Where Triplets Go, Trouble Follows

by Michelle Poploff

  When Violet had a break from visitors, she looked around for Lily and Daisy. Their tables were on the other side of the room. She would have liked to visit them and see some other displays, but she couldn’t leave her project all by its lonesome self.

  Then Tillie stopped by. “Hey, Violet,” she said, studying the chart. “Your project is definitely one of the best.”

  “Really? Thanks,” said Violet. “What else have you seen?”

  “I saw some projects about the planets and the weather.”

  “Ho-hum, boring,” Violet said, pretending to yawn.

  “I also saw your sisters’ projects,” Tillie said. “How come you’re not working together?”

  “Oh, um, they thought it might be interesting to work with other people this time,” Violet replied. “We don’t do everything together.”

  “Well, you’re brave doing a project on your own,” said Tillie. “I think it’s cool.”

  Violet hadn’t thought of it that way. “Did you do a project?”

  Tillie shook her head. “I didn’t want to do one by myself,” she said.

  Violet knew just how she felt. Then she had an idea. “Would you like to come over and see our new puppy?”

  “Sure,” Tillie said, smiling. “We got a dog last year.”

  “Wow,” Violet said. “I’ll ask if you can bring him to our house.”

  “She’s a girl,” said Tillie. “But she likes boy dogs.”

  “That will be fun,” Violet said, moving behind the table.

  “Speaking of boys, the other good project I saw was the Schnitzer brothers’ electrical display,” said Tillie.

  “I bet that’s a shocker,” Violet said.

  The girls were still laughing when Lily and Daisy walked over.

  “We came to see how you were doing,” Lily said, adjusting Violet’s chart a bit.

  “Our partners are watching our projects,” Daisy said, flipping through Violet’s report.

  Daisy probably didn’t mean anything by it, but her words stung. Still, Violet stood strong. “I’m doing just fine,” she said. “I like being on my own.”

  “See you later,” Tillie said, turning to Violet. “By the way, here come those Schnitzer boys.”

  “I hope they don’t set off any sparks,” Violet said.

  Sheldon Schnitzer was a grade ahead of the girls.

  Alvin Schnitzer was in Lily’s class and played third base for the Eagles.

  “Check this out, dude,” Sheldon said, pointing to the poster board chart.

  Alvin looked from Violet to Lily to Daisy. “If you guys, I mean girls, are triplets, how come you don’t look exactly alike?” he asked.

  “It’s because we’re not identical,” said Daisy.

  Violet tapped Daisy’s shoulder. “I’ll take over, thank you very much,” she said. She wasn’t going to let her sisters horn in on her project. Violet turned to Alvin. “Actually, it’s all here in my report,” she said, pointing to her purple folder. “And my chart shows some things about our genes and traits. As you can see, some are the same and some are different.”

  “That’s kind of cool,” Alvin said. “Were you all born at the same time?”

  Violet licked her dry lips. “Not exactly,” she said. “I was born first.”

  “I was born five minutes later,” Lily said, moving next to Violet.

  “And I was born ten minutes after Violet, but five minutes after Lily,” Daisy said, stepping to Violet’s other side.

  Even though this was her own project, Violet sort of liked having her sisters standing by her side.

  “Do you have to share everything?” Alvin asked.

  “Well, besides sharing parents, grandparents, and our dog, we share things like our computer, books and games,” Violet said.

  “But we have loads of things that just belong to each of us,” Daisy said.

  “Like our toothbrushes,” Violet said.

  The boys laughed as some more people walked over, including Violet’s science teacher.

  “We also like different kinds of clothes and colors,” Violet continued. “We’re not matchy-matchy.”

  “I bet you don’t get to have your own room,” Sheldon said.

  “We have the entire attic all to ourselves,” said Violet.

  “Cool,” some other kids said, nodding their heads.

  “Well, I’m still glad I’m not a triplet,” said Sheldon.

  “That makes three of us,” said Lily, flaring her nostrils.

