to disappoint you—”

A soft bark cut her off.

“Okay, I get the point,” she said, laughing a little. “Hey, do you want to go back to the clubhouse? Or have a picnic?”

“Picnic!” Rex loved picnics — he always got lots of human food at picnics. He looked at Sam. “Picnic? Sam?”

Sam stood, shook himself slightly, and looked to the door. Rex didn’t know what to do with it, and Sam couldn’t do anything with it. Fortunately, they had Lee.

Even though Rex wasn’t used to picnics as a human, he decided they were just as much fun either way. He got a lot of human food, and he played ball with Sam — though trying to catch it in his mouth had hurt his small nose and flat teeth. They went to the lake and Sam jumped in without hesitation, though Lee put her hand on Rex’s shoulder. “You should take your shoes off first.”

“Shoes?”

Lee tapped Rex’s foot with her own. “Those. Take them off so they don’t get ruined.”

Rex knew that word, and he didn’t like when people said it was his fault. So he plopped down on the grass and started working on his feet.

By the time he got the shoes off, Lee was already in the lake. He laughed as he splashed into the water and started to swim. It was certainly an unfamiliar feeling not to have the water pulling at his fur. He figured out how to float and basked in the sunshine, listening to Lee and Sam chasing each other around in and out of the water.

Then he heard Terry. “Well, isn’t this cute.”

Rex didn’t like the way Terry sounded. He swam to shore and shook himself off. It wasn’t as much fun without the fur. Terry and his brother Phil wore only small pants, and Terry was looking at Lee and Sam in a way that made Rex curl his lip. Terry’s nose was bruised. “What do you want?” Lee asked.

“I want to hit you,” Terry said, left hand curling into a fist, “but my dad would ground me all summer for fighting a girl.” He aimed a kick at Sam, who jumped to the side, then started to growl. “What about you, Sam?” he said, turning to Rex. “If you even are Sam anymore. Maybe I should hit you, see if your girlfriend fights all your battles.”

“Mean,” Rex said. He couldn’t growl, though he certainly wanted to. “Bad Terry. Bad!”

Terry laughed, and Phil, who was smaller and who usually gave Rex snacks from his backpack, laughed too. “I saw it, but I told myself I didn’t,” he said. “You really swapped their bodies, didn’t you?” Terry advanced on Rex, who tried to make himself look bigger. He didn’t know how to do it in a human body, so he settled for copying Terry’s hands. “Y’know, I’ve always hated that damn dog.”

Once, Rex had knocked into the kitchen table and sent a whole turkey sliding to the floor. The biggest human at his house had whacked him on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. It hadn’t really hurt. But Terry’s fist against Rex’s jaw did hurt. It hurt a lot, and it made Rex’s teeth ache. He whimpered, stumbled, and spat blood on the rocks by the lake.

Then he leapt at Terry and slammed him to the ground. Terry tried to club Rex’s back, but Rex ignored it and knocked his head into Terry’s face. Terry cried out in pain and grabbed his nose. “You stupid dog!” he shouted. “Bad dog! Bad!”

Rex jumped away as if scalded — those words hurt more than being hit. He saw Terry get up, saw Phil’s eyes go big and get wet, like Lee’s had back at home. “Bad Terry,” Rex said. Then he looked hard at Phil. “Good Phil. Go away, Phil. Good Phil.”

Phil took the hint and ran. Good. Rex liked Phil, and liked the food he gave him. Maybe if he told Phil he was good, Phil would feed him more of those snacks.

“Stupid dog,” Terry said again. He wiped his nose, then ran for Rex. Rex crouched a little, as if to jump, but then Sam dove in front of Terry and knocked him over. Terry went rolling down the bank toward Lee, and as he stumbled to his feet Lee grabbed him. He struggled, but stopped as soon as Sam caught the seat of Terry’s pants in his jaws. “Get off me, Sam!” he shouted. “Get off!”

Sam just growled. “Bad Terry!” Rex barked. “Bad! Go away!”

Lee let Terry go, and he pulled away from Sam. His pants ripped, and Sam spat out the chunk of cloth. “I’m gonna get you,” Terry snarled, his hand over the bare patch on his backside. “You watch out, Sam. And your stupid dog, too!” He tripped over a root, but got up quickly. His voice was quivering. “I’m gonna get you all!”

“Shut up, Terry,” Lee said, and Rex chimed in with another “bad Terry”. Sam sat on the ground, looking satisfied with what had just happened.

“Bad Terry,” Rex said with conviction once they were alone again.

“Yeah,” Lee said. “I never liked him.” Then she looked at Sam. “But you’re going to have to watch your back for a little while.”

Sam barked once, then trotted off into the shade.

“Water?” Rex asked.

“Sure, Rex, go on.”

He bounded into the lake with a series of splashes and soon was floating again, enjoying the sunshine.

Rex sat quietly in the middle of the clubhouse, resting easily on his knees. Sam was on the floor beside him, belly to the ground, tail curled under his body. Lee, Ricky, and Steven were against the wall, waiting; Steven had brought some spare clothes, just in case Rex tore them when he changed. Lee had given him a smile, and Rex had seen his face change color like Sam’s sometimes did when Lee touched him or laughed at his jokes.