Hide and Go Fetch

by Kristin Earhart

  Henry remembered that, too. He couldn’t believe how quickly all of his friends’ puppies had gotten big. He had a hard time picturing Boo as a full-grown dog.

  “Hey, does Boo have a special trick?” Max asked.

  Henry whacked himself on the forehead. “I totally forgot,” Henry exclaimed.

  “What does he do?” Max prodded.

  “I haven’t seen it yet,” Henry explained. “Mr. Power said he can catch a ball in midair.”

  “That sounds cool,” Max said. “You’ve got to get him to do it. Seriously.”

  Henry looked at his friend. Why was Max so serious about his puppy’s trick? He would have to wait to see.

  When Henry got home from school, Boo was waiting for him at the door. “Hey, boy,” Henry greeted his new puppy. “Come on!” Henry raced up to his room with Boo close behind. Henry had one thing on his mind: the trick. He quickly crawled under his bed to get his red handball. Boo trotted under the bed from the other side. The puppy toddled up to Henry and licked his face.

  “Yes, Boo,” Henry said, his words squeezed between giggles. “I missed you today, too.”

  Henry scooted out and tossed the ball in the air. “Let’s try your trick, Boo.”

  The puppy began to yip and run in circles. Henry tried to remember what Mr. Power had said. The store owner had made a big deal about staying calm. He had told Henry and Abby to give the puppy their full attention. It was an important part of doing tricks.

  “That’s a good boy,” Henry said in a soft, soothing voice. Next he thought of the cue — the words that told Boo it was time to do his trick. “Boo, do you see the ball?” he began. “Let me see you fetch!” Those were the words. Boo lifted his ears and cocked his head to one side. Next, Henry tossed the ball nice and high. Boo launched himself into the air, leaping to clench the ball between his teeth. When he landed, Boo was clearly proud of himself. Henry was proud, too. He reached out to congratulate his puppy and took the slobbery ball from his mouth.

  “You’re such a good boy, Boo!” he exclaimed. The puppy scampered around in excitement. Red and blue sparkles began to whiz through the air, in circles around Boo.

  “What’s that?” Henry murmured, watching the sparkles. Wondering if he was seeing things, Henry looked in the mirror. Just as he had guessed, he couldn’t see any sparkles there. Was he imagining things? He glanced back at the mirror. He saw Boo. He saw his desk. He saw his bed. And he saw the ball floating in the air. Wait, what? Henry looked down at the ball in his hand, except he couldn’t see his hand. He looked in the mirror again. He wasn’t there — he was invisible!

  The puppy yipped with glee. “Boo?” Henry asked. “Did you do this? Is this your trick?” Boo yipped again. “This is so cool!” Henry did a crazy celebration dance. He looked in the mirror. He still couldn’t see anything but Boo’s red ball bouncing around in midair!

  Henry started panting with excitement. “What should I do? How long does it last? What should I do?” Boo could not answer these questions.

  “I’ll bug Abby!” he announced with a shiver of mischief. He headed for the door. Boo pranced behind him. “You have to be quiet,” he whispered to the energetic puppy. But Boo was more excited than ever.

  When Henry arrived at Abby’s room, he discovered the door was locked. “Downstairs,” he mouthed to Boo, before realizing the pup couldn’t see him or his mouth. Somehow, though, Boo seemed to be able to bounce all around Henry’s legs without running into him. Unfortunately, Henry did not have the same luck. He couldn’t tell where his own feet were. He tripped over the rug in the hallway. Then, when he reached out for the railing on the stairs, he missed. His body fell forward. The carpet on the steps burned his cheek as he slid down the stairs headfirst. The next thing he knew, he was flat on the wood floor at the bottom of the staircase.

  Henry blinked and sat up. Boo was there, licking his knee. It pounded with heat.

  “What was that?” Henry’s mom rushed in from the garage. “Abby? Henry?” she called. Henry curled himself against the wall as his mom came into the front hall to investigate. “Boo, was that you?” she asked. She glanced up the stairs. “How on earth does such a small dog make such a huge racket?” She patted Boo’s head.