  Violet and Daisy looked at Lily in surprise.

  “For your information, Sheldon Schnitzer,” Violet said, linking arms with her sisters, “we love being triplets. We’re fine about doing some stuff together and other things on our own. It’s all here in my report.”

  Sheldon clammed up.

  “That was cool,” a boy said to Lily. “You flared your nostrils, just like it says on the chart.”

  “I can do it, too,” said Daisy.

  The kids hooted as Daisy and Lily flared their nostrils at them.

  “What about you?” Sheldon asked Violet.

  “Uh, no,” Violet said. “As I wrote in my report, triplets don’t always look exactly alike, or have all the same genes, traits or interests.”

  Sheldon ran his finger across Violet’s row on the chart. His finger stopped at the word “no” under “wiggles ears.”

  He laughed. “I can do that,” he said.

  “Prove it,” another kid said.

  Sheldon wiggled his ears. The kids clapped. Sheldon smirked at Violet.

  “Maybe you’re related to the triplets,” a boy said.

  “No way,” said Sheldon, checking next to Lily’s and Daisy’s names. “Anyway, none of them can wiggle their ears.”

  Without turning, Violet knew her sisters were looking at her.

  “Okay, okay,” she said, as if talking to herself. Slowly she pushed her purple headband behind her ears.

  Violet closed her eyes, counted to three and wiggled her ears.

  “Awesome, check that out!” The kids whistled and cheered.

  Sheldon reached out and high-fived Violet. “That was cool,” he said. “Now you have to fix your chart.”

  “I guess I do,” Violet said, grinning. She even forgot to brush her hair forward again.

  “But we’re still not related,” Sheldon said.

  “Absotootalootly not,” said Violet.

  Violet’s teacher nodded and smiled.

  “Triplets rule!” said Lily.

  “Now you’d better get back to your projects,” Violet said.

  “I wish we didn’t have to go back,” Daisy groaned.

  “We didn’t get the chance to tell you,” Lily said. “Frostine’s table is near ours and her project on air pollution stinks of rotten eggs.” Lily held her nose.

  “She sure proved she’s good at creating air pollution,” said Daisy. “And you should have seen the look on her face when she saw I was Justin’s partner. The stinky eggs were almost worth it.”

  Violet laughed. “Well, my project was worth it,” she said. “Now I’ll get the extra science credit.”

  “Admit it, Violet,” said Lily. “Sometimes science can be cool.”

  “I never even thought of this as science,” Violet said.

  “Maybe you’ll be a scientist someday,” said Daisy, flaring her nostrils at her sister.

  “Don’t be ridonculous,” Violet said, wiggling her ears in return.

  Chapter 9

  Puppy Love

  Trouble had settled into his new home with the Divines. He was a playful and happy dog. The girls enjoyed taking turns walking, feeding and brushing him. They liked teaching him tricks, and Trouble was always ready to play catch, fetch and tug-of-war with them. At night Trouble slept with Lily. The girls said he was like Goldilocks, searching for the perfect bed. Daisy kicked her legs, and sometimes Violet snored. But Lily slept peacefully. Her bed was just right.

  Lily had already taught Trouble to sit,
stay, and obey other simple commands. “Look how smart Trouble is,” she said, showing her family Trouble’s latest trick. She stood up and placed a ball at her feet. “Take a bow, Trouble,” she said.

  Trouble brought his front end close to the ground, resting his chest on the floor. He lifted his tail in the air.

  The Divines cheered for Trouble, who wagged his tail.

  “Trouble’s the perfect addition to our family,” their dad said.

  “Still, the one thing we need to work on is getting Trouble to stop chewing on things he’s not supposed to chew,” their mother said.

  “Like my loafer, for example,” their father said.

  “And the wooden legs of the plant stand,” their mother added.

  “Don’t forget the cover of our getting-to-know-your-dog book,” said Daisy.

  “We’ve been trying, but nothing seems to work,” said Violet.

