Fabulous Five 013 - The Christmas Countdown

by Betsy Haynes

  At one point, Laura McCall came by with the rest of The Fantastic Foursome, Melissa McConnell, Funny Hawthorne, and Tammv Lucero.

  "What are you doing?" asked Laura suspiciously. She ignored Melanie and spoke directly to Shane.

  After he told them, each of The Fantastic Foursome put money into the box. Laura looked back at them as they left.

  Even Laura can sympathize with poor, unwanted animals at Christmastime, thought Melanie. Maybe she isn't totally selfish after all.

  Melanie stuck her finger in the box of money and stirred it so she could see the silver coins among the copper pennies more easily. At this rate it shouldn't take long to get the three hundred seventy-five dollars they needed. She had a vision of herself opening the door to the cage and Rainbow jumping out to freedom.

  CHAPTER 5

  "Give me some more pennies!" Beth demanded, and Melanie looked up to see her shaking Keith's arm.

  "Get your own. I'm busy counting nickels," Keith joked in response.

  Melanie looked around the big oak, pedestal table in the Edwardses' kitchen with satisfaction. Stacks of coins covered its surface. There were silver piles of nickels and dimes glittering under the overhead light and piles of pennies that looked like shingled anthills. Melanie and the others were busy counting and stacking them into neat little pillars while they munched on Mrs. Edwards's Christmas cookies. Melanie was silently relieved her mother was at the grocery store so they could count the donations without her asking questions about what they were doing.

  "I've never seen so many pennies in my life," said Shane. "You'd think someone would have thrown in a dollar bill."

  "I know," said Jana. "It looks like a lot of money, but it might not be."

  "There! I've got the dimes all stacked," said Randy, popping a gingerbread man into his mouth. "I counted six dollars and forty cents."

  "Let me write that down," said Christie, scribbling the number on a pad of paper. "How much did we get in quarters?"

  "We've only got fifteen quarters," answered Tony. "That's a measly three dollars and seventy-five cents."

  "Is that all?" complained Melanie. "I'll bet we put in half of them ourselves." She knew she was right. She had continued to contribute a few cents at a time until half of her allowance was gone, and she noticed Jana and Beth were doing the same thing.

  "Yo! I'm finished with the pennies," said Tony, sitting back and smiling appreciatively at the rows of copper coins neatly arranged in stacks of tens on the table in front of him. "Twenty-five dollars and thirty-one cents. And have you ever seen a better-looking bunch of pennies?" he said, cocking his head and admiring his work. "They'd pass inspection at the Chase Manhattan Bank."

  "They wouldn't let you in the front door of the Chase Manhattan Bank," Keith said sarcastically.

  "Not if they wanted to keep the pennies they already have." Shane laughed.

  "How much do we have in nickels?" Christie asked, looking at Melanie.

  "I've got four dollars and eighty-five cents," she answered.

  "That comes to a grand total of, let's see . . . forty dollars and thirty-one cents," Christie announced.

  "Wow! That's a lot of money for one day," Melanie said, looking at the table full of coins. If they collected this much every day, they would definitely have enough to pay for the animals.

  "Hmm. Let me do some figuring," said Christie. The room was quiet as she busied her pencil. "We need exactly three hundred thirty-four dollars and sixty-nine cents more, and, if we collect forty dollars a day every day, it will take us eight more days to get enough."

  "Gee," said Katie. "We've only got eight more days, and that includes two weekends."

  "Yeah. And one of those days is Christmas Eve day," added Jana somberly.

  "Do we still need that much?" asked Mona.

  Melanie saw the hopeless look on Mona's face even though Matt reached over and gave her hand a squeeze, and she felt a knot in her own throat. Everyone was silent as gloom settled over the group like a dark rain cloud.

  "Hey, wait!" shouted Melanie. "Don't forget we're going to have the ad about the animals in the paper, and Garrett's going to take the pictures in the morning to put on the poster on our table. We're bound to collect lots more money."

  "That's right," joined in Beth. "I'll bet we get bunches of money from the newspaper ad."

