Nowhere to Turn Read Free

volunteering at an animal shelter, and Nick was in a special anger management program there. The program was supposed to teach him and some other kids patience and self-control by training them to work with dogs that had behavior problems of their own. The human participants learned how to control their frustration by helping the canine participants overcome their problems so that they could be adopted rather than put down. Nick had trained a big black beast named Orion. When the program ended, Schuster, a volunteer at the shelter, adopted Orion. Then, because Mr. Schuster wasn’t able to walk long distances and because he had grown fond of Nick, he hired Nick as a dog walker.
    â€œYou already know what happened,” Nick said.
    â€œHumor me,” Beej said, her patience wearing thin.
    Nick stared at the camera again. “I got back to the house after walking Orion and found Mr. Schuster lying on the floor. He couldn’t move. I called 9-1-1. They took him to the hospital.”
    â€œDid Mr. Schuster say anything to you before they took him away?”
    â€œDog,” Nick said. “He said, ‘Dog.’ It was the only word he said.”
    â€œHe wanted you to look after Orion for him, right?” Beej said.
    Nick shrugged. “I guess.”
    â€œThen what happened?”
    â€œThis is a waste of time.”
    â€œDo you have any better ideas?”
    Nick scowled at the camera. Beej held it steady on him until he spoke again.
    â€œMr. Schuster’s family showed up at the house the next night—his son and daughter-in-law and their kids.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t expecting that. Orion was sleeping in his room. I was on the couch.”
    â€œYou were staying at Mr. Schuster’s?” Beej said.
    â€œWhile he was in the hospital, yeah,” Nick said. “I figured he’d appreciate it if I looked after Orion. But his family acted like I was there to rob the place. The son, Elliot, started yelling at me. He wanted to know who I was and what I was doing in his dad’s house. I was pretty sure he was going to call the cops. I thought his wife would say something, but she didn’t. She just stood there and let Elliot give me the third degree.”
    â€œWhat did you tell him?”
    Nick didn’t answer.
    Beej sighed. “Okay. And then what happened?”
    â€œIt was crazy. Elliot was quizzing me, Orion was barking up in his room, and then Claudia—that’s the wife—decided to go upstairs. If I’d known what she was going to do, I would have stopped her. She heard Orion barking. She must have been able to tell which room he was in. She should have known better, but she barged into his room. Then we heard her scream, and Elliot charged up the stairs. I’m not sure what happened, except that Orion bit her. At least, that’s what she said.
    â€œIt wasn’t serious. There was no blood or anything. Knowing Orion, it was more like a nip. He probably thought she was an intruder. He only ever met her that one time. And it didn’t help that she got so worked up.” He shook his head again. “I tried to get everyone to calm down, but every time Orion moved, Claudia freaked out, and that got Orion going all over again. Every time I gave the command and got him to be quiet, she’d start in, screaming at me to keep the dog away from her. And then he’d start barking again. It was a vicious circle.”
    He sounded exasperated. “They’re terrified of him. Finally, Claudia started screaming at Elliot to call Animal Control. She said she didn’t care what Mr. Schuster said about Orion—”
    â€œWhat did Mr. Schuster say?” Beej said.
    â€œThat he’s a good dog. That there was no reason to be afraid of him. He said that all the time, you know, because he’s so big and has such a deep bark. Claudia said it was obvious he was a vicious dog. She said he should be put