The Mystery of the Television Dog

by David A. Adler

  “Quick! Give me one.”

  Eric gave Cam a sandwich. She held it out and called, “Here, Cloudy. Here, Cloudy.”

  Cloudy turned. This time, when he smelled the meat, he ran to Cam.

  Just as Cloudy reached Cam, the front door of the house opened.

  “Who’s there?” a man called out.

  Before Cloudy could bark, Cam gave him some meat. Then Cam whispered to Eric and the twins, “Don’t say anything and don’t let him see us.”

  They were near a large, leafy bush. They hid behind it.

  “Who’s out there? Is that you, Cloudy?” the man asked as he stepped out onto the porch.

  When Cloudy heard his name, he looked up. But then he looked back at the meat loaf and bread Cam was holding and continued to eat.

  Cam pushed aside a few leaves and looked at the man. He was bald. He was tall and heavy and wore eyeglasses. Cam looked straight at the man and said, “Click.”

  After the man went back into the house, Diane whispered, “Can we talk now?”

  “Yes, but quietly,” Cam told her.

  “Why did we run after Cloudy?” Donna asked.

  “I was sure he’d lead us to his house. And I thought that when we got here, we’d find Poochie and the red-haired man who took him.”

  Cloudy finished eating the sandwich. He looked up at Cam. Cloudy barked and wagged his tail. Cam petted Cloudy. Then Eric took another sandwich from his bag, unwrapped it, and gave it to Cloudy.

  “I don’t think Poochie is here,” Eric whispered. “The man we saw in the bookstore, the one who took Poochie, had red hair. The man who just came to the door was bald.”

  Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click.” She thought for a short while. Then she said, “I’m looking at the picture I have in my mind of the man we saw in the bookstore. He looks like the man we just saw. Only the hair is different.”

  “Maybe they’re twins,” Donna said. “And one twin has hair and the other doesn’t.”

  “Or maybe they just look alike. A lot of people look alike,” Diane said.

  As the twins were talking, Cam was petting Cloudy. Then she looked at her hand. There were black streaks on it.

  Eric looked at Cam’s hand and at Cloudy. Then he petted Cloudy’s back, right where the big black spot was. He looked at his hand. There were streaks on it, too.

  “It’s these spots,” Eric said. “They were put on with shoe polish or something. I’ll bet Cloudy is really all white, like a cloud. These spots were probably put on so the man with the red hair could switch the two dogs.”

  “But where’s Poochie? And why did that man take him?” Donna asked.

  “I don’t know,” Eric said. “But I’m sure the man with the red hair knows where Poochie is.”

  Just then the front door opened. The bald man came out carrying a large bag of trash. Cam looked through the bush and watched as he turned over the bag. Empty boxes, newspapers, and something orange fell into the trash can.

  “Did you see that?” Cam whispered. “Did you see what the man threw away? He’s the same man we saw in the bookstore. Now I’m sure of it.”

  Chapter Six

  “Did I see what?” Eric asked. “And how can you say he’s the same? The man in the bookstore had hair.”

  “Quiet,” Cam whispered as the man walked past them and back into the house. Then she told Eric, “You watch Cloudy. I’m going to get something.”

  As Cam walked away, Cloudy barked. “Just be quiet,” Eric said as he picked Cloudy up and petted him.

  Eric, Donna, Diane, and Cloudy watched Cam walk across the front lawn. They saw her lift the lid off the trash can. She held her nose and looked in. Then she reached in and took out something orange.

  “What is that?” Diane asked Eric.

  “It looks like fur.”

  Cam gently put the lid back on the trash can. As Cam walked toward the side of the house, Donna said, “It’s hair. Orange hair.”

  “That color hair is called red, not orange,” Eric said. “And it’s a wig.”

  “You were right,” Cam told Eric when she got back to the bush. “The man in the bookstore had hair. Here it is. The man inside the house probably wore this so people wouldn’t know who he was. He’s the one who took Poochie.”

  “What are we going to do now?” Diane asked.

  Eric turned to answer Diane. “We should call the police.”

  Then Eric turned to tell Cam that he was going back. But she wasn’t there. She was near the house, looking through an open window.

  Donna and Diane ran over to Cam and looked through the window. Eric stayed near the bush. He was still holding Cloudy.

