Natalie Wants a Puppy by Dandi Daley Mackall Read Free Book Online Page A

Elizabeth,” Granny begins, “would youlike to explain this to me?” Granny never uses that “Elizabeth” name. Very much.
    “What?” Then I see that she’s dumped out my backpack. My graduation paper is on top of the pile. “It isn’t important,” I tell her. On account of I don’t even want to go to that graduation.
    “Are you kidding? You only graduate from kindergarten once, you know.”
    “I don’t want to go,” I say.
    “Nat, do your mom and dad even know about this?”
    I shrug up my shoulders. Inside, my answer is, They don’t care.
    Granny makes sure I have my math sheet. Plus also, she hands me the graduation sheet. “You turn this in. You hear me?”
    I nod and stick it into my pack.
    Kindergarten kids are wilder than ever. Poor Miss Hines gives up on doing work. We play games that are real fun, instead of math fun.
    I almost forget to turn in my math worksheet.
    “Good job,” Miss Hines says when I give it to her. “What about your graduation paper, Natalie?”
    I go back and get it. “Do I have to come if my parents don’t?” I ask.
    “I’m sorry your parents won’t be back, Natalie,” Miss Hines says. She takes another look at mygraduation paper. “But it looks like somebody’s coming to see you. You’ve requested three seats.”
    “Granny must have messed up marking that sheet,” I guess. “Do I have to come?”
    She puts her arm around me. “Well, I sure hope you do, Natalie. It just wouldn’t be graduation day without you.”
    Miss Hines gives me a smiley face. And even though I don’t feel smiley, I know that I am going to miss my teacher’s smiley faces next year.

    Granny acts very funny on my last day of kindergarten. When I wake up, she is making herself a toasted cheesy sandwich. On account of she’s been awake so long that it should be her lunch.
    Three times she drops stuff. A pan. Her shoe. Percy.
    I wear my favorite purple shirt I drew on with markers. Granny lets me.
    “Was that the phone, Nat?” Granny runs to the phone.
    “No, Granny!” I call after her.
    A gazillion times, she looks out the front window.
    “Granny,” I ask when she and Charley drop me off at kindergarten for the last time, “are you okay?”
    “What?” she asks. Then she kisses my head. “Have fun at school, Nat. I’ll pick you up. Deal?”
    “Deal.”
    Miss Hines takes us one by one to work on our talking parts for graduation. I sit in the back of our class, so I am almost last.
    Finally, she calls me to sit in the kid seat by her desk. “What are you going to say for the program tomorrow, Natalie?”
    “I don’t want to say anything. My parents won’t be there.”
    “Well,” Miss Hines says, “if you change your mind, I know you’ll come up with something wonderful.”
    Laurie and I hold hands and walk out of our kindergarten class on the very last day.
    “We really did it,” Laurie says.
    “Yep.” I feel a little proud in my heart about this.

    Laurie runs to her van. I look around until I see Granny walking up to meet me. “Hi, Granny!”
    “Thought I’d never find a parking spot!” Granny calls. She has a huge smiley face on anyway. “Brought you a little surprise.”
    “Really?” Granny knows I love surprises. I’m already thinking of a gazillion surprises it could be. Like ice cream. Or a purple dress she’ll make me wear to graduate. Or even Puppy 24.
    I can see something in the backseat. Only the sun is too shining. I run toward Charley. Somebody gets out. And that somebody is my daddy.
    “Daddy!” I scream. I run very hard to him.
    Daddy picks me up and swings me over his head. Then he just hugs me. “Boy, did I miss you, Nat!”
    I love hearing those words. “I missed you too!” I shout. Only it doesn’t come out. On account my mouth is smooshed into my dad’s shoulder. “Where’s Mommy?” For a teeny second, I have ascary thought. What if she didn’t come back? What if she’s still in China? What if—”
    “Nat!” Mommy steps out