by Nancy Krulik
Lena runs on ahead. I start to follow her. But then I stop. I want to get a closer look at these statues. It will only take a minute. And they are so pretty.
The statues are different than the ones I saw in Rome. They’re cold. Really, really cold.
I walk over and sniff the horse statue’s butt—just to say hello. Sniffety, sniff, uh-oh! My nose! It’s stuck! To the icy statue’s butt!
Just then I hear footsteps coming up behind me. Two-leg footsteps!
I try to pull my nose off the horse statue’s butt. But it’s still stuck. Ouch!
And the footsteps are still coming. I know I should run. But I can’t.
I want to bark out for Lena. But I can’t do that, either. If I bark, the two-leg—who might or might not be a dogcatcher—will know I’m here for sure.
I’m trapped. What can I do?
Be a statue, I thinkety think. Don’t move.
It’s not the best plan. I’m not see-through like the other statues. And I’m not cold like them, either. But it’s the only plan I’ve got.
My tail wags nervously.
“Stop moving,” I whisper to my tail. My tail stops wagging.
My heart is thumpety, thump, thumping.
“Stop thumping,” I whisper to my heart. But it keeps thumping. I hope the two-leg doesn’t hear it.
The two-leg is getting closer. I hear his footsteps. But I stop my eyes from looking for him. I’m a statue. Statue eyes don’t move. No part of me moves. Not even to breathe.
The two-leg comes closer. And closer. And closer. And then . . . he runs right past me.
I let out a long breath. My breath is hot. I can see it in the air. I wiggle my nose. Wiggle, waggle, whoopee! My hot breath helped my nose break free!
My paws start running down the icy hallway! It doesn’t take me long to catch up to Lena.
“We have to get away from here!” I tell her.
“I know,” Lena agrees. “Only I don’t know which way is out of here.”
“Come on,” I say. I start running through the slippery tunnel. Only this time we’re running out, not in. “Run toward the sunlight. The sun only shines outside.”
Lena and I run and run. We hurry through the snow, past trees and rocks. I don’t know where we’re going. I don’t even care. I just want to get away from the two-legs. I don’t know which ones I can trust and which ones I can’t. And the last thing I want to do is run into a two-leg who will put Lena and me in the pound.
But Lena and I aren’t alone. I can hear sounds coming from behind a big clump of trees nearby.
“Wait. Lena, stop!” I bark to her. “Do you hear that?”
Lena stops. Her ears perk up. “What?”
“That rustling noise,” I say. “There’s something in those trees.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Lena tells me.
I know she is right. It could be another dogcatcher. Or a big bully dog who will be mean to us.
Now I can hear whimpering. Dogcatchers don’t whimper. And neither do bullies.
Slowly, I pad over to the trees. I peek around the corner. And then I see them. They’re all alone, shaking and whimpering.
“Lena!” I shout. “Hurry! I found some two-legs who need your help!”
CHAPTER 8
“Oh no,” Lena tells me. “I won’t. I can’t!”
“Lena, you have to rescue them,” I insist. “It’s your job.”
The two-legs are still whimpering. One of them has water dripping from her eyes. She’s sitting on a log, holding one of her paws.
“You can do this,” I tell Lena. “You can get them back to the lodge.”
Lena shakes her head. “I can’t,” she tells me.
But I won’t let her give up. Not now. Snow has started to fall from the sky. And not just a little. There’s lots and lots of snow coming down. It’s already making it hard to see. If we don’t move now, we may never find our way back!
“Come on, Lena,” I say. “You have to find the lodge. I’ll help you.”
“How?” Lena asks.
Good question.
I look around. Suddenly, I spy a brown house with smoke coming out of the top. I’ve seen a house like that house before—when I was whizzing down the hill that led to the lodge.
“The lodge is at the bottom of a big hill, right?” I ask Lena.
Lena nods.
“Then we have to go down,” I say. “Come on.”
Lena and I start to walk downhill. But I realize the two-legs aren’t following us. The one holding her paw doesn’t even stand up. I don’t think she can.