  “He’s in there,” Cam said. “I can see him in the next room. He’s sitting at a desk and cutting things out of a magazine.”

  Cam and the twins watched the man turn the pages of a magazine. Sometimes he would stop, cut out something and paste it onto a sheet of paper. Then he folded the paper and put it into a green envelope.

  “I wonder what’s in that envelope,” Cam said.

  “Look,” Donna said. “He’s getting up. And there’s Poochie under the desk.”

  Suddenly Cloudy barked and jumped out of Eric’s arms. Cam caught him before he could run away.

  “Cloudy wants to go into the house,” Eric said.

  Cam looked at Cloudy. Then she looked at the window and said, “That gives me an idea.”

  Cam asked the twins to stand next to each other. “Now undo your braids,” Cam told Donna.

  Donna took the rubber bands off the ends of her braids. Then she ran her fingers through her hair.

  Cam looked closely at the two girls. Each one was wearing blue shorts, a polka dot blouse, and sneakers. “Without the braids,” Cam said, “you two look exactly alike.”

  “That’s why I wear braids sometimes,” Donna said. “I don’t like it when people call me Diane.”

  “And I don’t like being called by your name,” Diane said.

  “You can braid your hair again in just a few minutes,” Cam said. “But right now are you willing to help get Poochie back?”

  The two girls said, “Yes.”

  “Good. Now here’s the plan.”

  Chapter Seven

  It wasn’t easy for Cam to talk. She was holding Cloudy, and the dog wouldn’t stop licking Cam’s face.

  Cam wiped her cheek. Then she said, “We have to get the man away from his desk. If we do that, we can switch the dogs.”

  Cloudy licked Cam’s face again. Cam wiped her cheek and went on with her plan.

  “If Donna taps on one of the closed windows, the man will run over to see who’s there. Before he can open the window, Diane can tap on another window. The man will run to the other window. If you two take turns tapping on windows, the man will be busy running from one window to the other. And while he’s running, I’ll switch the dogs.”

  “It’s a good plan,” Diane said.

  “The best part of the plan,” Eric said, “is that since you two look so much alike, he’ll think he’s seeing the same girl at both windows. He’ll wonder how anyone can run so fast from one window to the other.”

  Eric told Cam that he would let her know if the man was going back to his desk.

  Donna walked up to one of the windows at the side of the house. Diane went to another window near the front door. Eric hid behind a bush and watched them both.

  Cam walked back to the open window. She saw the man sitting at his desk. He was holding the green envelope.

  When Cloudy saw the man, he tried to jump out of Cam’s arms. But Cam held on to him.

  “Just stop it. You’ll be in there soon,” Cam told the dog.

  But Cloudy would not stop. And when he could not get out of Cam’s arms, he barked.

  “Is that you, Cloudy?” the man called out. He started to walk toward the open window.

  “Oh, no,” Cam said as she moved away from the window. “You’ve ruined everything, Cloudy.”

  Tap
. Tap.

  Donna was tapping at one of the closed windows.

  “Oh,” Cam whispered to Cloudy, “I hope he goes to see who it is.”

  He did. Cam heard the man call through the closed window, “What do you want?”

  Tap. Tap.

  It was Diane tapping at another window.

  Cam heard the man run to the other window.

  This is my chance, Cam thought. She let Cloudy jump through the open window. Then she called, “Here, Poochie. Here, Poochie.”

  Poochie started to walk toward the window. Then he saw Cloudy.

  “Woof.”

  “Woof. Woof.”

  “Here, Poochie. Here, Poochie,” Cam called again.

  Poochie walked past Cloudy. He was almost at the window when he turned around.

  “Stop that tapping,” the man yelled.

  Eric called to Cam, “You better hurry and get Poochie.”

  “Come here. Come back, Poochie,” Cam called. But Poochie didn’t listen. He walked toward the desk and Cloudy.

  “Stop it already!” the man yelled again.

  Tap. Tap.

  “That’s it. I’m going outside.”

  “Quick, girls, hide here with me,” Eric called out.

  The twins ran to Eric. Then the front door opened. The man looked around, but he didn’t see either of the twins.

  “Here, Poochie,” Cam called again.

