When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin Page B

calls. “So, it’s definitely noisy here,” I said.
    She nodded. “I still don’t want to talk about it.”
    â€œOkay. I just want to make sure you’re, like, okay.”
    â€œBen, I’m kicking this thing’s butt. Seriously, I am. I feel it. I’m going to get myself to the point I have zero cancer in my body. Then all I have to do is stay clear for five years, and they’re going to tell me they’re almost positive it’s never coming back. Now hold my freezing cold hand, no more talking.”
    We held hands and watched this boat-like cloud fly past the sun.
    â€œAre you thinking what I’m thinking?” she said.
    â€œYou want to put a cloud ship into the story,” I said.
    â€œMind reader.”
    â€œHow about a spaceship?”
    â€œI
knew
you were going to turn this into a sci-fi,” she said. “Okay, spaceship, but then I get to put in another magician.”
    â€œWe’ll call her the Contessa of Starlight,” I said. “Tess for short.”
    â€œYes, and her wand is made of roentgenium.”
    â€œExcept maybe it’s more like a magic staff,” I said. “Yeah, she has the littlest limp, a pinch of arthritis maybe, but you’ll never catch her complaining about it—or anything else either. That’s why everybody loves her. She takes the tough stuff that comes her way, and instead of letting it push her down, she picks herself up. She picks up everybody around her and carries them up the mountain.”
    â€œShe’s sounds amazing, Ben Coffin. She sounds awesome. She’s my kind of hero, the perfect character for our story. I knew there was a reason I hired you.”

23
    LEO MEANS LION
    â€œHi,” I said.
    Aunt Jeanie was on the phone. Leo was on the couch. He didn’t say hi. He pouted and went into his office. Aunt Jeanie hung up the phone.
    â€œDid I do something wrong?” I said.
    â€œHe was . . .
sad
that you didn’t trust him with the dog.”
    â€œIt’s not that,” I said.
    Leo leaned out of his office. “It’s
exactly
that,” he said. “I may look stupider than I am, champ, but I’m not, okay? When did they start letting people bring dogs into school anyway?”
    I told them about the Mold situation. “It’s just easier for everybody,” I said. “I exercise him while I deliver my coupons, and then there’s another dog and all these kids for him to play with.”
    â€œEasier,
” Leo said. “Right,
that’s
the reason, Jeanie. It’s
easier.
” He huffed back into his office and closed the door.
    Aunt Jeanie patted the barstool next to hers and I sat. She took out one of those lint roller things and rolled it over my shirt to get the dog hair off. “I want to tell you a secret,” she said. “You have to keep this just between you and me. The word
Leo
means lion. He has a lion’s heart. Big. Sensitive, you know? He wounds easily. Ben, I want you to be as comfortable as you can be here. We all need to work on our trust, right?”
    â€œI do trust you.”
    â€œI’m not so sure you do. It’s horrifying, losing Tess so suddenly. Life is just awful sometimes, even most times. We have to be realistic about that and avoid the rough patches as best we can, you know? Even if you don’t need Leo, pretend you do a little, okay?”
    â€œActually, I do need him,” I said.
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    I knocked on Leo’s office door. It opened fast. He nodded at me, like what did I want now?
    â€œI need a sponsor for my therapy dog certification test,” I said.
    He frowned, then he shrugged. “Okay.” He put out his huge hand. I shook it. “You want to play a video game?” he said. It was this racecar thing on his computer, totally from a million years ago. He was the type who
really
liked to win. Flip hunkered under my arm, on the