Paloma

by Cynthia Lord

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Facts!

  Take Action!

  Activities

  No-Sew Dog Beds

  Plastic Treat Balls

  Caring For a Pet: Is a Puppy a Good Pet for Me?

  From the Author

  Be an Honorary Shelter Pet Squad Member!

  About the Author

  Copyright

  “Hurry, Mom!” I said as our car pulled into the parking lot at the Maplewood Animal Shelter. “I don’t want to miss the secret surprise!”

  “I’m sure Ms. Kim and Ms. Flores will wait until all the kids in Shelter Pet Squad have arrived before they share the surprise,” Mom said for the third time. “Have you finished your toast?”

  I crammed another bite of toast with jelly into my mouth. I was too excited to be hungry, though.

  * * *

  Most Saturdays, my parents and I have a routine. When I wake up, I watch a few cartoons, and then we have breakfast together. After that, we get dressed and Mom or Dad drives me to the animal shelter. I’m a member of Shelter Pet Squad, a group of kids who volunteer to help the homeless pets at the shelter. With our leaders, Ms. Kim and Ms. Flores, we make fun things to keep the animals busy and happy while they’re waiting to be adopted.

  This Saturday morning was a little different, though. On Wednesday night, Ms. Kim had called my house.

  “Could you come to Shelter Pet Squad early this week?” she asked. “We have a special surprise arriving on Saturday morning. Ms. Flores and I could use extra help getting ready for them.”

  “Them?” I asked. “Are they cats? Dogs? Llamas?”

  “Not llamas,” Ms. Kim said. “But you don’t want me to ruin the surprise, do you?”

  Part of me did want her to ruin it. “Maybe just a hint?” I asked.

  “Okay, here’s a hint,” she said. “This surprise is coming from an island in the ocean.”

  “An island?” I asked. “Is it monkeys?”

  Ms. Kim laughed, but she wouldn’t say anything else.

  On Saturday morning, I got dressed as soon as I woke up. I tucked Whiskers, my favorite stuffed-animal mouse, inside my jeans pocket. He’s little enough to hide in there and all anyone sees is a bump in my pocket.

  The first time I met the other kids in Shelter Pet Squad, they all talked about the pets they had at home. I was the only kid without a real pet. So I told them I had a mouse named Whiskers. It was true and not true at the same time.

  Now I wish I hadn’t said that. The longer you wait to tell the whole truth, the harder it is to say it. I like having Whiskers with me, though. He’s a brave mouse, and he makes me feel brave, too.

  * * *

  “Is that toast gone?” Mom asked as I hurried across the shelter’s parking lot.

  I took a last, extra-big bite as I pulled open the front door. I tried to say “yes,” but it sounded like “yerg” with a mouth full of toast.

  “Here’s Suzannah!” Matt told Ms. Kim and Ms. Flores as soon as I opened the door. All the other kids in Shelter Pet Squad were already there, waiting. I could tell they were as eager as I was.

  “Great!” Levi said. “Everyone is here!”

  “Now can we hear the surprise?” Allie asked.

  “Yes!” Jada said. “I can’t wait anymore!”

  “Okay, the surprise is —” Ms. Kim said, pausing dramatically.

  “Satos!” Ms. Flores finished.

  Ms. Kim and Ms. Flores were excited. But I didn’t know what that was!

  Luckily, I wasn’t the only one. “Sat toes?” Allie asked. “What’s that?”

  “Sato is a nickname for a mixed-breed dog,” Ms. Flores explained. “In Puerto Rico, there are many homeless Satos that roam the streets and beaches. Sometimes they’re not treated well. Many of them don’t live very long.”

  “That’s so sad,” I said. All pets need homes, and I’d do anything to have one of my own. We live in an apartment, though, and our landlord says, “No pets.”

  Ms. Flores nodded. “It is sad, but there are groups of people who help Satos. The rescuers leave food for the dogs and gain their trust. After the Satos are captured, a veterinarian gives them a checkup, and then the rescuers try to find homes for them. Some Satos are adopted on the island, but there are too many dogs and not enough families. So others are flown in an airplane to shelters where they have a better chance of being adopted. My cousin lives in Puerto Rico, and he works with one of those rescue groups. He asked me if our shelter wanted to help. A volunteer, Mr. Lucas, should be back from the airport soon with six Sato puppies.”

