Mud-Puddle Poodle

by Tui T. Sutherland

  Our table was at the front door of the school. Pippa and Arnold Scott were at a table at the back door, so we could be sure to get everyone going in and out at the end of the day. And Michelle and Kerri Drake were standing at the entrance to the parking lot with a big sign, so parents would have their money ready by the time they got to the doors.

  We sold half our stuff during lunch and everything else was nearly gone only fifteen minutes after school ended. But there was still one peppermint meringue cookie left when Eric Lee came by the table, and he bought it, which confirmed my opinion that Eric is cooler than your average sixth-grade boy. He was all quiet and mumbly about it, too, which I thought was cute.

  At one point while I was counting our change, I sensed someone sneaking up behind me. I whipped around and grabbed Isaac’s wrist right before he pulled off my ribbon.

  “Isaac, stop it!” I snapped. “Why are you SUCH A BRAT?”

  “I didn’t DO anything!” he protested, yanking on his arm.

  “Well, buy a cookie or go away!” I said.

  He bought a cookie and then went away, which was the best of both worlds.

  A pair of little brown eyes peeked over the top of the table. I leaned forward and saw that it was Eden, Troy’s little sister. She had this huge smile on her face, like always. Next to her was another second-grade girl who looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure who she was. She had straight black hair in two pigtails and glasses with blue frames.

  “Can-I have-a cookie-for me-and one-for Yun-too?” Eden said in a sweet singsong voice. She reached up and put two quarters on the table.

  “Sure,” I said. “Do you want peanut butter or chocolate chip or chocolate chocolate chip?”

  Eden looked thoughtful. This was clearly a very important decision.

  “Peanut butter,” said Yun. She looked behind her at a car that was pulling into one of the parking spots. “OK?” she called. “Peanut butter OK?”

  I was totally excited when I saw that it was Miru driving the car. I realized Yun must be her little sister. She parked and came over to us, swinging her keys around her fingers, all cool-like. I’m going to swing my keys like that when I can drive.

  “Sure,” she said. “I’ll have one, too. Hi, Rosie.”

  “Hey, Miru,” I said, taking her quarter and trying to act as if I hang out with high schoolers all the time. Charlie looked all wide-eyed and amazed that I knew a high schooler, especially one as cool as Miru. “Last two,” I said, giving one to Yun and one to Miru.

  “Chocolate chocolate chip,” Eden burst out.

  “Good choice,” I said, handing her the cookie in a napkin. Her smile got even bigger and she ran off to join Troy and Parker in the playground.

  “Looks like you’re almost done,” Miru said, nodding at the empty plates on the table.

  “I know!” I said. “I thought I was going to be here until four at least! Mom’s not supposed to pick me up until then, when she’s done at the store.”

  “Want a ride home?” Miru asked.

  Did I! A ride in Miru’s car! Holy cow! “Yeah, OK,” I said with a shrug.

  “I’ll call your mom and make sure it’s all right,” Miru said, pulling out her cell phone. “Come on, Yun, let’s wait for Rosie to sell the rest of her cookies.”

  “We could help,” Yun said through a mouthful of cookie. “We could eat dem all.”

  Miru laughed and took her sister over to the steps.

  “She’s my brother’s girlfriend,” I said to Charlie. “We’re, like, practically best friends.”

  “Wow,” he said. “My big brother barely even speaks to me. He won’t let me anywhere near his friends.”

  “Oh,” I said. That sounded sad. I didn’t know Charlie had a big brother.

  When we finally sold all the cookies, Ms. Applebaum took the money box and told us we did a great job. She said she’d put away the table and everything, so I could go home. The coolest part is that Miru let me sit in the front seat, and Yun didn’t mind or anything. I never get to sit in the front seat in my parents’ car.

  “Are you coming in to see Oliver?” I asked Miru as we pulled out of the school parking lot.

  She snorted. “I’m sure he doesn’t want me to.”

  “Uh, I’m sure he does,” I said.

  “Yeah, right,” she said. “He doesn’t care about anything except college applications. I want a guy who can be sensitive and emotional, Rosie. Like, you know what happened on Sunday?”

