“Squishy alert!” Aneta said, gently squeezing his loose wrinkles. Wink sighed gustily. Gram and some of The Fam would pick them up later to take them home. Via the ice cream store, if Aneta knew her Fam. The time spent waiting for Vee sped by.
After Nadine heard the girls were going to the park, she encouraged them take Wink with them. Sunny took the proffered leash. “With my brother’s allergies, this is the closest I’m ever going to get to owning a dog.”
Vee, whose eyes looked red, said she didn’t care if she held the leash; she just wanted to get their list done. What had happened to Vee before she came? Wink made it clear, however, that Aneta was the one he preferred. As Esther took the leash for her turn, the puppy hop-stomped over to Aneta and sat on her foot, tipping his long nose and squinting up at her. Sunny and Vee insisted Aneta walk a couple of steps ahead so the puppy would bumble forward.
“And we’re off!” Sunny cried. The party surged across the street and into the park.
“We’ll have them waddle around within the park so they go past all the other booths and everyone can see them,” Esther said.
“Fine with me,” Vee said, checking off her list. “Judges’ stand done.”
Aneta, meanwhile, watched the little puppy’s nose skimming the ground as though he were a pirate intent on buried treasure. Squatting to stroke his smooth head, Aneta listened to Vee read off from her notebook. So far she’d come up with no memories of that day she rescued Wink. How could she find the Crocs Killer if she couldn’t remember anything? The Mission Mom plan was struggling. Mom had ignored all the cute Wink stories as opportunities to suggest adopting Wink. Why, if she drove past Wink posters to work and back every day, could she say they weren’t ready for a dog? The smell of peanut-butter cookies lulled Aneta to sleep several times a week.
They were doing great on Vee’s list. Volunteers from Esther’s youth group at church would be pooper-scoopers dressed in crazy costumes. Three enthusiastic judges were signed up who promised they did not own a basset hound. Vee’s stepmom had made the fancy crowns for the King and Queen of the Waddle with little loops to go over the long ears so they would stay on. The girls’ squeals over them had made Vee smile.
Gram and Aneta found a dog biscuit recipe with healthy ingredients and made many, many bone-shaped biscuits. She thought that might be why Wink loved to sniff her hands.
When Aneta told them what she and Mom had found as an additional surprise for the Waddle, the girls clapped their hands together in a high-five salute.
“We have the best group!” Sunny said.
Aneta agreed.
Suddenly the hand sniffer at the end of the red leash lifted his head. Aneta tried to pull him back toward the community center. These pastel-colored houses had been along the park nearly as long as the trees, from what Frank had told them. The poster puppy, however, insisted on snuffling his way toward the curb, leash stretched tight. For a small dog with a squinty eye, he was strong.
“What do we know about the Crocs Killer?” She gave in and walked after him, interrupting Esther telling Vee her father knew someone who had a flatbed truck they could use for a judges’ stand. Vee nodded and made a note.
“What?” Vee asked, finally looking up from her list. The four girls were midway across the park. Ahead of them stood the pink-and-white The Sweet Stuff ice cream store, the Park Street houses on the left.
“What do we know about the Crocs Killer?” Aneta repeated then giggled, watching Wink. Wink had his own beat to walk by. Step, stomp-on-the-ear. Step, step, stomp-on-the-other-ear.
“We don’t remember anything. It was too scary.” Esther shivered.
“Let’s stay focused on the Waddle, please,” Vee said, but her smile was nice.
Okay, thought Aneta. I will think harder about the Crocs Killer. “C.P. told me a good idea for Wink’s costume for the Waddle.” Aneta changed the subject obediently. “He says Mom will laugh. She will want Wink because he looks cute.”
“Look how determined he is.” Sunny skipped forward and back. “He smells something over near that house, for sure.”
“I bet Nadine is getting lots of people who’ve seen the poster of your sketch of Wink the Squint-Eyed Wonder Dog.” Esther’s voice shot into Aneta’s happiness like an icy stream from C.P.’s water pistol.
