Flash (3 page)

“Let us handle this!” Stephanie hissed to Becky as they headed toward the house to face the grown-ups. Flash trotted behind them, herding them right up to the doorstep.

“She’s right,” Lizzie whispered to Charles. “They’ll listen to us. We’re older.”

Charles and Becky looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “What did I tell you?” Charles was saying, without any words. Becky nodded. The big sisters had taken over.

Now Aunt Abigail had joined Mom. “Stephanie, what’s going on?” she asked. “Where did that dog come from?” Flash was poking his nose into the kitchen.

Flash was curious. There were good smells in here!

“Can he come in?” Stephanie asked. “This is Flash. Somebody just left him here!”

Charles saw Aunt Abigail’s face soften. “You mean, he was abandoned? How awful! I’ve heard that sometimes people leave dogs near farms when they don’t want them anymore.”

“Abandoned” meant that a dog’s owners left it all alone, so the dog had to take care of itself. That wasn’t
exactly
what had happened, but nobody corrected Aunt Abigail. “He must be hungry,” she went on.

Charles thought of all the leftovers Flash had eaten, plus the puppy food. “Well …” he began. Then Lizzie pinched him. Hard. He closed his mouth.

Aunt Abigail sighed. “All right,” she said. “Let him in. But — will he get along with Buddy and the Bean?”

Charles happened to know that Buddy couldn’t
wait
to play with Flash. And now that Flash felt more at home, he’d probably enjoy Buddy, too.

“I think Buddy and Flash will be fine together,” Lizzie said. “But maybe you should keep holding the Bean for now. We don’t know how Flash will behave around little kids.”

They brought Flash into the kitchen, closing the doors to keep him from running through the house.

“Well, well, well,” said Dad, getting up from the table with a big smile. “Who’s this?” He knelt down to say hello to Flash.

Uncle Stephen didn’t seem as excited. He looked over his glasses at Flash, frowning. “And who does it belong to?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” Charles said honestly. “But we think he needs a home.”

“What do you think, Dad?” Stephanie asked. “Could we keep him? Please?” She had her arms
around Flash’s neck. Charles could tell that she had really fallen in love with the black-and-white pup. And Flash seemed to like her, too.

This girl was so nice! Flash thought he could sit here next to her forever — especially in this warm, cozy room. As long as he also got to run and chase and play, that is.

“Out of the question,” said Uncle Stephen, turning back to his newspaper. “We’re just getting settled here.”

Stephanie turned to Aunt Abigail. “Mom?” she asked.

Aunt Abigail was shaking her head. “I don’t know, Steph. This dog has a
lot
of energy. I saw him zooming around the backyard, chasing after you all. I’m not sure we can keep him busy enough.”

Uncle Stephen was nodding. “A dog like this belongs on a real farm, like over at the Barclays’.”
He sighed, turning to Mrs. Peterson. “You’ve seen that place, right? The one at the other end of the road, where the sheep are always getting loose?”

Charles realized that Stephanie was probably right. Uncle Stephen would never agree to adopting a dog — at least, not this one. He watched Stephanie and Becky petting Flash. They looked so sad! Charles noticed Mom looking, too.

“Stephen,” Mom said carefully. “You should give it a chance. I didn’t think our family was ready for a dog, either. But we just love Buddy.”

Uncle Stephen shook his head stubbornly. “Fine for you,” he said. Suddenly Charles realized something funny: His mother was Uncle
Stephen’s
bossy older sister!

Charles looked at Mom. “So?” he asked.

“Oh, no!” said Mom.

“Oh, yes,” said Charles. “Can’t we foster Flash? Just until we find out —”

Lizzie interrupted, “Just until we find the right home?” She gave Charles a glance.

He knew she was warning him not to tell the grown-ups about Murray and Dot. That would just complicate things. Anyway, they wanted to solve the mystery themselves.

“He’s a great puppy,” Charles finished. “And he’d make a great friend for Buddy.”

“Uppy!” shouted the Bean, struggling to get down and pet Flash.

“But … we don’t even know if Buddy and Flash will get along!” said Mom.

“Let’s take them outside and find out!” said Lizzie. She winked at Charles, and Charles winked back. He and Lizzie both knew that Mom was going to agree. They were going to have a new foster puppy.

Sure enough, by the end of the afternoon it was all settled. Not only did Flash and Buddy get along but Flash loved the Bean, too. The border collie would be riding back to Littleton in the van with the Petersons. Not only that, Stephanie and Becky were coming to visit the very next weekend!

