Hide and Go Fetch

by Kristin Earhart

  “Okay, bud,” Henry said. “Let’s go.” Boo circled Henry, excited.

  First, Henry tried Abby’s door. As he suspected, it was locked, so he headed to the bathroom. In the medicine cabinet, he found an old bobby pin with a blue butterfly on it. With Boo right on his heels, he went back to Abby’s room and started to pick the lock. He’d seen it on TV lots of times. Sure enough, he heard a click and the door popped open. Henry tiptoed in. He felt like a spy.

  He didn’t have to open drawers or locate a safe. Abby’s project was right on her desk. “Whoa,” Henry said before he could stop himself. He had to remember: Spies are always silent.

  Quiet as can be, Boo jumped on a chair and put his paws on the desk. The puppy admired Abby’s hard work.

  The two potatoes lay right in the center of the desk. Loops of copper wires, clips, and nails poked out of them. There was also a clock connected to the whole mess, and the numbers said the right time. Henry was amazed. Abby had made some kind of crazy potato clock.

  Just then, he heard a door slam. He froze. He looked at the clock. It was too early for Abby to be home, wasn’t it? Then he heard footsteps on the stairs. “Come on, Boo,” he whispered. “Hurry!” He had just turned to leave when he heard a loud crunch. Henry looked back and froze. Boo was sitting on the desk chair with the potato clock dangling from his mouth.

  “Boo!” Abby cried from the hallway. “You can’t eat that!”

  As soon as the puppy saw her, he opened his mouth, and the clock tumbled to the floor.

  Henry threw himself against the wall as his sister stormed into the room. He could tell Abby was furious. He knew that look. Despite her anger, Abby was still very gentle with the startled puppy. “Boo, open your mouth. Give it to me.” Abby worked quickly. “That’s a good boy,” she soothed. “You don’t want to eat that. It’ll make you really sick.” Abby pulled a chunk of potato from the puppy’s mouth. A loud buzz came from the clock on the ground, but Abby didn’t seem to notice. She was just taking care of Boo.

  Henry felt a tingle in his finger, and he noticed a pale pink start to spread up his hand. He was becoming visible. He had to get out of there!

  “How’d you get in here, Boo?” Abby wondered. “Maybe Mom needed something in my room. Let’s go check.” With that, Abby got up and jogged into the hallway, Boo cradled in her arms.

  As soon as the coast was clear, Henry rushed back to his room. He could now see his hands and feet. When he looked in the mirror, he could also see the expression on his face. It was a pale version, but it was him. In the mirror, he didn’t look like a kid who had just turned invisible. He didn’t look cool and adventurous like a spy. He looked bummed. He had snuck into his sister’s room to see her supercool science project, and now it was ruined.

  * * *

  At dinner that night, Henry didn’t have much to say. He wanted to apologize to Abby, but he didn’t know how.

  “The clock broke when it hit the floor,” Abby announced. “I’ll have to start from scratch, or I might just come up with another science project.”

  “That’s too bad,” Mr. McCoy said. “I’m sure we could get all the parts again. This time, we’d have to make sure your bedroom door stays closed — now that we know Boo likes raw potatoes.”

  “We’ll see,” Abby replied with a shrug. “I found out Simon Jay’s doing a potato clock, too, and I don’t want him to think I copied.” She drew figure eights with her spoon in her bowl. The fact that Dad had made cream-of-potato soup was just a reminder of the messy events of the afternoon.

  “I like your hair like that, honey,” their mom said, obviously trying to cheer up Abby.

  Abby’ lifted her hand to touch the butterfly bobby pin that clipped back her bangs. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “I just found this on my desk.” As she said it, her eyes flitted over to Henry. They narrowed.

  Henry quickly looked at his soup. There were all kinds of questions stirring around in his head. Did Abby know how the bobby pin got there? Did she know that he had been in her room? And, the biggest question of all, did she know about Boo’s invisibility trick?

  Henry was pretty sure she didn’t. If she did, she’d have told their parents by now. Whether or not Abby knew, Henry felt bad. Yes, they were always playing pranks on each other and being competitive, but they were still brother and sister. He hadn’t wanted to ruin her project, especially since it was so cool. He wanted to make it up to her, but how?

