by Ronald Roy
“We don’t know who he belongs to,” Bradley added. “But we think he’s supposed to be someone’s Christmas present!”
“Goodness, a Christmas mystery,” Mrs. Fallon said. “Good luck finding the right owner!”
The kids thanked Mrs. Fallon and walked back to the sidewalk.
Bradley opened his jacket. He handed the puppy to Nate. “You want to carry him next?”
Nate grinned. “Sure!” He slipped the puppy inside his coat.
They headed back to Main Street. With Pal leading, they hiked past the elementary school to Eagle Lane.
“Can you take the puppy to your house?” Bradley asked Nate.
“I’d like to, but Tiger might have a fit,” he said. “So would my mom and my sister!”
“Let’s take him to our house,” Brian said. “Pal can play with him, so he won’t be lonely.”
“That’s right,” Lucy said. “If it hadn’t been for Pal’s nose, the puppy would still be out in the cold.”
The kids walked into the kitchen at Bradley and Brian’s house. Bradley saw a note on the table:
Out shopping.
See you soon.
Have a snack.
—Mom
A bowl of tangerines sat on the table, and the kids each took one. They sat down to peel them.
Nate put the puppy on the floor with Pal and poured some of Pal’s food into a bowl. The puppy raced to the bowl and began eating.
“What should we do with him?” Brian asked, pointing at the puppy’s wagging tail.
“We have to find his real home!” Lucy said. “Before tomorrow.”
“I know that,” Brian said. “I meant right now.”
“I’ll get a box for him to sleep in,” Bradley said.
“What about Mom?” Brian asked, grinning. “She’s always telling us, ‘No more animals!’ ”
Bradley grinned back. “Mom won’t find out. We’ll hide him, then figure out where the puppy belongs before she even knows he’s here.”
“But how are we going to figure it out?” Nate asked. “TO and FROM are still a mystery.”
“I’ll try calling Mrs. Wong again,” Brian said. “If the puppy came from her shop, she can tell us who adopted him. If she does, we’ll just bring the puppy where he belongs. Mystery solved!”
Brian pulled the napkin from his back pocket. “Leonard wrote the number down.”
He dialed the number. “It’s ringing,” he whispered to the kids in the kitchen.
Then he said, “Hello, Mrs. Wong? This is Brian Pinto in Green Lawn. We found a puppy, and we think it came from your store! We’re trying to find—”
Brian held the phone away from his ear and looked at it.
Then he put it back to his ear. “Mrs. Wong? Are you there?”
Brian hung up.
“What happened?” Bradley asked.
“I heard a splash,” Brian said. “Then nothing.”
“Maybe she jumped into the water,” Lucy said.
“Or she dropped her cell phone in the water,” Bradley suggested.
“She’s scuba diving!” Nate said. “Maybe a shark swallowed Mrs. Wong and her cell phone!”
The four kids looked at each other. “We have to hide the puppy before Mom and Dad get home,” Bradley said.
“Maybe we should walk around town and ask everybody we see if they lost a puppy,” Lucy said.
“Let’s call the police station,” Brian said. He was still standing next to the phone. “If someone lost this little guy, they might have reported it.”
“Good idea!” Lucy said. “In my hometown, the police have a special officer in charge of finding lost pets.”
Brian dialed the police station. “This is Brian Pinto,” he said into the phone. “My friends and I found a puppy on Main Street. Do you know if anybody lost one?”
Brian listened. “We brought him home,” he said. “On Farm Lane.”
He listened again. “He might be a Christmas present for someone,” he said. He explained about the tag.
“Okay, we will. Thank you,” Brian said before he hung up.
“We will what?” Bradley asked his twin.
“The dispatcher says we should put pictures of the puppy on telephone poles and in stores,” Brian said.
“On Christmas Eve?” Nate asked. He looked out the window. “It’s snowing again, and it’ll be dark pretty soon.”
Lucy nodded. “People are sitting around their Christmas trees,” she said. “No one’s out looking at telephone poles!”
