Movie For Dogs by Lois Duncan Read Free Book Online Page A

writer.She took second place in that contest Jerry Gordon won, and she wrote her story when she was only eleven.”
    “Really?” Mr. Talbert seemed surprised. “I read in the paper that the second-place winner was from Elmwood, but I didn’t realize she was your sister. I thought the girl’s last name was Wallace.”
    “That was a misprint,” Bruce said. “My sister’s name is Andrea Walker. I haven’t seen Jerry’s story, but it’s hard to believe that it’s any better than Andi’s.”
    Bruce completed what he hoped was the final edit of the video the following afternoon, and that evening he and the others gathered in front of the TV in Aunt Alice’s living room for what they referred to as the grand premiere. They considered inviting their parents, but then decided not to, in case there turned out to be problems that needed fixing. Bruce, in particular, was worried that the video would not look as perfect on a TV screen as it had on the computer in the editing bay.
    Andi had expected to be excited when the title
Bobby Strikes Back
appeared on the screen, but she had not imagined how intense that emotion wouldbe. She sat, mesmerized, as the credits began to roll and she saw her name appear at the top of the list.
    Andrea Walker — Writer and Narrator
Bruce Walker — Photographer and Executive Producer
Timothy Kelly — Coproducer and Carpenter
Deborah Austin — Casting Director and Griever
Alice Scudder — Mrs. Rinkle
    Then Andi’s own voice began to recite the story that she had spent so many months writing and rewriting:
“Bobby, the old Irish setter, sat by the chain-link fence, gazing into the alley.”
Red appeared on the screen, peering mournfully through the fence, as Andi’s narration continued:
“Bobby’s next-door neighbor, Mrs. Rinkle, had built an iron wall between their houses, because she didn’t want Bobby to see his sweetheart, Juliet. Juliet, who was the only dog Mrs. Rinkle wasn’t allergic to, was ravishingly beautiful. Bobby only had a chance of catching a glimpse of her if she escaped from her yard and fled into the alley. So far that had not occurred, but Bobby clung to the hope that someday it might.”
    Bruce’s camera zoomed in on Snowflake Swanson, newly fluffed from her trip to the beauty parlor, her glamorous purple toenails gleaming in the sunlight. It was obvious why Bobby had fallen in love with her. Any male dog would have been smitten with Juliet, whether or not she was winning ribbons at dog shows.
    The dognapping scenes were interesting, because in an effort to lessen Aunt Alice’s exposure to the dogs, Bruce had not shown her snatching them. He had filmed the victims romping happily about in their yards, and then, with the help of Mr. Talbert, he had created a special effect that made them suddenly vanish. One moment a yard had a dog in it, and an instant later that dog was gone, as though sucked up by a gigantic vacuum cleaner.
    “Wow!” Tim exclaimed. “That’s like something out of a sci-fi movie!”
    Then the scene abruptly shifted to the Walkers’ backyard.
    “Oh, my!” Aunt Alice said softly as her black-masked image appeared on-screen. She leaned forward and watched with fascination as her alter ego, Mrs. Rinkle, snatched up little pink-skinnedLola, who yelped in terror.
“Ha, ha, ha, you pitiful excuse for an animal!”
Aunt Alice mouthed in sync with the woman on the screen.
“Ha, ha, HA!
I wish I had made the hole in the mask bigger so I could have bared my teeth.”
    “You were perfect!” Andi said. “I don’t think your teeth could have made this any scarier. Oh, here’s the scene where Debbie is grieving for Lola! Debbie, you’re a marvelous griever. Those look like real tears.”
    “I sliced up an onion and rubbed it on my face,” Debbie said. “I cry even harder in the next scene, when I’m grieving for Bebe. See? My eyes are bloodshot and my nose is running. That time I used a red onion. They’re stronger than yellow