  Poochie jumped onto the desk, grabbed the green envelope in his mouth, and then jumped off. Poochie walked slowly toward the window. He looked ahead as he walked and his tail pointed up.

  “Stay away from my house!” the man at the front door yelled. Then he went inside and slammed the front door shut.

  Oh, no, Cam thought. If he sees both dogs together, we’ll never get Poochie back.

  Chapter Eight

  Before the man returned to his desk, Poochie jumped onto the windowsill. Then he jumped into Cam’s arms.

  Cam took the green envelope out of Poochie’s mouth. She was ready to open it when she saw the man sit at his desk and then reach down to pet Cloudy.

  Cam put the envelope in her pocket and waited. Would the man notice that the dogs had been switched?

  “Good dog. Good Poochie,” the man said as he petted Cloudy.

  Eric and the twins ran up to Cam. Eric was carrying the shopping bag.

  “Which dog are you holding?” Eric asked Cam.

  “Poochie.”

  “You switched them?”

  “Yes,” Cam said. “And he doesn’t even know we have Poochie. Let’s get back to the bookstore before he finds out.”

  “We did it!” Donna said.

  Cam held Poochie as they all squeezed through the same hole in the fence they had gone through earlier. Then Cam put Poochie down and they walked to Lee’s Bookstore.

  “We have Poochie,” Donna told Mr. Lee as they walked into the bookstore.

  Two policemen were standing there with Mr. Lee and Poochie’s trainer. “Is that the missing dog?” one of the policemen asked.

  The trainer looked at Poochie and said, “I think so. But I’m not sure.”

  “This is Poochie,” Donna said. “Just watch.”

  Donna picked up Poochie and put him on the table. “Now raise your right paw,” she told the dog.

  Poochie raised his right paw.

  “Now show us what a sad dog looks like.”

  Poochie looked down at the table. His tail stopped wagging.

  “Well, if this is Poochie, where’s the man who took him?” Mr. Lee asked.

  “I can tell you that,” Cam said, and she closed her eyes and said, “Click.”

  “His address was painted on the post near his front door. It’s 625 Dogwood Lane.”

  Cam, Eric, and the twins waited in the bookstore while the police went to pick up the man. When the police came back, the bald man was with them.

  “I did take Poochie,” the man said, “but it was a mistake. I thought he was Cloudy.”

  Poochie barked. Then he walked across the table to Cam. With his mouth, Poochie took the green envelope out of Cam’s pocket and took it to one of the policemen.

  The policeman opened the envelope. He took out a sheet of paper.

  “Well, look at this. It’s a note written with letters cut from a magazine. You didn’t want us to be able to trace your handwriting. And this note says that you will give Poochie back only after a ransom is paid.

  “When you took Poochie, it was not a mistake.”

  “And this isn’t a mistake either,” the other policeman said. “You’re coming with us.”

  Chapter Nine

  After the policemen left the bookstore with the man, Mr. Lee told Poochie’s trainer, “These children should get a reward.”

  “Yes, they should,” the trainer said. He reached into his pocket and took out a small card.

  “What are your names?” he asked Cam.

  “Eric Shelton, Donna Shelton, Diane Shelton, and I’m Jennifer Jansen.”

  The trainer wrote the names on the card. Then Poochie pressed his paw onto the ink pad and then onto the card.

  “This is a pass for all of you to come to our studio and watch a Poochie television program being filmed.”

  “Could we have a pass for Howie—he’s our baby brother—and for our parents?” Donna asked.

  “Of course,” the trainer said, and he added the names to the pass. “I’ll also have four Poochie battery-operated toy dogs and four Poochie memory games sent here. If you come back in a few days, you can pick them up from Mr. Lee.”

  “Oh, good,” Cam said. “I love memory games.”

  Then Eric took The Poochie Story out of the shopping bag. “And could the real Poochie sign our book?” he asked.

  Poochie signed the book. Then Cam, Eric, and the twins shook hands with Mr. Lee, the trainer, and Poochie.

  At the door Donna and Diane waved to Poochie.

  “Woof. Woof,” Poochie barked, and wagged his tail.

  As they walked away from the bookstore, Cam held up her hands and said, “My hands have ink on them.”

  “So do mine,” said Eric, Donna, and Diane, all at the same time.

  Cam smiled and said, “Well, then that really was the real Poochie.”