  The next afternoon, Henry still hadn’t confessed to Abby. He kept thinking about his problem during hip-hop class, and he messed up his dance moves every time. As he walked home, he decided he would just come out and tell her. He didn’t have to say anything about being invisible. He just needed to apologize for unlocking her door and letting Boo eat her science project. After all, he never meant to mess it up. But apologizing to Abby was never easy.

  Turning the corner to his house, he told himself he’d talk to Abby first thing. He patted his mom’s car as he walked toward the front door. Mom and Dad had both been parking in the driveway ever since Henry had set up his science project.

  Henry put his jacket and backpack in the front hall and headed to the family room. Abby wasn’t working on her art project at the table, so he went to the kitchen.

  “Hey, Dad,” he said. Mr. McCoy was shaking some spices into a pot on the stove.

  “Hey, bud,” his dad said. “How was school?”

  “Oh, you know,” Henry answered.

  “No, I don’t,” his dad replied. “I wasn’t there.”

  “It was good,” Henry said, but he wasn’t really thinking about school. He was thinking about his sister. “Do you know where Abby is?” he asked.

  Mr. McCoy sighed. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her in a while. Maybe she’s somewhere with Boo. I saw him come racing through here a bit ago. He was running in circles. That is one silly pooch.”

  Henry left the kitchen and was about to head upstairs when he heard a bark. Henry was sure it was Boo’s excited yip. It sounded like he was outside. When Henry looked in the backyard, there was no Boo. Maybe Abby was playing with him in the front. He opened the front door. No Boo. When he heard the bark again, Henry thought it was coming from the garage.

  Oh, no. The garage! Henry ran inside and whipped open the door to the garage. The light was on, and there was Boo, running around in tight, giddy circles.

  “No, Boo!” Henry cried. There were perfect little paw prints in baby powder and cinnamon everywhere. It was like finger painting for puppies. “Oh, Boo,” he murmured. “How’d you get in here?” The puppy ran over to Henry and jumped up, putting his paws on Henry’s legs. He smelled like a baby — and cinnamon toast. Henry was worried that Boo had inhaled the powder. He checked his puppy’s nose. He was relieved when it looked clean.

  Next, he glanced over to where he had created the ant barrier, and he knew that his project was ruined. Boo had run through the baby powder, cinnamon, and lemon juice and tracked it all over. The ants had already found trails through the barrier. Henry couldn’t keep those six-legged pests away. “You really want to be part of the science fair, don’t you, Boo?” Henry asked. “First you messed up Abby’s project, now mine.”

  Boo squirmed away from Henry and raced over to the parade of ants. He sniffed a cluster here and chased after a row of ants heading there. The puppy seemed as intent on tracking down the ants as Henry’s mom.

  Henry quickly caught Boo and lifted him up. He walked closer to the lines he had made. Suddenly, he realized there was something suspicious going on. He saw all kinds of paw prints … and the print of a sneaker. When he looked over at the baby powder, he saw another sneaker print, and another. In fact, sneaker prints appeared as he watched. There were prints, but no sneakers. Those were the sneakiest sneakers ever!

  “Abby,” Henry whispered, “I know you’re there.”

  Henry heard a rush of footsteps. Boo leaped from his arms and ran inside. The puppy had to be right on Abby’s tail!


  Henry followed his puppy through the hallway and up the stairs. Boo turned the corner to Abby’s room and ran straight in. Then the door seemed to slam shut all by itself — right in Henry’s face.

  Henry knocked on the door. “Abby, let me in.” He pressed his nose right up to the door.

  “I don’t have to,” Abby hissed. “Maybe you should go find a bobby pin and break in.”

  “Abby, I didn’t mean to —”

  “Yeah, right. You didn’t mean to pick the lock on my door?” Abby snarled. “Or you didn’t mean to let our puppy eat stuff that’s really bad for him?”

  “I didn’t know Boo was going to eat the potato!” Henry had wanted to apologize, but now Abby had made him mad all over again.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t tell Mom and Dad,” Abby said through the door.

