Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog (19 page)

What if the candle truly was enchanted? What if it was a warning—that he should not return to Manhattan?

Manhattan: harried humans, crowded streets, and dogs on leashes.

Oh, how Tango hated leashes! How he despised
dog walkers, who never let him go in the direction he wanted.

But it was more than people and streets and leashes.

If he went back to Manhattan—and he most certainly would if Augusta called Marcellina—he’d never see Beau again. His old friend—Tango choked up inside—would die alone. Without Tango, who would comfort the fox?

And how precious he must be to Augusta, the thousand dollars she’d been willing to give up to keep Tango—the sacrifice she’d made. Earlier, the way Augusta had cried.

And McKenna. Her sad story. Her broken heart. Beau Fox, who never left her side, her silent warrior, ever hidden, but always near.

Oh, he was miserable. But what could he do?

Dawn was breaking. Augusta would soon awaken. She’d make the call early; she’d want to get it over with.

Memories of Esperanza, Dulcinea, and Theresa returned. And it was then that Tango felt the seeds of hope. He felt the kind of power that had taken him to the top of the lighthouse and the kind of courage it took to fight for what rightfully was his.

Tango was not a little dog—not any longer.

Gently, carefully, Tango nuzzled under Augusta’s
pillow. His rescuer was in a deep sleep, her chest rising and falling. Slowly, Tango pawed until the tips of his claws touched the silver heart, and, without waking Augusta, he scraped at the charm until it was close enough to clench in his teeth.

After springing through his doggy-door, Tango trotted across Augusta’s rain-soaked grass. In the corner of her yard, between the rhubarb leaves and the raspberry bushes, Tango dug into the island’s red clay soil.

The digging was slow. Water dripped off leaves and soaked his skin. While he worked, Tango felt the loving eyes of the old fox watching him, warming him, blessing him.

By the time the first ray of sun slanted across his back, the hole was deeper than Tango’s body was tall.

With a tinge of regret and a touch of remorse—for Tango loved Marcellina and always would—he dropped his silver heart into the hole. He kicked the loose dirt back into the hole with his hind legs. Tango walked back and forth across the soil until it was packed as well as he could manage.

When he was finished, Tango turned and searched for his friend’s silver-furred face, but the fox had taken his leave. Above him, a Great Blue heron flapped its wings—
shush-shush-shush
—and a
white-tailed rabbit who’d been at the Pitiful Place hopped past, wiggled her nose, and whispered, “Thanks, Tango.”

Soaked with sweat and drops of last night’s rain, Tango didn’t need a mirror to tell him that he resembled a very wet, very dirty, very large rat.

But the sun was rising. It was the time between tides.

Time enough to dip his body into the sea. Time enough to return to Augusta before she realized that he’d ever been gone.

Marcellina LaTour and Diego Cruz were married on a sun-filled December day at high noon, when diamond-bright snowflakes fell softly from the sky.

An article in the Weddings section of the newspaper described the ceremony in great detail. The matron of honor, Sadie, wore a crown of tiny white roses. Her son, Pierre, bedecked in a white silk tuxedo, acted as the official ring bearer.

The article described the members of the bridal party as “unusual” given that both Sadie and Pierre were Yorkshire Terriers.

A week after the wedding, one thousand miles north of Manhattan, McKenna Skye opened an issue of a celebrity magazine. McKenna showed her foster—soon to be, adoptive—mother, Augusta, a picture of a famous fashion model named Marcellina LaTour, and her new husband, Argentinian filmmaker Diego Cruz, flanked by two Yorkshire Terriers dressed in wedding attire.

Absentmindedly petting the three-legged black cat that she’d named Blackbeard, McKenna said, “Look at this, Augusta. Yorkshire Terriers—just like Tango.”

Marcellina LaTour?

For a split second, McKenna paused, trying to remember when, or where, she’d seen this fancy French name before.

She shook her head. She hadn’t—it was just her imagination.

Later, the Yorkshire Terrier now known as Tango would walk across Marcellina and Diego’s wedding photo, on the end table, where McKenna had left the magazine lying open.

With the Prince Edward Island sun shining down on the glossy page, it seemed to Tango to be a perfect place to take a delicious nap.

And so he did, his heart at peace, at last.

Without the wisdom and encouragement of two outstanding teachers, Sheila O’Connor and Jane Resh Thomas,
Tango
could not have been written. I am deeply grateful to these generous and gifted writers.

I would also like to thank my amazing agent, Linda Pratt, for believing in me, my work, and
Tango
from the very beginning; my skillful editor, Melanie Cecka, for giving
Tango
a loving home at Blooms-bury; and my mother and very first editor, Marcella, who gave me a 1935 edition of
Anne of Green Gables
when I was a girl, fueling my dream that somehow,
someday
, I’d write a book.

Also, many thanks to the many supportive friends and fellow writers who helped me find ways to tell Tango’s story better, particularly Rosemary Davis, Joanne Esser, Wendy Jerome, Amy Schwantes, and Donna Studer.

Thanks also to the people of Prince Edward Island who have so graciously shared their province with me, my friends, and family for more than twenty summers.

Finally, to my husband Ralph; our children, Erin, Britt, Jonathan, and Janine; our grandchildren, Tadhg and Naoise; and the pets who have loved us (Angus, Gretel, Leftie, Louise, Sniffles, Tango, Tootie, and Watson T. Cat): You are the best. And when I say the best, I mean THE BEST.

Copyright © 2009 by Eileen Beha

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

First published in the United States of America in May 2009
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in April 2011
www.bloomsburykids.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Beha, Eileen.
Tango : the tale of an island dog / by Eileen Beha.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.

Summary: Lost at sea while sailing with his wealthy owners, a Yorkshire terrier washes up, nearly dead, in a village on Prince Edward Island where he is nursed back to health by a lonely widow and is befriended by a fox and an abandoned waif who is also struggling to find a home for herself somewhere.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59990-262-3 • ISBN-10: 1-59990-262-1
[1. Yorkshire terrier—Fiction. 2. Dogs—Fiction. 3. Abandoned children—Fiction. 4.
Survival—Fiction. 5. Foxes—Fiction. 6. Country life—Prince Edward Island—Fiction. 7.
Prince Edward Island—Fiction. 8. Canada—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.B3882191Tan 2009    [Fic]—dc22    2008046184

ISBN 978-1-59990-804-5 (e-book)