  "And the paper ought to be on the porch by now," said Melanie, running to get it. She still hadn't figured out a way to explain to her parents about the pet project, and time was running out. She would have to come up with something before they saw the ad asking for money to be sent to their own address.

  "There it is," she said, spreading the paper on the counter and pointing to an advertisement on page three. The others crowded around to see.

  "The money should come rolling in tomorrow or Monday, anyway," said Melanie. "Why, we'll probably be able to donate enough to build a new wing on the animal shelter," she added, trying to sound more hopeful than she felt. "Maybe they'll even name it after us."

  "It's still a lot of money," said Randy, rearranging the stacks in front of him, and Melanie knew he was right.

  "Well, I think we're going to do a lot better when the money starts coming in from the newspaper ad and we get the pictures of the animals on our posters," Melanie insisted.

  Then a new thought occurred to her. "Guys," she said breathlessly. "Listen to this. What if . . ." She paused and looked around the table nervously. What she was going to suggest was a pretty wild idea. She could only hope that the others would go along with it. "What if, instead of giving Christmas presents to our friends, we donated the money we would spend to save the animals."

  No one said anything for a moment. Melanie held her breath and crossed her fingers in her lap, but even though she wanted everyone to say yes, part of her was already regretting that she might not exchange presents with The Fabulous Five.

  "I think it's a great idea," said Katie. "It would have a lot more meaning than buying the same old sweater or stuffed animal for each other."

  "I agree," said Jana. "It's what the Christmas spirit is all about."

  "Igor would certainly go for it," said Shane. "He hates the crowds in the malls during the Christmas season."

  Everyone was nodding and agreeing, and Melanie felt warm all over that she had such special friends.

  "But right now we've got to get this money put away," said Christie. "I'll keep track of what we collect if someone else will take it to the school office for safekeeping."

  "I'll take it," said Tony. "I'd like to see the look on Mr. Bell's face when he sees I'm doing something he can't send me to Teen Court for."

  "Oh, he knows you've reformed," joked Katie. And then as if she had second thoughts, she said, "But maybe I'd better go with you just to be safe." They all laughed.

  "My dad's coming by for me. Do you have a ride home, Your Honor?" Tony asked Katie.

  "No, I don't, and yes, I would like one."

  "Before everybody leaves, there's still one more thing to talk about," said Melanie, shifting nervously in her chair. "What are we going to do with all of the animals once we get them? Nobody has signed up to take one."

  "And Mrs. Graham won't let us move them out of the shelter until an adoption paper has been signed for each animal," added Mona.

  "Whose parents would be willing to take them temporarily?" asked Christie. "Just until we find permanent homes?"

  No one said anything, and most looked at the floor.

  "Does anyone have a basement?" asked Mona.

  "We have one," said Katie. "But we also have a cat. Libber would go berserk if we put a dozen dogs down there."

  Melanie bit her bottom lip. Her house had a basement. Still, there was no way to hide that many animals from her family. Even if the cats were quiet, the dogs would bark.

  "We'll just have to keep thinking," she said with a sigh.

  The rest of the group got up along with Tony and Katie and started putting on their jackets a
nd sweaters. Melanie put one paper bag inside another for reinforcement and then dropped the coins in. As they were gathering in the foyer to leave, the doorbell rang.

  "Hi, Mrs. Miller," Melanie greeted her neighbor when she opened the door. "Why . . . what's wrong?" The older woman's eyes were filled with tears.

  "I've looked all over for Duchess and still haven't found her," said Mrs. Miller.

  Melanie took the woman's hand and pulled her into the foyer.

  "Who is it, dear?" Mrs. Edwards called from the living room. She had just come in the back door with the groceries and was hanging up her coat in the front closet.

  "It's Mrs. Miller. She hasn't found Duchess yet."

  Her mother came into the foyer. "I'm so sorry, Clare. I was convinced that someone would have found her and returned her to you by now."

  "Me, too," said Melanie as the others gathered around. Why hadn't she remembered to look for the little dog on her way to school this morning? She could have walked over to Hickory Street and then gone up Allendale instead of her usual route, and maybe Duchess would have been there waiting for someone to help her find her way home.

