True Love, Talking Dogs, and Artificial Intellegence, Oh My!
an excerpt

“Parley! Parley, where are you!” Suki was screaming, throwing the helmet down behind her, tripping a bit on her new heels (even though they were short, she was still tipsy), and running towards the front door of her building where flames were encroaching on the front hallway. “Parley!”

Strong arms grabbed her from behind, and a rough voice yelled at her to get back.

Suki fought. She felt the heat of the flames from the building, and still she fought. She kicked and screamed for her dog, she yelled and tried to pry and hit the hands away that were holding her back. But they wouldn’t let go.

And finally she realized someone else was yelling – at her. Telling her to calm down, that she couldn’t go inside now – the building was gone.

She fought less, but still had visions of a burning ball of fur, trapped somewhere in the building. She’d locked the door. Plus, Parley didn’t have opposable thumbs. He was trapped. Hardly any of her neighbors even knew she had a dog because he was so quiet. When they saw her in the hallway with him, the ones she didn’t know were invariably shocked to find out she had a pet. He didn’t even smell, they remarked.

Suki was apparently screaming her thoughts again, because she could hear Hugo’s voice telling her that someone who knew about him had probably let him out. The landlord would know about any pets, and would have told the firemen to get him out. They just needed to find someone in charge so they could ask and see if anyone had seen him.

She was crying, she knew she was. The tears were falling down her face so quickly she knew her makeup was ruined. She didn’t care. Where was Parley? She stopped fighting, and let Hugo lead her back to his bike. He told her to sit still, and asked one of her neighbors to watch her while he went to find out about her dog.

He didn’t even have to go anywhere.

“That big Golden, right? That’s your dog?” One of the old men who lived – had lived across the hall from her stooped down so she could hear through her sobs.

She could only nod.

“Why, that dog saved everyone in the building! He’s a damned hero!”

“What do you mean?” Hugo was her voice. She couldn’t speak, she’d been screaming so hard. What had Parley done?

Another man, this one middle aged who had lived in the apartment below Suki’s, nodded. His hands were shaking. “You left your window open,” he said, his voice shaking. “I heard him barking from your place and was about to hit the ceiling with my broom, when suddenly he’d jumped onto the fire escape. He managed the stairs, and suddenly was in my apartment.”

The old man nodded encouragingly. “Dog’s have an amazing sense of smell,” he commented needlessly. Everyone knew that, Suki thought in her head (this time actually managing to keep her thoughts to herself). Just get to the point where you tell me Parley’s okay!

“And I’m allergic, severely,” her downstairs neighbor continued. “I tried to shoo him out the window again, but he ran for my front door and started barking again. Wouldn’t stop jumping and scratching and ruining my wood.”

He looked at the building, and everyone thought the same thing. Scratched wood wasn’t going to matter much now. Flames emerged from every window, despite the water the firemen kept pouring on the fire.

“When I got around him to chase him out my front door, he went straight for the fire alarm and jumped on it, setting the goddamned thing off. Goddamndest thing I ever saw.”

Someone else jumped into the story, someone Suki didn’t know. “I came out of my apartment when I heard the alarm. Joe said it was just a false alarm, that the dog had set it off on accident, but then I could smell the smoke. Everyone started coming out of their apartments, and people from two floors up were running down the stairs at full tilt. The smoke was real bad up there, and they figured better safe than sorry, so we all ran out.”

“But what about her dog,” Hugo persisted. “That’s a great story, but this woman is obviously distraught. Get to the damn point!”

He roared that last bit, and Suki could have kissed him.

One person cleared their throat. Everyone looked a bit shocked.

A boy about ten years old came out from behind his mom. “Your dog saved my cat,” he said quietly, looking straight at Suki. “They took them both to the vet for burns and stuff. Mom says I can’t go, but I want to.”

Suki looked at the boy, and then the boy’s mom. “Which vet?”