The Dog Park

Bax jumped and picked up the pace, making Daisy speed after him in pursuit. I stopped momentarily, thinking how similar their relationship was to Sebastian’s and mine—an awful lot of chasing on my part. But that was all done. I reminded myself I would thrive on my own. With my dog. (Whenever I got to have him.)

I walked over and spoke to Daisy’s owner, Maureen, who was talking with the British couple who owned the pug.

“Did Daisy go to the groomers?” Tabitha, the wife, asked Maureen.

“We had to. She found something dead in our alley and before I could stop her, she flipped over and rolled in it.”

“Eew,” we all said.

“Thank God Miss Puggles doesn’t do that,” Tabitha said. “She wouldn’t deign to.”

We watched as Miss Puggles sassed around the park, heavy-snouted with a light, sashaying rear. Baxter spun away from Daisy and tried to entice Miss Puggles into playing. Eventually, he turned his sights back on Daisy, and the whole thing started again.

“So you have Baxter back,” Al said to me.

“Yeah. I missed him so much.”

“I don’t know how you guys do it.”

He said this to me at least a few times a month.

His wife swatted his arm. “Al, leave it.”

“Hey, have you guys ever tried that bitter apple spray?” Maureen said. “Daisy is still chewing the one end of my couch. It’s making me crazy!”

We talked for the next thirty minutes about all things dog, from the food we fed them and their digestive systems, to their antics and habits.

The group broke up when Maureen announced she had a lunch date.

“Great. Have fun,” I said, wishing I had a lunch date myself. But who did I want that date to be with? I had no idea.

I hadn’t met many people since Sebastian and I split up. I’d made a stab at internet dating, but felt too out of the game to make a decision to go out with any of the guys who’d written me. I’d since canceled my membership. I was too concerned, apparently, with picking over the life I’d had with Sebastian.

But now that I’d decided to move on, I should grab opportunities. Maybe I’d go out with the weather guy that my broadcaster friend was always trying to set me up with. Maybe I’d try to date online again. I’d go after business harder, maybe start courting some of the local magazines more so I could style their shoots.

Bax and I continued our walk and when we reached the busy intersection of North and Clark I decided to take Baxter toward the nature museum and the creek behind it.

We stopped for a moment at the corner. “Sit,” I said to Baxy. He did so obediently. I smiled a smug grin, thinking, He is such a good dog. Sebastian and I got so lucky.

“Hey, Mrs. Hess.”

It didn’t used to irk me when people called me that. Sebastian was fairly well-known in Chicago and I was known as his wife. So although I hadn’t taken Sebastian’s name, preferring Jessica Champlin to Jess Hess, I never minded. But now that we were split up, now that I was on my own, it bothered me.

I turned. Then it didn’t bother me so much. “Hi, Vinnie.”

Vinnie was a sweet fifteen-year-old kid. I’d known him for a few years, since Sebastian and I had moved to this neighborhood. Back then, he went by William or Will. That was his middle name. (Apparently, his parents had named him Vincent only as a tribute to a grandfather who died on the day he was born.) But recently, upon entering high school, apparently in protest to some perceived injustice, Will started calling himself Vinnie. His parents hated it, so he kept using it. He’d told me this one time when Bax and I were at the park and Vinnie was hanging around shooting short films on his phone.

The kid was always behind that phone, videoing something. Often he chuckled, scolded himself for a bad shot or generally just mumbled low, narrating, apparently.

Once he showed me the short films he’d made. Some were silent, with a sort of French feel. Others were loud, raucous street scenes. He seemed to like the juxtaposition of the two. After that, I’d looked at the webpage where he posted his films, and saw he had a lot of followers online. A hell of a lot more than I did.

“Hey, Baxter,” Vinnie said. He bent and petted Baxter on the head. Baxter batted his golden tail on the ground.

“How’s he doing?” Vinnie said, pointing to the dog.

“Good. I just got him back from his dad.” Yeah, that was how I talked. I was Baxter’s mom and Sebastian his dad. I was fully aware that I was a childless woman in her thirties whose dog was her kid. (Hence Baxter’s winter sweaters that were just waiting to be worn and the fact that I sometimes signed emails to friends, “Jess and Baxter.” I wasn’t even embarrassed.)