  Six puppies! Wow! I couldn’t wait to hold them!

  “I love puppies!” said Allie. “They’re so waggy and licky!”

  “Can we play with them?” Matt asked.

  “If the puppies feel like playing,” Ms. Kim cautioned. “Remember, they’ve had a long trip, full of new sounds and smells. They might be tired or scared. Our first job is to make them feel safe and comfortable. While we wait for the puppies to arrive, I thought we could make each puppy a little bed. They can sleep on the beds while they’re here at the shelter. Then, when they’re adopted, we’ll send the beds home with them so they’ll have something familiar in their new homes.”

  I hadn’t thought that the puppies might be scared or lonely. Satos were a wonderful surprise for us, but this was a new place and new people for them. They needed us to make them feel at home. A soft bed would be a good start.

  That would be a nice surprise for them.

  In the middle of the workroom table, Ms. Kim had put everything we needed to make puppy beds: flat, square pillows, a stack of big fleece squares, scissors, rulers, and a few pieces of chalk. “The fleece will make a covering for the pillow — like a pillowcase. We’ll tie fringe around the edges to keep the pillow inside. First, everyone, choose two fleece squares,” Ms. Kim said. “One square will become the top of the bed. The other square will be the bottom.”

  Some squares were solid colors. Others had patterns or stripes. I picked a square with a pattern of red with white paw prints for the top and a plain black square for the bottom.

  “Now put your squares together, one on top of the other,” Ms. Kim explained.

  I lined up my two squares. “It’s like a fleece sandwich,” I said.

  Ms. Kim gave us each a pillow. “Put this on top of your squares, right in the center. We want four inches of fleece on each side of the pillow.”

  When I had my pillow exactly in the middle, Ms. Kim gave us a piece of chalk to trace around the pillow. Then we took the pillow away.

  “The chalk line shows us how far up to cut,” Ms. Kim said. “Now we’ll make fringe.” She showed us how to lay the ruler along the edge of the fleece and make a little chalk mark at every inch all around the square.

  Keeping the squares together, I cut slits of fringe through both pieces of fleece. One slit at each inch, from the edge up to the chalk line. Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip. It was fun!

  Next we cut off the four corners. Then came the funnest part! Taking a piece of top and bottom fringe, we tied them together. I tied knots: one black fringe with one red fringe, over and over. “Be sure to stop when you’ve done three sides of the square,” Ms. Kim said. “The pillow needs to go inside before we tie up the last side.”

  When I finished the puppy bed, I laid my head on it. It was soft, squishy, and cozy. A good place to rest after a long trip!

  “Mr. Lucas should be here any moment now,” Ms. Kim said. “Let�
��s clean up quickly so we can get the puppies’ pens ready.”

  After we put the materials away, I skipped all the way down to the dog kennel, carrying my puppy bed. I couldn’t wait to see if the puppies liked the beds we’d made.

  The kennel is a huge room with long rows of pens. As soon as we opened the kennel door, dogs started barking. We always have a variety of dogs waiting to be adopted: big dogs, little dogs, yellow dogs, black dogs, friendly dogs, and shy dogs. Ms. Kim knows every one of their names.

  She had chew bones for the dogs. We walked up and down the rows giving one to each dog. Some of the dogs have been at the shelter for weeks. Buddy is a big, black dog that feels like an old friend to me. Every Saturday, it hurts to see that he wasn’t adopted again. Ms. Kim always says, “Sometimes it takes a while.”

  “I have a bone for you, Buddy,” I said, tossing it into his pen. “Happy chewing!”

  Buddy wagged his tail. He started chomping right away.

  Each pen has walls and a cage door, and inside is a dog bed and dog dishes and toys. But the pens nearest to the kennel door were empty. Each had a little whiteboard hanging on the side. The first board said, PAZ AND OSITO.

  The next one said, MAYA AND ISABELLA.

  PALOMA AND GIGI was written on the one after that. These had to be the Satos!