Lots of people wanting Wink? She hadn’t thought of that when she agreed her sketch would be the artwork of the Oakton Founders’ Day Basset Waddle. The posters were in every store window and at the community center. Was she giving him away before he was even hers? What if he found a forever home other than with her and Mom? She brushed away tears as she followed Wink past the oak trees and across Park Street.
“I did not think of that.” Aneta’s gaze rested on Wink, straining with all his puppy power toward the last house on the right on Park Street.
Wink halted. He raised his head and sniffed. In the five weeks since the little dog had entered her world, Aneta had come to know that this lifting of the head came right before a powerful puppy lunge toward some unseen target. Her fingers tightened on the leash. Where was he going?
The girls began to laugh.
“He’s got a scent!” Sunny cried, clapping her hands then looking serious. “Maybe he’s caught the scent of the Crocs Killer.”
A puppy and four girls trotted across the street toward a pale-green bungalow in need of paint. The front lawn was green, however, and had been mowed recently. No car stood in front of the detached garage with an equipment box alongside it. Wink pulled Aneta toward that garage of 5 Park Street, past a mailbox marked LEONARD.
“He’s after something. A rabbit? A skunk? Eww, I hope not a skunk.” Esther dropped back.
They were past the back corner of the house near the garage when a van pulled into the driveway behind them.
Sunny heard the muffler and turned. “You guys, what are we doing?” Sunny stopped short, her face paling under the freckles.
“What are you kids doing on my property?” The man stood half in, half out of his white work van.
Aneta froze, her arm outstretched. Wink pulled harder. A high-pitched tone sounded in her ears. What was that? Oh, why had they come onto this man’s property? Would he call the police? Would the police arrest her? That would be trouble. Mom would send her back. She tried reeling in Wink.
The man stepped all the way out, slammed the door, and regarded them from across the front of the van.
“We—” Aneta’s voice failed her. Wink strained toward the garage. She had to bend down and scoop him up. He wriggled in resistance, emitting his trademark, “Aroo! Aroo!”
“Hey, get that dog away from there!” Loud.
“You girls get out of here!” Louder.
“Where’d you get that dog?” Yelling.
“I’m gonna call the cops!”
The girls turned and ran. Vee leaped over a large bag of puppy chow lying against the back door of the house. She streaked toward the community center with Sunny, Esther, and Aneta, still clutching Wink, streaming raggedly behind her.
Chapter 11
Melissa Causes Trouble
Oh, for pizza sake!” Sunny’s favorite phrase jolted the three girls. She stamped DISCARD on another library book and dumped it in a canvas bin. “Aneta, we’ve been sentenced to this library back room for two weeks, not counting weekends, and you haven’t said a word. What’s up?”
Aneta stamped a book about hummingbirds and dumped it into the bin. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and faced the girls.
“I get in trouble.” Indeed she had. On Friday, the day of the Big Trouble, she had blurted out where she’d been and Mr. Leonard’s threats to call the police as soon as Mom had come through the mudroom. It had startled Mom for sure, even taken her a few moments to reply. For a moment Aneta thought Mom was glad. Then Mom’s face settled into serious. The two had discussed thoroughly that private property was private. Aneta barely slept that night, expecting at any moment to be hauled from her bed and
sent back to Ukraine. By the next morning, the police had not come. The man did not call. But Mom did call the other parents; they had all agreed on a punishment.
“We all got in trouble.” Vee pitched her neatly stamped pile in the bin.
“And for punishment, being together in air-conditioning for two weeks is a whole lot better than pulling weeds from the community center’s flower beds, like my mom wanted us to do,” Esther said, slapping a book with the stamp. “I’m glad my parents said I could be punished with you three instead. So why are you acting like it’s the end of the world?”
“I am not in trouble before.” Her English sounded wrong. A single tear splashed on the dusty cover of an oversized picture book.
“Never?” chorused three astonished voices.
Shaking her head, Aneta set down the book. “I disappoint Mom and The Fam.” Her English worsened when she was going to cry. What if they send me back? But she didn’t tell the girls. They wouldn’t understand.