  “Maybe he needs professional help,” said Lily. “We can take him to a dog training school.”

  “Those schools are very expensive,” their mother said. “We’ll all just have to try harder. We don’t want Trouble chewing on something that could get caught in his throat or stomach.”

  “Did you hear what Mom said, Trouble?” Daisy asked. She grabbed his tug-of-war rope, and Trouble pulled at the other end with his teeth. Everyone enjoyed the show.

  But Lily was worried about Trouble’s chewing problem. What if they couldn’t get him to stop and they had to give him away? Lily shuddered and shook her head, trying to get rid of that horrible thought. She went up to her room, reached under her pillow, and pulled out an ad from the weekly town newspaper. Lily liked reading the paper. The ad she’d kept was from the Dandy Dog Training School, which offered expert dog training. But the part that caught her attention was about the Best Pet Contest. All you had to do was write a poem about your dog and send it in with his or her picture. One of the prizes was five free training lessons. If Lily won that prize, Trouble’s chewing problem would be solved.

  Lily often wrote poems for her parents, for her sisters and just for fun. She had never written a poem for a contest. As long as she didn’t have to read her poem aloud, she would be fine. She decided not to mention the contest to anyone. It was hard keeping a secret from her sisters, but she would try. The deadline was just a few days away. Lily reached for her pink pad and began writing.

  Our dog is named Trouble, but do not fear—

  To the Divines, he is very dear.

  He plays fetch and catch and brightens our day.

  Then he takes us for walks and leads the way.

  We love you, Trouble, oh, yes, we truly do.

  Even when you eat the things you shouldn’t chew.

  When you’re away from us, we’re blue.

  Oh, Trouble, we love you!

  Lily rewrote the poem very neatly and chose a picture of Trouble from the pile on her desk. Downstairs, she found a stamp and envelope and sealed everything up. Before she could change her mind, she ran to the mailbox on the corner and put the envelope inside it.

  The next week, there was mail for Lily from the Dandy Dog Training School.

  “What’s it about?” asked Daisy.

  “Hurry up and open it,” said Violet.

  Lily did. She quickly read the letter, then dropped it on the floor.

  Violet picked it up and read it out loud.

  The letter said that Lily’s poem was a finalist in the contest. She was invited to come to the Dandy Dog Training School on Saturday to read her poem. Her dog and family were also invited.

  “Wowza, that’s so cool, Lily,” said Daisy.

  “We had no idea you’d entered a contest,” Violet agreed.

  “We’re so proud of you, Lily,” their dad said, wrapping her in a hug. “Mom will be thrilled when she gets home.”

  Trouble barked and wagged his tail.

  But Lily stood glued to the spot.

  “What’s wrong?” said Daisy.

  “I can’t do it,” said Lily.

  “You already did, sweetie,” their dad said. “You did all the work by writing the poem and entering the contest all on your own. Now you’re a finalist.”

  “But I’ll have to read my poem out loud in front of a lot of strangers,” Lily said.

  “We’ll be there to cheer you on,” said Daisy. “We may be strange, but we’re not strangers.”

  Lily tried to smile, but it didn’t work. “You know what happens when I get nervous.”

  Violet nodded. “You get the . . .”

  “Hic, hic, hiccups,” said Lily, covering her mouth.

  “Well, it may not happen then,” said Daisy.

  “You can do it,” said their dad. “And we’ll all be there to root for you. Right, Trouble, old boy?”

  “Arf, arf.”

  “Hic, hic.”

  The Divines gave Lily her space. They didn’t talk about the contest, and Lily practiced reading her poem in private. Daisy and Violet snuck upstairs and listened outside their bedroom door. Lily sounded great. So far, so good.

  Somehow, when Saturday morning rolled around, Lily didn’t feel nervous at all. She wore her favorite pink top and denim skirt.

  Helen Divine tied a bright-red neckerchief on Trouble.

  Violet brushed his gold-and-white coat until it shone.