  "Melanie, why don't you and Jeffy look some more?" asked her mother. "Maybe you can go in a new direction. Come on into the living room, Clare. You can have a cup of coffee with me while they're looking."

  "We can help, too," said Jana. "I don't have to get home right away."

  "Neither do I," said Randy.

  "Me neither," said Shane.

  "Hey, that's great!" cried Melanie. "Tony, you and Katie have to go, but everyone else can stay and join our search party. Don't worry, Mrs. Miller. We'll find her."

  "Right on!" said Keith. "We'll form a puppy-posse." He opened the door and raised his arm as if he had a sword and was leading a charge. The others piled out of the house behind him.

  They broke up into groups of twos and started tramping through the snow, searching the neighborhood in different directions. Melanie went with Shane, but as much as she was glad to be with him, the little lost dog was all she could think about. They cut through a side street and then went into an alley behind homes calling Duchess's name. They looked in backyards and stood on their toes to see through dirty garage windows trying to find her. Shane threw a snowball at one doghouse, but he retreated quickly when a big Labrador retriever came out and snarled at them.

  Finally, after winding their way through streets and alleys for an hour, they returned to Melanie's house, their faces red from the cold air. The others were gathered on the front steps.

  "Any luck?" Melanie asked as she and Shane flopped on the steps next to them.

  "Naw," said Keith. "I've yelled 'Duchess' so much, I'm afraid I'll start calling Beth Duchess."

  "You do and I'll call you Fido," Beth protested.

  "I really hate to tell Mrs. Miller we couldn't find her dog," said Jana. "Is there anyplace else we can look? Is there a place she usually ran to when she got loose before?"

  "Not that I know of," Melanie said dejectedly. "As far as I know, she's never gotten out of her yard before."

  "We looked all around the fence and couldn't find where she might have dug her way out," said Randy.

  "You know what could have happened?" offered Shane. "There are people who steal dogs and sell them to medical research laboratories. Someone could have come along, reached over, and picked her out of the yard."

  Beth made a face. "Don't talk that way."

  "Well, it's true," Shane insisted. "It happens."

  "Maybe Duchess was picked up by the dog warden," said Mona. "We could call the animal shelter to see if they have a Pomeranian."

  "Good idea," said Melanie. "I'll sneak into my kitchen through the backdoor so Mom and Mrs. Miller won't know we're home. I'd rather wait until we find out if the shelter has her dog before telling her we couldn't find her."

  When Melanie reached Mrs. Graham, she said there were no Pomeranians at the shelter. Back outside she reported the grim news.

  "Well, I guess we'd better tell Mrs. Miller we couldn't find her dog," said Jon. They all looked at each other, dreading passing on the news.

  Just then the front door of Melanie's house opened and Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Miller came out.

  "Did you find Duchess?" asked Melanie's mother. There was a look of hopeful expectation on Mrs. Miller's face.

  Melanie searched for the least painful way to answer. In the brief moment she hesitated, the look of hope faded from Mrs. Miller's face, and Melanie knew she didn't have to tell her a thing. Mrs. Miller already knew the answer.

  CHAPTER 6

  "Melanie!" Her mother's voice calling her sounded stern. Melanie had cleaned up the cookie crumbs and soda glasses from where her friends had been counting money in the kitchen. What else could she be disturbed about? Her mother was standing next to her father's chair in the family room.

  "What's the meaning of this?" her father asked, shoving the newspaper toward her. It was opened to the page containing their ad asking for donations. Her heart sunk to her feet. This was it. The moment she had been dreading.

  "Uh . . . it looks like an ad about some animals," she said, hoping to bluff her way out of a mess.

  "It says that a group of kids are trying to buy cats and dogs from the animal shelter and are asking for donations," said her mother. "It also says to send donations to Miss Melanie Edwards, and it has our address. What in the world are you going to do with a bunch of cats and dogs?"

  "Play with them," said Jeffy, who had walked into the room. "When are we going to get them? How many will there be?"

