The Good, the Bad & the Beagle (6 page)

Ray got completely soaked.

“Esme! What the—?” he yelled. Veronica and Esme laughed uncontrollably.

“Can you believe some rich lady with a botoxed kneecap is going to come in here and spend over two grand on this dog?” Esme asked.

*   *   *

Five minutes later, a curly-haired family came in and bought a leash, a harness, a fancy leather collar, twenty pounds of dog food, and a hundred dollars’ worth of dog toys, and paid $2,570 for the labradoodle.

Could it really be that easy for some people? Veronica pressed her face into Cadbury’s cone. His breath was meaty.

“Pretty soon I won’t be able to visit as much. I’ll start getting homework,” she said. Much to her surprise, Cadbury didn’t take the news hard. His tail wagged against her lap, making such a racket Veronica had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. He was an orphan, unwanted, covered in hot spots, imprisoned by the cone—the list of injustices was endless. But he wagged his tail uncontrollably because he could be happy under almost any circumstance.

“I want to be like you,” Veronica told him. “If I were you I’d be so mad at Simon, at living in this way, at a million things. I am mad at a million things.” Cadbury came closer and gazed at her from deep inside his cone. “But you don’t hold grudges, do you? Your glass is always half-full, isn’t it?” she said.

She hated putting him back in his cage when it was time to leave.

“I love you,” she said as she gently closed the latch.

Veronica swore she felt his heart beating through the cage. She could definitely feel her own.

Morning Meeting

Friday morning Ms. Padgett led her sixth-grade class down the marble stairs for their first assembly and their first Morning Meeting of the school year. Veronica had heard about the once-weekly Randolf tradition during her interview, but no one had really been able to explain it then and now she still had no idea what to expect because the only thing anyone around her was talking about was Mr. Bower, the new science teacher.

“He’s so handsome,” Darcy Brown whispered to Athena, who giggled.

“Do you like Mr. Bower?” Athena asked Veronica.

Mr. Bower ate a lot of roughage. Why did girls her age care about boys? Or men? “He reminds me of a hamster,” Veronica said.

“Veronica, he looks nothing like a hamster,” Sarah-Lisa said. “He is the most handsome man on earth.”

“Well, geez, not literally a hamster, but he’s always gnawing on a carrot or a piece of celery.”

Sarah-Lisa turned red.

Darcy shook her wavy hair as though the thought of Mr. Bower munching on anything made her scalp tingle. “The new girl’s funny,” she said. She always wore her hair loose even though it had been recommended by every single teacher that she pull it back so she would stop playing with it all day.

“He is very very handsome, I agree, Sarah-Lisa,” Athena said. “And I would clean his cage. Or peel his carrots!”

“Gross! Gross! Gross! Double gross!” Selma Wong said.

“Disgusting!”
Maggie Fogel said, which sent the other girls into bursts of giggles. Maggie Fogel reminded Veronica of the girl on the cover of
Anne of Green Gables
. She’d never read
Anne of Green Gables
, but still. Maybe it was the braids.

“Oh, Maggie, grow up. We’re not babies anymore. It’s perfectly appropriate to think a man is handsome,” Sarah-Lisa said. She smoothed her cardigan and adjusted her hair. “Right, Athena?”

“Right, S-L,” Athena concurred. Then she and Sarah-Lisa blushed and simultaneously applied lip gloss. Veronica wondered if they were aware that the green of their cardigans was clashing wildly with the flush in their cheeks. They looked like Italian flags.

“If I were a senior, I would want to marry him,” a girl named Becky Shickler piped in. Becky reminded Veronica of Piglet because of how cute and small she was.

“He’s like a mountain man, you guys,” Coco Weitzner said. She was all legs and limbs and a mouthful of braces.

“Yeah, but a really handsome mountain man,” Sarah-Lisa declared.

“Okay, we get the picture, Sarah-Lisa,” Maggie said.

“That’s for sure!” Darcy said, running her hand through her wavy brown hair.

As they approached the landing, Sylvie piped up. “At least he’s not trying to be cool like Mr. Chin was last year.” Her bitten nails were painted black. Veronica bit her nails too, but she’d never put color on to attract attention to them. “What a poser-loser.”

