Doggone It! (4 page)

Usually Pepper played tag, too. He would run on the lawn with the kids, barking happily and wagging his tail.

But that was before Mrs. Derkman moved in next door.

“Gotcha!” George shouted, tagging Katie on the shoulder. “Boy, you’re easy, Katie Kazoo!”

Katie sighed. She wasn’t
always
that easy to catch. She just hadn’t been paying attention.

She was now. “Better run, George!” she said. “I’m going to tag you back!”

“Oh, come on.” George moaned. “Everyone always gets me. You haven’t tagged Suzanne or Becky yet.”

Katie darted off in search of Suzanne. But before she could reach her friend, a familiar, angry voice rang out from the sidewalk.

“Katie! Be careful. You almost stepped on my petunias!” Mrs. Derkman, shouted as she zoomed down the block on a shiny silver scooter. The teacher stopped right in front of Katie’s house and took off her yellow-and-pink helmet.

The kids all stared at her. They’d never seen their teacher on a scooter before.

“I hope you’ve all finished your math homework,” Mrs. Derkman added strictly.

Jeremy, Suzanne, Becky, and George looked at each other nervously. Finished? They hadn’t even
started
their math homework.

“I gotta go,” George said suddenly.

“Me, too,” Jeremy agreed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Katie.” He ran off after George.

“Wait up, Jeremy,” Becky called out in her thick southern accent. “I’m going your way.” She ran off after him.

“I guess I have to go do my homework, too,” Suzanne said.

Katie frowned. “Mrs. Derkman is ruining my life!”

Suzanne nodded. “I know. She’s really mean.” Suzanne looked over at Mrs. Derkman’s house. The teacher was standing on the porch, watching the girls. “I wish I could stay and keep you company, but I really gotta go.” Suzanne said.

Katie shrugged. “It’s okay. I have to take Pepper for his walk, anyhow.”

“How’s that leash thing going?”

“Lousy,” Katie said. “Pepper hates it. My mom says he’ll get used to it, but I don’t think so.

As Suzanne walked away, Katie went inside to get Pepper’s leash. She hooked it onto his collar and led him outside.

Katie was careful not to walk Pepper anywhere near Mrs. Derkman’s lawn. The teacher had gone inside, but you never knew. Maybe she was spying on Katie through a window or something.

“I’m really sorry, Pepper,” she said as led him down the block.

Pepper looked up at Katie with sad, brown eyes. He let out a little whimper. It was the only sound on the whole block. There was no one else around. Mrs. Derkman had made sure of that.

Katie didn’t blame her friends for not wanting to play at her house. She didn’t even like playing there anymore.

Katie sat down at the curb and petted Pepper’s sad little head. Pepper reached up and gently licked her face. He knew it wasn’t her fault.

Just then a cool breeze brushed against the back of Katie’s neck. It started out gentle enough, but within seconds, the breeze turned into a strong wind—a wind that was blowing only around Katie.

The magic wind was back!

As the wild tornado swirled faster and faster, Katie let go of Pepper’s leash. She didn’t want him to get stuck in her own private storm. “Run, Pepper, run!” she shouted, as the wind blew stronger and stronger.

And then, suddenly, it stopped. Just like that.

Slowly Katie opened her eyes. She looked around. Everything was sort of gray and dull.

Frantically, she searched for Pepper. She didn’t see the cocker spaniel anywhere.

Katie gulped nervously. Had he gotten out of the way in time? Or had the magic wind blown him far from home?

Katie sniffed the ground beside her. Oh, good. She could smell Pepper nearby. He was safe.

Katie sniffed again. This time, Pepper’s scent mixed in the air with the smell of a barbecue being lit. Someone was grilling hamburgers.

Yum!
They smelled delicious.

Wait a minute. I don’t eat hamburgers,
Katie thought to herself.
I’m a vegetarian.

Still, those burgers sure did smell good. Katie just had to have one. Quickly, she scampered off in the direction of the barbecue. As she ran, her stubby brown tail wagged wildly.