  “We’ll put two puppy beds in each pen,” Ms. Kim said, putting the bed she’d made in the pen for Isabella and Maya. “The puppies have been traveling together, so they’ll feel better if they have a friend to play and cuddle with.”

  “I bet it was scary to be captured,” Matt said, putting his bed into the pen for Paz and Osito.

  “And taken to a vet,” Levi added, putting his bed in with Matt’s. “My dog hates going to the vet!”

  “Then travel in a crate. I bet they wanted to get out!” said Jada, adding her bed to Ms. Kim’s for Isabella and Maya.

  Allie and I put our beds in the pen for Gigi and Paloma. “And fly in an airplane!” Allie added. “Then ride in a van.”

  “And not understand what’s going on,” I said.

  “Yes. This is all new to them,” Ms. Kim said. “And they may miss what they’ve left behind. Paloma was found with her brothers and sisters in an abandoned garage. The puppies were curled up together inside an old tire.”

  “Are we getting Paloma’s brothers and sisters, too?” I asked. “Or did they go to another shelter?”

  Ms. Kim sighed. “The rescuers could only catch Paloma.”

  “They left them?” I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to leave them.

  “The rescuers will keep trying for the others,” Ms. Kim said. “That’s all they can do. But here’s what we can do. We can make Paloma, Paz, Osito, Isabella, Maya, and Gigi feel happy and loved while they’re with us. We can find them good homes with people who will be patient and understanding. These puppies haven’t had much experience living in a home. They’ll need extra love and training. Let’s give them a good start by making their pens cozy and fun, okay? There are lots of dog toys over in the toy bin.”

  “My dog loves balls,” Levi said. “I’ll choose a ball for each pen.”

  “I’ll give each puppy a stuffed animal!” I said. “If I were a puppy, I’d want something soft to play with.”

  “I’ll get them each a squeaky toy!” Matt said.

  “Allie and Jada, would you help me fill three water bowls?” Ms. Kim asked. “The puppies might be thirsty. After they’re settled in and comfortable, we’ll give them some puppy food, too.”

  I dug through the bin of dog toys. There were lots of toys to choose from, but I moved aside any toys that seemed too big or hard or heavy. Puppy mouths are small. I made a pile of six little stuffed animals.

  I put a soft toy cat in the pen for Gigi. For Paloma, I chose a floppy dog. Just in case she missed her brothers and sisters.

  I gave Paz and Osito a stuffed lion and elephant. If they were scared, those animals might help them to be brave.

  Maya and Isabella got a sheep and a squirrel with a long tail for them to play tug-of-war with. I was about to ask Ms. Kim if there were any real squirrels in Puerto Rico, when Ms. Flores’s voice came over the intercom.

  “The Satos are here!”

  “Oh, they’re so cute!” Allie said.

  Each crate had a door that you could see through. We all bent down to look at the puppy faces peeking out. The Sato puppies were different colors: white, brown, black, and some with patches of colors, but all with big eyes.

  We watched as Ms. Flores carried the littlest crate inside the pen for Gigi and Paloma. I thought the puppies would come bounding out as soon as the crate was opened, but nothing happened. Were they scared? Did they know they’d be getting a family and a new home someday?

  I guess it might be hard to imagine something you’ve never had. I reached into my pocket and touched Whiskers. Don’t be afraid, I imagined Whiskers telling the puppies. Sometimes you have to go through something scary to reach something good.

  Then a little black nose poked out of the smallest crate. A tiny tan face came next. Then two little white front paws stepped out. “This one looks like she’s wearing boots!” I said quietly as she explored the pen. I didn’t want to scare her.

  “That’s Paloma,” Mr. Lucas told me.

  “How come they look so different?” Levi asked. “Osito looks like a beagle, but Paloma and Gigi look like Chihuahuas.”

  Gigi? I’d been staring at Paloma so much that I hadn’t noticed the other puppy from the smallest crate. Gigi was just a little bit bigger than Paloma, but they looked very different. Gigi had long dark-brown fur, not at all like Paloma’s short tan fur. Gigi was checking out the stuffed cat in her bed. I grinned. She liked it!

  “Satos are mixed breeds,” Ms. Kim said. “Looking at them, we can guess what breeds might be mixed together, but we don’t know for sure.”