  Daisy had even brushed Trouble’s teeth.

  Everyone piled into the car. They listened to relaxing music throughout the ride.

  “We’re almost there,” Herb Divine said, making a final turn.

  “I told Grandma Rose we’ll save some seats,” Helen Divine said. “She’s picking up Grandpa Dash.”

  “But it’s not a date,” their father added.

  Violet and Daisy laughed. They looked at Lily, who sat silently in the middle.

  Suddenly Lily yelled, “Stop the car!”

  “What?” their parents said.

  “Lily has to vomit,” Violet said, edging away from her.

  Daisy leaned back in the other direction.

  Lily shook her head. “It’s worse than that,” she said.

  “Worse than vomiting?” said Daisy.

  “I left the poem at home,” Lily wailed. “It’s on my bed.”

  “Oh, dear,” their mother said as their father pulled up to the Dandy Dog Training School. “I should have made sure you had it with you.”

  “I can’t go on,” Lily moaned.

  “Yes, you can,” said Daisy. “I heard you saying the poem in your sleep. You were so loud, you almost drowned out Violet’s snoring. Trust me, you know all the words by heart.”

  “No, I don’t,” said Lily, crossing her arms.

  “Yes, you do,” said Violet, tugging on her elbow. “And I don’t snore.”

  “Arf, arf.”

  “Do it for Trouble,” Daisy said.

  Lily reached behind her, and Trouble licked her hand. She swallowed and nodded.

  “Arf, arf!”

  There were two other finalists besides Lily. One of them was the tallest man she had ever seen. He even towered over his enormous black-and-white Great Dane. At first Lily thought it was a horse walking past her. While the man read his poem, his dog, Tiny, sat like a quiet, gentle giant. The other finalist was a woman with a pink-and-purple polka-dot bow placed on top of her curly white hair. Her fluffy white poodle wore a bow to match. When the woman took her turn, her little dog, Spike, yipped and yapped the entire time. Lily thought both dogs looked a bit like their owners. She didn’t think she looked like Trouble, except for their blue eyes.

  Lily sat frozen in the front row the entire time. Trouble was with her family. She didn’t dare turn around and look at them. When her name was called, she stood up slowly and walked to the microphone on trembling legs. She stood stiffly with her hands behind her back, clasping her sweaty palms.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, just a little hiccup. Lily clamped her mouth shut. She looked into the audience and saw her family. Grandma Rose wav
ed.

  Lily opened her mouth to try again. “Hic, hic, our dog is, hic, hic.” Her voice shook. She would never get through the poem. Lily wished she could sink into the ground and disappear completely. Then she heard footsteps. It was Violet leading Trouble down the aisle. Lily kept her eyes trained on Trouble’s friendly, furry face as he bounded toward her.

  “Stay,” Violet said to Trouble. “That goes for you, too,” she whispered to Lily.

  Lily looked down at Trouble, and he looked up at her. She cleared her throat and began reciting the poem. Lily didn’t have a clue what she said, but somehow she got through it, hiccups and all.

  When she finished, everyone applauded. Lily bent down to Trouble and told him to take a bow. And he did.

  The Divine family rushed up and gathered around Lily and Trouble.

  “Way to go Lily,” her sisters said.

  “We’re so proud of you,” said her parents.

  “As your grandpa Dash would say, you were simply splendid,” said Grandma Rose.

  “And as for Trouble,” said Grandpa Dash, “I’d call that a Divine bow-wow!”

  Before Lily could catch her breath, it was announced that all three finalists were winners. The tall man won a gigantic case of dog food for his Great Dane. The woman with the polka-dot bow won a day of grooming at the pet spa for her poodle. And Lily’s prize was the five free training lessons for Trouble.

  The training coupons were in the shape of big dog biscuits. Lily leaned forward and showed them to Trouble. “These are all yours,” she said.

  The Divines burst out laughing as Trouble sniffed the biscuit-shaped coupons and began chewing away.