How are we going to get her down the hill?
Thinkety, think, think. I look around. And that’s when I see one of those long, wooden, fast-sliding toys. The two-leg can sit on the toy. We will pull her down the hill.
I use my nose to push the sliding toy closer to her.
The two-leg stares at me. But she doesn’t move. The snow is getting thicker and thicker. We have to hurry.
“Come on, Hurt Two-Leg,” I bark at her. “Climb on.”
Hurt Two-Leg doesn’t do anything. But the other two-leg bends down and helps her onto the sliding snow toy.
“Okay,” I tell Lena. “You have to pull her. I’m not big or strong enough.”
“I can do it,” Lena says. She takes the rope at the front of the sliding snow toy in her mouth.
“Now sniff,” I tell Lena. “Does anything smell like something you’ve smelled before?”
Lena sniffs and sniffs and sniffs. “I smell trees. And maybe cheese.”
“There are trees and cheese at the lodge,” I say.
“And bread,” Lena says. “I smell bread. We’re getting closer,” she adds as she pulls Hurt Two-Leg through the snow.
The other two-leg follows close behind us.
The snow is really coming down now. We are the only ones on the mountain. There are no two-legs or dogs anywhere. Already the snow is covering up some of the smells on the mountain. And soon we won’t be able to see.
“Hurry, Lena, hurry!” I bark to her.
“Look! I know that snowman with the carrot for his nose,” Lena says, pointing to a group of two-legs with no legs. “I’ve seen it before.”
A carrot. Yummy, yum, yum. I love carrots. But there’s no time to stop now. I have to follow Lena and get these two-legs to safety. Lena sounds like she knows where she’s going now. At least I hope she does.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. The wind is blowing even harder now. Snow is flying into my eyes and my ears. It’s cold and wet out here. But we can’t stop. Not now.
The two-legs don’t look so scared now. They think Lena knows where she’s going. I hope they’re right.
“Look!” Lena barks excitedly to me. “That’s where I met you!”
I’m excited, too. Through the trees I see a round, snowy two-leg with no legs. I know that my magic bone is buried right near him! And the lodge isn’t far from there, either—just a trail of yellow snow and some paw-print paths away.
Lena’s ears perk up. “I hear lots of two-legs talking,” she says.
I hear the two-legs, too.
“Come on, Lena!” I bark. “We’re near the lodge!”
Lena and I turn away from the tree and the snowy two-leg with no legs and head to the lodge. It’s impossible to see Jonas’s, Charlotte’s, and Luca’s paw prints now because of the fresh snow that’s fallen. But I can still smell the yellow snow. So I follow the scent of the yellow snow.
And then I see the lodge! Lena and I have gotten the two-legs back safely. Our job is done!
“Come on, Lena,” I bark to her. “Let’s go back to the two-leg with no legs who stands by the tree. We can dig up my bone and kaboom home together.”
But Lena doesn’t follow me. She can’
t. She’s surrounded by two-legs. They’ve all come running to greet Lena and the two-legs who were lost in the woods.
I watch as Luca, Charlotte, and Jonas race over to Lena.
“You rescued the two-legs?” Luca asks her.
“Sure!” Lena replies. “Isn’t that what Saint Bernards do?”
“Yeah, but you never . . . ,” Luca starts. “I mean how did you . . . ?”
Lena doesn’t let him finish. “I followed my nose,” she says. “And my eyes and my ears.”
“You’re a hero,” Jonas tells her. “No one even knew those two-legs were lost out there.”
“Come back to the lodge and have some cheese, Lena,” Charlotte says. “You’ve earned it.”
“Okay,” Lena agrees. But before she leaves with her brothers and sister, Lena looks over and smiles at me.
“Thanks, Sparky,” she barks.
“You’re a good rescue dog,” I tell her.
“So are you,” she barks back.
I smile. I helped Lena lead the two-legs back to the lodge. And I’m glad I did. Because now Lena knows what to do, too.
I’m not sad that Lena doesn’t want to come home with me anymore. It’s okay. Saint Bernard rescue dogs belong in Switzerland. Just like I belong home with Josh.
