Page 27 of Outside the Veil
“You haven’t been eating them, have you?”
“No, you mistake my meaning. They all speak to me in different voices. It’s all a jumble in the box. On the paper, they sing more distinctly.”
Diego stared at him, certain he still suffered from the effects of the glue, then studied the paper again.
“Like Jasper Johns,” Finn tried again.
Ah. It did bear some resemblance toFalse Startfrom the museum’s special exhibit. Interesting that of all the artists Finn had seen that day, he would find an affinity with someone so modern.
“I do like it. It’s lively. Exuberant. Very well done for someone who claims he doesn’t understand art.” Diego handed the picture back. “Finn, if I could get you to one of the wild places that are left, would you want to go? That is, even if it means spending more than twelve hours in a car? I know there’s a lot of aluminum and fiberglass in cars now but still, all that steel in the frame—”
Finn interrupted by flinging his arms around Diego’s neck. “Yes, yes, I would wish to go! Put me in iron shackles. Shut me in an iron box. I don’t care one whit. If there will be wilderness at the journey’s end, I will endure anything.”
“There’s just one thing.”
“Besides being shut up in a hurtling, metal machine?”
“Easy there.” Diego rubbed Finn’s arms, trying to soothe his shaking. “Right. Besides that. You’d need certain papers to cross the border and we’ve no way to get them for you. Not legally, anyway. And I can’t afford the illegal way.”
“Ah. A letter of passage?”
“Yes, something like that. So I need to ask you to do something for me and I feel sort of ashamed asking it.”
“What would you ask of me, my hero?” Finn sat back, a wary light in his eyes.
“Until we cross the border, would you consider being my dog?”
Finn blinked at him and then let out an amused snort. “Diego, you shouldn’t fear to ask me such simple things. Save your worries for when you must have something truly difficult of me.”
“Even if it means wearing a collar for me?”
Finn flashed him a wicked grin. “Even so.”
Diego groaned when his alarm sounded at four in the morning. It had all seemed like such a good idea—beat the rush hour traffic out of the metro area, leave enough time for stops and getting lost and still arrive at the cabin before full dark. Now the shaky, stomach roiling sensation of forcing his body out of bed too early on a few minutes’ sleep made him want to burrow back under the covers and forget the whole thing.
The truck, though, had been delivered the evening before. A Ridgeline, much larger than Diego was comfortable driving, but Miriam insisted he would need something built for bad roads. All the luggage waited in the front hall and, perhaps by this time, an overexcited pooka as well. The pastor who served as the property’s part-time caretaker would be expecting them and Miriam would kill him if he backed out now.
He had just stuck a foot outside the covers when a sudden weight depressed the mattress. Hard-nailed paws landed on his bare chest. A long tongue licked his face until he thought he might drown.
“Up, slugabed! I heard the clock. Up!”
“Finn, please.” He pushed away the wet nose nuzzling at his ear. “You might want to move your big paws if you want me to get out of bed.”
“Your pardon.”
Diego rolled up and switched on the light. A huge black dog sat at the foot of his bed, tongue lolling in a canine grin. “Does it suit?” the dog asked, feathered tail wagging madly.
“You look like a German shepherd had an affair with a wolf.”
“Is this a bad thing?”
“You’re a very handsome specimen.” Diego patted his shoulder. Such soft, thick fur, he wanted to bury his face in it. “Give me a few minutes. I need coffee. And a shower.”
Dog-Finn leaped from the bed. “Can I offer any assistance?”
Anyone else Diego would have told yes.“You can start the coffee while I get cleaned up. Or take the luggage down to the truck.”With Finn, though, he could imagine a few dozen ways such simple things might become disasters of titanic proportions.
“No, thank you. Relax for a few minutes. Grab yourself some breakfast.”
