Toogie's Christmas

This was not what James wanted to be doing Christmas morning. He was glad his parents were off picking up his grandmother on the other side of the river. He and his little brother were supposed to be cleaning up their breakfast mess and wrappings from their gifts.

“He’s little,” James said to the cop.

“Well, he’s not like a chihuahua,” Stevie clarified, stepping from behind him.

“He’s smaller than a retriever.”

“He’s the size of… one of the dogs the Queen has...”

The cop’s brows rose, his pen poised over his notebook. “A corgi?”

“Yes,” Stevie agreed enthusiastically. “But with a long tail and short hair. And he will fetch anything the shape of a frisbee. And he loves dog biscuits wrapped in bacon. And he’s afraid of farts -”

“Stevie -” James nudged his little brother. “He’s just not used to being outside off of a leash, and might not get along so well with other dogs.”

Officer Pingul wrote this down. “Is he a puppy?”

“No, he’s…”

“Forty-nine years old!” Stevie shoved his brother aside to tell the officer. “Black and brown spots on white fur, with a spot on one eye-”

“Stevie!” James took his brother’s shoulders and moved him behind him. “He’s about seven years old. In human years.” He looked behind him in reference to his brother’s ‘dog years’ age announcement.

“How’d he get out?”

James looked accusingly back at Stevie. “Stevie says Toogie had a Christmas wish, and needed to be out of the backyard to do it.”

Officer Pingul looked amusedly at Stevie. “What did he want?”

Stevie just shrugged, now embarrassed, and was oddly quiet. James just looked at him in brotherly disgust. “He won’t tell me either.”

“And his name is Toogie?” the officer asked.

James nodded.

“Because I didn’t know how to say ‘doggie,’ when I was little,” explained Stevie.

“Right,” the cop pasted an automatic smile on for the boys. “I’ll tell everyone to keep an eye out in this neighborhood.”

“Thank you, sir,” James said politely as he’d been taught. The man left, and James let out his breath. They’d spoken to the cops about Toogie before, and they increasingly expressed less interest in finding him, so he was afraid that finding their beloved dog was just up to them.

“C’mon, Stevie,” he said, grabbing Toogie’s harness and leash, “Let’s go try to find him before he tries to rip out some other dog’s throat.”

James and Stevie headed out to wander around the nearby blocks, peering into neighbors’ yards and calling his name. As they turned the corner James saw a man with gray hair that was trying to grow back in on his head and face, standing on a corner in the snow, a hub cap lying at his feet, staring wistfully at them. He wore an old brown jacket, white button-up shirt that seemed like it hadn’t been washed in a while, and black pants with scuffed brown shoes. One eye was surrounded by purple bruising.

The boys stopped and waited to see whether the man would speak, but he didn’t.

“Have you seen a little dog running around here alone?” James called to him. The man shook his head. He kept staring at them. James knew that talking to strangers wasn’t allowed, but something about this man felt familiar. Friendly, even. Though he’d never seen him before.

“Are you okay?”

Stevie followed James as he cautiously crossed the street to the man. He was between the age of their father and their grandfather, and looked sort of scared.

It occurred to James that he seemed to have awakened suddenly from a deep dream while sleepwalking. He stood right at the edge of the curb and kept watching the boys.

“Is something wrong?” Stevie asked the man.

“I… I may be hungry,” the man said gruffly, his voice sounding soft and unused to speaking. His eyes looked apologetic.

“We have food at our house,” Stevie piped up.

James nudged him in warning, but the man already looked so grateful, that he rationalized helping him as he turned to cross the street again and beckoned to the man. “Come on, mister, we have food we can give you. Plenty of it.”

The man looked from them to the street but didn’t step down.

“Can you walk?” Stevie asked, going back and taking the man’s hand. The man sort of fell off the curb and caught himself with his feet, testing his steps. With a weak grin and a nod, he let Stevie lead him back to their house.

