The Good, the Bad & the Beagle (25 page)

Veronica thought that made a lot of sense.

The Ceremony

Veronica and Sylvie met at ten o’clock the next Saturday morning. They chose the entrance to the park on Ninety-Eighth Street because it was located between their apartments.

The air had that grassy, fresh green smell. Veronica led them to the meadow she and Cadbury had spent the most time in and then to his favorite tree. She remembered so clearly the way he used to sniff around the roots and squat as though he was about to poop, then stand up and resume his search. Sometimes he would walk around the trunk four times before settling on the right spot. Like he only had one chance and it had to be perfect.

Veronica opened her wooden box and looked at what was left of her most special friend. She would never understand how he had become a box of remains. But she knew she was going to spread Cadbury’s ashes and she knew this violet patch growing between two roots was the right place. She had searched high and low for a poem or a prayer or some way to honor him and do him justice. She had made herself hysterical, in fact, but now, watching the gray grit sift toward the ground, she felt there was nothing that needed to be said. The rain would fall, the earth would absorb his ashes, and in a matter of time Cadbury would literally become part of the tree he loved so much. He would live again as part of something else.

She and Sylvie spent the rest of the day in the park. They trekked under bridges, over hills, through cherry groves. They climbed rocks and lay in meadows. Veronica felt the same kind of thrill as when she’d first discovered the park with Cadbury. And just like with Cadbury, she was surprised at how close she could feel to another living being, this time Sylvie, when they didn’t speak at all.

Mrs. Ferguson

May was making way for June and the first year of Randolf was at a close. After a nice game of Scrabble, Mary sent Veronica out to the store to buy ice cream for dessert. As Veronica walked down Fifth Avenue she encountered an exhausted-looking Mrs. Ferguson, who was still in her nightgown, albeit covered by a fur coat, as though that coat were a bathrobe. She was holding a cup of coffee in one hand and the leash of an extremely bedraggled-looking Fitzy in the other.

“Fitzy!” Veronica screamed, and fumbled with the ice cream. It was terrible. She had been so preoccupied she’d completely forgotten about Fitzy. She reminded herself of a babysitter she’d had when she was four who had come into her life like the most exciting fireworks and then just, poof, disappeared. She tried to make up for it by covering Fitzy with kisses.

Fitzy barely responded. Was she mad that Veronica had disappeared? Or was she suffering from some medical condition? Veronica did not remember Fitzy ever looking so under the weather.

“Veronica dear,” Mrs. Ferguson said, “Mr. Ferguson and I have so been wanting you to come for a visit but we didn’t want to impose. Your mother told me what happened to Cadbury and we’re so terribly sorry. What awful news. And now, with all hell breaking loose upstairs.”

As she spoke Fitzy pooped and Mrs. Ferguson made no move to clean it up. Veronica stared at the warm blob trying not to think how it was going to end up on the bottom of someone’s sneaker. She considered using the bag the ice cream was in. But that might be rude, to clean it up in front of Mrs. Ferguson. Although Mrs. Ferguson probably wouldn’t even notice. She was the sort of person who only saw the things that interested her. Dog poop definitely didn’t interest her.

“What’s going on upstairs?” Veronica finally asked.

“Oh my word! I thought the whole building knew. We’ve had puppies.”

New Arrivals

When Veronica and Sylvie showed up at the Ferguson apartment the following afternoon Mrs. Ferguson answered the door. She was still in her nightgown and still holding a cup of coffee. And just beyond her, lo and behold, were three of the cutest puppies Veronica had ever seen. They were running and rolling and slipping and sliding around Mr. Ferguson’s leather-bound chair. The white parts of their coats were so shiny they sparkled like snowflakes. Two were solid white and had the most perfect ears. Ears that were undeniably Cadbury’s. One puppy, a golden and white one with slightly shaggy hair like his mother’s but his father’s coloring exactly, began to lick Veronica uncontrollably the minute she picked him up. He was white except for a left caramel ear, a caramel patch on his left side, and a caramel circle above his tail. He had that same tail Cadbury had, the kind of tail that looked as though it had been dipped in a bucket of white paint.

“Three of them found homes while we were still in Miami, but we had to come home with the others. It was just too much. Mr. Ferguson and I are desperate to get rid of the rest. They’re just destroying everything!” As if on cue, another puppy came running over with a piece of Mrs. Ferguson’s fur coat in its mouth.

“Oh my! Put that back! Come here!” Mrs. Ferguson yelled, chasing the speedy little pup around her living room. “Do you girls know anyone who wants puppies?”

“Um, yeah! Me,” Veronica said.

“And me!” Sylvie echoed.

“You do? Isn’t it too soon?” Mrs. Ferguson said. “Your parents weren’t sure you were ready.”

“I’m ready,” Veronica said, holding the little caramel one close. She wondered if she should choose one who didn’t look so much like Cadbury, but this one looked deep into her eyes. She was sure he was smiling at her. “I am so ready,” she said. The puppy looked ready too.

Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010

Copyright © 2014 by Catherine Lloyd Burns

All rights reserved

First hardcover edition, 2014

eBook edition, October 2014

mackids.com

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Burns, Catherine Lloyd.

    The good, the bad, and the beagle / Catherine Lloyd Burns.

        pages cm

    Summary: Shy, eleven-year-old Veronica Louise Morgan of New York City is not happy about having to attend Randolf School for Girls, but by the end of her first year she not only has some new friends, she may have finally convinced her parents that she is ready to own a dog.

    ISBN 978-0-374-30039-5 (hardback)

    ISBN 978-0-374-30040-1 (e-book)

    [1.  Dogs—Fiction.   2.  Family life—New York (State)—New York—Fiction.   3.  Schools—Fiction.   4.  Friendship—Fiction.   5.  New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.   6.  Humorous stories.]   I.  Title.

PZ7.B9364Goo 2014

[Fic]—dc23

2014010848

eISBN 9780374300401