It’s hard to see with all the snow flying. But I follow my own paw prints back to the two-leg with no legs that stands near the sweet-smelling tree. I start diggety, dig, digging a hole. Dirt and snow fly all over the place. And then I see it. My magic bone is right where I left it.
But wait! There’s something else nearby. A shoe. The kind of shoe two-legs wear when it’s cold and snowy. I bet Josh would like that shoe. I grab the shoe and hold it tight in my paws. And then . . . chomp. I bite down on my bone.
Wiggle, waggle, whew. I feel dizzy—like my insides are spinning all around—but my outsides are standing still. Stars are twinkling in front of my eyes—even though it’s daytime! All around me I smell food—fried chicken, salmon, roast beef. But there isn’t any food in sight.
Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!
A minute later, the kabooming stops.
I look around. There’s my tree. My fence. My house. I’m home!
I’d better hide my bone before anyone sees it. Quickly, I diggety, dig, dig through the snow and into the hard dirt by the flowerbed that has no flowers. I drop my bone in the deep hole and bury it.
Just then, I hear something outside the yard. It’s a big metal machine—the kind with four round paws. Josh is home!
Josh! Josh! Josh! My paws race to him. Fast. Faster. Fastest!
My fur falls down and covers my eyes. I can’t see where I’m running. But my paws keep going. Fast. Faster. Boom!
I slam right into Josh! He falls into the cold, wet snow. Boy, does he look surprised.
Josh spots my ripped coat and booties lying in the snow. Uh-oh. He looks kind of angry.
Then Josh sees the shoe I brought him. Now he looks confused.
I wish I could tell Josh all about the igloos, the ice statues, and the hot and cold cheeses in Zermatt. But I can’t. So I just lick his cheek.
Josh smiles. He isn’t surprised or angry or confused anymore. He’s happy.
So am I.
I follow Josh into our house. He pours some kibble into my bowl.
Sniffety, sniff, sniff. My kibble doesn’t smell as good as the cheese in Switzerland. But that’s okay. It’s warm and dry in my house. I know where everything is. I don’t need anyone to rescue me now. I’m home. And that’s wiggle, waggle, wonderful!
Fun Facts about Sparky’s Adventures in Switzerland:
The Matterhorn
The Matterhorn is a mountain that sits in the Alps between Switzerland and Italy. It is not the highest mountain in the Swiss Alps, but it is likely the most photographed mountain in the world. Many people consider it the symbol of Switzerland.
Zermatt
One of the first things a visitor to this Swiss village will notice is that there are no cars. Most people travel on foot, though there are horse-drawn carriages and electro-mobiles to help visitors get around. Zermatt has shops, restaurants, ski schools, and working dairy farms.
Iglu-Dorf
This igloo village in Zermatt is actually a hotel. Visitors stay warm and dry in sleeping bags when they spend the night in the igloos built from blocks of frozen snow. Guests can eat fondue, which is small pieces of bread dipped into hot melted cheese.
Glacier Palace
Zermatt’s Glacier Palace is the highest glacier palace in the world. The only way for visitors to reach it is by one of the two cable cars that lead up to the glacier. Guests enter the palace through an underground ice tunnel and then walk through the icy palace. Artists use actual glacier ice to build ice sculptures of cold-weather animals like reindeer, horses, and penguins.
About the Author
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 200 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times best sellers. She is best known for being the author and creator of several successful book series for children, including Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo; How I Survived Middle School; and George Brown, Class Clown. Nancy lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, and her crazy beagle mix, Josie, who manages to drag her along on many exciting adventures without ever leaving Central Park.
About the Illustrator
You could fill a whole attic with Seb’s drawings! His collection includes some very early pieces made when he was four—there is even a series of drawings he did at the movies in the dark! When he isn’t doodling, he likes to make toys and sculptures, as well as bows and arrows for his two boys, Oscar and Leo, and their numerous friends. Seb is French and lives in England. His website is www.sebastienbraun.com.
