Read Listen! (9780062213358) for Free Online Page B

night, either.”
    Stupid old wives’ tale, Charley thinks. If that worked, why wouldn’t everybody know to do it? “How do you know?”
    Sarita’s eyes flash. “Because I know everything!”
    â€œYeah, right.”
    â€œYou can do it or you can go on itching. It’s up to you.”
    Charley decides to try it. Sarita follows her into the kitchen. “So!” she says. “Not much change in that wild dog.”
    Charley tests the water to see how hot it is, then puts her arm under the faucet. “How long do I have to do this?”
    â€œLike I said, till it stops itching.”
    â€œPeople caught him with food before,” Charley says. She doesn’t mention how she knows this. “Feeding scares him. I need to do something that’ll give him a reason to like me. If you know everything, tell me what to do.”
    â€œWhat do other dogs like people for?”
    Charley realizes the poison ivy really has stopped itching. She turns off the water. “Playing, I guess. Fetch. Catch. But he isn’t a regular dog. He doesn’t do that stuff.”
    â€œSadie does,” Sarita says.
    When Charley goes out to untie Sadie, Sadie frisks around her, front paws splayed, head down, her back end in the air, tail wagging. She is begging Charley to play. Sarita’s certainly right about Sadie. Charley leans down to get a dead branch that has fallen off one of the trees by the carport. As soon as she picks it up, Sadie leaps for it, trying to snatch it away. “Down!” Charley says, holding it as high in the air as she can. She throws the stick up the slope of the driveway toward where Coyote is watching from the safety of the trees. “Go get it, Sadie!”
    The dog doesn’t need the words. Of course not, Charley thinks, watching her tear off after the stick. Golden retriever .
    Charley calls to Sadie to bring back the stick. She isn’t as good at letting go as she is at retrieving, but Charley manages to get it away from her and throw it again. Ears flying, Sadie runs after the stick, and Charley moves up the drive, keeping an eye on Coyote, who is sitting in a tangle of honeysuckle on the other side of the road. This is what dogs and people do together , she thinks at him.
    Sadie drops the stick and backs away from it, wagging. Charley picks it up and Sadie begins to bark, urging her to throw it. Coyote is standing now, ears and tail up, following every movement. His tail has begun to wag.
    When Charley throws the stick, Sadie gets it, and Coyote comes out of the woods to join the game, chasing Sadie. After a few minutes Sadie drops the stick, and the game becomes their usual chase and grab. So focused is Coyote that he doesn’t notice when Charley moves into the middle of the yard so that the dogs have to swerve around her as they run, the way they swerve around the azaleas.
    At last Sadie, tongue hanging out, flops onto the grass a few feet from where Charley is standing. Coyote circles, barking a high-pitched bark, snapping at Sadie’s ears, her feet, urging her up again. When she doesn’t respond, he gives up and sinks to the ground next to her. It’s the closest Charley has ever been to him.
    Over Sadie’s shoulder, Coyote looks directly at Charley, his tongue, too, hanging out as he pants. There are big splotches of blue on his long, pink tongue. Charley has never seen anything like it.
    â€œBlue spots on his tongue?” Sarita says later. “That’s Chow. Mama or daddy or grandma maybe—that dog’s got Chow in him somewhere.” She is leaning over her jigsaw puzzle, squinting at a piece in her hand.
    â€œSo?” Charley says. “What does that mean?”
    â€œIt means you don’t tell your father yet. Chows have a bad rep in the dog world. Blue tongue’s likely to scare Paul Morgan off, end you up with some little beagle pup. Some Chihuahua.”
    â€œWhat’s the bad