Karen's New Puppy Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  1 An Exciting Day

  2 Three Houses

  3 House Plans

  4 Missing!

  5 The Search

  6 Family Meeting

  7 Picking a Puppy

  8 An Awful Night

  9 What a Mess!

  10 Big Trouble

  11 A New Home for Sadie

  12 Treehouse War

  13 Back Where We Started

  14 Bad to Worse

  15 An Important Phone Call

  16 Midgie!

  17 Case Closed

  18 Special Delivery

  19 No Grown-ups Allowed

  20 Welcome Back, Midgie

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  An Exciting Day

  “Bye, Nancy! See you later,” I called.

  It was Monday afternoon, the first of April. I hopped off the school bus and raced to the little house. I had exciting news to tell Mommy.

  She was waiting outside with open arms. Before I told her my news, I gave her a big hug and a kiss. I was gigundoly happy to see her. That is because it was my first day back at the little house. I had been living for a whole month at the big house.

  I will tell you later why I have two houses. First I will tell you about me.

  My name is Karen Brewer. I am seven years old. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bunch of freckles. I wear glasses. I have two pairs. I wear the blue pair for reading. I wear the pink pair the rest of the time.

  “How was school today?” asked Mommy.

  It was time for my news.

  “Ms. Colman had her baby!” I said. “It’s a girl and her name is Jane.”

  “That is terrific!” replied Mommy with a big smile.

  Ms. Colman is my second-grade teacher at Stoneybrook Academy. She is the greatest. I will miss her while she is away. She is going to stay at home for a few months and take care of Jane. Then she will come back to school. Our favorite substitute teacher, Mrs. Hoffman, will take her place. (For awhile I called her Hatey Hoffman. But she turned out to be very nice.)

  Mommy and I went into the house.

  “Hi, Karen,” called Andrew.

  Andrew is my little brother. He is four going on five. He gets home from school at lunchtime.

  Woof, woof! Meow! Woof, woof! Meow!

  “What is going on?” I asked.

  Midgie was racing around the house chasing Rocky. Midgie is Seth’s dog. Rocky is Seth’s cat. (Seth is my stepfather.) Midgie and Rocky usually ignore each other.

  “I think Midgie has spring fever,” said Mommy. “She has been a bundle of activity lately. She runs around the house, begs to play, or scratches at the door to go outside. She even got out and wandered off by herself a couple of times.”

  “I did not leave the door open!” said Andrew. “I was not even here.”

  Once Andrew left the front door open, and Midgie ran outside and almost got hit by a car.

  “I know,” replied Mommy. “We cannot figure out how she is escaping. The screen door was fixed. And we are always careful about closing doors.”

  Midgie and Rocky sped past us again. They were having an exciting race. Then Rocky slipped under the couch. Midgie sat down to wait for him to come out.

  While she was waiting, I ran upstairs to say hello to my room and my things. They were just the way I had left them a month earlier.

  When I finished saying hello, I ate a snack with Andrew. Then we went outside to play with our little-house friends.

  They are Nancy Dawes and Bobby Gianelli, who are in my class at school (Nancy is my best friend); Bobby’s sister, Alicia, who is four; Kathryn Barnes, who is six; Kathryn’s brother, Willie, who is five; and the Barton kids. The Bartons are the newest kids in the neighborhood. They are Jackie, who is seven; Lynda, who is eight; Meghan, who is four; Eric, who is ten; and Mark, who is twelve. (Eric and Mark only play with us once in awhile. They think we are babies.)

  We are a big group. It takes awhile for us to make plans sometimes. One kid wanted to play tag. Another kid wanted to have a parade. Another wanted to play statues.

  Then I got a gigundoly good idea. It came from a TV show I saw about houses.

  “Let’s build a treehouse,” I said.

  Guess what. Everyone liked my idea.

  This was an exciting day. Ms. Colman had her baby. I was back at the little house. Midgie and Rocky were having races. And my friends and I were going to build a treehouse.

