Goldie (2 page)

Goldie started to wriggle, pushing her way out of Dad’s jacket. She got one paw out and started to push harder. Her little legs churned away as she climbed.

“Oops! Hold on there, sweetie,” Charles’s dad said. He pulled down the zipper and reached in with a big hand to carefully pull her out. “There you go,” he said as he bent down to put Goldie on the floor.

The puppy looked around with big eyes. She yawned widely, showing a long, curled pink tongue and two rows of tiny, sharp white teeth. Then she shook herself and took a couple of unsteady steps. Her little tail stuck straight up in the air. Her golden coat was tangled and smudged with soot.

“Doggy!” yelled the Bean. He started to crawl toward Goldie.

Mom swooped down to pick the Bean up. “Let’s let the doggy get used to us slowly,” she said. She kissed the Bean’s ear and held him tight. He yawned, showing off his own pink tongue and little white teeth.

Goldie took three steps forward, then stopped, trembling. This room was warm and it smelled good, but it was big, and there were so many people in it!

Charles sat down on the floor and reached out a hand. “Here, Goldie,” he called. Goldie padded toward him.

“She knows her name!” Lizzie cried softly. “What a little smartie!” She sat down on the floor next to Charles. “Are you sure she’s not hurt, Dad?” she asked. “Did you check her all over?”

“Not yet,” said Dad. “We can clean her up and make sure she’s okay. She’s had all her puppy
shots, so unless she’s hurt, we don’t need to take her to the vet.”

Sammy finished his French toast and stood up. “I’ll go get some of Rufus’s old toys,” he said. “Goldie might as well borrow them if he’s not using them.”

He headed for the door.

“Plate, Sammy,” Mrs. Peterson reminded him.

Sammy went back to the table, grabbed his plate and fork, and brought them to the sink. “I’ll be right back, Goldie,” he promised as he let himself out.

Dad took a clean towel out of a drawer, wet a corner of it at the sink, and joined Charles and Lizzie on the floor. “Let’s take a look at this pup,” he said.

But when Dad reached for Goldie, she scooched down, her eyes wide and her ears held back. She tucked herself under Charles’s knee.

“She’s still scared,” said Charles. “It’s okay,
girl,” he said softly. “Come on, Goldie. I’ll hold you so Dad can check you out.” He held out his hands and Goldie climbed into his lap, making little snuffling noises as she curled into his arms.

Charles leaned down and buried his nose in the silky-soft fur of Goldie’s neck. He took a big, deep breath. Ahh! That delicious puppy smell! Charles felt perfectly happy, sitting there on the floor with a warm dog on his lap.

With Charles holding her to keep her calm, Lizzie and her dad wiped Goldie’s coat clean and checked her all over to make sure she had no cuts or bruises. By the time they were done, Goldie wasn’t frightened anymore. She started to mouth their hands as they petted her, gnawing with her little teeth.

“Hey!” cried Charles. “Do I look like a puppy to you?” He knew that puppies chewed on one another all the time. Goldie would have to learn that chewing on people was not okay.

Charles held Goldie in his arms, giggling as she
licked and chewed at his earlobes. Then she struggled to get down, and he let her go. She skidded across the kitchen floor, heading straight for the Bean’s plate of French toast.

“Hold on!” said Charles. “That’s not puppy food!” He scrambled to get to the plate before Goldie did.

Goldie sat back, looking disappointed. Then she caught another smell and took off in the other direction, tripping over herself in her eagerness to learn everything about this new place.

Sammy burst back in with an armload of fuzzy, floppy toys. “I brought Mr. Man and Yellow Duckie,” he said. “Duckie used to be Rufus’s favorite.”

The Bean held out his hands. “Toy!” he yelled.

Sammy handed him Mr. Man, who was made out of a soft white material. Then he held out Duckie for Goldie. She took hold of one of the floppy yellow wings and started to shake the toy wildly, making the other wing bang against her head. Losing her balance, she plopped down on the floor and rolled over so her soft, pink belly showed.
Her eyes were wild as she bit at the toy, grabbing for Duckie’s beak. Duckie suddenly let out a loud squeak. Goldie jumped up and stared at the toy for a second. Then she grabbed a wing and started shaking again.

Everybody was laughing. Goldie was so funny! Charles thought he could watch her forever.