  I remembered Oliver coming home early from their bike ride. “You were busy?” I guessed.

  “Ha!” she said. “I’ll tell you what happened. We got to my house and I was like, ‘OK, awesome, what should we do now?’ and he was like, ‘I don’t know, what do you want to do?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know, what do you want to do?’ and he was like, ‘Wow, man, I’m totally freaking out about college applications, aren’t you?’ and I was like, ‘Wait, so, you want to go home and work on them?’ and he was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know, do you?’ and I was like, ‘Dude, if that’s what you want, then fine, I have stuff to do anyway,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, well, I guess if you have stuff to do …’ and I was like ‘Yeah, I totally do, ’bye then,’ and he was like, ‘OK, ’bye then,’ CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?”

  “Um,” I said. “Believe what?”

  “That he did that! I’m telling you, Rosie, hold out for a good guy. Make him tell you he likes you up front so it’s not all confusing and lame.”

  Well, she was right about one thing. I was really confused. “Oliver does like you,” I said. That was the one thing I was pretty sure of.

  “He never acts like it!” Miru said. “He’s all closed off and quiet and whatever.”

  Oliver was totally not quiet, at least not around my other brothers.

  “I just wish he cared about anything,” Miru said.

  Right then I had a brilliant idea. And this one was really brilliant, not paint-my-dog’s-nails-pink brilliant.

  “I want to show you something,” I said. “At my house. Really quickly. OK?”

  We pulled into my driveway. Miru didn’t ask a bunch of questions. She just turned off the car, told Yun to stay there, and followed me over to the window that looks into the living room.

  Sure enough, Oliver was in there, playing with Buttons. They were both lying on the carpet, facing each other. Oliver made his hands sneak up on Buttons. She would be watching one intently, and then the other would creep up on her other side. So she’d spin around and then the other hand would make a break for it. He swept his hand under her paws and she went RRRRRR! and pounced on it. But he was too fast for her, so she chased it all around the carpet, going “Rrrrr! Yip! Rrrrr!”

  Finally she caught the cuff of his long-sleeve shirt in her teeth. With a triumphant snrrft! she started backing up, trying to drag his hand along behind her.

  Oliver started laughing so hard he had to roll onto his back. Of course, Buttons instantly dropped the sleeve and sprang onto his chest. She braced herself on his shoulders and stretched down to lick his nose. Oliver put up his hands to stop her and she happily licked his hands instead. Then she sat down on his chest with this pleased look like she had just found Antarctica and claimed it for the Kingdom of Buttons.

  “Whoa,” Miru whispered.

  “Cute, right?” I said. For a moment I was worried. If she didn’t think it was cute, this could be the end of Oliver and Miru, and it would be my fault. But how could she look at him with Buttons and think he didn’t care about anything? Oliver was a big softie, that was the truth.

  Miru smiled at me. “Yeah, OK,” she said. “Pretty cute.”

  “Maybe he’s not so bad?” I tried.

  “Maybe I’ll just say hi for a minute,” she said.

  We got Yun from the car and went inside. Oliver sat up when we walked in. His hair was all messed up from rolling around on the carpet. He looked really surprised to see Miru.

  “Oh!” he said. “Hi! I — um — I didn’t think —”
r />   “Come here, you,” Miru said, taking his hand and disappearing into the den with him.

  Buttons bounded over and tried to climb my leg. I picked her up and let Yun pet her. “Want to see if there are any extra meringue cookies hiding in the kitchen?” I said to her.

  “Yes!” she said, nodding so her pigtails bounced around.

  Yun ate her cookie while I practiced Buttons’ tricks using dog treats. I let Yun give her a treat, too. Buttons delicately licked it out of her hand and then wagged her tail, giving Yun big moon eyes like Yun was her new best friend ever. Yun giggled a lot when that happened.

  Miru didn’t stay for long, but Oliver looked much, much happier after she left. He even came outside to run around the yard with me and Buttons, which really meant he ran around the yard with her (while she barked and barked with joy) and I watched, because I don’t like to run, but it was perfect because it tired her out.

  And then he called Buttons the “best dog ever,” too.

