Cuddles Read online

  The bookstore was packed — which meant they’d be raising a lot of money for Caring Paws.

  Lizzie looked around to see if Mrs. Bennett had come. There she was, in the back. Lizzie smiled and waved, and Mrs. Bennett waved back. Lizzie was glad she had taken a moment to have a private talk with Mrs. Bennett the day before. She had agreed to let Poppy and her mom take Cuddles — if Allie agreed. “They live so close,” she said. “I can see their yard from my window, so Cuddles would still be in my sight, just like I promised my sister.”

  Lizzie looked at Poppy, who was holding Cuddles on her lap. They’d planned to have Poppy introduce the tiny pup to the audience before the contest began. The two of them looked perfect together. Poppy needed Cuddles in her life as much as Cuddles needed Poppy. Now, thought Lizzie, all we have to do is convince her mom. And how hard could that be, once Poppy won the contest?

  “Welcome to our first Dog Trivia Night!” Jerry Small stood in front of the audience, smiling broadly. “It’s so great to see you all. Before we start, I want to introduce you to our special guest, Cuddles.” He gestured to the stage, where Poppy stood holding Cuddles’s leash.

  The audience broke into applause and cheers. Cuddles joined in, barking at the top of her lungs. After the clapping stopped, she was still barking.

  “Whisper, Cuddles,” said Poppy, holding her finger over her own mouth.

  Cuddles looked up at Poppy, wagging her tail. Her barking dropped to a whisper.

  I can do it! See? I can do it!

  “Good girl!” Poppy said, and the audience cheered and applauded all over again — which made Cuddles start barking again, which made the audience crack up.

  As soon as Poppy got Cuddles whispering again, Jerry Small stepped in. “What a great trick,” he said. “And now, on with the show.”

  Lizzie’s mom came to take Cuddles’s leash, as they’d arranged. Then Jerry Small waved Lizzie to the front. “Lizzie Peterson is our emcee tonight. She’ll be asking the questions, and our wonderful group of experts will do their best to stay in the game. The winner will receive a gift certificate to Lucky Dog Books, and all the money raised tonight will go to Caring Paws.” Quickly, he introduced the contestants, all fifteen of them.

  Lizzie stood nervously, holding her index cards. She felt better when she saw Aunt Amanda smile at her. And then it was time to ask the first question. She faced Brianna, the first person in the line of contestants. “True or false,” she said, reading off a yellow card. “Dogs are color-blind.”

  “True!” Brianna said, almost before Lizzie had finished speaking.

  “Correct,” said Lizzie, smiling at her friend. From that moment on, she lost her nervousness and enjoyed her role onstage.

  She was surprised at how many adults went out in the first round. How could anybody not know that the poodle is the national dog of France, or that the Labrador retriever is the most popular dog in the United States?

  By the second round, when she began to read off her blue index cards, there were only eight contestants left. Daphne and Poppy were both still in the game, but Maria had gone out on her first yellow-card question. “Black?” she had guessed when Lizzie asked her what color Dalmatians were at birth. Lizzie shook her head sadly and passed the question to Brianna, who knew that the spotted dogs started out all white.

  Lizzie faced Aunt Amanda. “Are domesticated dogs carnivores, omnivores, or herbivores?” she asked. She knew her aunt would get this one right.

  Sure enough, Aunt Amanda knew that dogs were omnivores, who eat both meat and vegetables. She got a laugh from the audience when she said, “At least my dog Bowser is. He’ll eat just about anything!”

  Brianna stayed in the game by answering “dachshund” when Lizzie asked what dogs were bred to chase rabbits out of holes. Then Lizzie asked Poppy what the nickname was for the dogs commonly known as Mexican hairless. Poppy was ready with the answer.

  “Xolo,” she said, pronouncing it like “show-low.” “But don’t ask me to pronounce the real name.”

  “Xolo is correct!” Lizzie nodded, looking down at the card in her hand. “I didn’t know how to pronounce the whole name, either, but I learned the other night. The full name is spelled—” she took a deep breath—“X-o-l-o-i-t-z-c-u-i-n-t-l-i, and you say it like ‘show-low-itz-kweent-lee.’ ”

  The audience laughed and applauded.

  Then something surprising happened. Daphne missed a question. “Alaska,” she said when Lizzie asked where the Siberian husky originated.

  There was a groan from the audience.

  “I’m sorry,” said Lizzie, and she really was sorry, since Daphne looked so crushed. “But they originated in a part of Russia called Siberia.”