Her
tail?

Oh no! Katie had turned into a dog.

Katie looked at her body. She was chocolate brown and white. The fur on her paws was soft and curly. And her long ears waved back and forth as she turned her head.

Katie hadn’t turned into just any dog—she’d turned into Pepper!

Katie sat back on her hind legs and looked at the world through Pepper’s eyes. Everything seemed yellow, blue, and gray. Katie knew the stop sign on the corner should be red, but to her it looked pale yellow. The sign was sort of blurry, too. It was hard to see something so far away.

Katie was frightened. She really wanted to go home, run into her room, and hide under her bed until the magic wind came and changed her back.

Katie looked out in front of her. It was strange being so low to the ground. All she saw were the bottoms of things—tree trunks, sign posts, and ...
a fire hydrant.

For some reason, the sight of the hydrant made Katie’s tail wag wildly. She scampered over as quickly as she could and began to sniff.

Lots of dogs had been there before her. And every one of them had peed on the hydrant. Their stinky smells were everywhere.

Yuck!
Katie thought to herself. But she couldn’t stop herself from smelling. It was a dog thing.

Sniff, sniff.
A big dog had visited the hydrant. Probably a German Shepherd.

Sniff, sniff.
There’d been a little dog there as well.
Really
little, like a Chihuahua or something.

Katie wanted to leave her mark, too. She picked up her hind leg and left a puddle. Then she dug wildly at the dirt under her feet. There. Now all the other dogs would know she’d been there.

When she was through peeing and digging, Katie decided to head for home. She didn’t get very far, however, before a sweet, fruity smell reached her nose. There, in the middle of the sidewalk, was a half-chewed blueberry bagel.

Mmmm.
People food.

I shouldn’t eat that, Katie told herself. Who knows where its been. She sniffed at the bagel. It smelled so good, she couldn’t help herself.

Crunch.
She snatched up the treat and started to chew.

This is so gross,
Katie thought, as bits of sidewalk sand and dirt scratched against her tongue. But she didn’t spit the bagel out. It tasted too good.

Katie’s stubby little tail wagged happily back and forth as she ate. “I wonder if I can catch that?” she barked to herself as she swallowed the last bit of dirty bagel.

Katie turned toward her tail and stretched her neck back. Her tail was still very far away. She reached farther back. She began turning around and around in a circle, as she tried to grab her tail.

Whooaa, I’m getting dizzy, Katie thought as she spun.

Still, she didn’t stop. She was determined to chase her tail—although she wasn’t quite sure what she would do with it if she caught it.

Boy, dogs sure do weird things,
she thought.

Just then, Katie heard a squeaky chattering noise. She sat still and quietly.

The noise seemed to be coming from a nearby oak tree. Katie put her nose to the ground and sniffed. Her tail began to wag wildly.

Oh boy!
SQUIRREL!

Katie darted off toward the oak tree. But the squirrel was quicker. He scrambled up the tree trunk.

The squirrel was high in the tree—too high for Katie to ever reach him. But that didn’t stop her from trying. She leaped up and down at the base of the tree, barking wildly.

The squirrel sat on its high branch, chattering away. That rotten rodent was laughing at Katie.

Plink.
An acorn landed on Katie’s nose. The squirrel laughed harder.

Now Katie was really mad. She jumped higher. She barked louder.

The squirrel just kept on laughing.

Finally, Katie gave up. She wasn’t going to catch the squirrel ... at least not now.

I’ll be back!
Katie gave one last bark and started for home.

Just as Katie reached her front porch, she heard a loud, high-pitched dog yelp. It was coming from Mrs. Derkman’s yard.

From the sound of the bark, Katie could tell this was a really small dog. But that didn’t mean anything. Even small dogs could be mean. They had sharp teeth, and they weren’t afraid to use them—especially if they thought a bigger dog was in their territory.

Katie sat still, watching.