03 - Monster Blood (6 page)

Evan made a disgusted face and shook his head. Then he grabbed a big hunk of
it and heaved it at Andy. Laughing, she picked it up off the carpet and tossed
it at his face. She threw high, and the green glob stuck to the wall.

Evan reached for another hunk.

They had a messy, hilarious Monster Blood battle till dinnertime. Then, as
they tried to clean up, they both heard Trigger through the open window. He was barking loudly
out in his pen.

Evan reached the window first. The sky was still gray and overcast. Trigger
was leaning on the wooden fence, standing on his hind legs, barking his head
off.

“Whoa, Trigger,” Evan called, “chill out!”

“Hey—what’s with Trigger?” Andy asked. “Is your dog still growing? He looks
so big!”

Evan’s mouth dropped open and he uttered a silent gasp, realizing that Andy
was right.

Trigger had nearly doubled in size.

“Trigger—come back! Come
back
!”

The big dog continued to run, its giant paws thundering against the concrete.

“Come back!”
Evan screamed, running with long, desperate strides, his
heart thudding, his legs aching with each step as he tried to catch up with the
galloping dog.

The night was dark and starless. The street glistened as if it had recently
rained.

Trigger’s paws hit the pavement, each step a loud thunderclap that seemed to
echo forever. His giant ears flapped like wings, twin pennants caught on the
wind. His big head bobbed up and down, but he didn’t look back.

“Trigger!
Trigger!
”

Evan’s voice seemed muffled by the gusting wind, pushed back in his face. He
tried shouting louder, but no sound came out at all.

He knew he had to stop the dog from running away. He had to catch the dog and
then get help.

Trigger was growing so fast, completely out of control. He was already the
size of a pony, and getting larger by the minute.

“Trigger! Trigger! Stop, boy!”

Trigger didn’t seem to hear him. Evan’s voice didn’t seem to carry beyond the
gusting, swirling wind.

And still Evan ran, his chest pounding, every muscle aching. And as he ran,
he suddenly realized there were others running, too.

Two large figures in front of the stampeding dog.

Two large figures Evan recognized as they fled at full speed, trying to get
away from the onrushing animal.

The Beymer twins. Rick and Tony.

Trigger was chasing them, Evan suddenly realized.

The boys turned a corner, onto an even darker street. Trigger followed,
bounding after them. Evan continued to run, bringing up the rear of this dark,
mysterious parade.

All was silent now, except for the steady, rhythmic thunder of Trigger’s
enormous padded paws.

Except for the
clapclapclap
of the Beymer twins’ sneakers as they
darted along the glistening pavement.

Except for the gasp of Evan’s breathing as he struggled to keep up.

Suddenly, as Evan watched in horror, the dog raised up on his hind legs. He
tilted his head to the sky and let out an ear-piercing howl. Not the howl of a
dog. A creature howl.

And then Trigger’s features began to transform. His forehead burst forward
and enlarged. His eyes grew wide and round before sinking under the protruding
forehead. Fangs slid from his gaping mouth, and he uttered another howl to the
sky, louder and more chilling than the first.

“He’s a monster! A monster!” Evan cried.

And woke up.

Woke up from his frightening dream.

And realized he was in bed, in the study upstairs in Kathryn’s house.

It had all been a dream, a frightening, wild chase of a dream.

A harmless dream. Except that something still wasn’t right.

The bed. It felt so uncomfortable. So cramped.

Evan sat up, alert, wide awake now.

And stared down at his giant feet. His giant hands. And realized how tiny the
bed seemed beneath him.

Because he was a giant now.

Because he had grown so huge, so monstrously huge.

And when he saw how big he had become, he opened his mouth wide and began to
scream.

His screams woke him up.

This time he really woke up.

And realized that, the first time, he had only dreamed that he was awake. Had
only dreamed that he had become a giant.

Dreams upon dreams.

Was he really awake now?

He sat up, blinked, rubbed his eyes, struggled to focus.

Dripping with sweat.

His blankets tossed to the floor.

His pajamas damp, clinging to his prickly skin.

Nothing seemed familiar. It took awhile to shake off the dream, to remember
where he was. That he was in his room at Kathryn’s. Awake now. His normal size.

