“Did you know that the first hot dog wasn’t made of pork or beef?” he says through his hot dog.
“No,” I say through mine.
“You’ll never guess what it was made of.”
“You’re probably right.”
“You’re not going to guess?”
“You’re not going to tell me?”
He laughs. “Cat! They were actually called hot cats.”
Fido growls.
I give her another piece of meat.
“No wonder she likes it,” I say.
Murph laughs again, harder. I love making him laugh.
“So I ride home with you, right?” I ask. “Yep,” he says.
“You checked with your parents?”
“I don’t need to. They will love having you.”
“You sure?”
“Pawsitive.”
“Can I tell you something about Petopia?”
“Pawsitively.”
“Okay, it was cute once …”
“Sorry.” He fake-hangs his head in shame. “So I can tell you?”
“Shoot.”
“I think … well … the animals they sell … I think …” I stop. It sounds too crazy.
He lifts his head. “I agree,” he says.
“About what? I mean … you do?”
“Pawsiti—Oops. Sorry.” He hangs his head again.
“I bet we’ll find another Petopia,” I say. “We’ll get you a guinea something yet.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says, looking up. “I got Buddy. I got you. I got Fido. What else do I need?”
Good old Murph.
“Another hot dog?” I ask.
“Two, coming right up.”
“With ketchup, please,” I say. “And yellow mustard. Not brown.”
“Is there any other way?”
He bangs me with his shoulder. I bang him back: 2 guys + 2 dogs + ketchup = fun × 100 trillion.
“I found you!” Lurena yells, sticking her head under the table.
I feel too good to let her spoil the fun. Maybe we can add one crazy girl to this equation.
“We’re kind of comfortable under here,” I say. “Go find someone else to tag, then get three hot dogs with ketchup and come back.”
“I’m vegetarian,” she says.
“So get a tofu dog from my dad.”
“Check,” she says. She’s picking up my lingo.
Fido barks, then paws at my knee.
“Oh, and get a dog for the guinea dog,” I say.
“Be right back with your order,” Lurena says. “You need anything else with that? Fries? S’mores?”
“No,” I say. “We have everything we need.”
Patrick Jennings is the author of many popular novels for middle-schoolers, including Guinea Dog, Lucky Cap, Invasion of the Dognappers, We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes, and Faith and the Electric Dogs. He won the 2013 Kansas William Allen White Children’s Book Award and the 2011 Washington State Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award for Guinea Dog, which was also a 2013 Honor Book for the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award. In addition it was nominated for the 2010-2011 New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award, the 2011-2012 Colorado Children’s Book Award, the 2012-2013 Florida Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award, the 2014 Washington State Sasquatch Award, the 2014 Hawaii Nēnē Award, the 2014-2015 Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award, and the 2014-2015 Minnesota Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award. He lives in a small seaport town in Washington State.
You can visit him online at www.patrickjennings.com.
Guinea Dog 3 Page 9