  “Abby, I’m going back to the garage to tackle the ants!”

  “Okay, Mom.” Abby’s response came from the family room. Henry knew this was his chance to play a prank on his sister. His mom would be in the garage for a long time. The McCoys had a huge ant problem, and Mom would be busy figuring out how they were getting in.

  Henry tiptoed to the family room. Abby was there, working on her art project for school. She had pastels spread out in front of her. Henry went closer and saw she was drawing the ocean.

  Boo trotted over to Abby for a pet. As his sister leaned over to welcome the puppy, Henry snatched two blue pastels from the table. He slid them under the couch next to her. That seemed like a good trick. She’d have to stop everything to look for them, but she wouldn’t suspect Henry had moved them. She’d just assume they had rolled off the side of the table.

  A sneaky smile stretched across Henry’s face. Then, at the last second, he grabbed a canary yellow pastel and snuck into the kitchen. As he crept away, he realized that the yellow pastel wasn’t invisible. It looked like it was floating in midair. He sped up, making sure to hold the bright yellow art supply out of Abby’s view.

  “Boo, where are you going?” Henry heard Abby say as the puppy ran into the kitchen to find him.

  Henry bent down and gave Boo a hug. “Awesome prank, bud,” he whispered. “She’ll have no clue.” His heart raced with excitement. He pictured her searching all around for the missing colors. He loved a simple but effective prank. His mind raced with the possibilities. What else could he do?

  That’s when he felt his stomach growl. Even invisible stomachs get hungry! Henry walked over to the kitchen counter. He glanced to where Abby was sitting in the other room. She could see into the kitchen, but she was concentrating on her art.

  Very carefully, Henry lifted the lid off the muffin tin. Putting down the yellow pastel, he grabbed two muffins with one hand and replaced the lid with the other. Ping!

  Henry held his breath, hoping Abby didn’t hear the clang of the lid. She groaned. Henry quickly hid the muffins under the counter. He couldn’t let his sister see floating muffins! When he took a peek, he realized she was searching for her missing art supplies. He smirked.

  Henry felt his hands tingle. He looked down and saw the peachy color start to return to his skin. His red sweatshirt was filling in with a pale pink. Henry clutched the muffins to his chest and tiptoed to the hallway and all the way up the stairs. Boo was at his heels. Safe inside his room, he slid down the back side of his door. From there, he could see a faint version of himself in the mirror. He watched with satisfaction as he ate one of his dad’s fabulous banana-chocolate-chip muffins. By the time he was done with the second, he was totally visible again.

  “You’re not hungry?” Henry’s mom asked, looking at her son with concern.

  “Not really,” Henry answered. The curry dinner smelled good, but Henry didn’t have any room.

  “It’s because he snuck extra muffins after school,” Abby said. It was the next day, and Henry had gone back for more muffins. He couldn’t say no to those muffins — or the chance to turn invisible again!

  His eyes darted over to his sister. “Did you see me take extra muffins?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “No, I just had a feeling.”

  “Let’s not place blame,” Mr. McCoy said. “But it does seem like this batch of muffins isn’t lasting very long.”

  “And, oddly enough, I found your yellow pastel next to the muffin tin yesterday.” Mrs. McCoy smiled at her daughter.

  “I was looking for that!” Abby declared. “But it’s weird that it was there. I haven’t had any muffins since the weekend.” Abby glanced over at Henry, who quickly tried to hide his grin.

  “I put it i
n your art kit,” their mom said.

  Henry was anxious to change the subject. He wasn’t going to lie about being invisible. He didn’t want to lie at all. If he told them that he had been invisible, would anyone even believe him?

  “I thought of an awesome science fair project,” Henry said. “It has to do with ants. I want to find out if there are any easy ways to keep ants out of our garage. But I don’t want to use poison or sprays since they’d be bad for Boo.”

  “That would be amazing,” his mom said. “Nothing I’ve tried works. Those ants are everywhere.”

  “How’s your project coming, Abby?” their dad asked.

  “Awesome,” Abby said. “It is going to be amazing. Just the best.” She didn’t say anything more.