Sylvie made
poser
rhyme with
loser
. She didn’t seem to care if anyone agreed with her or not. Maybe that’s why she quit the A Team. The whole point of being on the A Team was matching the other people on the A Team.

“I liked Mr. Chin,” Melody Jenkins said. “Didn’t you?”

“Oh, Melody. You would,” Darcy said.

Torrents of laughter rolled down the stairs. Ms. Padgett turned around and looked at her class. It was almost time for Morning Meeting and they were expected to behave.

Single file, Ms. Padgett’s class made their way into the auditorium.

Sunlight burst through the row of little leaded windows that went all along where the high walls met the ceiling. Particles of dust drifted in the white sunlight, almost like snow falling. It was amazing to think the air might be full of other beautiful stuff you couldn’t see because it floated around in darkness.

Veronica watched eagerly as each class filed in. She looked into the faces of her fellow Randolf students, trying to guess what kind of people they were—what kind of books they might like, what kind of laughs they might have, what kind of friends they might be.

Sarah-Lisa smiled right at Veronica, inching her way closer and closer. Both Sarah-Lisa and Athena had smiles that warmed up whatever was near. Veronica smiled back, flattered. It was exciting how hard Sarah-Lisa was working to sit next to her. She climbed awkwardly over Saskia and made Becky stand up so she could get by. Then Sarah-Lisa climbed over Veronica too, nearly stepping on her feet.

Duh,
Veronica thought,
I was not the destination. Athena was.

Veronica tried to get comfortable squishing between Melody and Sylvie.

After a few minutes, Mrs. Harrison, the principal, walked onto the stage. She reached behind a red velvet curtain and turned off all the lights. In the blackness she lit the candle she was holding and placed it on a round table in the center of the stage. The orange flame danced in the silent, darkened room. Mrs. Harrison said quite simply, “Do you come to Morning Meeting with heart and mind prepared?”

Veronica waited for someone to answer, but all the other girls were looking at the floor. The question made her think about her heart and her mind in a way she had never thought about them before. She knew she could make up her mind and she knew sometimes she could not make up her mind. What about her heart? That wasn’t something she’d ever thought about other than it being the thing that beat inside her chest. The beating was something her heart did all by itself. She wasn’t in control of that. Was Mrs. Harrison saying there was some other aspect of her heart that she could control? What would you want to prepare your heart to do?

She could think of things she’d like to make her mind do. Like not think about her finger when it itched, like not let Cricket hurt her feelings … But what could her heart offer aside from keeping her alive?

Melody tapped her, interrupting her swarm of thoughts. She shook Veronica’s hand and nudged her to shake hands with the person on the other side. Sylvie in turn shook hands with Coco Weitzner and two by two the whole school shook hands with their neighbors. Morning Meeting was over.

*   *   *

At lunch, Veronica put her tray down next to Melody. Sarah-Lisa arrived at the table, and then Athena. Maybe lunch was something Veronica was getting the hang of, after all.

“There’s a candle-lighting party tonight at Sarah-Lisa’s,” Athena said, sitting down across from Veronica. She opened her packet of plastic-wrapped utensils.

“Really?” Veronica said. Of course there was a party at Sarah-Lisa’s! It was the social event she’d heard kids talk about that first day of school.

“Can you come?” Athena said, flashing Veronica one of her warming smiles.

“Are you inviting Veronica?” Melody said. Veronica almost choked on her milk. How could Melody say that?

“Yes, silly. Everyone’s invited. You have to come. Promise you’ll come?”

“Sure,” Veronica said. She tried to sound like being invited was no big deal.

“You don’t sound that excited,” Sarah-Lisa said. She put her tray down next to Athena. But she didn’t sit. “Athena, I kind of have to go to the bathroom. Come with me?”

“I am. I’m really excited,” Veronica said, kicking herself. She was beyond excited. But some little voice always told her to act differently than she felt.

“Athena, let’s go already,” Sarah-Lisa repeated. “I’m gonna pee in my pants.”

“See you tonight,” Athena said, winking.

Whenever Athena winked like that, singling Veronica out, she got goose bumps.

“It’s gonna be so fun,” Athena said as Sarah-Lisa steered her out of the cafeteria. They hung tightly to their purses and each other. They were the only girls in the whole grade who used shoulder bags instead of backpacks.

