“So,” I say, sitting down to join them.
A few days later I’m dragging myself down the stairs, still not quite awake, when I hear a muffled yelp. I stand on the steps with my head cocked, listening. Then I hear it again, and I hurry the rest of the way down to see what it is.
In the kitchen Uncle Jake, Aunt Sofia, and Leo are standing around a cardboard box, which has been set in the middle of the table.
“What’s going on?” I ask, and they step back to reveal the small brown face of a boxer peeking over the edge. He has floppy ears and a twitching nose, and his whole body is wiggling, the box swishing this way and that on the table.
“We’ve been puppy-bombed,” Uncle Jake says darkly.
“What?”
“He just showed up,” he says, waving a hand at the box. “Completely out of nowhere.Puppy-bombed.”
I look from him to Leo, who is fishing the squirming pup out of the box, laughing as it covers his face in kisses. “I don’t get how—”
“And I’m allergic,” Uncle Jake says indignantly. He gives Leo a pointed look. “Allergic! So don’t get attached, because this little monster isn’t staying long.”
“Oh, come on,” Leo says. “You haven’t sneezed once.”
Uncle Jake folds his arms across his chest. “But I will.”
“He’s fine,” Aunt Sofia says. “He’s not really allergic.”
“You’renot?” Leo and I say at the exact same time. We stare at him in astonishment. When Leo was a kid, this was all he wanted: a big-pawed, loose-limbed maniac of a puppy. But it was always a nonstarter because of his dad’s allergies.
Uncle Jake shifts uncomfortably, casting a desperate glance in Aunt Sofia’s direction. “Why are you blowing my covernow?”
“Because,” my aunt says, taking the wriggling puppy from Leo and holding it close to her, “there’s no way we’re giving this guy back. He’s way too cute.”
“You weren’t allergic?” Leo asks, shaking his head in disbelief. “Ever?”
Uncle Jake grins at this. “What can I say? You were always kind of gullible. I mean…you believed in the tooth fairy until you were ten.”
“Eleven,” I say, chiming in. Aunt Sofia sets the puppy on the floor and I scoop him up, resting my chin against his velvety head, feeling his little heart beating against mine. “I still don’t get where he came from.”
“Some guy just delivered the box,” Uncle Jake says, jabbing a thumb toward the front door. “He wouldn’t say who it was from.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Aunt Sofia is gazing fondly at the puppy. “He’s ours now. The bigger question is what are we gonna do with him all day?”
“Well, you’re the one who wants to keep him,” Uncle Jake says, “so obviously you should bring him to your office.”
“I’m in court today. You just sit behind a computer.”
“My office is full of paper clips and staples,” he says, sounding slightly hysterical. “It’s a death trap!”
“It’s fine,” Leo says, holding up a hand. “I’ll take a sick day.”
Aunt Sofia shakes her head. “You’re not taking a day off because of a dog.”
“There are only a few weeks left of school, and I already got into college,” Leo says. “I’m pretty sure it won’t send my life skidding off the rails. And this way I can go to the pet store and figure out a dog walker and pick a name for him.”
“I don’t know if I trust you to pick out a name by yourself,” I say. “You’ll probably want to call him something nerdy like JPEG or Pixel.”
“Actually, Pixel isn’t bad.”
I give him a look. “No naming him till we all agree, okay?”
“Okay, you poor nameless little dog,” he says, looking down at the puppy, still in my arms. “It’s just you and me today, pal.”