James opened the door and announced, “I’ll bring some pancakes and sausage,” and went into the kitchen. When he came out with the plate, Stevie had brought the man into their living room.

“Stevie, he’s not supposed to be in the house! He’s a stranger!”

“He’s cold, and he’s hurt,” he pointed at the man’s eye.

“Well, he can eat and then you have to leave,” James said first to Stevie and then to the man. He handed him the plate, which he held awkwardly as he stood there. The boys looked at him. He looked at them, realizing he was supposed to start eating. Slowly, he lowered his chin to the plate and with his lips he picked up a sausage. He snarfed it down, and immediately did the same to the rest of the sausages. Delicately, he sniffed the pancakes and nibbled with his lips and teeth, eating one before stopping.

The boys were staring at him. He was still standing, holding the plate.

“Do you want some juice?” Stevie asked.

“Can… May I have some water?” He was talking like he had forgotten how and was just remembering. James went to get him a glass of water.

“What happened to your eye?” Stevie asked.

“I don’t know,” the man said, touching his eye like he hoped it wasn’t coming out. He looked worriedly at Stevie, his face asking what his eye was doing.

“It’s black. You have a black eye. Like you got punched.”

James came in with the glass of water and handed it to the man. He took it, then looked at it as though he were trying to undo a riddle. He looked up in thought, and slowly lifted the glass to his mouth, almost using the far rim rather than the near one before tilting it. He choked and sputtered, and Stevie picked up a nearby towel they’d used on the coffee table to eat cereal over. The man took it and wiped his face, then slowly tried again, succeeding this time.

“Thank you.”

“Do you know your name?” James asked.

“It’s Too… Um… Todd.”

James pointed at the couch, and Stevie sat on it next to where the man should sit. Todd bent his knees experimentally, and when his rear hit the cushions he bounced and smiled.

“Well, I’m James, and this is Stevie. We lost our dog, so that’s why we were outside.”

“You found me. Instead.” Todd looked up at each boy and smiled sheepishly, clasping his hands and letting them fall between his legs. “I was lost.”

“You don’t remember where you live?” James asked.

“Oh, I do now. Thanks.” He smiled and nodded. They all sat awkwardly in silence.

Todd looked around at the floor and found one of the dog’s rope toys by the dog bed. Picking it up, he grinned and turned it around in his hands before lifting it to his face and, to the boys’ amazement, biting it and holding it in his mouth. He saw their surprise and immediately opened his mouth over his hands, spitting hair off of his tongue. He dropped the toy to the floor.

“Can I ask you a question?” Todd asked the dumbstruck brothers. James nodded. “Can we play the game, ‘Think of a Thing’?”

James was taken-aback. “You mean… the game where one person is ‘it,’ and everyone thinks of something, and whoever’s thing is closest to the thing that ‘it’ thought of gets to be ‘it’ next?”

“Yeah, that one,” Todd nodded, smiling. James looked at Stevie who shrugged, then back at Todd. That game had been made up in their family. How did Todd know about it?

“Okaaay,” James said, letting the wonder pass by. “You can be ‘it’ first if you want.”

“Alright, I’m thinking of a thing,” Todd said, almost childishly. They played the game expertly, with Todd explaining his associations of things with great precision. When everyone said they’d thought of a thing, he’d said bone, James said baseball bat, and Stevie said mouse. “Well, a mouse does have bones,” Todd agreed with Stevie when he stated that association. “But a baseball bat looks like a bone, right?” He wanted to be fair to James.

“Right,” James smiled. “But I think the mouse-to-bone is closer than the bat-to-bone. Stevie can be ‘it’ next.”

They each quietly thought of another thing, and when they were ready each said it. All of them argued their association, and the game continued. After a couple of rounds, and a lot of laughter, Stevie couldn’t help but let out a small toot from his pants. James and Stevie laughed, but suddenly Todd was on the other side of the room near the kitchen, not laughing.

