“She looks content,” Dad said.
“What does that mean?” Penny asked.
“It means she’s happy that I’m holding her,” I said.
“She’ll be happy with me too,” Penny said. “It’s my turn.” She put her arms out.
Dad nodded at me, so I knew I had to hand her over. I kissed the fluffy top of the puppy’s head and gave her to Penny. “Be careful,” I said when Penny squeezed her. “You might hurt her.”
“I’m just hugging her like you did,” Penny said. See how she copies me? And I was right about Penny hurting her, because the puppy started whimpering.
“Put her down and let her sniff you,” Dad said.
Penny did, even though you could tell she really didn’t want to. I scooped the puppy back up in my arms.
“Stella’s not being fair,” Penny whined. “It’s my turn for her to sniff me.”
“She can sniff you while I hold her,” I said.
Penny held out her fist. At first the puppy didn’t even seem to notice. But after a few seconds she started sniffing, and her tongue came out again. Then Dad said, “Girls, it’s just about time to go.”
“First can I try holding her again?” Penny asked. “Please?”
I looked at Dad and he nodded, so I handed the puppy over. “Don’t hurt her,” I said.
“I know, I know,” Penny told me.
I watched her cradle the little pup in her arms. She rocked her back and forth, the way she does with Belinda sometimes. But Belinda is a stuffed animal, so it doesn’t bother her when Penny squeezes her and rocks her like that. I’m not sure my puppy liked it.
Okay, I know she wasn’t really MY puppy, but she liked me best so it kind of seemed that way.
After a couple of minutes Dad said it was REALLY time to go. The pet store man walked back in to take the puppy away. She had to go back to her cage, poor little pup. She didn’t even have a cage friend. And I could tell she wanted to be my new best friend, because she was meant to be mine.
CHAPTER 3
Raining Cats & Dogs
Penny and I picked out flower lollypops at Batts Confections. We wanted the ones from the candy garden, but Dad said those pops were probably dirty from being on display for so long, so we took the mini chocolate lollypops they sell on the Penny Candy Wall. We also got cookie dough, which is a new thing they’re selling at the store. Then we went home.
“Stella!” Penny called.
I didn’t answer her because I was helping Mom choose which brussels sprouts to put on my plate. The big ones are SUPER gross. The littler ones are gross too, but only medium gross. If I had to eat five of them, I wanted to make sure Mom only gave me the little ones.
“Hurry up, Stella!” Penny called.
“Those two are very small,” Mom said, pointing to the littlest ones I’d picked out—the least gross of all, if you asked me. “How about if I give you one more.”
I shook my head. “That would be six and Dad promised just five,” I said.
“Stell-ahhhhh!!!” Penny called again. This time she made the last syllable drag out for a really long time, which is how she says my name when she really REALLY wants me to do something.
“Go see what she wants,” Mom said. “I’ll finish up.”
“Just five,” I reminded Mom.
“All right,” she said.
“I’m coming,” I called back to Penny, and I went from the kitchen through the dining room to the den.
Penny had dragged in four of the dining room chairs, and put one at each corner of a blanket spread out in the middle of the floor.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You said Willa was going on a picnic for dinner, so I thought we should too. But Dad said we couldn’t because it would be too hard for Mom to sit on the ground and then stand back up again.”
Sitting down and standing up are two more things that are hard for Mom since she’s pregnant.
“Dad said I could set up a picnic for just us in here,” Penny continued.
“Why did you bring four chairs if it’s only two of us?”
“It’s THREE of us,” Penny said. “You forgot Belinda.”
“Okay THREE of us,” I said. “But there are still FOUR chairs.”
“Stella, it’s a picnic,” she said slowly, like I was the younger sister and she was the older one, and she had to explain things to me. “You don’t sit on chairs at a picnic. They’re posts for the tent.”
“You don’t have tents at a picnic either,” I said.
“Yeah, but it looks like rain and we don’t want the food to get all wet. Just look at the sky.” She held her arm up toward the ceiling. “Rain clouds.”
The ceiling in the den is painted white. It looked the way it always did, not sunny or cloudy because it’s inside the house. But I decided to play along. Sometimes that’s what big sisters have to do. “You’re right,” I said. “The clouds are super dark too.”
“It’s going to be a big storm,” Penny said.
“I know.” I pointed to the lamp in the corner. “Look how the trees are shaking in the wind.
Penny crossed her arms like she was trying to keep warm. “Brrrr,” she said.
“We need shelter. I’ll help you pitch the tent,” I told Penny.
I got a sheet from the hall closet—the big kind that fits on Mom and Dad’s bed. We stretched it out across the tops of the chairs and climbed underneath. Of course Belinda came too.
“Don’t be scared,” Penny told her. “It’s safe and cozy in here.”
Dad brought us our food. We could tell which plate was meant for Penny because she had more sprouts. “If we’re stranded here, this could be the last food we ever eat,” I told her.
She speared one of her sprouts with her fork. “Oh, brussels sprout, I love you so much. I wish I had more of you.”