  * * *

  After school the next day, Henry met his friends at the local dog park. It was so cool to see all the puppies together: Luna, Bear, Truffle, and Boo. They romped around and wrestled, yipping joyously. They were all adorable, loyal, and fun.

  “It’s cool that we all got to adopt puppies from Power’s Pets,” Max said.

  “Yeah,” Lexi agreed. She paused and glanced around the group. The friends were different in lots of ways, but their love of dogs was something they all had in common. “Having a new puppy can be pretty magical.” Lexi’s eyebrows were raised, hinting at a hidden meaning.

  Max and Sadie nodded. Henry did, too. They all looked thoughtful.

  “I think the best part is how well Truffle seems to know me,” Sadie said, watching her cream puff of a pup. “He’s taught me a lot about myself.”

  Henry smiled to himself. Sadie was always so serious! Henry didn’t feel like Boo had all that much to teach him. He was just excited to have an adorable puppy who could do a special trick — a trick that made him invisible. All Henry wanted was to figure out how to make the most of it. He loved his puppy, and he was certain his new super ability was going to be nothing but fun.

  “Is anyone doing the science fair?” Lexi asked.

  “I’m thinking about it,” Max said.

  “Probably not. It’s the same day as this thing I have for piano,” Sadie said.

  “I have to,” Henry answered.

  “No you don’t. It’s optional,” Lexi insisted. “No one has to do it.”

  “I do,” said Henry. “Abby is doing it, and she thinks her idea is the best, so I have to try to beat her.”

  “Well, okay,” Lexi said, shrugging. “If you have to beat her, I guess you have to do the science fair.”

  Henry tried to hide his frown. Sometimes Lexi reminded him of his sister.

  He wished he could explain what it was like to live with Abby. She was so sure of herself, always claiming to be older and wiser. Just once, he wanted to feel like more than her little brother.

  Henry looked around his circle of friends. Lexi had a brother. Max had a brother and sister. But they didn’t seem to be as competitive as Henry and Abby. And Sadie was an only child, although she was sometimes competitive with herself. Henry sighed. None of them could understand.

  “Henry, Abby!” Mrs. McCoy called from the bottom of the stairs. “We’re ready to go. Bring your lists.”

  It was the next afternoon, and the whole family was headed into town. Boo was coming, too! He sat in the backseat between Abby and Henry.

  “Seat belts,” Mr. McCoy said as he started the car and backed it out of the garage.

  Henry and Abby needed to get supplies for their science fair projects. Henry had done some research on the computer. He wanted to buy things that ants didn’t like.

  “Lemons, cinnamon, and baby powder,” his mom read out loud. “Funny. I like all these things,” she said.

  “But you don’t like ants,” Henry reminded her.

  His mom bobbed her head from side to side as she thought about what he said. “I guess ants and I don’t have much in common.” She looked at the list again and said that they’d find everything he needed at the grocery store.

  “I can get almost all my stuff at the hardware store,” Abby said once they were on their way. Abby handed her tightly folded list to their mom in the front seat. “Could you just pick up two big potatoes for me?”

  Mrs. McCoy scanned Abby’s list. “Sure thing,” she answered.

  Ugh! Why didn’t Mom read Abby’s list out loud? Henry wondered. He was so curious about his sister’s project. How did potatoes and hardware supplies make a science experiment?

  Henry and Mom hit the grocery store first. Mom actually dug deep into the crate to find a large potato. “I think this is about as big as they come,” Mom announced, holding one up.

  “It’s as big as Abby’s head,” Henry said.

  “That’s not true,” his mom said. “You don’t sound very much like a scientist. Scientists do not exaggerate.” She rummaged through the bin again to select another one.

  Henry was relieved that his mom could take a joke. “I promise not to exaggerate about the ants,” he said.

  “You can’t exaggerate about them. They are wretched, pesky invaders. The worst!” She shook her fist, holding a very large potato, in the air. Sometimes Henry’s mom took a joke too far. They shopped for some stuff for dinner, grabbed more bananas for muffins, and headed to the checkout.

  Before they even reached the car, Abby was striding toward the hardware store. “Come on, Dad!” she called from the sidewalk.

