Cody Harmon, King of Pets

by Claudia Mills

  Kelsey did most of the explaining, with Annika chiming in with how much money they’d raise for the Humane Society if all of Cody’s pets could come.

  “And I’m bringing Angus!” Izzy finished.

  Cody waited for Mrs. Molina to adjust her glasses. He waited for her to ask him how he could be spending so much time on the pet show when he was supposed to be redoing his unacceptable animal report.

  Instead she gave him a big smile.

  “What a generous idea, Cody!”

  Even though it hadn’t been his idea and he hadn’t even liked it at first, he felt himself grinning. After all, he was the only kid in the class who had nine pets. The plan couldn’t have happened without him.

  After the pledge and announcements, Mrs. Molina called the class to attention.

  “Boys and girls,” she announced, “some of you have complained you don’t have a pet to bring to the pet show. Well, Cody has been kind enough to offer to loan out some of his. Before you volunteer, know that if you borrow one of Cody’s pets, you will have to pay its entrance fee. And you’ll be fully responsible for following the pet show rules that day.”

  Mrs. Molina squinted at Cody’s list. He had added the type of animal each pet was. People needed to know that Furface was a cat, and the other two were a rooster and three chickens.

  “My!” Mrs. Molina said. “Some of Cody’s pets are quite unusual. One of them is a cat, but—”

  “I want Rex!” Tobit called out.

  Cody stared down at his desk. He couldn’t let himself meet Tobit’s eyes.

  “I don’t believe Rex is available,” Mrs. Molina said, studying the list again.

  “Then I want Angus!” Tobit shouted, again without raising his hand.

  “The available pets,” Mrs. Molina said, ignoring Tobit’s outburst, “are a cat named Furface, a rooster named Sir B, and three chickens named Chicklet, Daisy, and Doodle. How many of you are interested in borrowing a pet?”

  Cody couldn’t resist glancing around to scan the room. Half a dozen hands were in the air, including Tobit’s.

  “We’re not going to have a stampede,” Mrs. Molina said, clearly addressing the comment to Tobit. “I’ll write each of your names on a slip of paper, and Cody will draw them out of a hat. Cody, go get your baseball cap.”

  On his way to the coat rack to retrieve his cap from its hook, Cody counted the hands again. Exactly six hands were raised, for the five remaining pets. He already felt sorry for the kid who would be the only one left out. But he still hoped it would be Tobit.

  Some friend I am, he accused himself bitterly.

  “All right, Cody, let’s get this done,” Mrs. Molina said, eyeing the clock, with math time approaching. “Call out the names one by one, and each person in turn will choose which pet to borrow for the pet show.”

  Cody closed his eyes and reached his hand into the hat for the first slip of paper.

  Elise, a quiet girl who liked to draw, chose Furface.

  Tanner, a boy on Cody’s soccer team, chose Chicklet. That surprised Cody. He would have thought a boy would pick a rooster. Maybe Tanner liked the name Chicklet. Cody had been pleased with himself when he thought of it.

  He plunged his hand for the third time into the hat. This time the slip, in Mrs. Molina’s extremely neat printing, said Tobit.

  Should Cody pretend it said Hazel, Millie, or Jake? Nobody else could see it but him.

  No. Cody didn’t cheat.

  “Tobit,” he read.

  “The rooster!” Tobit shouted, as if he had wanted Sir B all along. Tobit had better take good care of Sir B, Cody thought. But with his fierce beak and claws, Sir B was pretty good at taking care of himself.

  Jake chose Doodle. Hazel and Millie decided to share Daisy.

  “Now everyone who wanted one has a pet to bring to the show,” Mrs. Molina concluded. “Thank you, Cody!”

  The class clapped.

  To make the moment even sweeter, Mr. Boone came in as Cody was hanging his cap back on his hook. Today the principal was carrying a rabbit that was wearing a rabbit-sized Franklin School T-shirt and a Franklin School baseball cap with two holes cut in it for the rabbit’s droopy ears to poke through.

  “Ooh!” the class squealed.

  Even Cody didn’t think this costume was dumb. Okay, it was dumb, but it was also so cute that Cody joined in the oohs and aahs of the rest of the class. If only he could have just one more pet, he’d want it to be a rabbit with droopy ears, white fur, and a twitching pink nose.

