Dog Heaven by Graham Salisbury Read Free Book Online Page B

we pop the secret plan. You ready?”
    I flung the stick into the bushes. “What do I do?”
    “Just be yourself.”
    A half hour later Ledward, Mom, Darci, and I were on our way to the Humane Society in Ledward’s jeep. Ledward had invited Stella, too, but she said, “I don’t like cats, I don’t like dogs, I don’t like rabbits, and I don’t like seeing anything in a cage, so somebody tell me why I would want to go.”
    Man, she was snippy.
    When we got to the Humane Society, Ledward parked and turned to me. “Show your mama, boy.”
    Mom put up her hand to stop me. “Listen, we’re just looking, right? Nobody’s getting a dog.” She looked straight into my eyes. “Are we clear about this?”
    “Yeah, but—”
    Mom put her finger on my lips. “Just. Looking.”
    There were people everywhere. Almostevery dog was barking. It was deafening. I covered my ears and pushed my way through.
    “Streak! Stre—”

    I gaped at Streak’s empty kennel as my world crumbled.
    “But …”
    Ledward, Mom, and Darci crowded around me. Ledward looked in the kennels on either side. No Streak. “Maybe somebody’s got her out in the yard.”
    “No. They can’t. She’s mine!”
    Mom put her hand on my shoulder. “Calvin, if someone wants to adopt her, that’s a good thing, right? She’ll have a home. Isn’t that what you wanted for her?”
    My head felt as if it was about to explode.
    “You’re back,” someone said.
    I whipped around. It was Ben, the guy we’d talked to before. A small wiener dog was tucked under his arm. Ben held it up. “Meet Olivine. She just came in.”
    I was frantic. “Where’s Streak?”
    “Who?”
    “Streak … the dog I … the dog …”
    I choked. It was all slipping away.
    “Ohhh, you mean Ruby.”
    “That’s the one,” Ledward said.
    Ben shook his head. “A lady just adopted her.” He glanced back through the crowd. “Maybe she’s still here. I don’t know.”
    There was a big stir over by the offices. The crowd surged, people scrambling to see whatwas going on. Someone shouted, “Come back! Here, doggie, doggie, doggie, here, doggie!”

    “Loose dog.” Ben set Olivine the wiener dog in Streak’s vacant kennel and hurried off.
    Who cared?
    I hooked my fingers in the chain-link fence. The wiener dog looked up at me. She had long ears and a pointy nose. She was trembling.
    Ledward tapped my shoulder. “Look.”
    I shook him off.
    “Look.”

L edward lifted his chin toward the dog everyone was trying to catch. It was black and white, and fast.
    “Streak!”
    I promise, that crazy dog was laughing. She was having a party. Nobody could touch her.
    “Streak!” I shouted again.
    Streak heard me. She tried to stop. Her paws slid on the concrete and she barreled into a wall.
    I started running.
    In an instant she was leaping at my feet, a dog-size flea. I picked her up and hugged her. Streak licked my face.

    The crowd cheered, everyone laughing and clapping.
    Mom’s mouth hung open.
    Not one person could catch that dog and there she was licking my face.
    “Ho!” Ben said, running up. “How’d you
do
that?”
    A lady stumbled up behind him, gasping. “Oh, thank you, thank you!” She gulped, catching her breath. “Ruby, you naughty dog.”
    I turned so the lady couldn’t touch her. “Her name is Streak.”
    “Calvin,” Mom said, gently.
    “She’s mine, Mom.”
    The lady blinked.
    Mom moved closer. “I’m sorry. He doesn’t mean that. He was just here a couple of days ago and played with this dog, that’s all.”
    Mom pried Streak out of my arms. She stroked her once and handed her to the lady. Streak wiggled and whined. The lady struggled to hang on to her.
    “Good heavens!”
    The lady dumped Streak into Ben’s arms. “I think this one might be a little too much for me to handle.”

    My spirits soared. “Uh … there’s a nice wiener dog in that kennel over there.” I turned and pointed. “It just came in.”
    “He’s right,” Ben said.