“Oh, Mom,” said Lizzie. “We
have
to keep her.”

“Please?” Charles begged.

“If we keep her, it will only be for a little while,” Mrs. Peterson reminded them. “Just until we find her a good home. That’s how a foster family works.”

“We’ll take good care of her,” Charles promised. “She won’t be any trouble!”

Just then, Goldie rolled over, jumped to her feet, and took three steps to a spot under the kitchen table.

She sniffed.

She squatted.

And she peed.

“It was only a little puddle,” Sammy said. “I don’t know why your mom got so upset.” He kicked a stone between the two big maple trees at the end of the Dodsons’ driveway. “Goal!”

Charles, Lizzie, and Sammy were walking to school together, the way they always did. Charles and Sammy were both in Mr. Mason’s second-grade class. Lizzie was in fourth. It had not been easy to say good-bye to Goldie. Charles could still practically see her big eyes watching him curiously as he helped Lizzie clean up the puppy’s “mistake.”

Would she still be there when he got home from school?
We have to convince Mom to let us be her foster family,
he thought. His fists were all balled
up inside his jacket pockets. He almost felt like he might cry. He took a deep breath. “We have to make a plan,” he said. “First we convince Mom to let us foster Goldie. Then we convince her to let us keep her forever.”

Lizzie grinned at him. “I’m with you,” she said.

Sammy bumped fists with Charles. “Me, too.”

Charles had a hard time paying attention in school that day. And it wasn’t because he was making up new knock-knock jokes. It was because he could not stop thinking about Goldie. What was she doing? Was she still feeling scared? Was Mom making sure that she had enough clean, fresh water? Was she making sure that the Bean was not bothering Goldie?

Mr. Mason called on Charles three times during math, even though Charles did not raise his hand. Subtraction was not usually hard for Charles, but today it was.

First Mr. Mason wanted to know how many cherries Anna would have left if she started with
thirteen and gave Charles eight. “Seven?” Charles guessed. He knew it was wrong as soon as he said it.

Mr. Mason just shook his head and moved on. Later, he tried Charles again. “What if I had eleven elephants,” he asked, “and I gave you three?”

Charles pictured three huge elephants squeezed trunk-to-tail into his living room. Then he pictured a tiny but ferocious Goldie running around their huge feet, barking at them. He smiled.

“Charles?” Mr. Mason was waiting.

“Um,” said Charles. “Seven?” Again, he knew it was wrong.

The third time, Charles didn’t even hear Mr. Mason call on him. Sammy finally poked Charles in the side. “Wake up,” said Sammy.

Charles didn’t know what the question was. “Seven?” he guessed.

“Correct!” said Mr. Mason, with a big smile. “Now you’re getting it.”

The only time Charles really paid attention was
during Reading Partners time, when his class went down the hall to read with their kindergarten friends. Charles had a partner named Oliver, a funny little boy who wore big glasses. Oliver always wanted to read about dogs. That day, he showed Charles a book called
Why Do Dogs Bark?
that was full of interesting facts about dogs. Charles was happy to read that book with Oliver. It made him think of Goldie.

Finally, finally, school was over. It was time to go home and see Goldie again! Charles could have run the whole way home, but Lizzie and Sammy were walking along slowly, talking about how to convince Mom to let them keep Goldie.

“I spent my whole turn on the computer looking up how to housebreak puppies,” Lizzie reported. Fourth graders got a half hour of computer time every day. She showed them a bunch of articles she had printed out. “Goldie’s so smart. She’ll learn to go to the bathroom outside in no time.”

“I had this great idea,” Sammy said. “We just
need a little tiny tape recorder that we can hide under your parents’ bed.”

Charles stared at his friend. “What?” Sammy was always coming up with the wildest ideas.

“It’s easy,” said Sammy. “We just make this tape that says, ‘You want a dog. You love dogs. You love Goldie. You want to keep her.’” He was talking like a robot. “Then we leave it under your mom’s bed so it plays at night while she’s sleeping,” he explained in his normal voice. “So she gets kind of, you know, hypnotized.”

Lizzie laughed. “You want to hypnotize my mom?”

“Right,” said Sammy. “Believe me, it’ll work. I saw this guy at the fair last year? He convinced a lady that she was a chicken. She was squawking and flapping her wings, and —”

Charles had tuned out. He was thinking about Goldie again. He could hardly wait to pick her up and hold her in his arms.