  “Look at that,” I said to her at bedtime. “I think my brothers like you even more than they like me.” She jumped into her bed and smiled up at me, panting. Then she went dig dig dig dig dig until my T-shirt was exactly the way she wanted it, and then she conked out.

  I was happy, though. I felt like I had helped Oliver and Miru in a good way. Now maybe Oliver wouldn’t be so mopey anymore. That should make up for all the times he let me use his computer. Right?

  And it wasn’t just me. Buttons had helped, too.

  For such a bad dog, sometimes she did remarkably good things … even if she didn’t know she was doing them.

  “Good night, Buttons,” I whispered.

  Snzzzzzzzzrt, she replied.

  Buttons woke me Saturday morning by trying to lick off my ear.

  “Eurgh!” I yelped, fending her off. “Buttons, how did you get up here?” Then I saw my mom sitting on the bed with us.

  “Morning, chiquita,” Mom said. “I’m making pancakes, and then your dad would love to go to the park with you and Buttons.”

  “Puppy, pancakes, and park!” I said, fluffing Buttons’ fur around her face. She flopped over on her back and I threw the sheets over her.

  RRRRRRrrrrrARRRRrrraaarrrr! Buttons yammered, rolling around and wrestling with the covers. I pulled the sheets back again and she lay there with her paws in the air, her black eyes sparkling mischievously at me. I rubbed her tummy. She wriggled to her paws and bounced over to bury herself in my pillows.

  “Five minutes to pancakes!” Mom said, and left the room.

  I got dressed quickly and carried Buttons downstairs. I don’t know if she could tell that I was excited, but she seemed excited, too. She scrambled up to my shoulder, grabbed my pink hair ribbon in her teeth, and shook it with a little rrrrrrrft!

  “Buttons, leave it alone,” I said, rescuing my ribbon and putting Buttons down on the living room floor. Dad was setting the table for pancakes. He grinned when he saw me.

  “Would you mind some company today?” he asked. “I want to play with this famous dog, too.”

  “Sure!” I said. The best thing about doing stuff with Dad is that he usually buys me ice cream on our way home, even if it’s nearly dinnertime. So I can’t imagine ever saying no to him. Plus maybe I could get him to give Buttons her bath when we got home!

  Only Miguel and Carlos were there for breakfast. Oliver was already out with Miru, and Danny apparently left early to go hang out with Parker — and, of course, Merlin. Dad asked my brothers if they wanted to come with us, but Miguel had friends coming over to play video games, and Mom wanted Carlos to help her with a computer problem.

  So it was just me and Dad and Buttons walking to the park. Dad laughed and laughed when he saw the way Buttons wrestled with her leash. “She’s a character, isn’t she?” he said, which was funny because I’ve heard him say the same thing about me.

  At the park we decided to try the dog run. I hadn’t been in there before, but it was empty when we got there, and it was huge. There were grassy bits and pebbly bits and wood chip bits and a fountain in the middle that you could turn on with your foot.

  “Can I let her off the leash?” I asked Dad.

  “It looks all fenced in,” Dad said, glancing around. “Sure, let’s try it.”

  I unclipped the sparkly pink leash from Buttons’ collar and put it in my purse. She sat down and tilted her head at me.

  “Go on, run around,” I said, waving at her.

  She tilted her head the other way.

  “Hey, Buttons!” Dad cried. “Can’t catch me!” And he took off running to the other end of the dog run.

  Buttons jumped to her paws when he moved. She looked really startled. It took her a minute to realize where he’d gone, and then she went tearing after him, going Rrrft! Rrrft! Rrrrrrrft! like she was yelling, Don’t you dare! I’m going to get you!

  She was nearly as fast as Dad, but the funniest thing is that she was clever, so she kept cutting him off when he went around things or scooting under benches and pouncing on his feet when he paused to look for her.

  They were running back toward me when something flew through the air and landed in the dog run. Buttons stopped dead and stared at it as it bounced and rolled into the fountain. She decided to abandon Dad and run over to investigate.

  Dad and I caught up to her as she was pawing at her new treasure, which turned out to be a tennis ball. An old, ripped-up tennis ball that looked like it had been seriously drooled on.

