A little girl’s trembling lip puckered. Her cheeks burned scarlet. Tear trails stained her face. The backs of her hands rubbed them away. Sniffles escaped.
Flickering, colorful lights flashed against the girl’s forehead as she stood between two spaced-out carnival stalls—one a water-blasting game, the other a food stand. The scent of hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy permeated the air. Cheerful music poured out of speakers.
People of all shapes and sizes hurried past, not bothering to glance at the scared girl.
“Mmmmommy? D-daddy?” she whispered.
Not one adult passing by resembled her parents. Many held their children’s hands as the kids tugged them toward the next brightly lit ride or game their parents would squander their hard-earned money on.
“H-help mmmmme. P-please.” Ruby reached out to a boy strolling by, carrying a stuffed bear.
The moment he felt her touch, he jerked his arm. “Don’t touch me. Get away from me, nasty. I don’t want any cooties.”
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump. Her heartbeat accelerated when she realized no one would assist her. Only her parents, and they were who-knew-where.
She remembered the word her teacher defined in their Friday English lesson: outcast. Maybe I’m an outcast, she thought.
Clang!
Gasping, the girl jumped, her black pigtails swung past her shoulders when metal hit the ground.
“W-who’s there?” she said, her body tensed.
As the evening sky filled with flashes of red, blue, and yellow, the girl observed a distant figure crouched, with its head inside the open, overturned garbage can. It gnawed on a discarded hot dog.
“H-hello?”
The girl took a shuddering step towards the silhouette. Her legs wobbled like Jell-O. “W-w-who are you?” Ruby stuttered.
Snap! A twig broke under her shoe. The form’s head and ears perked. The girl froze as it stared at her with light-reflective, piercing eyes.
“Hhhhhello. Mmmmmy name is Ruby. What’s y-yours?”
The form stood on all fours and edged forward. A flicker of orange light lit the Boxer. “You’re a doggy. Hi, Doggy.”
Ruby’s shoulders and back relaxed from the squeezing tension she’d been holding. Her arm extended; she rubbed her fingers over “Doggy’s” brown-and-white-patched fur. The girl stared into its brown eyes. “You’re a good doggy. Are you lost? An outcast? Did you lose your parents too?”
Whoosh, whoosh. Doggy’s tail wagged the more Ruby petted it. A slobbering tongue licked Ruby’s face. Ha-ha-ha. Laughter erupted from Ruby’s throat as she tried to block the wet kisses with her hands, but only moistened them more. “Stop! Please stop, Doggy.”
As if it understood her, the sloppy kisses ceased. “Good, Doggy,” Ruby said with a smile. She rubbed her soaked hands on her thighs.
Suddenly, Ruby’s stomach rumbled. Her cheeks blushed as she crossed her arms over her belly. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little hungry.”
Ruff.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ruby asked with a giggle. Doggy trotted to the tent stall’s back entrance. “Hey! Where are you going?” The flaps engulfed Doggy from nose to tail.
“Wait for me!” Ruby slid into the tent. Inches from her face, her eyes locked on the legs of a brunette woman standing behind the counter, serving customers.
Stepping back, Ruby’s eyes shifted to Doggy as it crawled toward the woman’s coworker, a bald man. He placed a plain hot dog in a toasted bun on a food tray. With eyes fixed on the countertop and drool seeping from its jaws, Doggy rose onto its hind legs to snatch the grub.
A woman in line noticed drooling Doggy stooped over the food and screamed, “Ew! That is unsanitary!”
Doggy froze. The man whirled toward it, flinging his arms near it. “Get out of here, mutt. You’re always ruining the food.” Doggy lowered to all fours.
“Bud, don’t yell at it,” his co-worker said.
Ruby sprinted to the counter on the right side, out of the man and woman’s view, and nabbed a cooked hot dog in a bun. “Run, Doggy,” Ruby said.
Like a ballerina, the female worker twirled to face Ruby, but neither blocked her exit nor uttered a word. Barking, Doggy chased Ruby through the flaps.
“Don’t worry, folks. We’ll get this all straightened out.” Ruby heard the woman announce to the customers.
A blur of figures rushed past Ruby’s vision: underpaid clowns distributed balloons, exaggerated upbeat mothers and fathers, and excited children hopped in lines.