Baxter stood suddenly, his nose pointed across the street, his eyes peering.

I saw a mastiff walking with his owner. (His dad, I mean.) Although Baxter weighed all of fifteen pounds, he often seemed to think he was heavier and wanted to play with dogs much larger than he was.

I considered going back to the park, where it appeared the mastiff was heading, but then Bax strained on the leash even more.

“Sit,” I said.

Nothing.

“Sit!” I demanded, pointing at the ground as I’d been instructed by an obedience trainer.

But not only did Baxter not sit—he ran. Or rather, he bolted.

And not toward the mastiff but horizontally across North Avenue to the opposite corner.

A little toddler, an adorable girl in a yellow dress, stood there with her mom in front of a bank.

“No!” I yelled. “Baxter, stop!”

If there was one behavioral issue Baxter possessed, it was that he not only wanted to play with big dogs, he wanted to play with little kids, a desire that sometimes resulted in him jumping on children, often terrifying both parent and child. Luckily, he’d never come close to biting or hurting anyone and I no longer feared he would.

Until that minute.

Baxter was running fast, and he was headed right toward the toddler.

3

Vinnie, the little jackass, laughed as Baxter ran. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kid raise his phone.

“No!” I yelled, not at Vinnie but at the dog.

By then Baxter had nearly reached the other side of the street.

“Baxter, no!” I yelled again.

And then he tackled the kid. Absolutely tackled her.

The mother screamed and lunged at her daughter.

A truck whizzed by. “Baxter!” I shouted, sure he was going to be mowed down.

Instead, he stood over the toddler, panting.

I charged after him, yelling his name.

When I got there, the mother was on the ground, cradling her child. The girl was surprisingly dry-eyed, but the mom was crying.

“I’m so sorry!” I said, shoving Baxter out of the way with my leg but grabbing his leash so he couldn’t get too far.

Baxter took a couple steps back, but his panting gaze remained on the toddler. She was a little beauty who was smiling and cooing in her mother’s arms, as if she had no idea the quick turn of events that had just happened.

“I’m so sorry,” I said again. I crouched next to mother and child, careful not to get too close. The mom was young, wearing white jeans and a pink T-shirt.

She looked up at me, tears rimming her blue eyes.

“I truly apologize,” I said. “He’s really a friendly dog, but sometimes he doesn’t know his limits. That’s our fault. My husband says I...”

I shut up. What did it matter what “my husband” (who was no longer my husband) thought about a dog who tackled tots? It didn’t matter that we’d gotten the dog to try and stay together, but had lost each other anyway. And it certainly didn’t matter how many obedience professionals we had contacted about this jumping problem of Baxter’s.

To my surprise, the woman smiled at me. “He saved her,” she said. “Didn’t you see that? He saved my daughter.”

“Good work, Baxter!” I heard from behind me.

I turned to see Vinnie, holding out his cell phone.

“Check this out,” he said. “That truck had no idea.”

“I know,” the mom said.

“The truck?” I said.

Vinnie stopped and looked down at the child and her mom. “She okay?”

The mom nodded vigorously. “Her name is Clara.” She held her kid tighter.

“Check this out.” Vinnie held out his phone—there was a still image of Baxter dashing across the street, his gold-starred collar gleaming and his gold-starred, blue leash blazing behind him.

“He looks like a superdog,” Vinnie said. He fiddled with his phone, then turned it back to us. “Watch this.”

He pushed Play. There was Baxter, dashing, the leash streaming behind him. But at the top of the screen...

“See the truck?” Vinnie said, crouching next to us.

I nodded. A white delivery truck. And it was headed right at Clara, who was taking a wobbly step off the curb. “Oh, my God,” I said.

Just before the truck hit her, Baxter tackled her.

“Your dog saved my daughter,” the mom said. She held out her hand. “I’m Betsy.”

I noticed Vinnie seemed to be videoing again, but I was too relieved to protest.

I shook the mom’s hand. “Jessica.”

“Jessa!” the toddler said in a mumble, mimicking me.

We all laughed.

Betsy, her arms still around Clara, turned to Baxter. “And who is this one?”

“This is Baxter.”

