“That’s OK, I brought more,” Parker said. “She can have it if she wants.”
Buttons trotted all the way back down the dog run to us and dropped the ball at Danny’s feet. Then she sat down and looked up at him with a pleased expression on her face.
“What?” Danny said to her.
“I think she wants you to throw it again,” Troy said.
“Yeah, whatever,” Danny said, crossing his arms. Buttons tilted her head to the side, and then pawed at his sneaker.
“Aw, come on, Danny, throw the ball for her,” Parker said.
“How can you say no to that face?” Troy asked.
I looked over at Dad and he grinned at me. I wanted to jump in and take the ball and throw it myself, but finally Danny bent down and picked it up.
“She doesn’t really know what she’s doing,” he said. “I bet she won’t do it again.” He tossed the tennis ball just a little distance away. Immediately Buttons sprinted over and grabbed it. Again she came trotting back and dropped it at Danny’s feet.
“Holy cow,” Parker said. “She can fetch! She fetches way better than Merlin!” At the other end of the dog run, Merlin was rolling gleefully in a pile of leaves.
“And she’s only a puppy,” I said proudly.
“It’s instinctive,” Dad said. “Some dogs are natural fetchers.”
Danny didn’t say anything. He just kind of looked at Buttons for a while. She wagged her tail at him. Actually, because she was so excited, it was more like she wagged her whole butt.
“Well, I think you’re lucky,” Troy said to Danny. “I’d rather have a silly-looking dog than no dog at all.”
“Totally,” Eric said.
Which wasn’t exactly the ringing praise I thought Buttons deserved, but it was still better than Danny’s grumbling and refusing to play with her.
Finally Danny picked up the ball and threw it again, farther this time. Buttons shot after it like she had to catch it in order to save the world. She pounced on it as it rolled and it shot out from between her paws. Yipping indignantly, she chased after it and pinned it down, then brought it back in triumph.
“Merlin!” Parker called. “Come on, boy! You can do this, too! Maybe Buttons will set a good example for him.”
Merlin thought about it for a long time and eventually decided to come back and grace us with his presence. Parker took out another tennis ball, let him sniff it, and threw it for him in the opposite direction from Buttons’ ball.
Merlin started to lope toward it, but Buttons apparently decided Danny wasn’t throwing fast enough, because she dropped her ball at Danny’s feet, raced past Merlin and grabbed his ball, too.
The big golden dog poked his nose at her like he was thinking about trying to get it back, but Buttons jumped away, stuck her tail in his face, and came galloping back to us.
“Wow. She’s just like Rosie,” Parker said.
“Just like me?” I said. “What?”
“Look at her bossing Merlin around,” Parker said, laughing. “It’s just like you and Danny.”
“I don’t —” I started to say, but then Buttons bounced at Merlin’s head again. The bigger dog jumped back with a goofy startled face and it made me laugh.
“Plus you can tell everyone’s going to spoil her rotten,” Danny said. “Just like they spoil Rosie.”
“THEY DO NOT,” I said.
“Another bossy little princess in your house,” Troy said. “That’s totally hilarious.”
“Yeah,” Danny said. “I guess it’s kind of funny.”
When Danny wasn’t looking, Dad gave me a fist bump and a wink.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, though. I liked the idea that Buttons and I had something in common. And I guess it was a good thing if my brothers all liked her. I watched Danny throwing the tennis ball for Buttons and it made me think that it would be easier to keep her happy and well-behaved if all my brothers helped. But what if she liked them more than she liked me? What if they took her away from me?
Still, what Parker and Danny said made me feel kind of warm and glowy inside. Maybe Buttons was more like me than I’d thought. Maybe she really was my dog … even if my brothers liked her, too.
We played with Buttons for almost an hour and by then she was definitely getting tired. The last time Danny threw the tennis ball, she started to chase it, but halfway there she flopped down on the grass and stretched out with her nose between her front paws. Merlin went over to sniff her and she batted playfully at his nose without getting up.
“We should let the puppy get some rest,” Dad said. “Ready to go home, Rosie?”
“Yeah, OK,” I said. We left the boys there with Merlin. I noticed that Danny patted Buttons’ head as she trotted past him. And so did Eric, which just confirmed all my plans for him, too.
I ended up carrying Buttons most of the way home. She went all floppy in my arms and rested her head and front paws on my shoulder. I could hear her little snzzzzrring noises near my ear. Her fluffy fur was soft and warm under my hands, and I didn’t even mind that there were twigs and bits of grass caught in it.