“Hey! Watch what you’re doing,” a man said as Ruby nearly crashed into him in her flight. Dodging the crowd, the duo didn’t stop until they were confident they weren’t followed. Side by side, Ruby and Doggy fled to a darkened corner.
No approaching footsteps.
With a sigh of relief, Ruby broke the hot dog in half, giving one side to Doggy. It swished its tail as it gulped.
“Thank you for trying to feed me.” Ruby bit into her piece. “Mmmm. Yummy.” Ruby devoured her meal.
Petting Doggy, Ruby inched into the bright lights. “Will you help me find my parents?”
Ruff.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Ruby and Doggy strolled the carnival for a minute until Doggy sniffed the air.
“Doggy? What is it?”
Doggy turned, posture straightened, tail pointed high, and tension visible in its muzzle. Hackles up. Growls reverberated from the base of its throat.
Ruby followed Doggy’s stare to the man named Bud in an apron two sizes too small. He darted his bloodshot eyes and spotted Ruby and Doggy. In a gruff voice, Bud said, “Hey, thieves! Get back here!”
Ruby’s feet froze, allowing Bud time to storm up to them. “You realize you have to pay for those. Right?” His shadow consumed Ruby as Doggy continued growling. “You need to shut that mongrel up.”
“He’s not a mongrel,” Ruby said with a raised voice.
“Did you backtalk me?”
Eyes on Bud, Ruby retreated further into the crowded area.
“Are you going to pay for that hot dog or not?”
“I don’t have any money on me. But my parents can pay you. When I find them.”
“That’s just not good enough.” With an iron grip, Bud tugged on Ruby’s arm.
“Ow!”
A bark exploded from Doggy’s throat before it leaped and sank its choppers into his forearm.
A piercing scream drew the crowd’s attention. Some people pulled out their phones to start filming. Others stared, flabbergasted. Parents dragged their children away from the scene.
Ruby felt the steel rod fingers release her arm. Her feet stumbled, and she caught herself.
“Doggy!” Ruby cried at the sight. Doggy clung to the man’s arm as he beat Doggy’s snout, triggering a whimper. Despite the pain, Doggy refused to relinquish its bite. “No!”
With an adrenaline rush, Ruby leaped to her feet and slammed her fists against the man’s exposed side. “Let Doggy go!”
With his free hand, Bud shoved Ruby’s face, causing her to fall on her rear.
“Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!”
Ruby’s eyes sparkled when she recognized the man and woman, surrounded by security and the female worker from before, rushing to her. “Mommy! Daddy!”
Waterworks flowed between mother and daughter as Ruby’s mother embraced her. Her father rushed to smack Ruby’s attacker upside the head. “You dare lay a finger on my daughter,” Ruby’s father yelled. Two security guards held him and Doggy back, while others pinned Bud to the grass during a takedown.
“She’s a thief,” Bud said.
“How dare you accuse my daughter of stealing!” Ruby’s father’s veins threatened to pop out.
After the struggle and near fight, both of Ruby’s parents asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. Doggy helped me. Can we keep him?”
Ruby’s father gazed at Doggy and said, “Ruby, Doggy’s not a he. Doggy’s a she. And we don’t know who she belongs to. Besides, she looks well-fed.”
Ruby focused on the food lady who approached them. “She’s a stray. No chip or tag. Dog catchers caught her before. Somehow she escaped. Wants to be free. She always returns to pick out her next meal from the trash. I never call the dog catchers to come pick her up. The other workers do. Customers’ worried she has fleas. I don’t believe them.”
Ruby’s mother said, “Thank you so much for helping us find our dear Ruby.”
“Happy to help. Bud didn’t need to go that far over a hot dog.”
Ruby glanced as security grabbed Bud and hauled him to his feet in silver bindings.
“Can we keep Doggy?” Ruby gazed at her mother with puppy eyes.
“Well… she is a stray,” Ruby’s father said. “And she did save our child. She’s a hero.”
“Hero?” Ruby’s face scrutinized Doggy now standing unrestrained by security. “Hero. Come here, girl.”
Hero spun toward Ruby.
“Here, girl! Here, Hero.” Hero sprinted to Ruby, stood on her hind legs, and licked her face while the girl chuckled. “Down, Hero. Down.”
Little did Ruby know that in two months, the floor to her house would click with the sound of puppy paws. A few more outcasts were added to the family.