grip as his tail's momentum moved him around. "What are some good dog names?" I asked.
"Spot. Rex. Fido. Champ," Dad said. "Those are the cliche names, anyway. Usually people try to go for something more memorable. When I was a kid I had a dog my dad called Shiva, Destroyer of Shoes. But I don't think that would be appropriate in a community of former Indians. Maybe something else." He pointed to my elephant pendant. "I notice you seem to be into elephants these days. You have a Celeste. Why not call him Babar?"
From behind Dad I could see Jane look up from her reading to look at me, remembering what happened at the toy store, waiting to see how I would react.
I burst out laughing.
"So that's a yes," Dad said, after a minute.
"I like it," I said. I hugged my new puppy, and then held him out again.
"Hello, Babar," I said.
Babar gave a happy little bark and then peed all over my shirt.
And that's the story of the jade elephant.
PART I Chapter Five
There was a tap on my door, a rat-a-tat that I gave Hickory to use when I was nine, when I made it a secret member of my secret club. I made Dickory a secret member of an entirely different secret club. Same with Mom, Dad and Babar. I was all about the secret clubs when I was nine, apparently. I couldn't even tell you what the name of that secret club was now. But Hickory still used the knock whenever my bedroom door was closed.
"Come in," I said. I was standing by my bedroom window.
Hickory came in. "It's dark in here," it said.
"That's what happens when it's late and the lights are out," I said.
"I heard you walking about," Hickory said. "I came to see if you needed anything."
"Like a warm glass of milk?" I said. "I'm fine, Hickory. Thank you."
"Then I'll leave you," Hickory said, backing out.
"No," I said. "Come here a minute. Look."
Hickory walked over to stand next to me at the window. He looked where I pointed, to two figures in the road in front of our house. Mom and Dad. "She has been out there for some time," Hickory said. "Major Perry joined her a few minutes ago."
"I know," I said. "I saw him walk out." I heard her walk out, too, about an hour earlier; the squeaking of the springs on the screen door had gotten me out of bed. I hadn't been sleeping, anyway. Thinking about leaving Huckleberry and colonizing somewhere new was keeping my brain up, and then made me pace around. The idea of leaving was sinking in. It was making me twitchier than I thought it would.
"You know about the new colony?" I asked Hickory.
"We do," Hickory said. "Lieutenant Sagan informed us earlier this evening. Dickory also filed a request to our government for more information."
"Why do you call them by their rank?" I asked Hickory. My brain was looking for tangents at the moment, it seemed, and this was a good one. "Mom and Dad. Why don't you call them 'Jane' and 'John' like everyone else?"
"It's not appropriate," Hickory said. "It's too familiar."
"You've lived with us for seven years," I said. "You might be able to risk a little familiarity."
"If you wish us to call them 'John' and 'Jane,' then we will do so," Hickory said.
"Call them what you want," I said. "I'm just saying that if you want to call them by their first names, you could."
"We will remember that," Hickory said. I doubted there would be a change in protocol anytime soon.
"You'll be coming with us, right?" I asked, changing the subject. "To the new colony." I hadn't assumed that Hickory and Dickory would not be joining us, which when I thought about it might not have been a smart assumption.
"Our treaty allows it," Hickory said. "It will be up to you to decide."
"Well, of course I want you to come," I said. "We'd just as soon leave Babar behind than not take you two."
"I am happy to be in the same category as your dog," Hickory said.
"I think that came out wrong," I said.
Hickory held up a hand. "No," it said. "I know you did not mean to imply Dickory and I are like pets. You meant to imply Babar is part of your household. You would not leave without him."
"He's not just part of the household," I said. "He's family. Slobbery, sort of dim family. But family. You're family, too. Weird, alien,