I let go of Baxter’s leash, and he took a few steps toward Betsy and Clara. Betsy kissed him on the top of his head. Baxter licked Clara’s ear.

“Baxter, no,” I said.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Betsy said. “In my book, this dog gets to do whatever he wants.”

I looked up at Vinnie. He was still taping our exchange. “Vinnie,” I said. “Enough.”

“Okay, cool.” He put the phone in his pocket. “But I’m putting this online.”

Words, it would turn out, that would change everything.

4

The first call came at five o’clock that evening, just eight hours after Sebastian had brought Baxter to my house.

After the incident on the street, Baxter was wiped out. We went home and he slept most of the day. I cleaned the house, returned emails about an Art Institute benefit and read through specs sent by a magazine editor I was working with. It was my first time styling a photo shoot for them. I wanted to do a great job so I could work with her again.

When Baxter finally roused, we took another walk, and I threw a ball in the alley for him.

Really, aside from the scene on the street (which, though scary, had taken only a few minutes), it was like any other day.

The phone—the landline I used for business—was ringing when we walked in the condo. It was Victory, a state senator with a great name, who had retained me for the past six months to outfit her with chic but serious suits and dresses. “Jessica, do you have a dog named Baxter?” she said.

“I do,” I said, a little surprised. Although I’d heard Victory mention a dog named DeeDee in the past, with her four children and the political job and being a consultant on the side, she had little time to chitchat about pets.

“My kids just showed me the video,” she said.

It took a minute to process. “Oh, my dog and the toddler?”

“Yeah, your dog saving the toddler. The video is called ‘Superdog’ and with that leash, he sure looks like it.”

“How did you know it was my dog?”

“There was a link to a follow-up video, and it shows you talking to the mom. I don’t know who put it up.”

“Vinnie,” I said. “He’s a neighborhood kid who shot it.” My laptop was on the counter, and I clicked on a search engine and typed in Superdog. Sure enough, there it was.

“My kids are in love with your dog. They say DeeDee needs a brother or sister. They also say the video has a thousand hits.”

“Seriously?” I peered at the screen. 1374 views, it said under the first shot—Baxter in full run, his starred leash forming a straight line behind him.

I heard kids talking in the background.

“They want to know what kind of dog it is,” Victory said.

“Goldendoodle. A mini.”

She repeated my words to her kids. I heard more children talking.

“We are not getting another dog,” she said away from the phone. Then in a lowered tone, she continued, “Out of curiosity...where did you get that dog?”

And that was the question that also arose in the next call (from a neighbor up the street) and the next (another client) and the next (Sebastian’s buddy). They’d all seen the Superdog video. They all wanted to know the story behind it. And then inevitably, “Where did you get that dog?”

I watched the video about twenty times—Baxter a flash as he bolted across the street, a blue-gold streak that became a yellow blur when he collided with Clara, the white delivery truck speeding by a nanosecond later.

I tried calling Sebastian. Baxter was his kid, too, and all that. But of course his phone was off. I didn’t even get to hear his voice, because he utilized an automated message, required by his job. He was off somewhere in that “small conflict.”

Didn’t matter. I was going to enjoy it all by myself.

The next morning, another call—from my broadcaster client, Pamela Nyman, one of Chicago’s most well-known newscasters. She now had her own morning show, and her producer had hired me to select outfits to wear on set. We’d kept working together since then and I’d shop for events for her.

“Jess,” she said, her voice hurried. “Glad I got you. Do you remember when we were at that store on Halsted? I was bitching about the videos we sometimes have to show?”

“Something about a bear?”

“Yeah. That one was a bear who put his head in a garbage can and got stuck. The beast was stumbling around with the can on its head.”

I laughed.

She groaned. “Fine, it’s funny, but it isn’t noteworthy. Sometimes I just can’t believe I have to act interested in it. Anyway, I may be coming around to these videos. I got to work this morning, and they told me we were running one.” I heard talking in the background. “We’re about to run it now, in fact. And guess whose dog is in it?”

“Oh, geez, is it Baxter?” I got a quickening of excitement.

