Purple Nails and Puppy Tails (7 page)

“And,” Irena said, leaning against one of the empty cages, “on behalf of the whole shelter: Thank you.”

The girls polished the old-timers' nails, and the pups were yappy and didn't know if they wanted to sit, stand, or—in the case of Laces—roll over. But for the most part, they liked the attention and the treats,
which Joan had made just for today and Aly had brought with her to the shelter.

As Aly was putting the finishing touches of Red Rover on Marjorie's back paw, she heard “Ew!” from the other side of the room, and “Ack!” She turned her head to see Lily holding her left hand with her right one. “I think Melvin tried to bite me!” she said. “I got my hand away in time, but that's so not cool.”

Charlotte went racing to Lily. “Are you sure you're okay?” she asked, taking Lily's left hand in her own.

“Let me see,” Miss Nina said, running at Charlotte's heels. She bent down and took Lily's hand from Charlotte. “No broken skin. Not even a mark,” she said. “I think he was just trying to give you a kiss. He's a licker, not a biter.”

“Well, I don't want to take him out of his cage,” Lily said. “Either way, he's kind of gross.”

Charlotte looked at the drool hanging down from his lips. “I don't think I want to either.”

Brooke was tugging on her braid, clearly worried. She asked, “Can we polish Melvin's nails last? When all the other dogs are done?”

“Good idea, Brooke,” said Miss Nina. “Let's finish up the others and then tackle Melvin.”

Just then Jenica brought Sparky in from the back. “Hey, guys,” she said. “One of the groomers asked if I could deliver this furball to you. He's such a sweetheart. I hope he goes to a great home.”

Aly felt her heart tug. She hoped whoever got Sparky would love him as much as she would if he were her dog.

They had picked Purple Paws for Sparky, which went nicely with his rainbow collar and leash. But as cute and cuddly as Sparky looked . . .

He absolutely
hated
getting his pet-icure.

“Please don't take any pictures, Isaac,” Aly pleaded. “I think the camera is making Sparky more nervous.” Even though Aly was holding him steady, he shivered, whimpered, cried . . . and then peed on the floor.

“Yuck! It that what I think it is?” Lily squealed. The girls moved to the opposite side of the room, away from Aly and Sparky.

Luckily, Irena had come back into the room and took charge. “No worries. I'll take Sparky to the back and clean him up. But I don't think he's a candidate for nail polish,” she said, and whisked him away.

Aly felt terrible. Without a pet-icure and with all his shivering, would anyone want Sparky?

She didn't have more than a second to worry, because it was finally time to do Melvin's paws. Miss Nina went to get him, since no one else would.

“He's so slobbery,” Sophie said quietly. “I hope he doesn't bite anyone.”

Aly knew Melvin was slobbery, but she was pretty sure he wasn't dangerous. If Miss Nina said he was nice, then Aly trusted her. But she understood if the other girls didn't.

“Brooke?” she asked, sending her a Secret Sister Eye Message by raising one eyebrow twice:
Can we do this—just us?

Brooke smiled at Aly. “Teamwork,” she answered.

Aly looked up at the rest of the girls from where she was sitting on the floor. “If you guys don't want to do Melvin, Brooke and I can do him, with Miss Nina's help.” She knew Melvin was important to Brooke. And the Melvin versus Sparky fight didn't seem to matter as much as making sure he got a great pet-icure.

“You really wouldn't mind?” Charlotte asked.

“Nope,” Aly said. “It's totally okay.”

“It's okay,” Brooke said. “Aly and I can do it.” She walked over to Aly and grabbed her hand. The sisters knew that as a team they could do almost anything. Other people helping made things easier, but as long as they had each other, Aly and Brooke would be fine.

Miss Nina rubbed Melvin's head. “He's a good guy, I promise,” she said, giving him a treat.

Aly and Brooke got to work, and were done pretty quickly, even with his drool. But maybe Brooke tickled Melvin, because he dropped his treat out of his mouth and licked her cheek, slobbering all over her face, the drool dripping down her neck.

“Ewwww!” Brooke said, but she was laughing. “Melvin, that's gross! There's spit all over me!”

While Brooke cleaned herself up, Aly tidied the pet-icure area, then stepped back to take in all the dogs at once. With their baths and new haircuts and
colorful paws and sparkly collars, they looked like the most adoptable bunch of dogs ever. And once they had their new outfits on tomorrow, they'd look even more spectacular.

Sparky may not have had Purple Paws paw-lish on, but he still looked super adorable. What was most important, Aly realized, was that they were nice dogs on the inside too, even Melvin.

“You know what?” Brooke said, walking over to Aly. She was still scrubbing her neck with antibacterial wipes that Miss Nina had found for her. “I think you're right about Sparky.”

“What do you mean?” Aly asked.

“I think,” Brooke said, “he's the best dog for us. Better than Melvin after all.”

Aly turned to her sister to see if she was kidding, but Brooke looked one hundred percent serious. “You think so?” she asked.

