A Dog Called Homeless

At the pizza restaurant, Luke tries to tell Dad that Cally still isn’t talking, but Dad is too distracted to listen. Luke brings up what Dad has taught them to do around unhoused people, and Dad confirms that he doesn’t want them to give anything to unhoused people. Dad acts nervous the entire time they’re at the pizza place, and when they finish eating, he takes Cally and Luke to a playground.

At the playground, Cally, Luke, and Dad all go off in separate directions. As Cally walks through a garden there, the big gray dog from earlier bounds up to her, and she laughs. Upon doing so, Cally invents the one rule to her new silent streak: She’s “allowed to laugh. Because laughing isn’t words. Nobody knows what you are saying, but everyone knows what you mean. Even a dog” (50). Cally smiles to herself, glad to at least give herself back the gift of laughter.

When Dad calls Luke and Cally over to him, the dog follows Cally. Dad grows annoyed at the dog, and Cally notices that he’s “just like the people at school. They were scared of the dog because he was so big. They didn’t want to stop to look into his soft eyes and see he wasn’t trying to do any harm” (52). The dog’s ears perk up, and he runs off in another direction.

Dad tells Cally and Luke what he’s been trying to say all day. He shows them a newspaper clipping with an apartment listed for rent. He tells them that they have to move out of the house and will move into this apartment. Luke asks dozens of questions, and Dad tries to tell him to wait until he sees the apartment. Cally looks back at the playground as they walk toward the car and sees Jed with the dog and a sign that says “Homeless.” Cally decides that this will be the dog’s name.

Dad takes Cally and Luke to see the apartment. As they walk around, Cally can’t help but think of their old home. It “had just been built when Mom and Dad moved in. Everything in it [is theirs]. The builders made the outside; Mom made the inside” (55). Cally wonders if they can make the new apartment feel like home.

Dad tries to have a good attitude about it, but Luke storms off, leaving Cally and Dad at the new apartment. They go after him and find him throwing rocks under a bridge nearby. Dad tells Luke, “There’s going to be some layoffs at work. The warehouse is downsizing. […] They’ve cut my hours. I have to make sure we don’t lose everything” (58). Luke understands the financial situation; what he doesn’t understand is why Dad waited so long to tell them.

As much as the family doesn’t want to leave their home, they have no choice. Luke joins Cally’s silence and doesn’t “speak to Dad for days. […] Dad [doesn’t] say anything about [their] not talking” (61). They all pack up their belongings in boxes, worried about the big change they’re about to face.

Later that week, Mia and Daisy try to get Cally to talk, and they mention that they saw Homeless out by the gates at school. They blame Cally when they turn around and the dog is gone. Cally heads “to the library to get away from them and to read about dogs. I found out about Homeless, Irish wolfhound, ancient wolf hunter, loyal friend and protector” (63). As she reads, she can’t help but think how much she wishes Homeless could come home with her.

Leaving the library, Cally goes to the park, where she finds Mom and Homeless waiting by the pond. Cally sits with Homeless and pets him, wishing he could talk to her. She leans into him, reminded of the comfort she used to get from Mom.

Eventually, Luke finds her and says that “they’[ve] been looking everywhere for her” (66). He gives her a new packet of bubble gum to cheer her up and takes her back to the parking lot, where Dad is waiting in the van. When they get inside, Luke tells Dad he’s worried about Cally.

The first morning in the new apartment, Cally wakes up to the smell of pancakes, which automatically reminds her of rainy days at home with Mom. She moves toward the kitchen, where she overhears Luke and Dad talking about how she still isn’t speaking. To test Cally’s resolve to stay silent, Dad sends her on an errand to see if the downstairs neighbors have any milk they can have.

Downstairs, Cally notices something odd about the neighbor’s apartment. It has “a spongy handle and a drum for a door knocker” (69-70). Cally uses the drum to knock and is greeted by a kind woman who introduces herself as Mrs. Cooper. She explains that she made the pancakes for Cally and her family, as a welcome gift. Cally holds up the jug she brought down to ask for some milk, and Mrs. Cooper understands what she wants. She invites Cally in and introduces her son, a boy Cally’s age named Sam.

Sam, Mrs. Cooper explains, is blind and mostly deaf. She taps out messages to him in his hand and then turns back to Cally. When Mrs. Cooper asks her what her name is, she races out of the apartment, leaving the milk and pancakes behind. She doesn’t want to have to speak her name but doesn’t know how to communicate it nonverbally. After Cally goes back upstairs, she hears a knock at the door. Mrs. Cooper gives Dad the pancakes and milk and a small present to Cally from Sam: two small cogs.

Cally goes back downstairs to spend time with Sam and Mrs. Cooper. When she gets inside, Sam is sitting at the table, putting together a clock with small bumps on it. Mrs. Cooper explains that the bumps are called braille, and it’s how Sam can read with his fingers. Cally hands Sam the two cogs that he sent upstairs, and Sam smiles. He puts the cogs into place, and the clock begins to tick.

Sam is independent; he brushes his mom’s hand away when she tries to help him. The two speak to each other by tapping messages on each other’s hands. When Sam moves closer to Cally, she realizes “that the reason he lean[s] so close was that that was how the world talked to him—through his skin” (77). Mrs. Cooper shows Cally some cards, each with a different word and the braille word taped underneath it. During her time at the Coopers, Cally starts to learn all the different ways that Sam communicates and how she too can communicate without speaking.

Dad knocks on the door and asks Cally to come back upstairs. Mrs. Cooper tells him that she’s welcome anytime, but Dad is upset that Cally left without telling him. He thanks Mrs. Cooper for the pancakes and tells Cally to get back to unpacking.

Later, Dad takes Cally and Luke on a walk. He points toward a group of trees and tells them that there “[u]sed to be a park with a lake over there […] Swan Lake it was called. When I was a kid I used to take my model boat there” (81). He tells them that the model boat sank and is probably still down there “rotting away.” Cally is happy to hear him reminiscing again. Lately, Dad never talks about memories. She wishes he would talk about Mom but knows it’s still too painful for him.

By now, Dad has realized that Cally is serious about not speaking. He tries to coax her into talking by asking her about what color she wants to paint her bedroom, but Cally doesn’t budge. He tells her that she’ll have to say something to him sooner or later if she wants to communicate what she wants.