Maybe brussels sprouts taste different in Penny’s mouth than in mine. How else could she like them so much?
We finished eating and pushed our plates out of the way. “It’s still thundering out there,” Penny said. “Belinda’s afraid of thunder. And she’s cold and hungry.” She pulled her onto her lap and cradled her just like she’d cradled the puppy.
“I wonder what Malty is doing right now,” I said.
“Malty?”
“The Maltese from Man’s Best Friend,” I said. “Her name is Malty for short. I made it up just now.”
“Oh no!” Penny cried. “She’s out in the rain! We have to go look for her!”
“I’ll go,” I said. I crawled out of the tent and looked around the den, like she actually might’ve been hiding under the coffee table or behind the couch, even though I knew she wasn’t.
I headed to the dining room. “Have you guys seen Malty?”
“Who?” Mom asked.
“The puppy from Man’s Best Friend,” I told her. “She’s the cutest puppy EVER! Even you would like her!”
“A cute puppy that even I would like–I’ll keep an eye out for her. Did you girls finish dinner?”
“Yup,” I said.
“Including all five sprouts?”
I nodded.
“Okay, you can have dessert,” Mom said. “The lollypops are on the counter by the sink.”
“What about the cookie dough?”
“When Dad and I finish up dinner, we can make the cookies.”
I went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of lollypop flowers–one for me and one for Penny–off the counter. Then I headed back to the den and ducked back under the sheet. “I found her!” I said. “Malty was sitting outside the tent the whole time!” I announced.
“Oh thank goodness,” Penny said. “I was so worried.” She moved her hand through the air like she was petting a puppy.
“And I picked some flowers for us to eat in case we get hungry again,” I said. I handed her one of the lollypops. “Some flowers are poisonous, but these are safe.”
“How can you tell for sure?”
�
�See this special pattern on the petals,” I said, pointing to the pink swirls that are really peppermint. Penny nodded. “That means they won’t make you sick,” I told her.
We ate our lollypops. Penny offered a lick to Belinda, so I held mine out to the air and let Malty have a taste. “Not too much, little malt ball,” I said. “You don’t want to get a stomachache.”
Penny reached up and pulled at the sheet. “The wind and the rain are making the tent cave in!” she said.
“Oh no!” I said, reaching up and pulling at it too. It slipped off the backs of the chairs and came down on our heads. We both stood up and jumped around underneath it.
“Help us! Our tent caved in!” we shouted.
“Girls!” Mom said.
After that she made us clean everything up, including folding the sheet and the blanket back up, which was not easy to do. And we didn’t get to make the cookies, because when we finished cleaning, it was almost time for bed.
Here’s something I’ve learned: Cleaning up ALWAYS takes more time than making the mess does.
CHAPTER 4
The Surprise
The next morning, Maverick came over. He’s the boy who lives in the house behind us. There’s a hole in the fence in between our houses. When he comes over, he knocks on the sliding glass door to the kitchen instead of the front door.
Maverick told us his parents were making pancakes for breakfast, and he invited Penny and me to come. But when we got there, they tasted funny. Mrs. Finch (that’s Maverick’s mom) said she used whole-wheat flour, instead of regular flour, because it’s healthier.
“How about chocolate chips?” I asked. “My dad always adds those in.”
“Sorry, Stella,” Mrs. Finch said. “No chocolate chips. But we do have raisins, if you want.”
I shook my head. Raisins are almost as bad as brussels sprouts! Next time, breakfast will be at our house.
Afterwards, Penny and I went home. “Mom! Daddy!” Penny shouted. “We’re back! Where are you?”
“I’m in here,” Mom called out.
We followed her voice into the room that right now is still the guest room, but soon it’s going to be the baby’s room.
It already looked different than it used to look. Instead of a big bed, there’s a crib and a mini couch that Mom says is called a love seat. There’s also a new dresser. It’s tan, the same color as the crib, and it has a shelf on top where you put the baby when you have to change its diaper. Mom and Dad say we’ll get to help out when the baby is born, but diaper changing is NOT going to be my job!
Mom was standing next to the dresser, folding clothes and putting them inside the drawers.
“More baby stuff?” I asked.
“Onesies,” she said, holding up a shirt that attached at the bottom, so it was like a shirt and underwear all in one. “Aunt Laura and Uncle Rob sent them over.”
The baby has been getting a bunch of presents even though it’s not born yet. Actually, the baby isn’t an “it.” It’s a boy. First his name was going to be Teddy, then it was going to be Cooper. Now Mom and Dad say he’ll be Daniel. Still, Aunt Laura and Uncle Rob don’t even know him. They know Penny and me, and they didn’t send us anything.
It makes me kind of jealous even though the presents aren’t anything I’d want. What would I do with rattles or baby clothes?
“Where’s Dad?” Penny asked.
“He went to the store,” Mom said.
“So what are we going to do?”
“You can help me fold the baby clothes, and then you’re having a play date with Zoey.”
“Oh, I forgot I’m getting to see Zoey! Oh, hooray!”