  “I thought it was a trick question!” Daphne wailed.

  After that, it was down to Poppy, Brianna, and Aunt Amanda. Aunt Amanda went down on her next question, which Lizzie read off a red index card. “What is the word for ‘fear of dogs’?”

  Aunt Amanda looked blankly at Lizzie. She shrugged. “No idea,” she said.

  “Cynophobia,” Poppy said without missing a beat when Lizzie passed the question to her.

  That made the crowd applaud. Lizzie could tell they all wanted Poppy to win. Everyone could see how smart she was and how passionate about dogs she was. She was cute, too, with those Pippi Longstocking braids.

  Lizzie noticed that Brianna stood quietly, looking down at her feet. Brianna obviously knew that Poppy was the crowd favorite, but she didn’t let it stop her from getting her next question right, the one about another name for the Russian wolfhound. “Borzoi,” she said, still looking at her feet.

  It was Poppy’s turn again. Lizzie could see the people in the audience leaning forward. This was exciting.

  “How many teeth does a dog have?” Lizzie asked.

  “Oh, I know this one,” said Poppy, biting her lip. “I know I do.” She seemed unsure. “Forty-six?”

  Lizzie checked the answer. “Um, no!” she said, shocked.

  The audience gasped. Everyone turned to stare at Brianna. If she got the answer right, she would win.

  “Brianna?” Lizzie asked. “Would you like me to repeat the question?”

  Brianna shook her head. “That’s okay.” She looked straight back at Lizzie this time instead of at her shoes. “A healthy adult dog has forty-two teeth: twenty on the upper jaw and twenty-two on the lower jaw.” She said it shyly, as if she didn’t want to show off.

  “Correct!” said Lizzie. She saw Brianna’s face turn white, then pink as the audience hooted and cheered. She also saw a very upset Poppy jump up and run down one of the aisles until she disappeared into the back of the store.

  * * *

  As soon as she was done congratulating Brianna, Lizzie took Cuddles’s leash from her mom and ran with her to find Poppy. The red-haired girl was huddled near the cozy corner where Jerry Small kept all his dog books. She was sobbing into a black Lab stuffie who lived there.

  “It’s okay, Poppy,” Lizzie said as she stroked Poppy’s shoulder. “You did great.”

  Cuddles snuggled into Poppy’s lap and licked at her salty tears.

  Please don’t cry! I’ll make you feel better.

  “But — but I thought if I won, maybe my mom would let me have a dog,” Poppy said. “I thought she might let me have this dog. I thought she might let me at least foster Cuddles.”

  Lizzie couldn’t believe that Poppy had been thinking the same way she had — though it made sense, since they were so alike in so many ways. But before she could tell Poppy she’d had a similar idea, she heard someone speak up behind her.

  “She might let you anyway,” said the someone. It was Allie, Poppy’s mom. “Sweetie.” She knelt to hug Poppy. “You were amazing. And not just tonight. You were amazing when you caught Misha, and when you taught Cuddles her whisper trick, and just the way you stuck to it when you and Lizzie promised to help Cuddles. You’ve proved to me how responsible you can be.”

  “Really?” P
oppy asked.

  “Really,” said her mom. “And Cuddles is amazing, too. I think the two of you belong together — forever. Plus, I’ve kind of fallen in love with her myself. She’s just so cuddly! I’ve already talked to Mrs. Bennett about it, and she thinks it’s a great idea for us to adopt Cuddles. We can make room in our life for one tiny dog, right? Especially one I won’t be allergic to?”

  Poppy hugged her mom tight. She didn’t have to say anything. Once again, her face said it all.

  Lizzie beamed. This was a hundred times better than convincing Allie to foster Cuddles. Now the adorable pup would be with Poppy forever, and they’d both be where Lizzie could visit them anytime. “I think you won first prize after all,” she told Poppy as the little girl hugged her new puppy close. “And I think Cuddles did, too.”

  I hear from a lot of readers who, like Poppy, really want a dog of their own. Sometimes there are very good reasons why it’s not the right time for a family to add a dog to their lives: for example if parents are too busy with work, or dogs are not allowed where you live, or someone in your family is allergic. If one of these is true for your family, maybe you can find a place like Caring Paws to volunteer with dogs, or perhaps a neighbor or friend has a dog that you could help out with. That way, you can spend time with dogs and begin to learn about how to take care of one of your own when the time is right. (It might also help convince your parents that you can be a responsible dog owner!)