Tossed by the wind, the curtains brushed over him, then were noisily sucked
out the window.

Evan sat up and, still feeling shaky, peered out the window.

Wisps of gray clouds floated over a pale half-moon. Trees tossed and
whispered in the cool night wind.

Only a dream.

A frightening dream. A dream on top of a dream.

He could see Trigger sound asleep, curled up on himself, pressed against the
fence wall.

Trigger wasn’t a monster. But he was definitely bigger, Evan saw.

Maybe there’s something wrong with him. The troubling thought pushed its way
into Evan’s mind as he stared down at the sleeping dog.

Maybe it’s glands or something.

Maybe he’s eating too much. Or maybe…

Evan yawned. He realized he was too sleepy to think clearly. Maybe the next
morning he’d see if there was a vet in town.

Yawning again, he started to settle back into bed. But something caught his
eye.

The coffee can on the bookshelf. The can where he had stored the Monster
Blood.

“Hey—” he cried aloud.

The green gunk was bubbling, quivering up over the top of the coffee can.

“Your dog seems to be quite healthy for his age.” Dr. Forrest scratched
Trigger gently under the chin. “Look at all the white hairs,” he said, bringing
his face down close to the dog’s. “You’re a good old dog, aren’t you?”

Trigger licked the doctor’s hand appreciatively.

Dr. Forrest grinned, pushing his black eyeglasses up on his narrow nose, the
ceiling light reflecting off his shiny forehead. He wiped his hand on the front
of his white lab coat.

Evan and Andy stood across from Trigger in the small, brightly lit office.
They had both been tense during the long examination the vet had given the dog.
But now, hearing the doctor’s verdict, they had relaxed expressions on their
faces.

“So you think it’s just a late growth spurt?” Evan repeated.

Dr. Forrest nodded, returning to his desk in the corner. “Highly unusual,” he
said softly, leaning over the desk to write a note on a pad. “Highly unusual. We’ll get a lab report in three or four days. It may tell us more.
But the dog seems very healthy to me. I really wouldn’t be alarmed.”

“But do cocker spaniels usually get this big?” Evan asked, leaning down to
scratch Trigger under the chin, the leash looped loosely in his hand.

Trigger wanted to leave. He pulled toward the door. Evan stood up and tugged
hard at the leash to keep the dog in place. It took all of his strength. Trigger
was not only bigger; he was much stronger than he had been a few days before.

“No. Not usually,” the vet replied. “That’s why I took the hormone tests and
the blood and glandular samples. Maybe the lab will have an answer for us.”

He finished writing and tore the sheet off the pad. “Here,” he said, handing
the paper to Evan. “I wrote down the name of a good dog food. Put Trigger on
this, and see that he cuts down on his between-meal snacks.” He chuckled at his
own joke.

Evan thanked the doctor and allowed Trigger to pull him out of the office.
Andy jogged after them. In the waiting room outside, a tiny Chihuahua cowered
behind the couch, whimpering at the sight of the big cocker spaniel.

“I’m glad to be out of there,” Evan exclaimed as they stepped out to the
sidewalk.

“Trigger got a very good report,” Andy said reassuringly, petting Trigger’s
head. “Hey, look—his head is wider than my hand!”

“He’s nearly as big as a sheepdog!” Evan said miserably. “And Dr. Forrest
says he’s perfectly okay.”

“Don’t exaggerate,” Andy scolded. She glanced at her watch. “Oh, no! I don’t
believe it. Late for my piano lesson. Again! Mom’ll
kill
me!”

She waved good-bye, turned, and ran full speed down the sidewalk, nearly
colliding with an elderly couple coming slowly out of the small grocery store on
the corner.

“Let’s go, boy,” Evan said, thinking about what Dr. Forrest had said. Tugging
the leash, he headed out of the small, three-block town. Despite the vet’s
assurances, Evan was still plenty worried about Trigger.

He stopped outside the grocery. “Maybe an ice cream pop will help cheer me
up.” He tied Trigger’s leash to the red fire hydrant across from the grocery’s
door. “Stay,” he instructed.

Trigger, ignoring Evan, struggled to pull free.

“I’ll only be a second,” Evan said, and hurried into the store.