Sammy went home to check on Rufus, and
Charles and Lizzie went up their walk. Mom opened the door when she heard them on the front porch steps. She looked very tired. Her hair was all straggly. The Bean was on the floor by her right foot, and Goldie was by her left foot.

“Uff!” barked Goldie. She looked happy to see Charles and Lizzie.

“Uff!” barked the Bean. He looked happy, too.

Mom was holding something in her hand. It was one of her running shoes — or at least something that
used
to be a shoe.

“Mom,” said Lizzie, holding up her articles. “I bet I can housebreak Goldie in one week!”

“And I’ll make a bed for Goldie in my room,” Charles said, “so I can watch her at night, and —”

Mom held up her hand, the one that wasn’t clutching the chewed-up sneaker. “Don’t even bother trying to convince me,” she said. “I’ve already made up my mind.”

“But Mom —!” Charles said.

“I knew it!” Lizzie wailed. “I just knew you wouldn’t let us keep her.”

Mom looked from Charles to Lizzie and back to Charles again. “Don’t you want to wait and hear what I decided before you get all upset?” she asked. “Come on, let’s go have a snack and talk about it.” She led them to the kitchen. Goldie trotted ahead of her, slipping and sliding a little on the wood floor. The Bean ran along on his short little legs, yelling, “Dodie, Dodie!”

“Dodie?” Lizzie asked. This was a new word for the Bean.

“It’s how he says Goldie,” her mom explained, as
she put a bowl of grapes and a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the table. “He is crazy about that dog. All he wanted to do all day was follow her around and do everything she did. He even tried to drink from her water bowl!”

Charles looked down at the Bean and shook his head. Who else had a little brother who thought he was a dog? “So we’re not keeping Goldie?” he asked.

“Well, we aren’t keeping Goldie for good,” said his mom, smiling. “But she’s sweet to the Bean, so she can stay for a little while. Just until we find her a really good home.” Their mom patted Goldie on the head. “She deserves the best.”

“Mom!” Lizzie threw her arms around her mother.

Charles couldn’t believe his ears. “Really? Really? Goldie is staying with us?”

“Only for a while,” his mother answered. “Don’t forget that part.” She looked down at the Bean. He was tugging at one of her shoelaces while
Goldie tugged at the other. “It’s great for the Bean to have such a good friend. But this family is not ready to have a full-time dog. Not yet.”

Charles nodded. “Right,” he said. He was sure he could convince his mother to keep Goldie forever. He slid down off his chair and sat on the floor next to Goldie. She trotted right over, climbed up into his lap, and started chewing on his ear. It tickled! Charles laughed and kissed the top of the puppy’s silky head.

Goldie liked that. This boy made her feel happy and safe. She was
so
glad to see him again. It seemed like
forever
since he had gone away.

Goldie wagged her little tail as hard as she could as she nibbled and licked and nuzzled. By now, Lizzie had joined Charles on the floor. “Let me hold her for a minute,” she said. “Here, Goldie!”

Happily, Goldie climbed over to explore Lizzie’s ears. The girl was also wonderful. She smelled good and tasted even better.

Then the Bean started to nibble on Charles’s
ears. “Hey!” said Charles. “Mom, tell him he’s not a dog!”

“I’ve been trying to tell him that all day!” his mom said, laughing. Then she sat down at the table and got serious. “So here’s the deal,” she said. “You two are going to be responsible for this puppy whenever you are home. That means you walk her, you feed her, you make sure she has water. And don’t forget our goal: We need to make sure Goldie goes to the best possible home.” She looked at Charles, then at Lizzie. “If you do a really good job fostering Goldie, I might start to believe that this family will be ready for a puppy of our own sometime soon.”

Charles and Lizzie were nodding eagerly. “Okay, Mom,” said Charles.

“We’ll start training her right away,” promised Lizzie. “It will be easier to find a good home for a puppy that behaves.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” Mom added. “You also have to take care of all your regular chores. I
don’t want your rooms to become disaster areas just because we have a puppy in the house.” She looked at Charles when she said that. Lizzie was tidy, but Charles’s room was usually a mess. “No falling behind on school work.” This time she looked at Lizzie, who sometimes waited to do her homework until the last minute.