They all gazed at the puppy, curled up on the rug next to Pal. “I guess we keep him till Mrs. Wong gets back from Florida,” Bradley said.
“You mean if she gets back,” Nate said. “She might be in a shark’s belly!”
Bradley sighed. “I’ll look in the basement for a box,” he said.
The kids carried the box up to Bradley and Brian’s bedroom and closed the door. “Let’s put it in the closet so snoopy Josh doesn’t see the puppy,” Bradley said.
They moved some stuff and made room for the box on the closet floor. Brian put one of his old sweatshirts in the box so the puppy would have something soft to lie on. Bradley added one of Pal’s toys and a bowl of water.
They set the puppy in the box and watched him lap up some water.
“He needs a name,” Nate said.
“He’s so cute, we should call him Brian,” Brian said. He grinned.
“Whoever is getting him for Christmas should name him,” Bradley said. “Not you, cute brother.”
“And he might already have a name,” Lucy said.
Just then, the kids heard a door slam. “It’s Mom and Dad!” Brian whispered. “We’d better get out of here before they come upstairs!”
“Be a good boy,” Bradley whispered to the puppy as he closed the closet door, leaving it open a crack.
The four kids walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.
“Hi, gang,” Bradley’s dad said. “What mischief are you up to?”
“We’re bored with all this snow,” Brian told his father. “So we’re going to Hawaii. Can we borrow your car?”
“Sure,” his father said. “When you’re thirty-five.”
“Do you want to stay for popcorn and hot chocolate?” Bradley’s mother asked Nate and Lucy.
“No thank you, Mrs. Pinto,” Lucy said. “I have to go call my parents in Arizona.”
“And I get to open one of my presents,” Nate said. “Probably some new underwear or more socks.”
Nate and Lucy left through the back door.
“Okay, who wants popcorn?” Bradley’s mom asked.
Just then, they heard a bark from upstairs.
Bradley looked at Brian. Brian’s eyes grew big.
“Maybe Pal got locked in our room,” Bradley said. “I’ll go up and get him.”
But Pal walked into the kitchen.
“I thought he was upstairs,” Bradley’s father said.
“I guess not,” Bradley said. He was thinking, Quiet, puppy!
“I could swear I heard a bark from up there,” Bradley’s mother said.
“Maybe it was Josh,” Brian offered. “He makes a lot of funny noises.”
“Josh is out somewhere with Dink and Ruth Rose,” his dad said. “And I’ve never heard him bark.”
“I thought we were having popcorn,” Brian said.
“And hot chocolate!” Bradley said. “Yum, yum!”
While their parents were making the popcorn and hot chocolate, Bradley and Brian high-fived.
Ten minutes later, Bradley’s father carried the tray into the living room. They sat in front of the Christmas tree.
“Mom, can we open one present now?” Brian asked.
“I don’t know, honey,” his mother said. “Christmas is tomorrow.”
“Pretty please?” Brian begged. “Just a tiny present.”
“I guess it will be all right,” their mother said. “Take those two flat ones in the striped paper.”
<
br /> “Hey, if the twins get to open something, I do, too!” their father said.
Just then, Josh burst into the room. “Me too!” he said.
“I thought you were with Dink and Ruth Rose,” his mother said.
“They had to do some stuff,” Josh said. “Christmas stuff.”
“You look funny,” Josh’s father said. “Why is your face red?”
“Do you have a temperature?” his mother asked. She put her hand on Josh’s forehead.
“I’m okay. I ran home,” Josh said. Then he reached for a present with his name on it. “Can I open this one?”
“Sure,” his father said. “But let the twins open theirs first, please.”
Bradley and Brian tore the striped paper off. They each found a book.
Bradley’s book was called Swamp Secrets. Brian’s was 100 Amazing Magic Tricks.
“Cool,” Brian said. “Come on, Brad. Let’s go up to our room and read. When we finish, we can swap books!”