  “This is Bunnikin,” Mr. Boone said. “Come on up—quietly—to say hello.”

  The class surged forward on tiptoe, but Mr. Boone didn’t let anyone hold Bunnikin the way he had let Cody hold Bitsy.

  “Is this the pet you’re bringing to the pet show?” one kid asked.

  “Maybe,” Mr. Boone said. “If my elephant doesn’t arrive in time.”

  He winked at the class and headed off, Bunnikin’s ears bobbing.

  * * *

  Cody didn’t sit at his usual table at lunch, afraid of questions from Tobit. Carrying his tray, he snuck over to a table filled with second graders. Tobit found him there anyway.

  “Who’s taking Rex?” Tobit demanded. So much for the hope that Tobit wouldn’t be mad.

  There was no point in lying. Tobit was going to find out sooner or later. Avoiding Tobit’s eyes, Cody muttered in a voice so low he hoped Tobit wouldn’t hear it, “Simon.”

  “Simon?” Tobit practically shouted. “Simon?!”

  Cody couldn’t think of an explanation that wouldn’t make Tobit even madder. How could he tell Tobit he had actually called Simon on the phone and asked him to take Rex? How could he tell Tobit he hadn’t been able to bear the thought that his own closest friend would borrow the pet Cody loved best?

  The answer was simple: he couldn’t.

  Cody wanted to say, You shouldn’t have thrown that stone at Stubby.

  But he didn’t know how to say that either.

  Besides, Tobit had already stomped over to their third-grade table, without looking back.

  8

  Loaning your pets for a pet show, Cody was finding out, was a lot of work. And a lot of worry.

  Cody couldn’t just let the pet borrowers come and collect their pets. The cats weren’t going to want to sleep at strange houses. Cats like the comfort of being at home. In fact, Cody was starting to think the cats weren’t going to like the pet show. At least Furface and Puffball were friendly cats, who enjoyed rubbing themselves on everyone’s ankles. But there would be so many ankles at the pet show.

  The chickens couldn’t stay with strangers either. They couldn’t sleep inside houses because they were too messy. They couldn’t sleep outside houses because a fox might eat them. They needed to sleep in their own safe, familiar coop.

  Angus, however, was going to spend the night before the pet show having a sleepover with Izzy. Izzy had begged, and Cody had said yes. But he was going to have to remember to pack Angus’s dog food, leash, and squeak toys.

  Rex could stay the night with Simon. But Cody didn’t want him to.

  This meant on the pet show day, Cody and his dad would have to transport one dog, two cats, three chickens, one rooster, and one five-hundred-pound pig to school, all in crates or carriers, except for Rex, who could be on his leash.

  Some dads might not want to take off a whole morning from work to haul a pickup truck full of animals. But when Cody had asked his dad, all his dad did was give his slow grin and say, “Sure, son, I think I can manage it.” Then he’d added, “If a certain animal report is completed.”

  “It will be!” Cody promised. He had two whole pages written. He needed just one more.

  It was hard writing that last page, though, with a parade of kids coming by to meet their pets and plan their costumes.

  After school on Tuesday, Simon came to meet Rex.

  After school on Wednesday, Elise came to meet Furface.

  After school on Thursday, Ta
nner, Jake, Hazel, and Millie came to meet the chickens.

  After school every single day Izzy came to play with Angus. Each time she left, the little terrier kept running to the door at any sound, hoping it was Izzy coming back to play again.

  The only pet borrower who didn’t come was Tobit. Of course, Tobit already knew Sir B. But he didn’t seem to have much interest in figuring out Sir B’s costume. The boys still sat at their same lunch table, and they still went to soccer practice on Tuesday evening, but they didn’t talk directly to each other. Cody hardly had time to mind, with Elise asking him if he thought Furface would look beautiful in a tiara and jeweled collar, and Hazel and Millie asking him if he knew where to find a blond wig to fit a chicken.

  Still, it was strange to go out to recess each day and not play Boo-RIP.

  When Cody finally finished his report the night before the pet show, it was three pages, though he had to write big on the last page to fill it to the bottom. He even had a special page called the bibliography, where he listed the two books he had read. His best pig facts had come from the first book he read, so one book would have been plenty. But he had two anyway.