  As soon as Dad got out of the backseat, Henry scooted in. He scooped up Boo in his arms. Henry kissed the puppy’s head and gave him a big scratch all over. He watched his dad and sister disappear into the hardware store. It was only four doors down from the grocery store. He was tempted to go up to the window and peek inside. Maybe he could figure out her plan.

  But then Boo swiped his tongue across Henry’s face, and Henry decided to stay in the car with his puppy. What could be more fun than that?

  * * *

  The next day after school, Henry gathered all his supplies and headed for the garage. Ants were making trails everywhere. “I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he told Boo as the puppy snuffled around the garage.

  Boo liked to smell everything: the baseball equipment, the oil spot on the floor, the tub of clothes for Goodwill. When Boo and his nose got to one of the ant trails, the puppy stopped. He gave the ants a strong sniff and sneezed. Woof! Boo barked. He ran circles around the ants and barked again. Woof, woof!

  Henry tried to ignore his puppy. He wanted his project to be as scientific as possible. He was going to try to create a barrier that would keep the ants from crossing into the garage. First, he drew a straight line across the garage with chalk. Next, he measured the line. He divided it into three parts. There was a part for each substance he was testing as an ant barrier: baby powder, cinnamon, and lemon juice.

  “Boo, stop distracting me,” Henry said as he tried to mark the line. The puppy thought the measuring tape was a toy. He had already knocked over the jar of cinnamon twice and put his paw in the bowl of lemon juice. But the worst part was that the puppy kept walking right over Henry’s line. Boo was hunting down the ants. He was following them everywhere, even when it meant stepping on the barrier line.

  “All right, that’s it, buddy,” Henry finally declared when the puppy started to examine the container of baby powder. Henry remembered that puppies shouldn’t breathe in stuff like that. The fine powder could be bad for their lungs. “Let’s put you inside.”

  After Boo was out of the way, Henry really got to work. For the first section, he used the baby powder. He cleaned up the part of the line that Boo had messed up. Next, he used the cinnamon. For the third and final section, he dipped a sponge in lemon juice and wiped it along the barrier line.

  Satisfied with his good work, Henry cleaned up and went back inside. He found his mom sorting dirty clothes into piles. “Success?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. We have to wait to see if ants stop coming into the garage,” Henry explained.

  “How long?”

  �
��A couple of days?” he answered, but he wasn’t entirely sure. Chances were, there would still be ants, but Henry hoped he could follow their trails. If the ants did not go over one part of the barrier, he would know they were avoiding that substance. Henry’s guess was that they would purposely stay away from the lemon juice. “For the experiment to work, no one can step on the lines. If anyone tracks the powder or cinnamon, it will mess up the results.”

  “Uh-huh,” his mom murmured as she sprayed stain remover on a white shirt.

  “So Boo can’t go in the garage,” Henry explained. Mom nodded.

  “And you and Dad can’t park the car in the garage.”

  “Seriously?” Mom asked, looking up.

  “Only for a few days,” said Henry. “I just need the barrier to stay intact.”

  Mom agreed to park in the driveway for a couple of days, in the name of science.

  After talking to his mom, Henry grabbed a snack. He felt kind of bored, so he looked for Boo. No one with a magic puppy should ever feel bored! “Hey, Boo,” Henry said when he found the pup in his bedroom. “Let’s do something.”

  Henry already had something in mind. It had nothing to do with banana muffins, for once, but everything to do with Abby’s science project. “I’m not really allowed in Abby’s room,” Henry explained to his puppy. “I’ll be in and out and won’t touch anything. But we should use your trick, just in case.” Abby was at track practice, so Henry thought he’d have plenty of time.

  While still in his room, Henry gave Boo several longs pets. He wanted to calm him down. Next, Henry held up a ball. “Boo, do you see the ball?” he asked. “Let me see you fetch.” At once, the puppy’s ears pricked up. He sat back on his hind legs, ready. Once Henry threw the ball in the air, Boo sprang up and caught it in one smooth motion. Henry soon saw the blue and red stars swirl around. He held his hand out and watched as it started to disappear. In just a few seconds, he was invisible.