Penny did a happy little dance right there in the guest room/baby’s room. I wished Willa were coming over too. Just thinking about her made me miss her. I wondered how her picnic was. If only she still lived in Somers, she could’ve come on our den picnic and slept over and had breakfast at Maverick’s house.
But Willa moved to Pennsylvania and didn’t want to talk to me anymore. She wasn’t my best friend anymore.
“You look sad, Stel,” Mom said. “Don’t worry. We’ll think of something special for you to do.”
“I wish I’d gone to the store with Dad,” I said. If I went to the store, I’d get to pass Man’s Best Friend, and if I passed Man’s Best Friend, I’d get to see Malty. Will you take me?”
“It’s hard for me to fit my body into the driver’s seat right now,” Mom said. “You understand, right?”
“Yeah,” I said glumly. “Is it okay if I call Dad?”
Mom said yes and I went into the other room to get the phone. “Can you come and get me?” I asked when he answered.
“Ah, you miss your old dad?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. I didn’t miss Dad right then, but I did want to be with him because he was near Malty, and Malty was the closest thing I had to a best friend.
“Well you’re in luck,” Dad said. “I’ll be home soon and I have a surprise for you when I get there.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Is it candy?”
“Nope, it’s nothing edible,” he said.
“I have an idea,” I said. “Can you tell me the surprise in the car?”
“You know I can’t talk on the phone when I’m driving,” Dad said.
“No, I meant can you come here and pick me up and take me to Man’s Best Friend and tell me about the surprise on the way?”
“You want to go to Man’s Best Friend again?”
“I want to play with Malty.”
“I don’t know if they’ll let you play with her,” Dad said. “Someone bought her, so she’ll be going to her new home soon.”
“You mean I’m never going to see her again?”
“Well, never say never,” Dad said. “And just so you know, I have it on good authority that she’s going to end up in a good home.”
“What’s authority?”
“Someone in a position to know things,” Dad said.
“So who is it?”
“You’ll see,” Dad said.
You’ll see is kind of like We’ll see.
But suddenly I thought about something: What if You’ll see means more than maybe? What if it means yes? As in, Yes, you can have a dog?!!!
I started to understand all the things Dad had said, like, “Never say never.” Obviously! I was going to see Malty again because she was going to live with us! “I have it on good authority that she ended up in a good home.” He was the authority, and the good home was our home!
“I’m getting into the car right now,” Dad said. “We’ll talk about this when I get home.”
“I can’t wait!” I said.
Except that it took SEVEN MILLION HOURS for Dad to get home. Okay, not really, but that’s what it felt like.
Finally I heard the garage door open and I went out to meet him. He didn’t even have time to get out of the car before I ran up and started looking in all the windows.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Who?”
“My surprise.”
“How do you know your surprise is a person?”
A person? Didn’t he mean a dog? And specifically, didn’t he mean Malty the dog?
Wait a second. Maybe he said “person” because he wanted to confuse me. That way the surprise would be even bigger. He probably arranged for someone to be watching my puppy right then, like Stuart, who works at our store. Soon Stuart would come over with Malty. She’d have a big red bow around her neck. Oh, this was going to be so great! I couldn’t wait!
“Come on,” Dad said. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you all about it.”
We walked back toward Mom and Penny. I was trying to decide what look to put on my face so Dad would think I really was surprised when he finally told me. Don’t your eyes get wide when you’re surprised? I widened my eyes, just to practice.
“Your face lo
oks funny,” Penny said.
“No it doesn’t,” I said. I blinked quickly and opened them the regular way.
“Stel,” Dad said, “are you ready to hear about your surprise?”
“Yes!” I said.
“Do I have a surprise too?” Penny asked.
Dad shook his head. “This time the surprise is for Stella,” Dad said.
“That’s not fair,” Penny said. “Then you have to make Stella share with me.”
I hoped they didn’t make me share too much. After all, Malty didn’t even really like Penny.
“You don’t even know what it is yet,” Dad said. But Penny’s mouth was already down in a pout. “Stella, I’m going to take you over to someone’s house to play.”
”That’s my surprise?” I asked. (By the way, I’m sure I really did look surprised, because it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. And not in a good way.)
But Dad was nodding and smiling. “A woman came into the store this morning. I heard her telling Stuart that she just moved to Somers and she has a daughter in the third grade who’s in need of a playmate. I told her I had a third grader in need of a playmate too.”
“You shouldn’t have said that. Now she’ll think I don’t have any friends.”
“I’m sure she won’t think that,” Mom said. “After all, her daughter didn’t have someone to play with today either.”
“But it’s different because she just moved here.” I said.
“She’ll just be happy you’re coming over,” Dad said. “Her mother is excited to meet you too.”
“What about me?” Penny asked.
“You’re having a play date with Zoey,” Mom reminded her.
“Oh yeah,” Penny said.
“What’s the girl’s name?” I asked.
“Evie,” Dad said.
“I’ve never known anyone with that name before,” I said.
Pardon Me Page 2