“You know what’s funny?” Dad said. “I was thinking about what the guys said back there. The truth is, when we brought you home as a baby, all the boys had the same reaction to you that they did to Buttons — like, ‘What is that small fluffy creature? A sister! She’s going to be no fun at all. No, thank you.’ But then they each warmed up to you, just like they did to Buttons. You clearly turned out to be a whole lot of fun. And now, of course, they all like you the way you are.”
They did?
I snuggled Buttons closer to me. “Not as much as they like Buttons, though,” I said.
Dad tugged on my ponytail. “Well, who do you like better?” he said. “Buttons or them?”
I laughed. “Buttons, definitely.”
Mom let me sleep in on Sunday. She snuck into my room and got Buttons so the puppy wouldn’t wake me up. I didn’t sleep very late, but when I came downstairs, I found Carlos in the kitchen trying to teach Buttons to roll over. She seemed pretty confused. He could get her onto her back but then she kind of lay there with her ears flopped back and blinked at him like, Is this what you want?
“Goofy dog,” Carlos said to her. “Keep rolling!”
She wriggled around so her head was tilting the other way at him.
“OK, good try,” he said, letting her have the treat. “I think I’m doing something wrong. Maybe I should check the Internet for tips.” Which was hilarious, because normally Carlos thinks he’s doing everything right and it’s the rest of us getting it wrong.
I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat on a stool by the island, next to Oliver. He also had a bowl of cereal in front of him, but he was just kind of staring into space with a loopy smile. I could tell he’d been doing that for a while because his cereal was all soggy.
I waved my spoon in front of his face and he jumped.
“Oh, hey,” he said. “Oh, Rosie!”
“Yeah, that’s me,” I said.
“I was thinking,” he said. “Do you and Buttons want to go for a walk with me and Miru today?”
I stared at him. “Seriously? Me?”
“No, wait!” Miguel yelled, popping into the kitchen from the den. “She can’t! They have to come to the cheerleaders’ car wash with me!”
“We do?” I said.
“Come on, Rosie,” Miguel pleaded. “If we show up with Buttons, I bet Caitlin and Sarah will talk to me again. Maybe Emma will, too!”
“But you don’t have a car,” I pointed out. “Or, you know, a license.”
“Yeah, and besides, I want to go to the park with Rosie and Buttons today,” Carlos said.
I nearly fell off my stool. This had never happened to me before in my entire life. “Are you guys making fun of me?” I asked.
“Uh, no,” Carlos said, like I was the one being weird. “I want to see if Buttons will chase things or catch them in the air or any of that stuff.”
“She will,” Danny said, clattering down the stairs. “She’s great at it. Rosie, I’m going to hang out with Parker and Merlin again today. Want to come?”
“Stop, stop, stop,” Oliver said in his Mr. Reasonable voice. “I asked her first. Rosie and Buttons are hanging out with me and Miru.”
“But they can do that any day!” Miguel said. “The cheerleaders’ car wash is only today!”
“Didn’t you already say you get Rosie and Buttons every Thursday?” Carlos pointed out. “That sounds like enough cheerleader time to me.”
“Yeah, well, you said you were going to go to an obedience class with them,” Danny said. “So I think I should get to hang out with them on the weekends, when Parker and Merlin are free.”
My brothers all started arguing at once. I couldn’t believe it.
They were fighting over me. They all wanted to hang out with me! Well, me and Buttons. But we came together. We were a pair. That’s how my brothers saw us. They wanted both of us. I didn’t even care who won, because I was winning most of all.
Buttons came over and poked my foot with her nose. I picked her up and she snuggled into me, licking my chin. I realized I really didn’t care if she got muddy sometimes or knocked things over or made a mess. She was still my dog.
“You know what, Buttons?” I whispered to her. “You’re not so bad after all.”
She wagged her tail and went “Rrrruff!” … as if she were saying, Yeah, I know.
I pressed my nose to the glass door, squinting through the rain.
There was a bulldog sitting right outside. He was staring in at me just like I was staring out at him.
I’ve never seen a glummer face. I mean, I think that’s kind of a funny word — glum — but that was the first thought that popped into my head when I saw this dog’s face. He wasn’t just sad. He wasn’t gloomy. He was definitely glum.
His little dark brown ears drooped. His big, broad shoulders drooped. His long, floppy jowls drooped. His forehead was wrinkled in a worried way, and his sad brown eyes seemed to be saying, Why am I so wet? And so alone? And so abandoned? And so very, very wet?