“You got it. I recognized him from that time we had a dog date.” Pamela had a Yorkie who Baxter had hit it off with immediately. “And the video really is adorable. Remarkable. But I wanted to make sure you were okay with us showing it. I can ask the producer to kill it if you’re not comfortable.”

I thought about it. I should probably ask Sebastian first, but he was unreachable. Anyway, it would be fun.

“Hell, yeah,” I said. “Roll with it.”

“Great! We’re not showing the whole video, like the part you were in—though I saw it. You were running like a mad woman.”

“And screaming like one,” I said. “This is hilarious. It just happened yesterday.”

“That’s how these things go,” she said. “And that Baxy is damn cute. You’d better get ready.”

“For what?”

“Craziness. If you want it.”

“I want it,” I said without hesitation.

There was a shout in the background. “Gotta get on set,” Pamela said before she hung up. “Turn on the TV.”

“Baxter!” I yelled. He was in the laundry room, which was his current favorite locale to roll around with the stuffed blue earthworm.

He came trotting out, worm hanging from his mouth, while I scrambled for the remote.

“Watch, Baxy,” I said, pointing to the TV and scrolling fast to find Pamela’s network.

Baxter looked in the direction of the TV, but generally he didn’t seem to know how to focus on it.

He dropped onto his back and, holding the stuffed blue earthworm with both sets of paws, began chewing on its head.

I found the channel and saw Pamela. She was dressed in a purple dress I’d found for her at Barneys that fit tight to her great figure and highlighted her chestnut brown hair.

“Well, we like to bring you the occasional animal video,” she said with a smile (one so good-natured you wouldn’t know that she generally disliked such videos). “Usually these are humorous, often they’re cute, but it’s not all the time we get to see an animal save someone. In this case, a child. Watch.”

There was Baxter with the streaming gold stars. There was my voice shrieking at him to stop. And then the speeding truck and Baxter head-butting Clara, knocking her out of the way.

“Amazing,” said Pamela’s broadcast partner, a handsome man with a helmet of black hair. “That dog saved that kid’s life.”

“He did. And we’ve learned that the dog’s name is Baxter.”

“Baxter, the Superdog,” the male broadcaster said.

“Baxter, the Superdog,” Pamela repeated.

5

By the end of the morning, I’d had at least twenty phone calls, most from friends or colleagues who’d seen the video.

“My kid loves it!” said a friend from Manhattan. “She’s carrying around her phone and showing it to everyone in her class.”

The breeder from whom we’d gotten Baxy called, too. “We are getting calls and emails constantly! We don’t have enough litters to satisfy them all.”

“Sorry,” I said.

“Are you kidding?” she said. “This is great. It’s the best business we’ve ever had. We’ll just raise rates. And we’re sending you a finder’s fee for each one who has seen the video and buys a dog.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“We have to do something! You’ve tripled our business in one day.”

“Really?”

“Really. You know we’re picky about our owners. We only want people who are really serious about caring for the dog. But yeah.”

“So if I think someone’s a good fit, and I make them happy by recommending one of your goldendoodles and they buy one, I’ll get a percentage?”

“Absolutely. We know another family with a smaller but similar business. They have excellent dogs, and we’ve been wanting to partner with them.”

I remembered the price we’d paid for Baxter and did the math. “Wow,” I said. “Hey, thank you for giving us Baxter. He means a lot to both Sebastian and me.”

I realized as I said it that she didn’t know we were divorced. And suddenly I didn’t want to tell her, didn’t want her to worry that our divorce caused a lack of devotion to Baxter.

“You know with your percentage,” she said, “we could also donate to your favorite charity.”

A charitable organization leaped to mind. One I hadn’t thought of in a long, long time.

“The Amalie Project,” I said. Just saying the words flooded my body with memories. I felt flush with embarrassment, humiliation and ultimately triumph from having climbed out of that space.

“The Amalie Project,” the breeder said. “What’s that?”

I couldn’t believe I’d blurted it out. “Uh...they help women in need.”

“Great! We’ll give something in your name. Aside from your fee.”

“Oh...no, that’s okay.” I didn’t want my name on the donation. My name had been associated with the Amalie Project once. Back in New York. “I’d rather it go to a rescue shelter.”

As much as I wanted to support the Amalie Project, as much as it had helped me, I did not want to go back in any way.

