She grabs the new shampoo bottle that the people mother brought in after the other bottle went missing. It has a round red top that looks like a red ball.
Appleblossom pulls off the top and holds it out toward the dog.
His eyes lock on the object.
“Tennis ball, my liege,” she says.
Chapter 38
Obsession.
The idea.
The image.
The desire.
The feeling.
One thought runs this showdown.
A RED BALL.
His red ball is outside in the grass because it’s not allowed inside because a certain dog becomes obsessed and can’t think of anything but this object if he sees it.
And now the red ball is here. Or a red ball that looks like his red ball.
The wild creature has it and then she throws it.
He is blinded by the light.
A red ball.
That’s all there is.
Chapter 39
Izzy is up out of the bed and in the bathroom in seconds. She arrives just in time to see five possums running to the heating duct. The first one dives straight in, tucking and rolling into darkness. A second small one is at his heels. A larger possum follows with the biggest possum of the group flailing behind. Last but not least is Izzy’s possum.
Columbo stands in the center of the room with his slobbery mouth around the red top of the shampoo bottle, which Izzy can see gave the possums time to escape. He drops the cap and lunges at Izzy’s possum, but she grabs him by the collar just in time, and yanks back hard. The possum who had been Izzy’s friend looks over her shoulder at Izzy and then dives into the heating duct.
Izzy shouts, “No! Come back!” Columbo wails his version of no. The only sound Izzy hears from the possum is a scurrying in the walls.
She is still in tears, clinging to Columbo, when her parents rush into the room and pronounce the dog a hero. They seem to think that Columbo has protected them from possums who were seeking revenge for the death of their friend. Izzy chooses not to tell them that the possum they buried wasn’t a possum at all but a shampoo bottle.
And from now on, Columbo will not sleep in the crate in the kitchen. Instead, the dog will sleep in Izzy’s room. He will take up more than half the bed. He will be allowed to have his red ball in the house. He is her protector now, or at least that’s what Izzy’s parents believe. And from this night onward, Izzy will have a pet. He’ll be a real pal. Maybe sometimes he’ll even let her put a hat on his head, or slip a scarf around his large and hairy neck.
Chapter 40
The sun is only minutes away from rising when Appleblossom and her family emerge from the vent on the side of the house.
Appleblossom hugs her brothers and her mother and she’s thrilled to meet her papa. They all tail-snap and experience the general commotion that comes when a family is reunited, but then Mama Possum puts an end to it when she announces, “The sun’s going to come up. We’ve got to go our separate ways. Remember, everyone, keep away from the monsters. Tonight was an all-star cast, but tomorrow you could stand alone. Be prepared for both!”
Big Poss agrees, adding, “If music be the food of love, play on!”
Before Appleblossom and her brothers can mount an argument that they should all stay together, at least for one night, Mama Possum and Big Poss vanish into the shadows.
The three young A-possums are now by themselves.
Amlet yawns, but it looks like he’s doing it to hide the fact that he’s trying not to cry. Appleblossom turns away. She wants to give him some privacy.
It isn’t long before Antonio says, “Mama Possum and Big Poss don’t have a lot in common, but they love the night life.”
Amlet nods, adding, “And they love to boogie.”
Appleblossom asks, “What’s boogie?”
Antonio and Amlet both start to laugh. “You have to see it to believe it,” says Antonio.
Appleblossom knows that there is a lot you have to experience to understand. But there are other things that are inside you from the start. One of them is how much her two brothers both mean to her.
The three possums climb up onto a cinder block and take a moment to just be together. They join their tails and look out at the moon. But they don’t speak another word that night.
Instead, they find a hole in a brick wall along the back alley. They curl up next to one another, wedging their bodies close. Appleblossom feels a knee in her nose and a tail around her neck. She hears her brothers fall asleep as their light breathing turns to snores. She knows that while one day she might grow up to find a mate and have a family of her own, there is nothing in this world like a brother or sister.
So much of being a possum, she thinks as she drifts off to sleep, is about learning how to act. But being a brother or a sister (if you are lucky enough) is the role of a lifetime.
About the Author
Holly Goldberg Sloan is the author of three previous novels, including the New York Times Bestseller Counting by 7s, which was named an ALA Notable Book and an E. B. White Read Aloud Award Honor Book. She has worked as an advertising copywriter and a writer and director of feature films. She lives with her husband, Gary A. Rosen—the illustrator of this book—in Santa Monica, California.
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Holly Goldberg Sloan, Appleblossom the Possum
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