“No problem,” said Charles, even though he hated cleaning his room.

“Absolutely, Mom,” promised Lizzie. She held Goldie up and rubbed noses with the pup. “We’ll do anything to keep you around, right, sweetie?”

Goldie stuck out her tongue and licked Lizzie’s nose. Then she clambered down and started to sniff the floor.

Lizzie jumped up. “That means she has to pee!” she said. “When she sniffs like that we have to get her outside right away. Then we praise her for doing it outside.”

Charles scooped up Goldie and ran for the back door. As soon as he got outside, he put her down
and watched proudly as she ran straight onto the lawn and squatted. “Good girl!” he said. “You’re such a good girl.”

Goldie didn’t know why the boy was so happy, but it made her happy, too. She ran to him and when he picked her up she licked his face all over.

Charles and Lizzie spent the rest of the afternoon in Lizzie’s room. Lizzie had her computer on and all her dog books out. While Charles rolled around on the floor with Goldie, Lizzie told him all about puppy training.

“The most important things for a puppy to learn are” — she held up three fingers — “where to do your business, how to get along with other dogs and with people, and what your name is.” She put one finger down for each thing. “Goldie already knows her name, don’t you, Goldie?”

Goldie stopped chewing on Charles’s foot just long enough to look up. Her eyes were bright and her ears were pricked up.

“Good girl!” Lizzie smiled at her. “So we just have to work on the first two: housebreaking and socializing.
Socializing
is the word dog trainers use for ‘making friends,’” Lizzie explained to Charles. “Goldie’s already learning how to go to the bathroom outdoors. And she gets along well with people. Pretty soon we should start having her meet other dogs,” Lizzie went on. “Her mom and her brothers and sisters taught her a little bit about doggy manners, but she’ll need more practice.”

Charles knew Lizzie was probably right, but he was having too much fun just playing with Goldie to think about training her. At the moment, they were playing a game where she pretended his foot was a big scary monster. He kept it very still while she bravely crept up on it. Then, just as she was about to pounce, he wiggled his foot and Goldie tumbled backward. The next time she crept up, he let her pounce and get the monster. She growled tiny puppy growls as she wrestled with his sock, trying to pull it off of his foot.

After a few rounds, Goldie stopped suddenly, wandered over to the soft rug next to Lizzie’s bed, curled up, and fell asleep.

For a while, Charles and Lizzie just stared at her. She was so cute, with one paw over her nose.

“Okay, next,” Lizzie said. “We have to convince Mom that we’re serious about finding Goldie a great home.”

“But I want
this
to be her home,” Charles complained.

Lizzie sighed. “Me, too,” she said. “But for now we’re just her foster home, and that means it’s our job to find her the best forever family.”

Charles sighed. “We could make a sign,” he suggested.

Lizzie was great at using her computer to make signs and birthday cards. She got right to work. “How does this look?” she asked, a few minutes later. She showed Charles a sign decorated with a picture of a golden retriever.

PERFECT PUPPY NEEDS GOOD HOME
, it read. The Petersons’ phone number was on the bottom.

“It looks good,” said Charles. “Maybe
too
good. We don’t really want someone to take her away, do we?” He was still wishing they could keep Goldie forever.

“Charles,” Lizzie said, “I really don’t think Mom is ready for a full-time dog. But if we do a good job with Goldie, it’ll show her how responsible we can be.” She looked at her sign again. “Still, we don’t want to give Goldie up
too
soon.” She took out the word
PERFECT
. “Better?” she asked. When Charles nodded, she printed out ten copies.

“Charles! Lizzie!” called their mother from downstairs. “Time to set the table for dinner!”

They took one of the signs to show their mom and left the others in a pile near Lizzie’s backpack, by the door.

“Let’s let Goldie sleep,” Charles suggested. “She’s had a busy day.”

They tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs.

Goldie woke up a few minutes later. She stretched and yawned and looked around for her people. Where were they? They had gone away and left her all alone. This was her chance to sniff and explore this fun new place. Goldie roamed all over Lizzie’s room, discovering exciting new smells and tastes in every corner.

Finally, Goldie wandered over to the door. There was a pile of scritchy, scratchy fresh new papers. Goldie had been wishing for something to chew and tear apart. These papers looked just right! She dove into the pile and got to work.