Back at home, Charles and Lizzie helped Flash get used to things. Before long, he seemed to feel completely at home. He and Buddy played together for hours in the backyard, and Flash herded the Bean all over the house. The week went by almost before Charles knew it, and soon it was time for Becky and Steph’s visit. On Saturday morning, Charles and Lizzie and their dad went to meet their cousins at the Littleton bus station.

“So, where’s Flash, and when are we going to the mall?” Stephanie asked, about one second after she and Becky stepped off the bus that had brought them from their country home. “I have all my birthday money with me, plus a gift certificate for the Gap. I cannot
wait
to shop. And I
can’t wait to see Flash. I brought him a rawhide bone. I bet he misses me.”

Whoa! Charles looked over at Becky, and Becky shrugged. Was Stephanie going to be like this all weekend? She was just as bossy as a visitor as she was at her own house. He had been looking forward to seeing his cousins and doing some more detective work, but now he wasn’t so sure.

“Flash is at home with Buddy,” Charles told Steph. “They’re real pals already. They play together all day long.”

“That Flash is so smart!” Lizzie boasted. “He’s already learned all kinds of tricks. Wait till you see how good he is at shaking hands. I taught him in about five minutes.”

“He’s smart all right,” said Dad as he carried his nieces’ backpacks over to the van. “Maybe too smart for his own good. It only took him about an hour to figure out how to get out of our yard through the one tiny hole in the fence.”

“Uh-oh,” said Stephanie.

“Yes, uh-oh,” said Dad. “That dog absolutely
lives
to run and chase things. I’m afraid he’ll start chasing cars if he gets the chance.” He started up the van and, after making sure everybody was settled in, turned toward home.

“We’ll keep him from running off,” Charles promised his father. He turned to his cousins. “Flash is great at chasing balls, too. He could do it all day. As long as you keep throwing something, he’ll keep running after it. I just wish we had a bigger yard for him to run in.”

“That’s why I want to take him with us to the stable today,” Lizzie said.

“What?” Stephanie looked surprised.

“Oh. I forgot to tell you. I have a riding lesson at noon, so we can’t go to the mall today,” Lizzie explained. She had already told her cousin all about the lessons she had been taking, and about her wonderful teacher, Kathy. “But it’ll be fun! You can meet all the horses, and maybe you can even ride a little. And Kathy said we could bring
Flash to the stable. They have a big indoor riding ring where it will be safe for him to run around.”

“We’ll go, too,” Charles said to Becky. “You can meet Rascal!” He had already told his cousin all about Rascal, a wild little Jack Russell terrier that the Petersons had fostered. They had tried and tried to teach him good indoor manners, but he was just too full of energy and personality. He ended up living at the stable with Kathy and her husband, Wayne. The stable was the perfect place for him. Rascal even had a horse for a best friend!

“My friend Maria and her dad are picking us up in an hour,” Lizzie told Stephanie.

“Okay,” said Stephanie. “You know I love horses. But I definitely love shopping, too!”

“I’ll drive you to the mall tomorrow morning,” Dad promised.

“Deal,” said Stephanie, sitting back in her seat with a satisfied smile.

Back at home, the cousins played with Buddy and Flash in the backyard until Maria and her dad arrived. “Can we all fit in your car?” Lizzie asked when they came to the door. “Flash and Buddy, too?”

“Me! Me!” shouted the Bean. He hated to be left behind.

Maria’s dad smiled as he counted on his fingers. “Six kids and two dogs?” he asked. “Hmmm …”

“Maybe you and Buddy should stay home with me,” Mom said to the Bean. His face crumpled and he took a deep breath, getting ready to scream.

“I bet Buddy will let you play with his new ball!” Charles said quickly. Becky and Stephanie had brought a toy for Buddy, too: a fuzzy purple-and-white soccer ball.

The Bean cheered up right away. Mom gave Charles a grateful look. “Have fun!” she said, waving as they piled into the car. It was crowded in the backseat, especially with Flash trying to run from side to side so he could see every single
thing they drove past. Now that Flash felt more at home with the Petersons, he was less shy and more excited about seeing new things.

What an interesting world! So much to look at, so much to learn about. Look! Look at those people walking! Maybe they need someone to herd them! Someone to help them find their way!

When they got to the stables, Maria led the way to the indoor riding ring. “I bet that’s where we’ll find Kathy,” she said. Charles had to hold Flash’s leash tightly as the strong little dog pulled him this way and that, checking out every little thing.

The ring was inside a big barn. When Maria pulled open the door, Charles saw that it was one wide-open space inside, with white wooden jumps arranged on a soft dirt floor. It was big enough for a dozen horses to ride around in, but at the moment there were no horses in the ring. Just one wild puppy — Rascal.

