Ruffly Speaking

grass doesn’t actually suffer. But from her point of view, Miss Savery’s, that’s more or less what it’s like. Really, the garden is her dog! And Ivan had some friends with him, and they set off cherry bombs. Anyhow, Stephanie and Ruffly came out, and then while Stephanie was talking to Alice Savery, Ruffly messed on her lawn, and the sort of strange thing was, that’s one of the things she complains about—she actually went to the police about it; Kevin told me—but Stephanie has no idea. Stephanie had a plastic bag with her, and she cleaned up after Ruffly right away, but Alice Savery didn’t say anything to her about it.”
    We reached Huron, and Steve and I fell silent until we’d crossed. Huron’s a fairly busy street, even at night, and my wolf gray dogs are so effectively camouflaged for night predation that I’m always afraid that a driver will see me, overlook Rowdy and Kimi, and inadvertently head toward them. I like to imagine that if that ever happens, I’ll hurl myself between the dogs and the car, but some dreadful survival instinct would probably make me chicken out, and for the rest of my life, I’d have to live with the knowledge that I’d failed to save the best Part of myself.
    When we reached the posh side of Huron, Steve asked, “You told Stephanie about the neighbor’s complaints?”
    “No. I thought about it, but I decided, why worry her? Anyway, what just occurred to me was that if Ruffly is ever loose, which I don’t believe he is, then he could be getting into something, plants or weed killer or lawn chemicals or whatever, and maybe that’s what’s causing his odd behavior. But I really don’t think he is. Stephanie is the model dog owner, superresponsible, and even if she weren’t, she needs Ruffly. There’s just no way...”
    “Since we’re—” Steve broke off. “Holly, any chance this is hand-shyness?”
    “ Stephanie?”
    “Yeah, Stephanie,” he said. “Or someone else?”
    “No! No one could, really. Ruffly is with Stephanie twenty-four hours a day. And Stephanie would just not hit him, and I can’t imagine that she’d let anyone hit him, either.” I was indignant.
    “When this, uh, attack occurred, exactly where were the two of them?”
    “In the kitchen. She was putting something in the refrigerator. Ruffly was... Well, he wasn’t sticking his nose in the refrigerator. He was maybe, I don’t know, two yards away?”
    “And you were watching...?”
    “Ruffly. In fact, I even remember what I was thinking. I was thinking that he must definitely have some Papillon in him. Because of the big ears.”
    “Possible.” Steve nodded. “But what I’m asking is whether you could see Stephanie or whether the refrigerator door was blocking your view of her.”
    I thought back. “Yeah. It was. That’s how it opens. So, no, I guess I could see part of her, her back or whatever. But, mostly, the door was in the way.”
    “So, in theory, it is possible that she—”
    “Physically, yes, she could’ve done something; she could’ve given him a signal or made some kind of gesture.”
    “Someone outside?”
    “Someone walking through the yard? I’m not sure. If that happens, he ought do something —go to the window, point toward it, show some kind of reaction. I suppose Ivan could’ve been there. Also, look. As far as I know, Matthew was with Leah. But Matthew isn’t a stranger, so maybe when it’s just Matthew coming home... I don’t know. Maybe whatever Ruffly does then is very low-key.”
    “This neighbor?”
    “Alice Savery. Well, Ruffly must be used to her, because Morris’s house—Stephanie’s, now—is right next to hers, and Miss Savery’s outside all the time, working in her garden, so, to a hearing dog, she must be background noise. Except... No, it couldn’t have been, I think, because I went out only a minute or two after it happened, and by then Ivan was on her front lawn. So if she’d been outside a few minutes earlier, she’d have noticed him. That’s one of her chronic complaints, kids in her yard. If she’d been outside, she’d have seen him, and she’d have done something, believe me.”
    “Huh. And then we’re back to what the stimulus was.”
    “Rolled-up newspaper! Steve, I just thought of it. That’s how you make a dog hand-shy from a distance. Or some other object. Those dogs don’t cringe when you reach toward them. What terrifies them is when you stand back and raise your arm.”
    “That’s a point.