6

Labrabullies. That’s what Sebastian and I took to calling the two black Labradors who sometimes showed up at the dog park. Their heads were as big as basketballs, their girth like round oak barrels. The owner, a fiftyish guy, usually sat on a far park bench, sipping coffee and working furiously on his phone. As a result, the walk of the Labrabullies was a combination amble, saunter and swagger. They didn’t run. They didn’t have to. They intimidated. And there was really no one to stop them. The owner rarely noticed until one of them had nearly taken a limb off another dog.

Most dogs dropped when they saw them. They pretended to be part of a tree stump or to feign a stroke.

But not Baxter. Instead, he always trotted around them, orange squeaky ball in his mouth. He did this despite how we tried to direct him elsewhere, how I pulled him into the long grassy area to play fetch, normally one of his favorite activities. And always, the Labrabullies would lunge and snarl at him, try to take away his ball. And yet the next time we saw them, Bax would do it again. He simply couldn’t seem to stand the thought that the bullies didn’t like him. There was no way to explain to Bax that they were equal-opportunity haters.

So it wasn’t surprising when Baxter headed toward the Labrabullies that day he was on morning TV. What was different was his direct approach. Maybe it was subconsciously knowing that he was Superdog that caused Baxter to not just approach the bullies in a circular fashion that day but to charge over to them. Maybe it had been the tackling of the little girl, which he had not been punished for in any way.

“Hey, Baxter!” I shouted. “Come!”

He feigned deafness.

When Baxter reached the bullies, per regular custom, they charged at him, growling. Baxter threw in a sneak move and dropped his ball, then took a few steps back, so they could hoover it. The Labrabully with the dingy red collar tossed it to the one with a gray collar, who ran it to a wading pond and dunked the ball like bread in olive oil, then began to eat it. The red one stood by, ready to take over if needed.

Baxter headed toward the eating bully, while some other dogs moved along with him. Rather than egging him on, the other dogs seemed to be trying to herd him away, to telepathically say, Let it go, pal. It is so not worth it.

I ran toward him from across the park. “Baxter!”

Baxy ignored all of us, trotting toward the bullies. Once there, without warning, he swatted the one with the gray collar with his furry paw. A ferocious snarl arose from the bully, a column of hair standing up on his back. The owner noticed for once and he ran, too, dropping his coffee en route, then grabbing one of his dogs before it locked its jaws on to Baxy.

“Sorry, sorry,” the owner said to me.

“It’s his fault, too,” I said, grabbing Baxter and picking him up.

After I scolded him (“Baxter, when I say ‘come’ you come”), Bax retreated to a bench, sitting under it for about ten minutes. But then he was over the trauma, and he emerged from under my legs, looking around. I thought he was checking out the scene for the arrival of some of his pack—Daisy or Miss Puggles—but when he was twenty feet away from me, I noticed he was running for the bullies. And they were running for him.

“Baxter!” I yelled. “Come!”

I heard the Labrabully owner swear. “Damn it, Boomer, Capone! C’mere! Time to go.”

But the Labrabullies answered to no one. When they reached Baxter they started pacing around him, looking exactly like large animals do when they’ve found a good appetizer.

My phone started ringing in my pocket. I ignored it. “Baxter!”

The bully owner and I were at a fast trot toward the dogs now, the bullies closing their circle, their stalking faster.

But then Baxter dropped. Not like other dogs usually do at the sight of the bullies, trying to be invisible. Baxter went onto his back, showing his sweet belly and then writhed around as if to say, It’s okay, smell me.

Which is exactly what the bullies did. No lunging, no more snarling. By the time the owner and I reached them, the three were cozied up to one another, the bullies nudging Baxy with their noses, as if they loved him, finally ready to play.

“Jesus Christ,” the owner muttered, chuckling and looking down at the dogs. “I’ve never seen them like this.” He looked at me. “You got a special dog.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a breath of relief at the sight of Baxter batting a paw at one of the bullies who replied by simply ducking his nose, ready to take another punch.

“What’s that collar he’s got?” the guy said.

“I made that collar to piss off my ex-husband.”

This caused him to laugh.

I told him about how Sebastian hated it and always tried to replace it with something plainer.