“What’s wrong?” Stevie asked.

“I just…” Todd looked nervous and didn’t know what to do with his hands. “I - am still hungry. Do you have anything else?” He took steps toward the kitchen, and when the brothers followed him they found him beelining for the laundry room on the other side. By the time they reached him, he’d found a crinkly-sounding bag near the recycle. He reached in and put one of the items from the bag into his mouth.

“But…” Stevie pointed and looked at James. “Those are Toogie’s treats.”

“Those are for dogs,” James told Todd. “Not for humans.”

“Sorry,” Todd muttered. He put one more in his mouth, and then put the bag back. He walked back to the living room and sat down, this time on the ottoman. He bounced, and then grimaced, moving back to the couch.

James looked at Stevie, his face wearing worry. This man might be mentally unstable and need to be in a hospital. How would they make him go away, and would he get the help he needed?

“Uh, Todd?” James asked. “If you’re okay now we need to go look for our dog.”

“Ah. Right.” Todd stood. “Can I walk with you and help you?”

Stevie shrugged at James, and James grudgingly agreed. At least they’d be out of the house. James put his jacket back on and grabbed Toogie’s leash. Todd seemed to become excited by the sound of the clinking leash clasp. Stevie put on his coat and took Todd’s hand.

They walked down their front sidewalk and James breathed more easily.

Walking behind Todd, Stevie started calling, “Toooogieee!”

Todd startled, turning toward Stevie like he was going to say something, but didn’t.

James walked listlessly. “Looking for our dog is not what I wanted to be doing Christmas morning.”

“I’m sorry,” Todd said. James and Stevie looked up at his apology. Todd quickly looked back down at them. “I mean, I’m sorry that you have to go through this. I didn’t think… that kids would be so upset about a dog.”

“But it’s not just ‘a dog,’” Stevie insisted. “Toogie is special. He’s our friend, and he makes me feel better when I’m mad or sad. I haven’t even given him my Christmas gift to him.” His eyes started glistening and his voice sounded higher. “We play with frisbees and I run with him at the park when no one else is there with their dog. He might be mean to other dogs, but he’s my best friend and I... I don’t want him to be... to be gone!..” Tears started streaming out of his eyes, and James stopped and went over to his little brother to put a hand on his shoulder. Stevie sobbed and wiped his eyes.

“See, we need to find Toogie.” James looked up at Todd.

Todd looked sadly at the boys who were both obviously very distraught. He sighed.

“Hey, you know what - I think I might know where he is.” The brothers looked up at him in surprise. “I remember, now.” He nodded, looking off down the street. “I heard barking… this way.” Todd took a couple of unsure steps, but kept going and began jogging, then running. The boys followed, calling Toogie’s name. Todd kept running, the boys falling behind as his longer legs took him further. He headed for the out-of-session school yard and looked back one more time with a smile as he rounded the back corner of the building.

As James and Stevie rounded the same corner, Toogie appeared running toward them barking and dashing around them in an excited circle. With joyous shouts of his name, and both boys falling to their knees for licking kisses and to give him hugs and ruffle his fur, the friends were reunited. James looked up to call to Todd that they’d found their dog, but he couldn’t be seen anywhere. James and Stevie scanned the whole recess yard and nearby sidewalks for him. He had effectively disappeared. Toogie began jumping up on them and nuzzling their hands for attention, so the boys gave him hugs and rubs again, and put his harness on him. Returning safely home, Toogie was told he would never get let out again for any Christmas reason.

Stevie unwrapped Toogie’s Christmas gift of a new frisbee and gave it to him. They finally began cleaning their messes as they heard the car pull up with their parents and grandmother. The boys decided to not mention Todd to their parents, nor the disappearance of Toogie. Christmas continued as it should, and Toogie cuddled up on the couch with his rope toy and frisbee. The bruise he’d gotten from trying to catch a wayward hub cap hadn’t been noticed due to the spot on his eye.