Zeus by W. Bruce Cameron

Author:W. Bruce Cameron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

Fourteen

Tutu Nani and Marco were sitting in chairs in the backyard when Auntie Adriana Mom dropped us off. “Dad!” Kimo called out eagerly. “The head lifeguard wants to see Bear in action. He might go back to having a job after all! At least on weekends.”

I nosed Bear, who gave me a friendly sniff. He was … different. He still felt tired, but he smelled like the outdoors (and not just the backyard) and Marco. And the sadness scent had completely vanished.

“We’re just sitting here admiring the beauty of the roof,” Marco replied.

“Wait ’til you see what your father taught Bear to do,” Tutu Nani told Kimo with a smile. She had to fight for a moment before she could successfully hoist herself up out of a low chair. When Kimo stepped forward to help, she waved him off. “Your knees will be old someday, too,” she informed him. “Bear? You ready?”

Marco watched with an amused expression as Tutu Nani carried a box out into the yard. She certainly had Bear’s attention, even though I could sense there was nothing to eat in there.

Bear trotted by Tutu Nani’s side. I could not figure out why he was suddenly so jaunty. Tutu Nani shook the box. “Twenty-six tennis balls!” she announced.

With a heave, she turned the box over and a glorious wealth of balls bounded out into the grass. Naturally, I lunged for them. How was I ever going to carry all of them in my mouth?

“Zeus!” Kimo called sternly. “Sit! Stay!”

I halted. Apparently I was the only one present who knew what to do with so many balls.

Tutu Nani kicked at the balls with her feet, spreading them all over the yard. Bear was focused, also doing Stay. “Bear, you ready? Bear, put them back! Put them back!” she called.

Bear immediately leaped to his feet. I watched in utter befuddlement as he pounced on a ball, picked it up, didn’t chew it, and brought it over to the box. He spat it out and turned for another ball. Soon the container was piled with balls and the yard was dismally empty of any dog toys.

“What a great trick!” Kimo admired, thrilled.

“It’s his job, now. Whenever he seems bored, I dump out the tennis balls and he rounds them up,” Tutu Nani bragged. “See how proud of himself he is? Bear’s happy.”

“Brilliant!” Giana proclaimed.

The next morning Tutu Nani threw balls all over the yard several times before driving us to day camp. “Put them back!” she’d say. Each time, Bear gathered them all up. It would be far more sensible, in my opinion, to leave them lying out so that they could be played with whenever the mood struck. But nobody seemed to agree with me.

At the beach, before the children arrived, Bear and I took Kimo and Giana out on surfboards. They seemed to have forgotten the right way to surf, though. A wave would come and we’d start moving, but then the humans would fall off the back of the boards.

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