Doggone It! (6 page)

Suzanne laughed. “Come on, Katie, are you saying it was the squirrel’s fault?”

“Yes!” Katie exclaimed. “You don’t know this squirrel. He’s a tease. He laughs at Pepper and throws acorns at him, and ... ” Katie stopped in the middle of her sentence. She knew she was telling the truth.

She also knew Suzanne would never believe her.

“Anyway, Pepper isn’t the one eating her vegetables,” Katie continued. “It’s this little white puppy. I saw her.”

“Did someone on your block get a puppy?” Suzanne asked excitedly.

“No. I think she’s a stray. And you can bet if Mrs. Derkman sees the puppy on her lawn, she’s going to call the dog catcher.”

“Oh, the poor puppy,” Suzanne said.

“I’m telling you, Suzanne, I’ve never known anyone who hates dogs so much,” Katie added. “Mrs. Derkman hates all animals,” Suzanne said. “She doesn’t go near Speedy’s cage since he got loose that time.” Katie giggled to herself. She knew all about that. After all, she’d
been
Speedy that morning. Katie would never forget the look of fear in Mrs. Derkman’s eyes when she saw the class hamster running across the floor.

“I’ll bet Mrs. Derkman never had a pet when she was growing up,” Suzanne continued. “No one who ever had a pet could hate animals this much.”

“Suzanne, you’re a genius!” Katie exclaimed suddenly.

“I know,” Suzanne agreed. Then she stopped for a minute.
“Why
am I genius?” she asked curiously.

“You’ve just solved Pepper’s problem.”

“I have?” Suzanne asked.

“Yes,” Katie said. “But it’s going to take a lot of work. Will you help me?”

“Sure,” Suzanne agreed. “What do you want me to do?”

“The first thing you need to do is talk your mom into letting us use your basement for a few days.” Katie told her. “We need to get started right away.”

“Hi, girls,” Mrs. Carew said, as Katie and Suzanne ran into Katie’s house after school the next day. “Do you want a snack?”

“No thanks, Mom. We’ve got too much to do,” Katie answered.

Mrs. Carew shrugged. “Okay, I have some bills to pay anyway. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

Katie waited until her mother was all the way upstairs before she started executing her plan.

“Get the peanut butter from the refrigerator, Suzanne?” Katie asked, finally.

“I thought we didn’t have time for a snack,” Suzanne answered.

“It’s not for us.” Katie bent down and picked up one of Pepper’s toy bones.

Pepper sat up tall, waiting. He thought Katie was going to play fetch with him.

No such luck.

“Sorry, boy,” Katie told him. “I need to borrow this for someone else.”

Katie covered both ends of the bone with peanut butter. Then she stuffed a few of Pepper’s treats in her pocket. “Okay, let’s go in the backyard,” she told Suzanne.

“What are we going to do out there?” Suzanne asked.

Katie smiled. “You’ll see.”

Katie walked outside and placed the bone on the grass below her backyard deck. Then she walked back over to Suzanne, who was standing near the side of the house.

The girls stared at the bone. They waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

“Nothing’s happening,” Suzanne complained.

“It will,” Katie assured her. “That bone is perfect.”

Suzanne looked curiously at her best friend. “I don’t get it. How is a peanut-butter bone going to get Pepper out of trouble?”

Katie pointed to the bone. “That’s how.”

Suzanne looked where Katie was pointing. There, in the middle of Katie’s lawn, sat the little white puppy. Her tail wagged excitedly as she licked the peanut butter from the bone.

“Who’s that?” Suzanne asked.

“That’s the vegetable thief,” Katie answered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tasty dog treat.

The white puppy lifted her nose in the air and sniffed. As soon as she spotted Katie, she froze in place. She wasn’t sure whether to grab the treat or run away.

The puppy was very hungry, and the treat was very tempting. Finally, the dog scampered over toward Katie. She opened her mouth and snatched the treat from Katie’s fingers.

