Doggone It! (5 page)

Katie’s brown-and-white doggie eyes grew large as she watched with surprise at what happened next.

The little white dog took a big bite of one Mrs. Derkman’s cucumbers! The white dog was the mysterious fruit and vegetable thief!

Unfortunately, Mrs. Derkman didn’t know about the white dog. She was sure to blame the missing cucumber on Pepper. She was going to say he’d been running loose again.

Which he was ... sort of. But it wasn’t Katie’s fault. It was the magic wind’s fault.

There was no way Katie could explain that to Mrs. Derkman. The teacher would never believe that Katie had actually turned into her own dog!

“Grrrr!”
Katie let out a loud, frustrated growl.

The scraggly pup looked up in fear. Her ears stood straight up on her head. She sniffed around nervously. Then she began to whimper.

Oh no! Katie had made the puppy cry.

“Calm down, little puppy,” Katie whispered softly.

But the puppy kept crying.

Katie had to let the white dog know that she wanted to be friends. She padded over and gave the pup a real doggie greeting: she sniffed at the dog’s rear end. That was the way dogs said “hello.”

The puppy’s tail began to wag happily. Katie sniffed again.
Pew.
The dog’s bottom smelled awful.

“I’m glad people don’t say hello this way,” Katie told herself as she sniffed even harder. “It’s gross!”

The puppy was so happy to have a friend. She jumped up and let out a little squeal of joy. Then she turned around and nipped at Katie’s nose. Lucky for Katie, the dog still had her puppy teeth.

Katie wondered where this scraggly white dog had come from. She didn’t have a collar or tags. She was very skinny, and she smelled like she’d never had a bath in her whole life.

Katie didn’t have a lot of time to feel bad for the puppy. Suddenly, she heard chattering noises coming from a nearby tree.

Katie would know that sound anywhere—the squirrel was back!

This time, she was going to get that furry-tailed acorn thrower!

Without thinking, Katie took off after the squirrel. She kept her eyes on him the whole time—which is why she didn’t notice the statue in the middle of the garden.

Bam!
Katie ran right into Mrs. Derkman’s beloved troll. The troll fell backward and bashed its head on a rock. The top of its pointy red hat crumbled into a thousand pieces.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the squirrel got away. It was sitting on a high branch, laughing. Katie leaped up on the tree and barked wildly.

Katie’s angry shouts scared the little puppy. She let out a big yelp and raced off.

“Come back!” Katie barked to the dog. “I can help you!”

The scrawny white pup didn’t seem to hear Katie barking. But Mrs. Derkman did. She came running to find out what the all the noise was about.

Mrs. Derkman didn’t see the little puppy that had been eating her cucumbers. She didn’t see the squirrel laughing in the tree.

All the teacher saw was Pepper sitting in the middle of her tomato plants.

“Get out of here, you trouble-making dog!” she shouted.

Katie didn’t have to be told twice. She ran off as fast as her four legs could carry her.

Katie sat, huddled against the side of her house. Her little brown-and-white body shook with fear. She whimpered sadly.

Pepper was in really big trouble. And it was all Katie’s fault.

Katie recognized the sound of Mrs. Derkman’s footsteps as the teacher raced up the front steps of the Carew house. “I’ve had it with that mutt,” Mrs. Derkman muttered angrily to herself.

Katie listened as her mother opened the door of their house. “Mrs. Derkman, what a nice surprise,” she heard her mother say.

“Well, you’re half right,” Mrs. Derkman answered. “There have been a few surprises today. But none of them have been nice.”

Katie gulped.

Unfortunately, Katie didn’t get to hear any more of the conversation. The sudden whistling of strong winds blocked out any other sounds.

Wow.
It felt like there was a real storm coming.

Katie looked around nervously. The leaves on the trees were still. The clouds in the sky didn’t seem to be moving, either. The wild winds were only blowing around Katie.

The magic wind was back!

As the gusts swirled around her, Katie began to howl in fear. The tornado-like winds were very strong, and she was very small. What if the winds picked her up and carried her someplace far away? Would she ever be able to find her way home?

Katie curled her body into a frightened ball. She covered her eyes with her front paws and waited.

There was nothing else she could do. She couldn’t stop the magic wind. It had to stop itself.

And that’s exactly what happened. The magic wind stopped blowing, just as suddenly as it had begun. Katie slowly lifted her hands from her eyes. She looked around. Everything seemed clear and bright.

She stared down at her feet. There were her red sneakers.
Stop-sign
red.

She stared at her arms. There were five fingers on each hand ... and no sign of fur anywhere.

Katie Kazoo was back!

So was Pepper. The cocker spaniel rubbed his furry body against Katie’s legs.

“I’m so sorry, Pepper,” Katie said. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.” She took Pepper’s leash and slowly began to lead him toward her front porch.

Mrs. Derkman was just leaving. As she spotted Katie and Pepper, the teacher’s mouth twisted into a tight frown. Her eyes bugged. Her cheeks turned red. She looked as though her head might explode!

Katie was sure Mrs. Derkman was going to scream at her. But the teacher didn’t say a word. She just stormed back home.

“It’s just awful, Suzanne,” Katie said into the phone later that night. “Mrs. Derkman was yelling at my mom.”

“Mrs. Derkman shouts all the time,” Suzanne reminded her. “Ask George. She’s
always
yelling at him.”

“But not like this,” Katie explained. “She said if she ever caught Pepper on her lawn again, she would call the dog catcher!”

“Wow,” Suzanne said. “That is really bad.”

“I know,” Katie agreed. “Mrs. Derkman told my mother to build a fence around our yard. That way, she could be sure Pepper would never get into her garden again.”

“What did your mom say?”

“She told Mrs. Derkman we couldn’t afford to do that,” Katie said. “But Mrs. Derkman didn’t care.”

“So what are you going to do?” Suzanne asked. “Can you keep Pepper from eating her vegetables?”

Katie frowned. Even her best friend believed Pepper was the veggie thief. “It isn’t Pepper.”

Suzanne sighed. “Katie, I know you love Pepper and all, but maybe he is eating them. You said Mrs. Derkman caught him right in the yard. And he did break her troll.”

“That wasn’t his fault,” Katie said. “He was chasing this really mean squirrel.”