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outside and catch the plague!”
    The what? The woman must be a hallucinatory schizo. Or maybe a religious nut. Tessa tried to remember if there were any canine plagues in Revelations. She took Minette around the back of the house to piddle, while Mrs. Kalik slammed her garbage on the curb and sprinted inside as if pursued by a bear.
    Apparently even Norman Rockwell small towns had their paranoid crazies.

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    A mile and a half from Tessa’s Cape Cod, Allen Levy looked up from his and Jimmy’s snow fort as his mother’s blue Chevy screeched to a stop at the edge of the road.
    â€œWow,” Jimmy said, “your mother’s a fast driver.”
    But she wasn’t, usually. Allen and Jimmy watched as Mrs. Levy leapt out of the car, waved her arms at the edge of the empty field, and screamed, “Boys! Get in the car now!”
    â€œWhy?” shouted Jimmy, who was always in trouble for not doing what adults told him to.
    â€œBecause I said so!”
    Allen could have told Jimmy that’s what his mother would say. He looked reluctantly at the snow fort, which had taken an hour to build because there wasn’t actually much snow on the ground and they’d had to haul it over from the woods and from ditches that didn’t get much sun. But there was no arguing with Allen’s mother. “Come on, Jimmy.”
    â€œWhat if I don’t want to?” Jimmy said, but not very loud, and he followed Allen to the car.
    His mother hurried them into the back seat, climbed in, and turned to look at them without even starting the engine. “Listen, boys, because this is very important. Something happened. There’s some kind of…of disease spreading among dogs that makes them attack viciously. Two children have already been killed. I’m going to take you both home and—Jimmy, are your parents home, for once?”
    Jimmy shrugged. “I dunno.”
    â€œThen you’re coming to our house,” Allen’s mother said. Allen wasn’t allowed to play at Jimmy’s house ever since she’d discovered that Jimmy’s father owned a gun. The Levys didn’t approve of guns. She continued, “And both you boys are staying inside until this thing is under control. Do you hear me, Allen?”
    â€œYes. But—what about Susie? Where is she? Does she have the disease?”
    His mother started the car. “Susie’s locked in the basement. She’s got food and water and I’m sure…I’m sure she’ll be fine. But you can’t go down there until I or your father say so. Allen, do you hear me?”
    â€œYes. But, Mom, what if she does have the disease? How do dogs get it?”
    â€œNobody knows. I guess from other dogs.”
    â€œSusie was outside all day yesterday, and when she does that she could play with lots of other dogs!”
    â€œI know. The sheriff’s department is saying to keep all dogs locked up and away from people until they know what to do, and to keep all people safe inside. Do you hear me, Allen?”
    â€œYes,” Allen said. Jimmy put his hands over his ears, shook his head violently, and grinned.
    The Levy house was only a little way down the country road. As soon as they were inside, Allen could hear Susie. The cocker spaniel was at the top of the cellar stairs, scratching at the door and whining.
    Allen said, “She never got put in the cellar before, Mom. She doesn’t understand.”
    â€œNeither do the rest of us,” Mrs. Levy said grimly. “Boys, go upstairs and play.”
    â€œAt my house we just have cats,” Jimmy said.
    Allen knew about Jimmy’s mom’s cats. They were nasty and mean,living outside on scraps and mice, scratching if you tried to pet them, dirty all the time. Dogs were better, and Susie was the best dog ever. What if she really was sick? Wouldn’t she be afraid and upset and lonely, all by herself in the cellar?
    â€œCats are