  Dear Reader,

  It’s fun to learn about dogs, and there’s so much to know! Your library probably has books about dog breeds, dog training, and dog care. That’s a great place to start. You can also look online if you’re interested in a particular breed or training issue. Your parents can help you track down what you want to know. I do a lot of research when I’m writing the Puppy Place books, and I never get tired of learning about dogs. For this book, I enjoyed researching the questions that Lizzie would ask at the trivia contest!

  Yours from the Puppy Place,

  Ellen Miles

  Charles gazed out the car window down a long valley filled with trees in shades of rosy red, bright yellow, and burnt orange. They looked like giant bouquets. The grass was still a fresh green, like spring, but the leaves were in full-autumn bloom. The colors were beautiful, but Charles couldn’t wait for the road to start climbing out of the valley. He couldn’t wait to breathe the crisp, mountain air. He knew his puppy, Buddy, was super excited, too. The Petersons were off to the mountains for the weekend!

  Was Lizzie excited? Charles wasn’t so sure about his older sister. The trip was all because of her, but she was very quiet. She sat on the other side of the backseat, counting on her fingers. Every once in a while, she pulled a carefully folded sheet of paper from the pocket of her purple fleece jacket. Charles knew it was a checklist. Lizzie had been carrying it around for a week, ever since her last Greenies meeting.

  Greenies was the name of Lizzie’s nature club. Lizzie was in it with her best friend, Maria, and a bunch of older kids from their school. Even though Charles was not a member of the Greenies, he had been invited on the club’s big annual camping trip to Misty Valley. Mom and Dad were invited, too!

  So was the Bean, Charles’s younger brother, but he was staying with Aunt Amanda for the weekend. Charles was sure the Bean didn’t mind—in fact, he was probably very happy, since Aunt Amanda had a house full of animals. Charles wrapped his arm around Buddy’s neck and looked back out the window. He was pretty happy, too. But Lizzie was still looking very serious.

  “Why are you so worried?” Charles asked.

  “What?” Lizzie asked. “Who me? Why do you think I’m worried?”

  Charles shrugged. “Because you keep staring at that paper and mumbling to yourself.”

  “This paper happens to be my checklist,” Lizzie explained.

  “Yeah, but you already checked everything off, like fifteen times,” Charles pointed out.

  “I’m just making sure,” said Lizzie. “And besides, all the knots I need to know are on the other side. Plus the words to a new camp song.” Lizzie had a special rope at home, just for practicing tying knots. She looped it around the end of her bed, the leg of a chair, anywhere. Sometimes, she would sing camp songs while she practiced.

  “I thought camping was supposed to be fun,” Charles said.

  “It is,” Lizzie said. “But remember, the Greenies don’t get to stay in cabins like you do. We won’t have running water or electricity or beds. We’ll get our water from a nearby stream and cook our own food and put our tents up all by ourselves. The Greenies are doing real camping.”

  Lizzie sometimes acted like a know-it-all, but Charles knew she had never done camping like this before. He could tell she was nervous.

  Ellen Miles loves dogs, which is why she has a great time writing the Puppy Place books. And guess what? She loves cats, too! (In fact, her very first pet was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat named Jenny.) That’s why she came up with the Kitty Corner series. Ellen lives in Vermont and loves to be outdoors with her dog, Zipper, every day, walking, biking, skiing, or swimming, depending on the season. She also loves to read, cook, explore her beautiful state, play with dogs, and hang out with friends and family.

  Visit Ellen at ellenmiles.net.

  Don’t miss any of these other stories by Ellen Miles!

  Angel

  Bandit

  Baxter

  Bear

  Bella

  Bitsy

  Bonita

  Boomer

  Bubbles and Boo

  Buddy

  Champ

  Chewy and Chica

  Cocoa

  Cody

  Cooper

  Daisy

  Edward

  Flash

  Gizmo

  Goldie

  Gus

  Honey

  Jack

  Jake

  Liberty

  Lola

  Louie

  Lucky

  Lucy

  Maggie and Max

  Mocha

  Molly

  Moose

  Muttley

  Nala

  Noodle

  Oscar

  Patches

  Princess

  Pugsley

  Rascal

  Rocky

  Scout

  Shadow

  Snowball

  Spirit

  Stella

  Sugar, Gummi, and Lollipop

  Sweetie

  Teddy

  Ziggy

  Zipper

  Copyright © 2018 by Ellen Miles

  Cover art by Tim O’Brien

  Original cover design by Steve Scott

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing 2019

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-30301-8

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

 

 

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