Fabulous Five 013 - The Christmas Countdown

by Betsy Haynes

  Christie shrugged. "Oh . . . okay. It's for a good cause."

  "It's still a lot of money to raise," said Jana, "and most kids are broke from buying Christmas presents. But if we try, just maybe we've got a chance to get it."

  "I hate to be a party pooper," said Katie. They all turned to look at her. "Suppose we are able to get the money. We still haven't answered the big question. What are we going to do with fifteen dogs and cats?"

  CHAPTER 3

  "You want us to do what?" asked Tony Calcaterra, looking at Melanie with a surprised expression on his face.

  It was the following afternoon and Tony, Keith, Randy, Scott, and Jon were squeezed into a big corner booth with The Fabulous Five and Mona at Bumpers. Shane was leaning against the side of the booth, and Matt was standing next to him.

  "We want you to help us earn money to free some dogs and cats from the animal shelter. They're going to be put to sleep on Christmas Eve if no one buys them," said Melanie.

  "That's right," insisted Beth. "Those poor animals will die while the rest of the world is singing carols and opening presents." She cast her eyes down for dramatic effect. Then her face brightened a little and she said, "You should see them. They're sooo sweet and adorable."

  "I've got a better idea," said Shane. "Why don't we bake some dog biscuits with metal files in them and sneak them into the animal shelter?"

  "Yeah," said Keith. "The animals could saw their way out, and we'd have a getaway van waiting outside."

  "With fake tags to give them so no one would know they were escaped convicts," added Randy.

  "And Igor could be the getaway driver," Shane offered. "He'd love it. He watches cop shows on TV all the time, and the chase scenes are his favorites."

  "Guys!" said Jana. "We're serious. We've got to help these poor animals."

  "That's right," agreed Christie. "Do you want their deaths on your consciences?" She looked sternly at each of the boys.

  "Look," said Melanie. "It won't be hard to earn three hundred and seventy-five dollars if we work together."

  "Three hundred and seventy-five dollars?" asked Matt, his voice rising in disbelief. "That's a lot of money."

  "And we can't wash cars or mow lawns," said Randy. "It's winter, remember?"

  "Right," agreed Keith. "Besides, what would we do with fifteen cats and dogs, anyway? Don't think you're going to ask me to take two home. My mom and dad would kill me, even though it is Christmas."

  "My mom and dad work and wouldn't want one either," said Jon.

  Melanie looked down into her lap. What to do with the animals once they had saved them had been worrying her, too. In fact, it was just as big a problem as raising the money. They couldn't buy fifteen dogs and cats and just turn them out onto the street.

  "Let's not worry about that now," Melanie said, crossing her fingers behind her back. "We'll give them away at school, or something. We'll figure that out later, but first we've got to find a way to earn money to save them."

  "We don't have much time," said Tony. "Christmas is only ten days away."

  "It was ten days from yesterday," corrected Katie. "It's nine days from today."

  "I said I'd talk to Mr. Bell to see if we can set up a table in the cafeteria to ask for donations," said Christie. "Lots of charities make appeals during the Christmas season because people are in a giving mood. I'm sure that if I explain that to Mr. Bell, he'll let us."

  "That's a good idea," Shane agreed. "Would he let us make an announcement over the public address system, too?"

  "Maybe," answered Christie. "I'll ask."

  "What about advertising in the newspaper?" asked Katie excitedly. "You know, we could prepare one of those ads that really tugs at the old heart strings. My mom could write it, if your mother can get it in the newspaper, Jana."

  "That's a great idea!" responded Jana. "Since my mom's the classified ad manager, she could probably get it in. And we can include information about where people can send donations. Whose address shall we put in?"

  No one said anything for a moment, and Melanie held her breath. Her parents might not like it if they found out she was involved in a scheme to rescue dogs and cats, especially since she had been begging so hard for a puppy of her own for Christmas. Still, no one else was volunteering, and it would be a couple of days before donations would start coming in and they would have to find out. Surely she could think of something to tell them by then. Taking a deep breath, she said, "People can send the money to my house."

