The Summer of Riley by Eve Bunting Read Free Book Online Page B

still in her camera. Wouldn’t it be neat if I could rent a billboard? There’s one just where Third Street and Oak meet. There’s been nothing on it for ages. What if I could rent it, and get a big picture of Riley, and put it up there where everybody who drives along Third or Oak could see it? And underneath we’d print DOES THIS DOG DESERVE TO DIE? And tell them to write and say he should be let off.”
    Grace doesn’t usually give me admiring looks, so I was pretty stoked to get this one. “You’re resourceful,” she said. “How did you think of that?”
    “I don’t know.” But I did know. I just didn’t want to say. I’d sat on Peachie’s couch and the big beautiful picture of the Sultan of Kaboor had smiled down on me. I’d thought anybody would love that horse. Nobody would want to see it hurt. In the nighttime I’d remembered my Riley’s big soft eyes and floppy ears, and I’d thought anybody would love that dog. Ifthey could see him, nobody would want him hurt. That’s how I got the idea.
    “We could do leaflets and stand in Monk’s Hill and give them out. We’d have Riley’s picture on those, too,” I added.
    “Let’s get on
Oprah.”
Grace’s face glowed. “Or
Rosie O’Donnell.
Rosie loves sob stories. And I think she likes dogs.”
    “Yeah!”
    We gave each other a high ten, which we figure is twice as meaningful as a high five, and decided to go right away into town. We’d take Mom’s film to the photo shop and check out prices.
    It was still raining a bit, but if you let the rain stop you in Oregon, you’ll never do anything. I felt pretty good. All this planning and figuring! It reminded me of when Grace ran for fifth-grade president; I was her manager and I’d thought up all this cool campaign stuff.
    But when I rummaged in my closet for my rain slicker, I found Riley’s chewed-up tennis ball in the corner. He must have nosed it in here. I picked it up—it had Riley’s tooth marks on it and it was still damp from all his sucking at it. He’d even sleep sometimes with this ball in his mouth. My cheststarted to ache as if someone had stuck a knife in it. “Are you coming?” Grace asked impatiently. “Yeah.” I set the ball on the closet shelf. What if none of this worked? What if, no matter what we did, Riley was gone forever? After all, I’d run a great campaign for Grace. And she still lost.

Chapter 11

    T he appeal went in. Riley was given twenty-one days while those commissioners debated his fate. I wasn’t allowed to see him. That was part of the decision. It was a hard part, but still.
    Mom and Grace and I were ecstatic. Even my dad seemed pleased when he called. Peachie had spoken to Mom. Mom said Peachie told her how sorry she was that I was upset. “But my horse is my only concern,” she’d said. “And that’s an end to it.”
    “Well, it’s not an end to it,” I’d said to Mom, and I’d held my magazine in front of my face to show it didn’t matter to me what Peachie thought.
    “And now,” I told Grace, “we have twenty-one days and a bunch of things to do.”
    “Too bad about the billboard,” Grace said.
    “Yeah, well, it figures. Who’d believe an insurance company would book it just when we wanted it?”
    “Inevitable,” Grace agreed.
    It was still raining, because once it starts in this part of the world, it takes its time stopping.
    We didn’t care. We put on our slickers and cycled through puddles as big as lakes, trying to stay clear of the trucks and cars that sizzled past us, splashing us with muddy water.
    We were in a good mood because now we had time, and we were beginning to feel that since we’d won the first battle, we’d for sure win the war. Especially with all our awesome ideas.
    The pictures of Riley turned out to be stupendous, so perfect they made both of us choke up. It’s nice with Grace. I don’t have to worry about showing her my feelings, and it’s the same for her with me.
    “It’s okay,” I told her.