There were three or four people in the store, and it took a bit longer than
Evan had expected. When he returned to the sidewalk ten minutes later, he
discovered the Beymer twins busily untying Trigger.

“Hey—let go!” he cried angrily.

They both turned toward him, identical grins on their beefy faces. “Look what we found,” one of them teased. The other one
successfully untied the leash from the hydrant.

“Hand me that,” Evan insisted, holding his chocolate ice cream bar in one
hand, reaching for the leash handle with the other.

The Beymer twin held the leash handle out to Evan—then quickly snapped it
back out of his reach. “Gotcha!”

The brothers laughed gleefully and slapped each other a high five.

“Stop fooling around,” Evan insisted. “Hand me the leash.”

“Finders, keepers,” one of them said. “Isn’t that right, Tony?”

“Yeah,” Tony replied, grinning. “It’s an ugly dog. But it’s
our
ugly
dog now.”

“Get your own dog, wimp,” Rick said nastily. He stepped forward and punched
the ice cream bar out of Evan’s hand. It landed on the sidewalk with a
plop.

The brothers started to laugh, but their laughter was cut short as Trigger
suddenly uttered a low, warning growl. Pulling back his lips, he bared his
teeth, and his growl became a snarl.

“Hey—” Rick cried, dropping the leash.

With a loud, angry roar, Trigger reared up and pounced on Rick, forcing him
to stagger backward to the curb.

Tony had already started to run, his sneakers pounding the pavement noisily as he headed at full speed past the vet’s
office, past the post office, and kept going.

“Wait up! Hey, Tony—wait up!” Rick stumbled, stood up, and took off after
his brother.

Evan grabbed for Trigger’s leash—and missed.

“Trigger—whoa! Stop!”

The dog took off after the fleeing twins, barking angrily, his enormous paws
thudding loudly on the pavement, picking up speed as he closed in on them.

No, Evan thought, finding himself frozen there on the corner in front of the
grocery.

No. No. No.

This
can’t
be happening!

It’s my dream.

Is it coming true?

Evan shuddered, remembering the rest of his dream, remembering how he, too,
grew until he was twice his size.

Would that part of the dream also come true?

That afternoon, about an hour before dinnertime, Evan called Andy. “Can I
come over?” he asked. “I have a small problem.”

“Sounds like a big problem,” Andy said.

“Yeah. Okay. A big problem,” Evan snapped impatiently. “I’m not in the mood
to kid around, okay?”

“Okay. Sorry,” Andy replied quickly. “Any sign of Rick and Tony? They’re not
your problem, are they?”

“Not at the moment,” he told her. “I told you, they were gone by the time I
caught up with Trigger. Disappeared. Vanished. Trigger was still barking his
head off. Somehow I dragged him home and got him in his pen.”

“So what’s your problem?” she asked.

“I can’t tell you. I have to show you,” he said. “I’ll be right there. Bye.”

He hung up the phone and hurried down the stairs, carrying the bucket. Kathryn was in the kitchen, her back to him,
chopping away at something with her big butcher knife. Evan hurried past and
darted out the door.

Andy’s house was a modern, redwood ranch style, with a low hedge of
evergreens running along the front. Her dad, she said, was a fanatic about the
lawn. It was clipped a perfect inch and a half above the ground, smooth as a
carpet. A flower garden stretched along the front of the house, tall orange and
yellow tiger lilies bobbing in the gentle breeze.

The front door was open. Evan knocked on the screen door.

“What’s with the bucket?” was Andy’s greeting as she let him in.

“Look,” he said, out of breath from running all the way to her house. He held
up the aluminum bucket he had taken from Kathryn’s garage.

“Oh, wow,” Andy exclaimed, raising her hands to her face as she stared into
it wide-eyed.

“Yeah. Wow,” he repeated sarcastically. “The Monster Blood. It’s grown again.
Look. It’s almost filled this big bucket. What are we going to do?”

“What do you mean
we
?” Andy teased, leading him into the den.

“Not funny,” he muttered.

“You didn’t want to share it,” she insisted.

“I’ll share it now,” he said eagerly. “In fact… do you want it? I’ll give it to you for a bargain price—free.” He held
the bucket toward her.