Just a Dog by Gerard Michael Bauer Read Free Book Online Page A

come charging up the road and jump all over me and whip me with his tail and slobber me half to death.
    No one was ever as happy to see me as Mister Mosely was. He always made me feel good. Even if I got into trouble at school or lost something or some kids were being idiots and saying or doing stuff, it didn’t make any difference to Moe. He just went nuts every time like I was some kind of a hero or a movie star or the most important person in the world. And that’s sort of how I felt.
    Sometimes just for fun I’d play this game with Mister Mosely. I’d pretend I was a spy or a special agent or something and our house was a secret enemy hideaway that Moe was guarding. My mission was to see how close I could get to the house before Moe figured out it was really me. What I’d do is, I’d keep my school hat pulled right down and I wouldn’t look up at him or smile or call out or anything. I’d just keep walking slowly down the street making out I was some stranger.
    That would get Moe confused straight away. I’d watch him from under my hat. Pretty soon he’d start to think he’d got it wrong and that maybe it wasn’t really me and he’d stop jumping around. Then his tail would stop wagging. The closer I got the funnier it was. Moe would start sniffing the air and his tail would wind up again. Then he’d come up the street a little bit but he’d stop and turn round. Sometimes he’d go round and round in circles and I’d have to try really hard to stop myself from bursting out laughing. Laughing was a BIG mistake. As soon as I laughed, I’d give myself away and Mister Mosely would charge at me and be so psycho with happiness he’d almost kill me.
    The best one I ever did was this time when I pulled my hat really low and I walked down the street sort of mumbling in the deepest fake voice I could do. That totally fooled old Moe. I got so close I could have almost reached out and patted him. But I didn’t. I just stood there. I could see Moe’s feet dancing around and I could hear him whining like crazy. He was going totally nuts because he was ninety-nine per cent sure it was me but still one per cent thinking maybe it wasn’t. When I finally took my hat off he was so happy he knocked me down and gave me the biggest slobbering ever. It was pretty horrible but it was still worth it.
    I stopped playing those kinds of tricks on Mister Mosely because of the day it all went wrong. That’s going to be my next story. It’s one of the ones I wish wasn’t true.

17 Mister Mosely and the Stupid Trick
    One day when I was coming home from school I thought of a trick I could do to fool Mister Mosely. I figured it would be really funny. It wasn’t. And it was the last trick I ever played on him.
    It was the day we got to bring home the masks we’d been making all week in Miss Digby’s art class. I couldn’t wait to show mine to Mum and Dad. It looked a bit like the Joker from
Batman
, only better and scarier and with a lot more colours on it. I thought it would be pretty funny to fool Mister Mosely with it.
    When I got to the top of our street I hid behind the big fence there and checked around the corner. Mister Mosely was waiting in his usual spot.I put on my mask and I pulled my hat down really low and walked towards our house.
    When Moe saw me coming he started getting excited the same as he always did. I waited till I got about halfway down our street then I waved and called out to him. As soon as he heard my voice and saw me waving, he came galloping up at me, which is exactly what I knew he would do. That’s when I did this really stupid thing.
    When Mister Mosely got close, I lifted up my head so he could see the mask and I stuck out my arms and growled at him all at the same time. I guess it was a bit of a mean thing for me to do, on account of Mister Mosely being so happy to see me and everything. But I was only