Katie scooped the pup up in her arms and carried her over to the side of the house. “That’s a good girl.” Katie petted the dog’s back gently. “Don’t be scared. I want to help you.”

The dog struggled for a moment. Katie gave her another treat. The pup calmed down and began to chew.

“Isn’t she cute?” Katie asked Suzanne.

Suzanne stared at the scrawny puppy with the dirty, matted fur. She wrinkled up her nose. “That dog stinks.”

“I know,” Katie agreed. “But we’re going to clean her up. And then we’re going to teach her a few tricks. When we’re finished,
no one
will be able to resist her.”

Katie and Suzanne kept the stray in Suzanne’s basement. Mrs. Lock wasn’t thrilled about having a dog in the house, but she agreed to let the puppy stay for a few days, if the girls promised to walk her and feed her, as long as Suzanne didn’t get too attached to her.

“There’s no way we can handle adopting a dog right now,” Mrs. Lock told the girls. “I have enough to do with baby Heather.”

“We’re just watching her for a little while,” Suzanne assured her mom.

The girls took good care of the little puppy. They bathed her in the basement sink and made her a bed from a broken bread basket. They fed her and gave her plenty of water.

And every afternoon after school, they worked on training her.

Finally, after about a week, Katie and Suzanne were ready to give the puppy a test. They wanted to see how much she had learned.

Katie stood and looked firmly at the white puppy. “Sit,” she said.

The puppy sat up tall.

Katie walked away. “Stay,” she ordered.

The puppy stayed right where she was.

Katie sat down on her knees. “Come,” she said.

The puppy scampered over to Katie.

“Good girl.” Katie handed her a treat. “I think she’s ready,” she told Suzanne.

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Suzanne asked.

“It just has to,” Katie answered.

Katie scooped up the puppy and began walking toward Mrs. Derkmans’ house. When they reached their teacher’s front door, Katie put the puppy on the porch.

“Stay,” she said firmly. Then she rang the doorbell and ran away.

Katie went over to where Suzanne was hiding behind an old tree. Together, the girls watched as the Derkmans’ door opened.

Mr. Derkman looked outside. At first he didn’t see anyone. Then he noticed the small white puppy.

“Aren’t you just the cutest little thing?” He lifted her into his arms. “Kootchy-kootchy- koo.”

Katie smiled. At least
Mr.
Derkman liked the puppy.

“Freddy Bear, who is it?” Mrs. Derkman asked, as she came to the door. She saw the dog in her husband’s arms. “Oh, no. Where did that thing come from?”

“Someone left her on our doorstep.”

“Well, get rid of it. Go call the animal shelter.”

“But Snookums, look how cute she is,” Mr. Derkman pleaded.

“I don’t want to look at her. I want you to get rid of her,” Mrs. Derkman insisted.

Katie gulped. Things were not going the way she’d planned. She’d thought her teacher would fall in love with the puppy at first sight. Katie figured that once Mrs. Derkman learned to love dogs, she’d be nicer to Pepper. But that wasn’t what was happening at all. Mrs. Derkman hated the dog.

What a mess! First, Pepper had gotten in trouble, and now this poor little dog was going to be sent to a shelter—and it was all Katie’s fault.

Suddenly, the puppy picked up her head and licked Mrs. Derkman on the hand.

“Yuck!” the teacher exclaimed. “Dog germs.”

Mr. Derkman petted the puppy on the head. “I think she likes you, Snookums,” he said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mrs. Derkman said.

“She wants you to hold her,” Mr. Derkman said. “Come on, just for a minute.”

Mrs. Derkman sighed. “Fine. For a minute. Then you call the shelter.”

Mr. Derkman placed the puppy in his wife’s arms. The little dog snuggled up against Mrs. Derkman’s shoulder.

The teacher slowly reached up and nervously stroked the puppy’s fur. The puppy nuzzled closer against Mrs. Derkman’s neck.