As soon as they walked in, the little terrier started barking wildly. Rascal was small, but he had a big bark. Charles saw Kathy and Rascal down at the far end of the building. He waved. Rascal kept barking as they walked closer, and Flash kept pulling at the leash.

“Oh, Rascal,” Kathy said. “You hush and be nice to our guests.” She smiled and said hello. “And this must be Flash,” she said. “What a beautiful border collie!”

Flash was pulling harder. He wanted to get closer to the thing Rascal was standing on. So did Charles. He was curious about it, too! It looked like a giant purple seesaw, painted yellow at each end. While Charles watched, Rascal ran up from the bottom end of the wide board. The seesaw tipped when Rascal was in the middle, and he scrambled down the other side, still barking. “Wow!” said Charles. Rascal ran right over to him to say hello, sniff the new dog, and get a pat.

“Cool!” said Stephanie. “I’ve never seen a dog do anything like that!”

“It’s a sport called agility,” Kathy explained. “It’s like an obstacle course for dogs. This is a teeter-totter, just one of the obstacles. Rascal and I are practicing on our own. Tomorrow my agility group will meet here, and we’ll set up the rest of the equipment. There are all kinds of things to climb over and jump through. Dogs love it!” She looked at Flash. “Especially dogs like him. There are a lot of border collies in my group.”

“Flash loves to run,” Charles said.

“I bet,” said Kathy. “Border collies have a lot of energy and are very smart. They can really be a handful unless they have a job. They need something to do. They’re great at herding sheep. Farmers breed them to do just that. Have you ever seen the movie
Babe?”

“The one about the pig that herds sheep?” Stephanie asked.

“Right!” said Kathy. “It has a lot of border collie
action in it. You should watch it again! Anyway, there are things border collies can do if they’re not herding sheep. They can stay busy chasing balls or Frisbees. Or they can do agility! They
love
that. Why don’t you come watch the agility group tomorrow? You’ll meet lots of border collies and their owners.”

“I’d love to,” said Lizzie, “but we kind of have plans. Maybe some other time?”

“Sure,” said Kathy. “For now, why don’t you go saddle up your horse? It’s time for your lesson.”

Charles woke up the next morning thinking about jelly beans. Sour green-apple jelly beans, to be exact. They were his favorite. He loved them. And there was only one place you could get them in Littleton: at the Sweet Dreams candy store, at the mall. For that reason, he didn’t mind that Stephanie wanted to go shopping.

“Hey, Buddy,” he said, reaching down to pat the puppy that lay on the rug next to his bed. At first, Buddy was too young to make it through the night without going outside, so he had slept in a crate in the kitchen. Mom had gone down to let him out at least once in the middle of the night. But now, Buddy was completely housetrained. He never — well,
hardly
ever — made a mistake. So he was
allowed to sleep wherever he wanted to. And he usually wanted to sleep in Charles’s room.

Buddy licked Charles’s hand sleepily for a moment as Charles petted his silky ears. Then he jumped up and started attacking Charles’s fingers.

Oh, boy! Was it morning already? Morning was Buddy’s favorite time of day. When Charles woke up, it was playtime! And then came breakfast time! Yay! Buddy
loved
morning.

“Hey!” Charles said. Buddy always woke up so fast! And what was the first thing he wanted to do as soon as he woke up? Play. The second thing? Go outside to pee, then dash back inside for breakfast. “Okay, okay,” said Charles, climbing out of his warm, cozy bed. Having a puppy was a lot of responsibility sometimes, but it was worth it.

Lizzie, Stephanie, and Becky were already out in the backyard with Flash when Charles and
Buddy got downstairs. “Watch this!” Lizzie said. She made Flash sit and stay. Then she stepped back and threw a ball to him. He snatched it out of the air and caught it neatly in his mouth. His tail wagged, and he seemed to smile at them.

Charles and the girls cheered.

Flash lay down and let the ball drop out of his mouth, holding it between his paws. He looked down at the ball, then up at Lizzie.

The ball — Lizzie.

The ball — Lizzie.

His gaze was intense.

Throw it again! Throw it again! Now, now, now! Flash couldn’t believe how slow people were sometimes. He liked this girl a lot, but didn’t she understand that he wanted to catch the ball again? Right
now?

Buddy finished peeing and sniffing around the backyard, then loped over to wrestle with his new
friend Flash. The two puppies tumbled and ran for a few minutes.

“Have you found out anything else about who Murray is and where he went?” Lizzie asked Steph. It was the first time the cousins had had a chance to talk privately together about the mystery.

“Not a thing,” Steph reported.