  Three Houses

  Once our treehouse was built, I would have three houses. Wow! First I will tell you how I got to have two houses.

  I did not always have two houses. When I was really little I lived in one big house with Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew. Then Mommy and Daddy started fighting a lot. That made everybody sad. Mommy and Daddy explained to Andrew and me that they loved each of us very much. But they could not get along with each other anymore. So they got divorced.

  Mommy moved with Andrew and me to a little house not too far away in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Then she met a very nice man named Seth. Mommy and Seth got married and that is how Seth became my stepfather. So these are the people who live at the little house: Mommy, Seth, Andrew, me. These are the pets who live at the little house: Midgie; Rocky; Emily Junior, my pet rat; and Bob, Andrew’s hermit crab.

  Daddy stayed at the big house after the divorce. (It is the house he grew up in.) He met a very nice woman named Elizabeth. Daddy and Elizabeth got married and that is how Elizabeth became my stepmother. She was married once before and has four children. They are my stepbrothers and stepsister. They are David Michael, who is seven like me; Kristy, who is thirteen and the best stepsister ever; and Sam and Charlie, who are so old they are in high school.

  I have another sister. Her name is Emily Michelle. Emily is two and a half. She was adopted from a faraway country called Vietnam. I love her a lot. (That is why I named my pet rat after her.)

  There is one more important person who lives at the big house. That is Nannie. She is Elizabeth’s mother. That makes her my stepgrandmother. She helps take care of everyone.

  There are also pets at the big house. They are Shannon, who is David Michael’s big Bernese mountain dog puppy; Boo-Boo, who is Daddy’s cranky old cat; Crystal Light the Second, who is my goldfish; and Goldfishie, who is Andrew’s kangaroo. (April Fool!)

  Andrew and I switch houses every month — one month we live at the little house, the next month at the big house. (Emily Junior and Bob go with us.)

  I have special names for my brother and me. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I thought up those names after my teacher read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) I call us those names because we have two of so many things. We have two mommies and two daddies, two cats and two dogs, two families and two houses.

  Having two sets of things makes switching houses a lot easier. We each have two sets of toys and clothes and books—one set at each house. I have two bicycles. Andrew has two tricycles. I have two stuffed cats. Goosie lives at the little house. Moosie lives at the big house. I have two pieces of Tickly, my special blanket. I even have two best friends. You know about Nancy. She lives next door to Mommy’s house. My other best friend is Hannie Papadakis. She lives across the street and one house down from Daddy’s. (We call ourselves the Three Musketeers.)

  So now you know why I have two houses. And soon I will have three houses. I will have more houses than anyone I know!

  House Plans

  On Tuesday afternoon I showed my friends a book I checked out of the school library about building treehouses.

  “Those look pretty fancy,” said Bobby.

  “We need to bui
ld a simple one,” said Nancy.

  “Seth is an excellent carpenter,” I said. “Maybe he will help us build our treehouse. Then we could make it a little bit fancy. I will ask him as soon as he comes home.”

  It was starting to rain. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Bartons’ basement drawing pictures of our dream houses. My treehouse had two floors and towers to make it look like a castle. It had a refrigerator in case I got hungry and a telephone in case I wanted to call a friend.

  When it was time to go home, I collected everyone’s pictures. I wanted to show them to Seth.

  I had to wait an hour for him to come home. As soon as I heard his car pull into the driveway, I raced to the door.

  Woof! Woof! Midgie was right behind me. She always runs to the door to greet Seth when he comes home.

  I waved our pictures in the air for Seth to see.

  “My friends and I are going to build treehouse. Will you help us? Will you, please?” I asked.

  Seth looked at the drawings and smiled.

  “I would be happy to help,” he said. “I had a treehouse when I was your age. It was my favorite place. We can build it in our backyard.”

  I ran to call Nancy. Nancy called Kathryn. Kathryn called Bobby. Bobby called Eric.