  "Good. I'll ask Mom to work on our ad tonight," said Katie. "Since she's a free-lance writer, it won't take her any time at all."

  "If you call me, I can copy it over the phone, and my mom can take it to work with her in the morning," said Jana.

  "I'll make up a schedule for sitting at the donation table," said Melanie. "Two of us at a time can take care of it. We'll have a boy and a girl there each day," she added, looking at Shane out of the corner of her eye.

  "I'll make a poster to tell people what it's all about," said Beth.

  "I'll make a sign-up sheet for kids who want a cat or dog," joined in Christie.

  "And I'll ask Mrs. Graham if she would please talk to her board of directors to see if they will give us a discount," said Mona, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

  "Great," said Melanie. "And then we can all meet by the fence in the morning and make our last-minute plans."

  "One for all and all for the dogs," said Keith, raising his cola cup high in the air.

  "And for the cats, too," said Mona as she bumped his cup with hers. They all cheered.

  On the way home, Melanie thought about the pet project and wondered if she was getting herself into more than she could handle. It was one thing to want to help save the animals, and there was no question that she was determined to do that. But her parents would have a fit when they found out that the donations were being sent to their house. And what about finding places for all the animals once they had been adopted? Was she being too optimistic in thinking that people would volunteer to take them? she wondered.

  On the other hand, she thought, smiling to herself, there were some good things about rallying so many kids to work together, also. For one thing, it gave her the chance to be around Shane and maybe even to impress him with what a kind and caring person she was. After all, he loved Igor, and he seemed very interested in saving the dogs and cats. Surely he would like her more than ever for being involved in such a worthwhile cause.

  "Oh, Melanie!" Mrs. Miller, the widow who lived next door to the Edwardses, called just as Melanie was turning up her sidewalk.

  "Hi, Mrs. Miller." Melanie noticed the older lady had a worried look on her face.

  "Hello, dear. Have you seen my Duchess?" Duchess was Mrs. Miller's Pomeranian dog. It was small with a pointy nose and long blond hair, and Mrs. Miller kept a little pink bow between its ears. She treated Duchess, who was old, too, as if she were her baby.

  "No, I haven't," Melanie replied thoughtfully. "Has she been missing long?"

  "I let her out in the backyard a couple of hours ago, and when I went to let her in, she wasn't there. I don't know how she could have gotten out. The gate was closed and locked and there are no holes under the fence."

  "I'm sure she'll come back when she wants her supper, Mrs. Miller. But I'll keep an eye out for her, just in case."

  Melanie's mother was in the kitchen, as usual. Mrs. Edwards liked staying home with her children and hadn't had a job outside the home since before Melanie was born. She baked cakes and pies a lot, and the house always smelled yummy when Melanie came in from school. Today, she and Jeffy were decorating freshly baked Christmas cookies.

  "Hi," Melanie said, putting her books on the kitchen counter and snitching a warm cookie off the platter where they were cooling.

  "Hi," her mother responded cheerfully. Then her expression clouded and she added with a sigh, "Honey, please don't walk off and leave your books there. You know how much trouble I have keeping this counter c
leared off."

  "And Santa's watching," said Jeffy, shaking a finger at her.

  "I won't." Melanie sat on a stool at the counter and munched on the cookie. "Mrs. Miller just told me that Duchess ran away."

  "Oh? When did that happen?" her mother asked.

  "She doesn't know. She put her out back, and when she went to let her in, she was gone. Mrs. Miller says there aren't any holes under the fence."

  "I bet she'll show up at her front door wanting to come in any minute now."

  "That's what I told her. I hope so, anyway. It would be terrible if she lost Duchess right at Christmastime."

  Melanie was quiet for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "Uh, Mom."

  "Yes."

  "After school yesterday, The Fabulous Five all went to the animal shelter."

  "Oh? I think I know what's coming, and no, you can't have a puppy. They're a lot of trouble to take care of, and I would be the one who would have to do it."