“No!” Josh yelled.
The twins stared at their big brother. “Why not?” Bradley asked.
“Because I haven’t opened my present yet,” Josh said. He held the present on his lap. He read the tag. “To Josh, from Mom and Dad.”
Josh grinned. “Thanks, parents.” He shook the present. “It’s heavy,” he said.
“Are you going to open it or not?” Brian asked.
Slowly, Josh removed the paper. Inside he found a toolbox filled with tools.
“So you can fix your own bike,” his father said.
“Awesome!” Josh said. “Thanks so much, you guys.”
“Can we go up and read now?” Bradley said.
“No!” Josh said. “Let’s sing some Christmas carols!”
“Carols?” his mother said. “You’ve always hated singing carols. Maybe you are coming down with something.”
They heard a door slam.
“Who was that?” Bradley’s father asked. “We’re all here.”
Josh looked toward the kitchen. “I must have left the back door open,” he said.
“So who just closed it?” his mother asked.
“The wind, I guess,” Josh said.
“I think that was the front door,” Bradley said.
“There are a lot of strange noises in this house today,” his father said.
“Maybe it’s a ghost,” Brian joked.
“Go on up and read,” the twins’ father said. “Enjoy your books.”
Bradley and Brian raced up the stairs. Their bedroom door was open.
“I thought we closed it,” Brian whispered.
The closet door was open, too. All the way.
The box was tipped over, and they didn’t see the puppy.
“Oh no!” Bradley cried. “Where is he?”
They searched the closet, under the bed, and outside in the hallway. They even checked Josh’s room and their parents’ room.
The puppy was gone.
“He ran away again!” Brian said.
Bradley grabbed a jacket and tossed Brian his. “Come on. Maybe he went back to Furry Feet!”
The twins ran down the stairs.
“Where are you guys going?” their father asked. “I thought you wanted to read your new books.”
Bradley grinned. “Um, we need to see about another Christmas present,” he said. “A very important one!”
The twins put on their boots, mittens, and hats, and raced out the door. Snowflakes got in their eyes as they ran. They went the shortest way, through Center Park. Swan Pond was frozen over. Snow covered the ice and trees, making the whole park look like a Christmas card.
Five minutes later, Bradley and Brian were in front of Furry Feet.
“Please let him be here,” Bradley said, out of breath.
But there was only snow in front of the pet shop. They peered through the glass. Inside, the shop was still dark. Only the fish tanks were lit. The hamsters, ferrets, and mice were sleeping.
“Where could the puppy be?” Brian said.
Bradley looked up and down Main Street. “We have to find him or he’ll freeze!” he said.
Brian looked at the snow-covered sidewalk. “Do you see any tracks?” he asked.
“Only ours,” Bradley said. He pointed to their footprints crossing Main Street and Center Park. “No puppy prints at all.”
“Oh my gosh!” Brian said. “We should have looked for the puppy’s tracks outside our house. Maybe we can follow his trail!”
The boys raced away, heading back home. They charged across Center Park, following their own trail.
A few minutes later, they were in their front yard, searching for puppy tracks. They didn’t see any, but they did see a lot of human tracks in the yard and on the porch. The twins stood over the tracks.
“Boot prints,” Brian said. “But they’re not from us. These are bigger.”
“And we came out the back door,” Bradley added. “We didn’t even walk here. But Josh was out here. Maybe they’re his.”
Brian shook his head. “These aren’t Josh’s prints, either,” he said. “He came in the back door, too. Mom always makes us come in the back way so we can take off our boots.”
“So whose tracks are these?” Brian asked. He pointed at two different boot prints, one bigger than the other.
“Oh my gosh!” Bradley said. “Maybe the puppy didn’t run away. Maybe he got kidnapped, and these are the kidnappers’ footprints!”
“And maybe that’s why the puppy barked!” Brian said.
“And when we heard the door slam, that was the kidnappers leaving!” Bradley added.