  The next afternoon we all met in the yard to pick the best spot for our treehouse.

  “How about that tree?” I asked. I pointed to the tree outside my bedroom window. If we built the treehouse there, I could look at it every morning when I woke up.

  “It is too close to the house,” said Mark. “A treehouse should be private.”

  “I like this one,” said Willie. He pointed to our willow tree.

  “Too droopy,” said Kathryn.

  “This tree is nice,” said Nancy. She pointed to our oak tree. It was still bare from the winter. But it was a big, strong tree. Soon it would be beautiful and shady.

  “That one looks perfect,” I said. “All in favor, say aye!”

  “Aye!” everyone shouted.

  “We will need supplies,” said Mark. “My parents always have some wood and nails in the basement.”

  “I think we have some, too,” said Bobby.

  “Let’s all bring supplies tomorrow,” I said. “I will ask Seth if he can come home early to help us start building.”

  Just before dinner Seth’s car pulled into the driveway. I ran to the door to meet him. But something was not right. It was too quiet.

  “Mommy, where is Midgie?” I called.

  “I have not seen her for hours,” Mommy replied.

  Seth came inside and we searched the house.

  “Midgie! Midgie, come!” I called.

  “Here, Midgie, Midgie,” called Andrew.

  Midgie did not come. She was gone again. And for the very first time, she stayed out all night.

  On Thursday morning, we heard scratching at the door. Midgie came trotting in looking happy as could be. We took turns hugging her.

  “Thank goodness you are safe,” said Seth.

  “Do not leave again,” I scolded her. “We were very worried about you!”

  Midgie sat up on her hind legs and waved her front paws at me. I bent down and pointed to my cheek.

  “Midgie, kiss!” I said.

  Midgie rested her paws on my shoulders and licked my cheek. She really is a very sweet dog.

  Missing!

  My friends and I worked on our treehouse every day after school and on the weekend, too. Seth helped us whenever he could. By Monday the floor of the treehouse was finished. We were ready to work on the roof. (We decided not to build any towers. Seth said it would take too long. Boo.)

  While we were working, a car drove by. A big spotted dog was sitting in back. Woof! Woof, woof!

  I covered my ears and waited for Midgie to answer. I did not hear anything so I uncovered my ears. I still did not hear anything.

  “Uh-oh,” I said.

  “What is wrong, Karen?” asked Seth.

  “Midgie did not bark at the dog that just passed by. She always barks at dogs,” I replied.

  “You are right,” said Seth. “I was too busy hammering to notice. We better go look for her.”

  “Midgie! Midgie!” I called.

  My friends stopped what they were doing and helped my family look for Midgie. We searched the house. We searched the yard. We walked up the block and back.

  “She’s done it again,” I said. “She’s disappeared!”

  “Let’s stay calm,” said Seth. “Last week she stayed away overnight. But she came back safely. She might do the same thing again.”

  Seth called the animal shelter and asked them to be on the lookout just in case someone brought Midgie in. He did not seem too worried.

  But Midgie stayed out all night, and she did not come trotting back in the morning the way she had the last time. She did not come home by Tuesday night either. On Wednesday morning she was still gone. By Wednesday afternoon, we were very worried.

  Seth started making phone calls. He called the animal shelter again. He called some of our neighbors.

  “Someone is bound to have seen her somewhere,” he said.

  But no one had.

  “We should make signs and post them in the neighborhood,” I said.

  “Excellent idea,” said Seth. “You start making the sign. I will call the Stoneybrook News and ask them to run an ad.”

  While Seth was calling the newspaper, Mommy, Andrew, and I got to work. (I am a very good sign-maker.) Here is what our sign said:

  MISSING!

  HAVE YOU SEEN OUR DOG, MIDGIE?

  IF SO, PLEASE CALL!

  We put a picture of Midgie under the word “Missing!” We listed our phone number at the bottom. I made a beautiful border of dog biscuits and hearts.