  “Well, I can tell on you, too,” Henry pointed out. “You messed up my science project on purpose. And there are footprints on the garage floor to prove it.”

  At that moment, the door swung back open. Abby looked almost see-through, but her face had a full-on scowl. It was weird, seeing her in between invisible and normal.

  “It was not on purpose,” Abby declared. “And I didn’t mean to let Boo in. He just pushed his way into the garage and started to chase the ants. I tried to get him away, but he wouldn’t listen.” She huffed. “You know what it’s like to make a mistake. Don’t you?” Henry thought that his sister’s face matched her voice: bratty.

  At once, Boo started to whine. He looked from Abby to Henry with his gigantic, sad, cocoa-colored eyes. He whimpered.

  “You’re upsetting Boo,” Henry said. Boo hunched down and put his paws over his ears. “Don’t talk like that around my puppy.” Henry immediately wanted to take it back. “Our puppy,” he corrected himself.

  “Is that what this is all about?” Abby asked. “You think he’s yours. And you’re upset that he does the trick for me, too.”

  “No, that’s not true,” Henry insisted.

  “I think it is. I’ll bet you that he’ll do the trick for me before he does it for you,” Abby said, kneeling to the floor and picking up a blue ball.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Henry retorted. In an instant, he was scrambling to his room to get a ball, too. He found the red ball he always used for the trick and ran back. Abby was already holding her blue ball in the air.

  Boo was still whining. His eyes were full of concern, but he didn’t take them off of the blue ball. One look and Henry knew they shouldn’t ask him to do the trick. The puppy was confused.

  But as soon as Abby began to recite the words, Henry chimed in.

  “Boo, can you see the ball?” they both called out. “Let me see you fetch!”

  Abby and Henry threw their balls in the air. The blue and red balls made perfect arcs, and Boo tracked them both. At the moment the balls’ paths crossed, Boo bolted up. He made a mighty leap and nabbed both the blue and the red ball at the exact same time.

  Henry and Abby looked at each other in shock. “Are we both going to turn invisible?” Abby asked. For a split second, Henry thought that might be amazing fun. It would be like they shared a superpower, but then he realized that he could still see his sister.

  “I can see you. Can you see me?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Abby said. “Maybe we canceled each other out.”

  Then Boo barked. They looked down at him. His tail was wagging, but his body was starting to fade. The white fur was almost invisible. The puppy’s black dots lingered in the air for a moment more before he dashed off.

  “It’s Boo!” Henry yelled. “He’s turned invisible!”

  “Quick!” Abby yelled. “We have to get him!”

  Henry and Abby paused just long enough to hear Boo’s collar jingle as he ran down the stairs. Without a word, they were off. “You go to the kitchen and I’ll go to the family room,” Abby suggested. Henry did what his sister said. He ran into the kitchen, relieved that his dad wasn’t there. Henry got down on his hands and knees to check all around Boo’s bowl.

  “Boo,” he whispered. “Here, boy.”

  If the puppy had been in the kitchen, he would have come. He would have climbed in his lap and licked his face, but there was no Boo there. Henry got up and ran to find his sister. She wasn’t in the family room anymore, so he decided to check the front hall. That’s when he saw her. She was standing by the open front door.

  His eyes locked with Abby’s, and they shared the same fear. At that moment, their dad came bustling through the door, his shoulders weighed down with groceries. “Mom’s home,” he announced. “I tell you, Boo’s dog food weighs a ton.”

  Henry and Abby took off out the door, dodging their mom, who carried groceries in one hand and her briefcase in the other. “Good to see you playing together!” she called out as her kids raced by.

  Henry and Abby stopped at the side of the house. “What are we going to do?” Abby said.

  “Let’s call him,” Henry suggested. “He always comes.”

  “But Mom and Dad,” Abby said. Henry knew what she meant. They might find out about the argument. They might find out that Boo got loose. They might find out about the trick.

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to find him,” Henry said. “Maybe we should split up.”

  Abby shook her head. “I think we should do it together.”