  "But the animals at the shelter are going to die if someone doesn't take them. A man who works there told us that they have to put some of them to sleep because they don't have enough room, and they're going to do it on Christmas Eve."

  Her mother turned to look at her and wiped her hands on her apron. "Look, sweetheart. There are a lot of animals in this world that need taking care of, I don't deny that. But there's no way we can take care of all of them."

  "Not even one?" Melanie asked softly.

  Her mother shook her head.

  "What if it were a grown-up dog? It wouldn't be much trouble, not like a puppy."

  "Melanie, please. I've got enough work to do. Any kind of a dog needs to be let in and out, fed, watered, and walked. I just don't have enough time for it."

  Melanie sighed. This certainly wasn't the time to tell her mother about the plan to save the animals.

  Later in her room, Melanie looked out her window, watching the snow fall softly. Under the streetlight in front of her house she could see Mrs. Miller. The older woman was walking toward one end of the block, calling out her dog's name. At the corner she turned around and walked in the other direction and called again. Melanie pressed her face to the window. She could see Mrs. Miller's footprints in the new snow, but no tiny paw prints were anywhere to be seen.

  Oh, no, thought Melanie, Duchess must still be missing. She vowed to call Mrs. Miller in the morning. If Duchess still hadn't shown up, Melanie would look for her on the way to school. Maybe she'd also suggest that Mrs. Miller put an ad in the lost-and-found section of the newspaper.

  With a sigh Melanie sat down on her bed and opened her notebook to a clean sheet. Before she started her homework she wanted to work out the schedule for kids to sit at the cafeteria table and collect money. I'm glad it was my idea to make up the schedule, she thought gleefully, so now I can pair myself up with Shane.

  Melanie smiled to herself as a new and even better idea occurred to her. Why not call Shane right now and ask him to help her work up the schedule? She jumped up from her desk and headed for the phone. Working on the pet project could even turn out to be fun.

  CHAPTER 4

  "There are Randy and Keith," said Melanie, waving to the two boys as they parked their bicycles at the bike rack. She and the rest of The Fabulous Five were waiting at the school fence along with Mona, Shane, Tony, Jon, Scott, and Matt.

  "What took you guys so long?" asked Beth.

  "Randy had an extra bowl of dog biscuits for breakfast, and I had to wait for him," Keith said with a laugh. "And then he kept chasing cars on the way to school."

  "What a funny guy," responded Katie.

  "The meeting of the official committee to save the animals will come to order," said Melanie, taking charge. "No more wisecracks until we've finished our business. Christie, did you get to talk to Mr. Bell last night?"

  "Yep, and he said we can put up a table in the cafeteria. He thought it was a very good idea, but he wants us to place the table where it won't interfere with traffic. He also suggested we have a money box, and if we want, we can take it to the office, and they'll keep it in the safe for us." Taking a deep breath, she added, "He also ask me if we had homes for the animals, and I told him we were working on that."

  Melanie tried not to let Mr. Bell's concern about homes for the animals dampen her spirits, especially since the rest of The Fabulous Five were jumping up and down with joy over being able to put up a donation table in the cafeteria.

  "Will they make an announcement over the public address system for us?" asked Jon.

  "Yes," answered Christie. "He asked when we wanted to start it, and I said this morning."

  Jana announced that her mother had taken the ad Willie Shannon wrote to work that morning, and her mom had said she was sure they would run it as a public service so it wouldn't cost them anything. Beth held up the poster she had made the night before.

  "Would the animal shelter let us take pictures?" asked Tony. "If they will and we can find someone who has a camera, we can put pictures of the cats and dogs on the poster and on the table."

  "I'm sure they would," said Mona.

  "That's a great idea," said Jana. "Let's ask Garrett Boldt. He takes pictures at all the games and is taking the pictures for the yearbook."

  "We can take the film to one of those one-hour photo places and get them back the same day," Tony added.

  "Did you talk to Mrs. Graham about her asking the shelter board to see if we can get a reduced rate?" Jana asked Mona.