“They must have come in the front door and snuck up the stairs while we were opening our presents,” Brian said. “The kidnappers walked right past us!”
“Maybe they left some clues in our room!” Bradley said.
The boys raced around the house and slammed through the back door.
“Boots off, please!” the twins’ mother called from the living room.
They kicked off their boots, ran through the kitchen, and started up the stairs in their socks.
“Did you take care of your very important Christmas present so soon?” their father called.
“Almost!” Bradley said as they shot up the stairs.
They ran into their room. It was the same as they’d left it. The puppy’s box was on its side, next to the water bowl. The closet door and bedroom door were still open.
The boys looked around the room with detectives’ eyes. “I don’t see any clues,” Brian said.
“I do,” Bradley said. “There’s water in the bowl.”
“Why wouldn’t there be?” Brian asked. “We filled it when we put the puppy in the box.”
“But, Brian, if the puppy had tipped the box over, the water would have spilled onto the floor,” Bradley said. “If a kidnapper stole the puppy, they probably wouldn’t spill the water out of the bowl.”
“Look!” Brian said. He was on his knees, pointing to something on the rug near the door.
Bradley knelt next to his brother. “It’s only snow,” he offered. “We just came in from outside.”
“Dude, we took off our boots downstairs!” Brian said. “But this is a footprint. Check out those little squares of snow, like a waffle. And that round part is the heel. This snow came off the bottom of someone’s boot!”
“Someone who didn’t take their boots off before they came upstairs,” Bradley whispered. “A dog-napper!”
“We have to tell Officer Fallon!” Brian said.
“We tried before, and he’s gone somewhere with Jimmy, remember?” Bradley said.
“Then I’m calling Nate and Lucy,” Brian went on. He tiptoed out of the room. Two minutes later, he was back. “They’re coming over.”
“I can’t believe someone snuck in here and stole the puppy,” Bradley said. “Besides Nate and Lucy, who else even knows we found him?”
“That guy Leonard,” Brian said. “And Ellie. Oh, and whoever I tal
ked to at the police station.”
Bradley nodded. “And don’t forget we told Jimmy Fallon’s mom,” he said.
“So those four people knew we had the puppy,” Brian said. “But why would any of them steal him?”
Brian sat on his bed. “Maybe he’s worth a million dollars!” he said. “Maybe he’s a famous dog on TV or in the movies!”
Bradley grinned. “Bro, he’s just a baby puppy,” he said. “He’s too young to be famous.”
“Well, someone took him, and this is totally a clue!” Brian said, pointing to the clump of boot snow. He slid a sheet of drawing paper under the clump, folded the paper carefully, and ran out of the room.
Bradley thought about a dog-napper sneaking into their house. Maybe the person wore a ski mask! He got goose bumps.
Brian burst back into the room. “I put the snow in the freezer,” he said.
“Why?” Bradley asked.
“In case we need it to show Officer Fallon,” Brian said. “When we catch the bad guy!”
“What bad guy?” Nate asked as he and Lucy walked into the room. They were still wearing their jackets.
“How’d you get in?” Brian asked. “We didn’t hear you.”
“Josh let us in,” Lucy said. “He was heading over to Dink’s when we got here. Your mom made us take off our boots.”
“It’s a house rule,” Bradley said.
“What bad guy?” Nate asked again.
“And why wouldn’t you tell us anything on the phone?” Lucy asked Brian. “You said it was an emergency.”
“WHAT BAD GUY?” Nate asked for the third time.
Bradley opened the closet door. “The bad guy who stole the puppy,” he said.
Nate and Lucy stared at the empty box.
“Someone stole the puppy!” Nate yelped.
“When did it happen?” Lucy finally asked. “We just left him in the closet a little while ago!”
Bradley explained how they’d been downstairs eating popcorn and opening presents. “We didn’t see or hear anybody,” he said.
“We heard the puppy bark,” Brian said. “And we heard a door slam. Then when we came back up here, he was gone!”