“We were stupid.” Sunny straightened and stared at her dirty hands. “We got excited about a Crocs Killer clue. Now we’re stamping discarded books at the library to be thrown in the Dumpster. How lame is that, stamping books that will be thrown out?”
“But speaking of the Crocs Killer…” Vee looked up with a gleam in her eye.
“And catching her…” Esther dropped another book in the bin and stepped alongside Aneta, patting her arm.
“Let’s go over what we know,” Vee said. “How long do you think they’ll keep us here?”
Esther shrugged. “You’re right, Vee. We can’t go ahead with an investigation without knowing where we are.”
Both Vee’s brows shot up.
“It is a good idea to see what we know,” Esther insisted.
The heat in Aneta’a face receded, and she smiled a watery smile. “Right.”
Sunny leaned against the metal counter and took her water bottle out of her backpack. She gulped twice then recapped the bottle. “We think she had to come down from the community center because we saw her through the trees, remember?”
Esther hoisted herself on the counter. “And since she came from here, someone might have seen her. Somebody carrying a wriggling garbage bag is not something you see every day.” Esther tugged at the waist of her capris. “At least not in the library parking lot.”
“So.” Vee whipped out her tiny notebook and flipped to a new page. “Interview people at the community center, the library, and the senior center.” She groaned. “That’s a lot of interviewing.”
Esther rolled her eyes. “Do you always have to do that?”
Vee ignored her. “What did everyone see? Let’s start with that.”
“I don’t remember anything. After Wink yelped, it all got really terrible.” Esther shrugged. “Aneta jumped off the dock, I pushed the boat into the water, and you ran for help.”
“And I stood there shrieking at the woman,” Sunny said. “Sorry, guys.”
Aneta thought hard. What had she seen? “The woman wore shorts,” she said slowly. “Dark.”
“She had her back to me, headed for the lake. I never saw her face.” Sunny scrunched her eyes. “All I saw was the white wriggling bag and”—she snapped her fingers—“and a hat! She was wearing a cap with a brim. It was khaki!”
“Some brand name on it,” Vee added thoughtfully. “I remember that. Before I ran.” Vee read from her notebook. “Dark shorts. Khaki hat with logo. That’s a start.”
“I think the next thing we need to do is—” Esther stepped forward. At that moment, Gram walked through the doorway, pulling her helmet off. “I’ve been sent to spring the prisoners,” she said, sounding like a tough guy.
“You mean we’re free?” Sunny dropped the stack of books she’d been working on. “Yowch!” Hopping on one foot, she clutched her other sneakered foot. “For today or forever? Ouch—right on my foot!”
“Forever. I called all your parents. They agreed you could be released into my custody. Going onto Mr. Leonard’s backyard was a mistake. I think you girls realize that and know trespassing is wrong. And”—her gaze took in the full bins—“I think you’ve served your time. I’ve brought the Scooter Patrol to transport.”
Zeff entered, a frown on his tanned face. Uncle Luke followed close behind with a big wave at the girls. Laura, Zeff’s twin and a foot shorter than her brother, peeked around him. She waved. She was home after a summer internship. Zeff held up one of the Dog Waddle posters. Seeing the drawing of Wink reminded Aneta about the Crocs Killer clues. A woman with dark shorts and a khaki hat could be anyone in Oakton.
“Where did you get the poster?” Vee asked as she stamped the last book in her pile.
“It’s coming back,” Zeff said. He thrust the poster at Sunny. Then he pulled three more out of his messenger bag. Looking over at Aneta, he shrugged. “I’m sorry, ‘Neta. All these businesses stopped me as I ran my courier route. Said they wanted nothing to do with the Dog Waddle.” His hand reached into the bag once again, this time withdrawing two more. “Some girl gave me these. Said she’d gotten them from business owners who said no way to the Dog Waddle.”
The stunned silence was brief.
“A girl?” Esther snapped out the words, her face reddening. She surveyed the others. “Melissa Dayton-Snipp.”
Vee nodded grimly. “Has to be.”
Sunny smacked her hand into her palm and made a hideous face. “She’s not going to get away with her Operation Ditch Dog Waddle. We’ll stop her evil plan!”