  Mr. Edwards frowned at him. "We're not getting any cats and dogs."

  "We're going to find homes for them," Melanie said, trying to sound positive. "We've got a sign-up list at school and everything. The shelter is getting overcrowded and will put them to sleep if someone doesn't take them."

  "Melanie, why didn't you talk to us about this before you started the whole thing?" asked her mother.

  "I was afraid you'd get mad and say I couldn't get involved," she answered with her head down. "We were only trying to help some animals who are going to die on Christmas Eve if someone doesn't do something." She felt a big lump starting to build up in her throat, and she knew that she was going to cry. She hated crying, especially in front of her mother and father.

  Her parents were quiet for a moment. "How do you know they're going to be put to sleep on Christmas Eve?" her mother asked in a low voice.

  "A man at the animal shelter told us, and Mrs. Graham, who works at the desk, says it's true."

  "Humph!" Mr. Edwards cleared his throat. "Well, uh, if kids are signing up at school to take them, I guess it would be all right. How many dogs are we talking about?"

  "Dogs and cats," corrected Melanie. "Mrs. Graham says it will be about fifteen."

  Mr. Edwards whistled.

  "And you're going to find homes for all of them?" asked Mrs. Edwards.

  "We'll take one each!" shouted Jeffy.

  "No, we won't, young man," his mother scolded. "I've got enough work to do around here without animals under my feet."

  "But we'll take care of them," pleaded Jeffy. "Won't we, Melanie?"

  Melanie looked at him. Jeffy had fallen to his knees and was clutching the legs of his mother's slacks with both hands. His face was twisted in a grimace as if he were about to cry. He's pretty good, thought Melanie. I should have told him about this before.

  "Jeffy, get up," commanded Mrs. Edwards. But she looked as if her resolve was shaken.

  "Well, I guess it's all right if you go ahead," she said, "as long as you find homes for them, and I mean someplace else." She turned and went back to the kitchen.

  "How many kids have signed up for a pet?" asked her father.

  "I don't know. I haven't seen the list lately," Melanie said, dodging the question.

  "Hmmm." He looked at her a moment and then dug out his wallet. "Here. Just make sure that you find somewhere else to keep them."

  Melanie
looked at the ten-dollar bill he handed her. "Oh, Dad, that's great!" She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  Melanie got to the animal shelter ahead of Garrett and Mona on Saturday morning, and while she waited for her friends to arrive, she stood on the top step, watching huge snowflakes drop from the sky and thinking about the predicament she and her friends had gotten themselves into.

  Since her parents had seen the newspaper ad last night, she was seriously beginning to worry about what would happen if they collected enough money by Christmas Eve day and then couldn't find homes for all the dogs and cats. Would the shelter refuse the money and put the animals to sleep anyway? It was obvious that her parents wouldn't take them in. Her thoughts rushed to Rainbow. She couldn't let them put Rainbow to sleep. She absolutely couldn't! And no matter how much help the other kids were, it was her responsibility. She was the one who had started the whole thing by wanting a puppy for Christmas and coming to the shelter with Mona.

  Just then Garrett jogged up the steps with Mona. He waved his camera and called out, "Okay, show me my canine and feline models."

  Garrett was an eighth-grader, and Melanie thought he was really cute. In fact, he ranked number three on her crush list, right after Scott and Shane and just before Derek Travelstead. But she didn't have time to think about romance now. She had to save the animals.

  "They're inside, Flash," Melanie said. "Let's go."

  Mrs. Graham greeted them cheerfully and told them that Charles would get the animals they selected out of the cages for them.

  The sound of barking rose to a frenzied pitch as Melanie opened the door to the room where the cages stood. The dogs jumped at their cage doors, as they had when Melanie and the others had come to see them on Wednesday. The cats stared at them and a few meowed silently in the din of barking.

  "When you're finished, I'll show you the adoption papers that will have to be filled out if you take any of the animals," said Mrs. Graham. She left them to their picture-taking.

  "I don't know which ones to choose," said Melanie. "They're all so cute."