  Ms. Flores grinned. “Each Sato is a surprise.”

  “Six surprise packages!” Jada said. “It’s like a birthday party!”

  “Or a puppy party!” said Matt.

  “Okay, Shelter Pet Squad, I have another surprise for you,” said Ms. Kim. “If you put on booties and gowns and rubber gloves, you can go in the pens with them. These puppies were seen by a veterinarian before they got on the plane, but until our own veterinarian sees them, we want to protect them from any germs that might be on your shoes or clothes. And we want to protect you from any germs they might have picked up on their trip.”

  My heart was pounding with excitement. We’d never done this before. Ms. Flores gave us each blue cloth booties to wear over our sneakers, a yellow hospital gown to put over our clothes, and thin, white rubber gloves for our hands.

  “We look like doctors!” said Jada.

  “Paging Dr. Matt to the puppy pen!” said Matt.

  “Here are the rules,” Ms. Kim said. “When you go inside, sit down on the floor. If a puppy comes toward you, slowly hold your hand out with the palm up so he can sniff you. If he backs away or puts his tail down or doesn’t come any closer, then he doesn’t want to play and we’ll let him rest and get used to his new home on his own. If he wags his tail or comes closer and tries to play with you, you can play with him gently and pat him, but not on his face or ears. No pulling or poking, just soft rubs on his back or on his tummy if he rolls onto his back for you. Only gentle playing, too. No tug-of-war with toys. Puppies play that game to see who the boss is, and if you play that game and they win —”

  “They think they’re the boss!” Jada said.

  “Right!” Ms. Kim said. “I’ll be watching to be sure everyone is being safe. But let’s remember that it’s been a long day for them. So we’ll give them some space if they want it. Okay?”

  We all nodded.

  Matt and Levi went into the pen with the boy puppies, Osito and Paz. Jada picked Maya and Isabella. Allie and I chose Paloma and Gigi.

  Inside the pen, I sat crisscross applesauce on
the floor. Gigi went right to Allie and started chewing on her bootie. Allie picked up the stuffed cat, and Gigi pounced on it.

  Paloma sniffed her water bowl. I giggled, because her bowl was almost as big as she was! I wanted to reach for her so badly that I had to sit on my hands to keep from doing it. Gigi seemed ready to play, but Paloma might not be.

  As Paloma walked by, she turned her head to look up at me. Her eyes were dark brown and pretty.

  “Hi,” I said quietly. She came over to me, her tail up and wagging, so I slid my hands out from under my legs. My heart beat fast as I slowly reached one hand toward her, my palm up.

  She licked my glove. It felt tickly. I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh and scare her. Paloma didn’t back away or look scared, so I patted her slowly with my other hand. Even through the glove, her back felt warm.

  She pranced around me. She was so cute that I couldn’t stop smiling.

  I picked up the puppy stuffed animal and she jumped on it. Then Gigi leapt on it, too. Then the puppies pounced on each other!

  “They are so funny!” Allie said.

  I picked up the puppy toy and made it pretend to be running away. Paloma chased after it and grabbed it in her teeth. She flipped onto her back and held the toy in her paws, chewing it.

  Gigi tried to take it from her and Paloma ran behind me with it. “Here, Gigi! I got you a cat,” I said, grabbing the stuffed cat. Gigi pounced on it, but Paloma suddenly appeared from behind me without her puppy toy. She wanted the cat, too!

  “They want whatever toys you play with,” Allie said.

  I kept picking up the toys and throwing them. Paloma and Gigi kept chasing them. They didn’t bring them back, but Allie and I would reach for the toys and toss them again. It was so fun! The puppies looked cute jumping and running after the toys and trying to steal them from each other. I could’ve played all morning, but after a while, Paloma stopped chasing the toys and came over to me. She climbed onto my ankle and into the circle made by my legs. She yawned and lay down, her head on my knee.

  My heart was beating hard. It felt like Paloma chose me. Maybe the circle of my legs reminded her of the tire where the rescuers had found her? As I moved my hand down Paloma’s side, I whispered to her, “Everything will be okay, Paloma. You’ll see.”