  He found his parents in the family room. Even with one dog, two cats, and two crawling, laughing, crying babies, the house was quieter than it had been for as long as Cody could remember. Cody hadn’t realized that Angus made more noise and got into more trouble than the other eight of his pets put together. With Angus off on his sleepover, nobody ate anything disgusting and threw it up on the carpet. Nobody growled at the babies.

  “I finished my report,” Cody said, holding it out to his father.

  He calmed his nerves by stooping down to stroke Rex’s soft fur. His parents set the babies on the floor to play and then settled back on the couch and began reading.

  “Is it … okay?” Cody finally asked when they looked up from the last page.

  “It’s more than okay,” his mother said, standing to give him a hug. “It’s wonderful!”

  Grinning, his father pulled his worn wallet from his back pocket and produced a five-dollar bill and two crinkled ones.

  “You earned that seven dollars, son,” he said.

  Outside, in the falling light of the spring evening, Cody washed Mr. Piggins and polished his hooves. Kelsey had promised to bring the sash and spider to school tomorrow. Mr. Piggins would be the biggest pet there—unless Mr. Boone really did show up on an elephant.

  If he did, that would be so cool!

  Maybe he’d let Cody ride on the elephant, the way he had let Cody hold Bitsy.

  Before Cody fell asleep, he pictured himself sitting astride an elephant’s broad back, swaying from side to side as the elephant swung its long trunk back and forth, back and forth …

  * * *

  Even Cody’s mother helped transport the pets to school the next morning. With the twins side by side in their matching car seats, she drove Cody, Rex, and the cats (in matching carriers) in her car. His dad loaded Mr. Piggins and the poultry into the back of his pickup and followed.

  The first thing Cody saw when he got out of the car was an elephant holding up a stop sign and helping kids cross the street in front of Franklin School.

  It wasn’t a real elephant, of course. It was standing on two legs and directing traffic. It had to be Mr. Boone dressed in a very realistic elephant costume.

  Cody couldn’t help feeling disappointed. He had really thought Mr. Boone might be directing traffic atop the massive back of an actual elephant. But maybe even Mr. Boone couldn’t find a real elephant, in the middle of Colorado, to borrow for the pet show.

  The fake elephant waved at Cody, who was now holding Rex by his leash.

  Cody waved back. Most schools didn’t have a principal who would wear an elephant costume to school. A principal in an elephant costume was still better than no elephant at all.

  Cody’s mother couldn’t leave the babies alone in the car, so she waited with Puffball and Furface for Cody to bring Kelsey and Elise out to retrieve them.

  Inside the school, all was chaos. The third-grade part of the pet show was the first one of the day (Mrs. Molina had probably wanted to get it over soonest), so the third graders, their parents, and their pets streamed toward the gym.

  After Cody dropped his backpack in Mrs. Molina’s room, he and Rex followed everyone else to the gym, where Cody paid his ten dollars for Mr. Piggins while Rex sat quietly at his side. Cody was willing to bet no other third graders had worked as hard for their entrance fee as he had.

  Simon met Cody at the check-in table and took Rex’s leash. Cody’s heart tugged as Rex followed Simon into the area marked DOGS with a large sign.

  Don’t start loving Simon more than you love me!

  Izzy was already there with Angus, who was being surprisingly good, not straining at the leash to get into a huge happy dog fight with his fellow contestants. Izzy was bouncing up and down with excitement, her short tight braids bobbing like a bunny’s ears.

  Kelsey and Elise followed Cody back to his mom’s car to collect Puffball and Furface and then take them to the library, where cats were going to be judged.

  “Have a wonderful time at the pet show!” Cody’s mom told him before she drove away with the twins, who were too little to join the pet show audience. “And don’t forget to give your report to Mrs. Molina!”

  The chickens and Sir B, still in their crates, were outside with his dad. Through the open gym door, Cody could see Tanner, Jake, Hazel, and Millie, who were holding poultry costumes, talking to his dad, and admiring Mr. Piggins. No pets were in costume yet. The contest rules said the pets wouldn’t wear their costumes until the grand parade at the very end.