  "I called her, and she said she'd ask," answered Mona. "I'm supposed to call her back in a couple of days. She also said that if we do adopt the animals, someone would have to sign an adoption paper for each one, guaranteeing that he or she will take care of it or return it to the shelter. She was really firm about that. She said she thinks it's great that we want to save the animals, but she told me at least three times that we have to find homes for them before the shelter will release them."

  Nobody said anything for a moment, and Melanie knew they were all probably as worried about homes as she was. "Shane and I made up a schedule last night," she said, trying to lighten the mood. "I've got copies for everyone. Shane and I will take today."

  "I hate to say it, because it might jinx us," said Christie, "but I'm impressed with our plan. We ought to get enough money real quick."

  "We'll have enough money in plenty of time," agreed Melanie cheerfully. The way everyone was helping made her feel great. What could go wrong when The Fabulous Five were pulling together and the other kids were helping? They were unbeatable.

  "I hate to keep bringing it up again," said Randy, "but Mrs. Graham was right. What are we going to do with fifteen dogs and cats?"

  Melanie didn't have any better answer than she had before, but she refused to let one detail quench her enthusiasm. "We'll think of something. I know we will. For one thing, we'll put a sign-up list on the table for anyone who wants a pet. We'll have plenty of kids asking for one in no time."

  "I wouldn't hold my breath," Randy insisted. "Have you talked to your mom and dad about your getting Rainbow?"

  "Well . . . kind of," answered Melanie.

  "What did they say?" Randy asked.

  "I just need to talk to them a little more. They'll change their minds." Melanie tried to sound confident. "It's only my mom I have to convince."

  "Only your mom." Randy laughed. "That's like saying only the Supreme Court."

  "What if we put the table next to the door so that the kids can give their leftover change as they're leaving the cafeteria?" asked Shane.

  "Good idea," said Melanie, handing the rolled-up poster to Mona and picking up one end of the table. She and Shane positioned it so it could easily be seen by anyone leaving the room.

  Mona pressed the poster flat and then taped it to the front of the table while Melanie and Shane dragged two chairs over.

  "There," said Mona, standing back and viewing her handiwork. "That ought to get everyone's attention."

  "We could put
speed bumps in front to slow people down," suggested Shane.

  Melanie gave Shane a big grin. "Maybe you could lie down and be one?"

  "Are you kidding? With the stampede of kids going outside after lunch, that's a sure way to get killed," he answered, smiling back at her.

  "I guess we're ready for business," said Mona, opening the shoe box she had brought to collect the money in. "I want to be the first one to donate." She opened her purse and dropped some change in the box.

  I've got something, too," said Shane, taking a plastic sandwich bag out of his pocket. It was full of pennies, nickels, and dimes. "Don't tell anyone—it might get back to Igor—but I stole this out of his piggy bank. He'll never miss it. The one thing he's not good at is counting."

  "Wait a minute," said Melanie, digging in her purse. She came up with a quarter, two dimes, and a nickel and dropped them into the box. "Now we're ready for business!"

  People started wandering into the cafeteria. Several stopped and read the sign. Marcie Bee and Sara Sawyer were the first to come over to the table.

  "Is this what Mr. Bell was talking about over the public address system this morning?" asked Marcie.

  After Melanie and the others explained it to them, she and Sara put money into the box.

  As the cafeteria filled, more and more kids noticed them and added to the growing pile of pennies, nickels, and dimes. A few dropped in quarters. Some said they'd like to donate but couldn't, explaining that buying Christmas presents had taken all of their money.

  Beth, Katie, Jana, and Christie all came with their hands full of change to add to the collection. They each had robbed their banks.

  Garrett Boldt came by with his camera hanging from his shoulder, as usual. After he had donated, Melanie asked him if he would take pictures of some of the animals at the shelter. He agreed to meet her and Mona there in the morning.

  Melanie was exuberant as she watched the level of money rise in the box. Even though it was Christmas season and most kids didn't have a lot to spare, almost everyone tried to help. She and Shane were having a great time talking to people and explaining what they were doing.