“I’ve asked all my friends if they’d ever met a dog named Flash,” Becky said, “but nobody knew him.”

“So what’s next?” Lizzie asked.

“He needs a home. Maybe we should tell Mom and Dad —” Charles began.

“No!” all three girls yelled.

Just then, Buddy seemed to remember that it was breakfast time. He ran to the back door, and Flash followed him.

Inside, Dad was making waffles. “As soon as we finish breakfast, I’ll take you to the mall,” he said.

“Great!” said Charles as he poured puppy chow into two dishes.

“Sounds like fun!” said Becky. Charles had told her about the jelly beans at Sweet Dreams.

“Well …” said Stephanie. “I’m not so sure I want to go, after all.” She reached down to pet Flash. “For one thing, Flash can’t go to the mall. So really, how much fun could it be?”

Flash heard his name and knew that the girl was talking about him. He looked up at her and nuzzled her hand. Maybe soon she would take him outside and throw the ball some more!

“Fine with me!” Lizzie said. Charles knew his sister did not like going to the mall. What did she care if he got his jelly beans or not? “What do you want to do instead?” Lizzie asked her cousin.

“Go back to the stable and watch those agility
dogs Kathy told us about,” Stephanie said right away. “I’m dying to see what they do.”

“All right!” said Lizzie. Charles knew Mom had told her to be nice to Stephanie and do whatever her guest wanted. He guessed that Lizzie was happy now that Steph wanted to go to the barn and he was sure Lizzie wanted to do the exact same thing! “I’ll call Maria,” Lizzie added. “I’m sure she’ll want to come.”

“So do I!” said Charles. He didn’t mind missing out on jelly beans if it meant being around dogs. He knew Buddy would have to stay home again. At least Flash could go with them, since Kathy had invited him.

“Me, too!” said Becky.

“I guess it’s our turn to drive five kids and a dog!” Mom said, laughing.

When Dad pulled up near the stable later that morning, the parking area was full. Charles heard
dogs barking as soon as he climbed out of the van. “Hear that, Flash?” he asked the puppy at the end of the leash.

Flash sure did. His ears were up and his nose was twitching. He couldn’t wait to see what all the fuss was about. He pulled at the leash.

Let’s go, let’s go! Let’s go, go, go!

Charles and Becky followed the older girls into the barn, slipping through the door carefully so no dogs would escape. “Wow!” said Charles when he saw how different the indoor riding area looked.

Big, colorful wooden obstacles filled the space. There was the teeter-totter they’d seen the day before, but now there were also all kinds of jumps, a tunnel for the dogs to run through, and a steep A-frame for them to go up and over. All the equipment was painted bright colors: blue, purple, green, and yellow.

Dogs and people were running around. Dogs climbed over some obstacles and ran through others, while their people yelled encouragement. Some dogs barked happily, while others looked very serious as they charged around.

Charles wondered about a row of white poles standing straight up out of the ground. While he watched, a small, sleek border collie and his owner approached the poles. When the owner pointed at the poles, the dog ran in and out between them, weaving his way from one end of the row to the other. “Did you see that?” Charles asked, turning to Becky. She was nodding. Her eyes were wide.

Kathy walked over, with Rascal at her heels. The little dog’s eyes were bright, and his tail was waving. “Welcome!” she said. “I’m so glad you came back. What do you think?”

“I think this looks like the most fun thing in the world,” said Stephanie. “If I were a dog, I’d love it!” She couldn’t take her eyes off the border collie,
who was now dashing through a round tunnel. He came out at the other end and flew over three jumps in a row, sailing through the air as easily as a bird.

“I agree,” said Kathy, laughing. “The dogs love it, and so do we. Did you see that border collie do the weave poles?”

They all nodded. So that’s what they were called.

“That’s one of the harder obstacles for dogs to learn,” Kathy said. “But a smarty like Flash would probably pick it up in no time.” She bent to pat his head. Flash licked her hand, but his eyes were focused on the activity in the middle of the barn.

“You mean, Flash could be doing this?” Becky asked. “But he’s just a puppy!”

“Puppies can’t do everything on the agility course right away,” Kathy explained. “For example, they shouldn’t jump, because their bones are still growing. But lots of these dogs started before they were three months old! Puppies can start by doing
something easy, like learning how to run through a tunnel,” she went on. “You can use a play tunnel made for little kids. They have them over at the toy store.”

Charles knew that they all still wanted to find Flash’s mystery owner. But if that didn’t work, maybe someone who did agility would adopt him. Charles had a feeling Flash would like that.

Yes! Flash saw a dog jumping through a round thing hung on ropes, then scampering up and over the A-frame. I want to do that!