  “Lucky Buttons!” Dad said. He reached for it, but Buttons jumped in, managed to get her whole tiny mouth around it, and trotted away. She sat down about ten feet away and gave Dad a look like, Don’t even try it, buster. I found it! It’s mine! She put the ball down between her front paws and sniffed it all over.

  We heard the gate of the dog run opening behind us, and when we turned around, we saw that it was Danny, Parker, Troy, and Eric. And charging into the dog run ahead of them was perfect Mr. Merlin himself.

  “Oh, no,” Danny yelled, spotting us. But the other guys were already waving.

  “Hi, Rosie! Hi, Mr. Sanchez!” they called.

  Merlin didn’t bother saying hi. He rocketed right past us and shot over to Buttons. For a moment I was afraid he’d run right over her without noticing she was there, but he stopped when he was nose-to-nose with her. His tail was waving so hard I could practically feel the breeze from where I was.

  Buttons bounced to her paws and trotted around him in a circle, sniffing any part of him she could reach. Merlin stood still with his tail wagging, letting her examine him. He sort of twisted his head back over his shoulder to look at us, as if he was hoping we could explain what the small fluffy thing was doing to him.

  “Come on, guys, let’s go,” Danny said to his friends, backing away from us.

  “Wait — is that your dog?” Parker asked me.

  “Yup,” I said. “That’s Buttons!”

  “You didn’t tell us you got a dog,” Eric said to Danny.

  “You didn’t?” I said. “Danny!”

  “Well, she’s not a real dog!” Danny said. “I mean, look at her. She’s just a furball. How are you supposed to play with a dog like that? She’s for Rosie, anyway.”

  “That’s not true,” Dad said. “She’s supposed to be for all of you.”

  “Yeah. Everyone else likes her,” I said.

  “Including Merlin, apparently,” Parker joked. Merlin had dropped into a play bow with his butt up in the air and his tail going like mad. Buttons stepped back and looked at him for a moment, then bounced forward like she was going to pounce on his nose.

  “RRUFF! RRUFF!” Merlin barked, spinning in a circle.

  And then suddenly they were running. They didn’t even seem to know who was chasing who. Merlin dashed in one direction with Buttons right on his tail, and then Buttons came flying back the other way with Merlin right behind her. She did the same tricks she’d pulled on Dad, where she’d suddenly dart under a bench, and then Merlin kind
of spun around looking confused, and then she’d pop out again and take off at a million miles an hour, and he’d bark with excitement and go pelting after her.

  “Um, Danny?” Parker said. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your dog is supercute.”

  “I know she’s cute,” Danny said. “That’s exactly the problem.”

  “Dude, I don’t know what you’re complaining about,” Troy said. “At least you have a dog. At least she’ll run around outside with you.”

  “Yeah,” Eric said. “Try living with two cats who hate you, and then tell me your life is tough.”

  “This is so awesome,” Parker said, watching the dogs roll around together. “I’ve been hoping we could find another dog for Merlin to play with. Man, he totally loves her!”

  “But she’s not the kind of dog who really plays,” Danny said. “I mean, look at this.” He went over and grabbed the tennis ball that Buttons had dropped. “Hey, dogs!” he called.

  Merlin and Buttons both stopped running and turned to look at him. Danny threw the tennis ball so it flew all the way to the other end of the dog run.

  Both dogs took off after it. Merlin had longer legs, so he got there first. He picked up the tennis ball in his mouth.

  “See?” Danny said. “Like a real dog should.”

  Merlin lay down and started to chew on the tennis ball.

  “Merlin! No!” Parker called. “Quit eating the tennis ball! Bring it back here! Merlin, bring the ball!”

  Merlin’s ears scooted forward and he raised his head to look at Parker. His tail thumped on the grass. Then he went back to chewing on the ball.

  “We’re still working on the ‘fetching’ part of ‘fetch,’” Parker said sheepishly to me and Dad.

  Buttons finally caught up to Merlin. She ran right up to his front paws and poked his nose with her nose. Surprised, Merlin sat up. Buttons grabbed the tennis ball in her mouth and trotted away with it. Her tail and nose were held high, like she was rather proud of herself.

  “Hey!” Danny said. “She stole his ball!”