  Where was Tobit? Tobit had more tardies than anyone else in their class, but Cody couldn’t believe anyone would be late on pet show day. Maybe Tobit was sick? Cody felt half relieved that he wouldn’t have to worry about Tobit doing something mean to Sir B, and half sad that Sir B wouldn’t get his chance to compete in the pet show with the rest.

  A strange thought occurred to Cody. Right now, he, the kid with the most pets of anybody, was there in the gym without a single one.

  The three judges—two women and one man—were in place at a table set up to the side in the gym. Cody was glad to see that one of the women was Dr. Suh, his vet—well, his pets’ vet. She gave him a big smile from across the room. The other two judges were the man who owned the Plenty of Pets store and the woman who was the head of the Humane Society.

  Surely three people who knew so much about pets would know one of Cody’s pets deserved the prize for best in show.

  Cody loved all of his pets. But he was rooting most for Rex. And if Tobit didn’t arrive soon, he couldn’t root for Sir B at all.

  Then he saw Tobit come in, carrying what appeared to be a rooster costume made out of tinfoil.

  Was Cody glad to see his friend or not? He really didn’t know.

  9

  With Mr. Piggins waiting outside with his dad in the truck, Cody had time to watch the judging of the other pets.

  The judges came as a team to inspect fish in bowls, rabbits and guinea pigs and hamsters in cages, and a snake in its terrarium. They visited the chickens and Sir B in their crates. There was a brief scuffle as Jackson’s ferret, Ferrari, darted away from Jackson and made a mad dash across the gym. Jackson, a fast runner on their soccer team, caught Ferrari a moment later.

  Cat judging took place in the library. Puffball seemed happy enough to be cuddling with Kelsey. Furface purred in the arms of Elise.

  During the dog judging, each dog walked on a leash past the judges’ table. Izzy’s face glowed with pride as she led Angus, who pranced along beside her as happily as if he didn’t belong to a boy named Cody. Rex was so regal and beautiful, his eyes the wisest and kindest, his fur the softest, his gait the most noble. Simon handled him as expertly as if Rex were his own dog.

  Didn’t his pets miss Cody even a little bit?

  Finally it was Cody’s turn to lead
the judges outside to behold Mr. Piggins, who had come down the ramp from the truck and was waiting patiently on the grass with Cody’s dad.

  “What a fine fellow he is!” exclaimed Dr. Suh as she ran her hand along the pig’s huge haunches.

  “How much does he weigh?” marveled the pet shop man, who had certainly never had a pet this big in his store.

  “He’s lucky to be so well cared for,” the Humane Society lady said.

  Cody felt himself beaming.

  “You’re the boy with all the pets, right?” she asked then.

  Cody nodded.

  “Mr. Boone told us about you. Thanks for letting your friends borrow your pets today, and raising so much money for the shelter,” she told him.

  That almost made up for the fact that his pets hardly felt like his pets right now.

  * * *

  The last event of the pet show was the costume parade. In the gym and the library, kids and their parents were busy dressing up pets. Not all the pets were participating in the parade. Pets in the parade had to be able to walk on a leash or be carried securely by their owner or borrower. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a parade.

  Cody placed Kelsey’s blue sash on Mr. Piggins: SOME PIG! TERRIFIC! RADIANT! These things were as true of Mr. Piggins as they were of the pig in the book Kelsey kept talking about. Cody taped the small stuffed spider onto Mr. Piggins’s head. The pig didn’t seem to know or care he had a spider perching there.

  Then Cody led Mr. Piggins, on his halter, into the gym, to cheers from the third graders from all three classes.

  In that moment Cody felt sorry for all the kids in the school, and in the world, who didn’t have a pig.

  His eyes found Rex, wearing the perfect costume: a simple white shirt collar and plaid bow tie that made him look like a distinguished gentleman and not a bit ridiculous.

  Angus, however, looked completely ridiculous. Izzy had dressed him up as a plate—well, a heap—of spaghetti (tangled orange yarn) and meatballs (brown-dyed tennis balls, stuck all over him). She was laughing so hard she could hardly jog along beside him. Angus kept trying to tug at the meatball nearest his mouth, which made the whole thing even funnier.