  “That should do it,” I said.

  We drove downtown to make copies of our sign, and we posted them around the neighborhood. Then we went home and waited for someone to call. We waited. And waited. And waited.

  Finally on Friday morning the phone rang. We tripped over each other trying to answer it. Mommy reached the phone first.

  “Hello?” she said. She listened for a minute. Then she started asking questions. She asked if the dog answered to the name Midgie. She asked how big the dog was. She asked if the dog had any special markings. That was when Mommy’s face changed from excited to sad.

  “No, our dog does not have a black patch over one eye. And she does not have black at the tip of her tail. But thank you for calling us,” said Mommy.

  The dog was not Midgie. Midgie was still missing. We just had to keep searching for her.

  The Search

  “I am going out to post more signs,” said Seth. “We should put them all around Stoneybrook.”

  “We need a search party, too,” I said. “I know where to find one.”

  It was Saturday morning. My family had just finished breakfast. The kids from the neighborhood would be over any minute. Andrew and I went out to the yard to wait for them. As soon as they arrived, I called for a meeting.

  “Midgie is still missing,” I said to my friends. “We need detectives to find her. Who wants to help?”

  “Me!!!” everyone replied.

  “Great,” I said.

  I wished we had detective hats to wear. But there was no time to make them. Then I thought of something important.

  “I will be right back!” I said.

  I ran into the house and opened the refrigerator.

  “Mommy, do we have bologna?” I asked.

  “How can you be hungry? You just finished breakfast,” replied Mommy.

  “It is not for me,” I replied. “I want to give bologna to my detectives. If Midgie is hiding, she will smell the bologna and come out to get some.”

  “That is a very good idea,” replied Mommy. “We do not have any bologna. We have plenty of dog treats, though.”

  Dog treats were not as smelly. But they would have to do. I filled my pockets and went back o
utside. I handed out the dog treats and we started our search.

  Nancy, Andrew, Bobby, Alicia, and I walked to the end of our driveway and turned right.

  Kathryn, Willie, Jackie, and Meghan headed left.

  Lynda, Eric, and Mark hopped on their bikes and circled the neighborhood block by block.

  We went as far as we were allowed to go. We tried to think of all the places Midgie might be. She liked to play with the poodle who lived around the corner. And she liked a two-year-old down the street because he always dropped interesting toys or snacks in his yard. But Midge was not at either house.

  We looked and looked. Then we hurried home hoping one of our friends had found her.

  “I found the yo-yo I lost last week,” said Meghan, spinning it up and down.

  “I found a nickel and two dimes,” said Bobby.

  “I am sorry we did not find Midgie,” said Nancy.

  “Thanks for trying, everyone,” I said.

  I was still worried, but Seth was on the case. He was making phone calls about Midgie.

  It was time for me and my friends to get back to work on the treehouse. Mommy and Seth came out every once in awhile to see how we were doing. We were doing very well.

  We were using blocks of wood to make steps. We took turns lining them up and nailing them to the tree. I had just taken my turn when Mommy and Seth came running outside.

  “We got a phone call from a woman who lives across town. She thinks she might have found Midgie,” said Mommy.

  Andrew and I said good-bye to our friends and piled into Seth’s car.

  In no time we were knocking on the door of a big white house. A woman came to the door with a dog in her arms. The dog was tan like Midgie. But it was half Midgie’s size.

  Bullfrogs. I had been so excited in the car. Now I felt worse than ever.

  “Thank you for calling us,” said Seth. “That is not our dog. We hope you find its owner soon.”

  No one called again until Tuesday evening. A family had found a dog in their yard. This one sounded like it really could be Midgie. We piled into the car again.

  “Midgie, here we come!” I said.

  We saw the dog racing around the yard as we pulled into the driveway. It could have been Midgie’s twin. Except for its ears. This dog’s ears stood straight up. Midgie’s ears hang down.