  They started to call, taking turns. Henry saw his sister glance out toward the road. There was no way of knowing how far Boo might have gone. “Boo!” he yelled.

  “Come here, boy!” Abby yelled. “What if he ran away?” Abby asked, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “He was pretty upset.”

  Henry remembered what Mr. Power had said that day at Power’s Pets. If only he had thought about it before. They had not been careful when they asked Boo to do the trick.

  They walked all around their yard, calling. They paused every few moments to see if they could hear the puppy’s collar jangle.

  “Why isn’t he coming?” Henry was worried.

  “Maybe he ran down the street,” Abby said, dread in her voice. They started to backtrack, quickly passing the garage toward the front of the house.

  Their dad was still unloading the car. “Hey, guys,” he said. “What are you doing out here?”

  Henry wasn’t sure what to say, but Abby didn’t hesitate. “Dad, we lost Boo. We think he might have gotten out.”

  “Oh, no,” Mr. McCoy answered. “Did you see where he went?”

  “No,” Abby admitted. “He ran past us and down the stairs.”

  “That’s not good,” their dad said. “We need to search.”

  “Wait, I hear scratching,” Henry said. “It sounds like he’s in the garage!”

  “But I was just in there and didn’t see him,” Mr. McCoy said.

  “It’s him!” Abby yelped. She and Henry ran toward the front door.

  “Boo!” they yelled, racing through the house.

  Abby pushed herself against the door as she turned the knob, and they both burst into the garage.

  “There, in the corner.” Henry pointed. He could see faint black spots starting to reappear.

  They rushed over. Abby reached out, with questioning hands, trying to feel the pup.

  All at once, she threw back her head and started laughing. “He’s licking me,” she announced joyously. As Henry watched, Boo’s pink tongue came into view. Henry immediately sat down next to his sister. He soon felt a pair of paws on his knees and saw an odd, floating tongue come at his chin. As Boo attacked Henry with happy slurps, his white fur started to fill in.

  “Is he here?” Mr. McCoy asked from the doorway, turning on the light.

  “Yes,” Abby answered. Henry held his breath. What if his dad came all the way in? Boo wasn’t invisible anymore, but he wasn’t back to normal either. He looked like a ghost.

  “He likes the ants,” Abby said, offering a reason why the puppy had snuck into the garage.

  “Well, he’s the only one. It’s so w
eird that I didn’t see him in here before,” their dad said, turning away. “I’m glad you found him.”

  Abby glanced over at Henry, and they shared a smile.

  “That was close,” Henry said.

  “Too close,” his sister agreed. “I think it’s time to call a truce.”

  Henry nodded. “For Boo,” he said.

  “For Boo,” Abby repeated.

  Henry remembered the moment they picked out Boo at Power’s Pets. It had seemed incredible that all the McCoys had wanted the same puppy. It was almost magical, how quickly the puppy had become a member of the family. Maybe his parents were right. Maybe sharing a puppy could help Henry and Abby figure out how to get along.

  * * *

  The brother-and-sister truce was an official agreement. Henry and Abby promised that they would never ask Boo to do his trick again. “We don’t know what will happen,” Henry had said.

  “And we can’t risk Boo turning invisible again,” Abby added. “We could lose him forever.”

  At first, Henry was disappointed. Being invisible had been amazing. He hadn’t even thought of all the cool stuff he could do. But Boo was more important. Both Abby and Henry agreed about that. Henry knew it was one promise they would both keep.

  * * *

  At dinner that night, Mr. McCoy was happy to announce that he had plugged up the hole where the ants came into the garage. “Boo was such a big help,” he said. “If he hadn’t been scratching in that corner, I never would have found the hole.”

  Hearing his name, Boo trotted over to the table. Mr. McCoy reached down and gave the puppy a loving pat on the back.

  Mrs. McCoy wasn’t sure that there was a solution to the ant problem. “Those pesky ants don’t give up. They’ll probably find another way in,” she said. “Some things never change.”

  Yet some things did change. Abby and Henry had an announcement, too. “The science fair is next week. Since both of our projects were ruined, we decided to work on something new — together,” Abby explained. “Henry and I are going to be partners.”