“Actually, I more than think so,” Brooke said. “I know so.” She stopped wiping her face long enough to tug on her braid. “Do you think we can make a list to convince Mom and Dad to let us adopt him tomorrow?”

Aly walked over to Sparky. “Hi, buddy,” she said to the dog. His little nub of a tail wagged like crazy. Very slowly, Aly put her hand out and touched the dog's head. He licked her. And then licked her again and again. Brooke came over and petted him too, and he started licking her fingers.

“I think,” Aly said, “that we should definitely try.”

A
fter Mom had tucked the girls into bed that night, Aly reached into the crack between her bed and the wall and pulled out a small pad, an astronaut pen her dad had brought her back from New York City, and a miniature flashlight.

“Brooke,” Aly whispered, pointing the flashlight beam at her sister, “are you ready to make our dog list?”

Brooke sat up in her bed with a stuffed animal in each arm and nodded.

“Okay, let's go,” Aly said.

It wasn't a very long list. . . .

Why We Should Be Allowed to Get a Dog

1. Sparky needs a home.

2. Sparky is well-behaved. He doesn't bite or drool.

(Aly left out the part about him peeing during the pet-icure.)

3. Dad had a dog named Mouse that saved the house from a burglar, and Sparky's bark could save us from a burglar one day.

4. Sparky is the perfect size to take anywhere, so when we go visit Grammy and Papa, he can come too.

Aly and Brooke hoped it would do the trick. Tomorrow was not only Adoption Day—hopefully, it would also be Sparky Day.

When the Tanners drove over to Paws for Love, Dad couldn't stop saying how proud he was of Aly and Brooke.

“Did I mention how terrific you are?” he said.

Brooke laughed. “You
did
, Dad. You did yesterday.”

“But you can say it again,” Aly added. “We don't mind.”

“It's true, we don't.” Brooke was looking at Aly and raising her eyebrows high.
Now?
she mouthed about the Sparky list.

Aly shook her head again. She really hoped Brooke didn't jump the gun on this one.

“I'm looking forward to seeing what you did with these dogs,” Mom said. “I'm impressed you were able
to polish ten sets of dogs' nails yesterday.”

“Nine,” Aly said, and grinned at her sister.

“It wasn't that hard,” Brooke said. “They're like people, but with funnier-shaped nails. Plus, our friends were there to help.”

Mrs. Franklin and Sadie were in the front of the shelter. Sadie was wearing her best sweater—gray, woven through with silver sparkle thread—and a silver bow in her hair. Mrs. Franklin was holding an armful of flyers.

“Hi, Sadie!” Brooke said, getting out of the car.

“Hi, Mrs. Franklin,” Aly said. “Were any old-timers adopted yet?”

“Yes,” she answered. “Your friend Charlotte is inside, completing the paperwork for Bob. And Marjorie went first thing this morning. Nina is thinking about adopting Melvin, but I don't know if she's decided for sure yet.”

Brooke looked up from petting Sadie. “I think Melvin and Miss Nina would make a great family. Especially because her boyfriend is a rock star and so is Melvin.”

Mrs. Franklin looked confused, but Aly laughed. “Come on,” she said, holding her hand out to her sister. “Let's go check out how the rest of them look.”

But the girls didn't get too far. Joan was in the lobby with her dog treats, which she had named Joan's Bones. Each bone-shaped cookie was wrapped in plastic with a sticker on the front.

“Those look so good,” Aly said. “Like they belong in a store.”

Brooke and Aly saw Charlotte and her family leaving with Bob. He looked fabulous in his plaid sweater and green collar. As the Cane family waited to get their free-year's-supply-of-dog-food coupon, Caleb came over to Aly.

“I have a question for you,” he said.

“What is it?” she asked. What could he want to ask her?

“Um, if I came to your, um, your room at the back of where your mom works, do you think you could make my thumbnails match Bob's? I like the green. There's, um, something cool about it.”

Aly was surprised. A boy had never asked her for a manicure before. At least not one with polish—for his thumbs. She shrugged. “I guess,” she said.

“Um, cool,” Caleb said. And then he went back to his family.

Brooke was looking at Aly with her hands on her hips. “Are we doing
boys
now?”

“We were never
not
doing boys. Just none of them wanted to come,” Aly said.

“I don't know about boys,” Brooke said.

“Hey, Brooke! Hey, Aly!” A little girl with a
butterfly clip in her hair came running over to the sisters. It was Heather Davis, Suzy Davis's little sister, whose birthday party had been the very first Sparkle Spa event, when the girls opened their salon. “We just got a dog!”

Suzy came into the room next, with Sneaker on a leash. She was the dog that Aly and Brooke had dressed like a sparkly athlete, in a hot-pink warm-up jacket and a rhinestone collar and leash, with a hot-pink bow in her hair. Her nails were painted Red Rover.

“Why haven't you adopted a dog yet?” Suzy asked Aly. “Is it because your parents won't let you? Like how they won't let you wear nail polish during the school week?” Suzy rolled her eyes.

Aly ignored Suzy's questions. All she said was, “I hope you like Sneaker.”