Chapter 12
Piles of Puppy Pellets
I do not understand!” Aneta yelled into the summer heat, arms wrapped around Gram’s waist as the pink scooter waited at a traffic light. She glanced over her shoulder and grinned at the scooters behind: Zeff with Sunny, Uncle Luke with Esther, and Laura with Vee hanging on.
Gram tipped her head toward Aneta. “Understand what?” she called back.
“Why Melissa hates Wink.”
The light changed, and Gram placed her feet on the foot treads and twisted the right grip accelerator. Over her grandmother’s shoulder, Aneta watched the dial climb to thirty-five miles per hour.
“She doesn’t hate Wink!” Gram shouted. “She doesn’t…” The wind tore a few words away. “…jealous…an idea that people like better than hers!”
Aneta understood the bits of words. She hugged her grand mother. People did like their idea. Just yesterday, when Mom and Aneta had walked to The Sweet Stuff, several people had stopped them to say how much they were looking forward to the Waddle. One man said his sister was coming in from Ohio with her basset hound. Mom beamed as though Aneta had come up with the idea all herself.
At least people had liked their idea until Melissa had started this trouble. Once the girls had signed out of the library, Gram had suggested they cruise Main Street to see which businesses no longer had posters.
“I’m sure these business owners misunderstood Melissa,” Gram had said, a glint in her eye. Aneta knew that look. Each store owner would be treated to the Jasper negotiation skills. Negotiation was one of the first English words Aneta had learned. Well, at least Gram and the rest of the family had the Jasper negotiation skills. Despite the laughing encouragement of The Fam to “never say, ‘Oh, okay,’” when a discussion was needed, Aneta still caved when someone said, “This is the way it’s going to be.”
She was so lost in thinking about her lack of Jasper-ness that she forgot to watch for Wink-less storefront windows until a high-pitched beep of a scooter behind them startled her back to their mission. Gram glanced at her rearview mirror on the handlebars, signaled, eased over to the curb, and parked diagonally.
After Aneta swung her leg off the scooter and removed her helmet, she waved at the three girls, who had also dismounted. Sunny gestured to the big glass window with the words PETE’S PETS EMPORIUM. “What’s emper-reum?” Aneta asked Gram, who was fluffing her hair.
“Emm-pour-eee-um,” Gram pronounced. “A fancy name for
a store. Looks like he either got missed with a Waddle poster or he’s one of Melissa’s victims.”
The group converged on the store. Esther was the first to push open the door, and air-conditioned air flowed over them. It felt good, yet Aneta shivered. After the baking heat of the ride, her skin felt like she’d gotten too close to a campfire and now ice cubes.
A man of average height wearing a button-front plaid shirt looked up. He viewed the group without speaking. Then his gaze fell on the drawing of Wink. His face crumbled into unfriendly lines.
“I don’t want one of them posters.” He stood stiffly, arms straight at his sides.
Before she knew what her legs were doing, Aneta had stepped from behind Gram to the counter. She extended her hand and said, “I’m Aneta. Please tell me why.” Although softly spoken, it didn’t sound like a question. It sounded like she expected the man to answer her. To her surprise, he did!
“Well…” He seemed uncertain, as though he had once known but couldn’t quite remember. “It’s, um…” He paused again then spoke up loudly. “The pollution problem.”
“Pollution problem?” Sunny sputtered. Vee yanked her behind Zeff’s bulky body.
“Yes,” the man said, now speaking more quickly and confidently. “All them dogs doing their business in the park. People won’t like it. They’ll track it everywhere. It will affect my business.”
Having said more than she had ever thought she’d say to a complete stranger, Aneta now stood silent. Everyone knew that dogs went to the bathroom, didn’t they? Why would it affect his business?
Vee stepped forward and placed the poster on the counter. The man looked at it and then looked away. She said firmly, “We have volunteers who will scoop poop. Maybe you don’t know why we chose the Dog Waddle for our fund-raising project for Oakton Founders’ Days?”
Dog Daze Page 6