“See,” Melody said. “You are going to be really popular.”

Half-Full

Veronica ran straight to Paws and Claws after school. She wanted to see Cadbury and she desperately needed to discuss her outfit for the big party with Esme. She was seriously worried that wearing a uniform for several days had weakened her sense of style. This party was very important.

Inside Paws and Claws, Ray was reading a copy of the
New York Post
at the counter, not doing anything resembling work. Typical. But instead of ignoring her as usual, he put his paper down and looked at her funny. Esme was behind him checking inventory.

“Hey, Veronica,” he said.

Veronica scanned the cages looking for Cadbury. She didn’t see him. Esme turned around. “Veronica,” she said, “I came in after my shift at Dr. Harskirey’s and he was gone. You know if I had been here I wouldn’t have let anyone take him.”

Veronica’s heart dropped like an elevator whose cables had been cut. It landed hard, shaking every bone in her body. Esme came around from behind the counter and held her. Esme’s arms were warm but Veronica was cold. It was like cement had been poured inside of her and had set.

She had no recollection of walking home, but eventually she found herself standing outside her apartment building, confused. Charlie gave her a particularly enthusiastic greeting and for the first time in her life she didn’t smile back. She stared at the rows of buttons in the elevator, unable to make sense of them. She had no idea how long she stood helpless before her arm eventually took charge and her finger pushed four.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan were waiting at the front door. Why were they home so early?

“Honey, you have to call us if you’re going to be late! That is a rule. You know that.”

Mary should have been yelling at her, but Mary didn’t seem to be anywhere.

“Mary had an appointment with the surgeon, they’re figuring out whether or not she needs surgery, remember?” her mother said.

“What’s wrong? You look terrible. Did something happen?” her father asked.

“Mommy,” was all Veronica could manage to say. She fell into her mother’s arms and buried her head in the lovely smell of her mother’s perfume expecting to be held, as Esme had held her. But her mother shook her instead.

“What is it? Speak to me. Did something happen? You are frightening me. We didn’t know what happened to you. Are you hurt?”

Yes, my heart is breaking!
Veronica tried to say.

“Someone named Sarah-Lisa called you. You’ve been invited to a sleepover party tonight. She said you have to call her back. We had no idea where you were.”

“I went to visit Cadbury.” At the mention of Cadbury’s name her throat got tight. She needed Kleenex. The sound of clicking disoriented her. Was Fitzy here? Oh no, was she late to walk Fitzy? If Fitzy had peed on the Persian carpet upstairs, Mrs. Ferguson would be so mad. It was Friday. No, she didn’t walk Fitzy till after dinner on Fridays.

“Honey, are you okay?” Mrs. Morgan said.

Veronica couldn’t focus and she rubbed her eyes hard because what she saw was impossible. Bounding over, his tail sticking straight up and swinging back and forth like a metronome, was Cadbury.

“Cadbury!” she screamed. Cadbury jumped up and put his front paws on her legs. Her parents had bought him! For her. Cadbury was her dog! It was unbelievable but true. Veronica got down on the floor so she could put her head in his cone. He licked her everywhere that he could reach. He licked her mouth. He licked her hands. He put his tongue all the way inside her nose. The little lemon beagle crawled into her lap as if that was the place he most belonged. She traced the path of white between the pale caramel spots with her finger like a boat on furry river. She planned to memorize each one. His velvety ears were so soft. He panted in his plastic cone, his warm body pressed against her.

Mary liked saying that things are not necessarily as they appear. And the truth was Veronica had never been happier in her life. She had everything she could ever want. And yet her nose was dripping, her chest was heaving, and she was sobbing all over the place.

Cadbury and Fitzy Sitting in a Tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G

While setting the table for a delicious homemade meal, Veronica caught her parents smiling at each other, congratulating themselves on being such wonderful parents and buying Cadbury. They were often impressed with their own parenting, and tonight Veronica actually agreed with them. Tonight they were the best parents in the world.

Veronica’s mother placed the last of the serving bowls on the table.

“You really went all out, Marion! What a meal,” her father said. “Yummy. I love your Indian food. Let’s buy dogs every day. Pass the whosies, please.”