For a moment I thought he was just hanging out on the sidewalk for no reason. But then I realized that he was wearing a red leash — and the leash was tied to the vestibule’s front door.
I thought I should run back and get my mom. But I didn’t want to leave him in the pouring rain even one second longer. I pulled open the inner door and yelled, “MOM!” really loud. Then I let it close and went to push open the outer door.
The bulldog sat up a little straighter, looking at me hopefully. The brown-and-white fur on his neck stood up in little wet spikes. I untangled his leash from the door handle, which was sort of tough because it was pretty wet and slippery. I had to stand in the rain and get totally drenched. But I got it free and then I held the door open and beckoned to the dog.
“Come on, boy,” I said.
He didn’t need any more encouragement than that. He rocketed inside so quickly, he nearly bowled me over. He stood inside our vestibule and shook and shook himself. His jowls went flap-flap-flap-flap-flap. He sprayed me all over with water, but it didn’t matter because I was already wet. My sneakers went squeak-squish-squeak-squish as I tried to wring out my shirt without taking it off.
The bulldog’s wheezing and snorting echoed around the vestibule. He looked up at me with big trusting eyes — that’s the kind of look my mom gets from the sweetest dogs when they’re like, maybe if I look really pathetic you’ll put away that needle. Like he was afraid I would leave and he was hoping if he looked really woebegone I’d stay with him.
I realized that there was a piece of paper folded and tucked into his collar, under his chin. I crouched down to reach for it, and the dog came over and butted my hand with his head. I scratched behind his ears and under his broad chin until I could reach the note, and then I pulled it out. But when I stopped petting the dog, he plowed into my knees and I fell back on my butt. This was apparently exactly what he hoped would happen. He immediately tried to climb into my lap and lick my chin.
Danny’s dog, Buttons, had done the same thing at the park on Sunday, but Buttons is a puppy the size of a baseball and she weighs about as much as one. This was a full-grown bulldog, and he was heavy. I swear he felt like he weighed as much as me. His big white paws planted themselves on my chest and his enormous pink tongue went sluuuuuuuurrrrrrp! up the side of my face like a giant piece of wet sandpaper.
I tried to push him off, but he was really, really determined to show me how glad he was to be in out of the rain. He was like, I must pin you down and say thank you by licking off your face! How else will you know how grateful I am?! I could feel his tiny stub of a tail wagging up the whole length of his wet, roly-poly body.
“OK!” I cried as he licked me again. “I get it! You’re welcome!”
The inside door opened. “Eric?” my mom said as she came out. “Did you — oh my goodness!” Her mouth fell open. She stared at the bulldog, who was flopped across my chest. He looked up at her with a panting, slobbering grin. His tongue was as wide as my hand and it flapped up and down as he breathed, FLAP HUFF FLAP HUFF FLAP HUFF.
“Where — what —” My mom pointed at the bulldog. “Eric!”
“He was sitting outside,” I said. “In the rain, Mom! Someone left him tied to the front door.”
“Tied to the front door?” Mom sounded indignant now.
“In the rain,” I said again.
I saw Parker and Mr. Green crowd up behind her. Merlin poked his nose through the gap between their legs. His eyes lit up when he saw the bulldog, but Parker held on to him so he couldn’t rush forward and say hi.
“There’s a note,” I said, holding it out so Mom could rescue it from me. I needed my other hand to fend off the slobbermeister.
“Check his tags,” she said as she unfolded it. I wrestled the dog’s giant head aside so I could see the plain black collar hidden in the folds of his neck. There was only one tag hanging from it, a silver one shaped like a dog bone. And all it said was “Meatball.”
“Meatball?” I said to him. He buried his whole wet face in my neck and went snorftle snorftle, so I guess that was a yes.
“Please take care of Meatball,” my mom read out loud. The paper was soggy and falling apart in her hands. “We cannot have him anymore. Thank you.” She threw her hands up. “Of course it isn’t signed! They’re lucky I can’t find them and tell them what I think of them. This poor dog. I’m sure they just thought he was an adorable puppy and had no idea how big he would get.”
“Or how loud,” I said as Meatball went SNOOOOOORRRRRG right in my ear.
“Why would they bring him here instead of an animal shelter?” Mr. Green asked. “Do you know him?”
Mom shook her head. “I’ve never seen him before. I haven’t had any bulldogs in here this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they drove over from another town. One of my colleagues online told me about a dog left at her office, too — like they figure a vet must know how to take care of it.”
“And they guess a vet would want to,” Parker pointed out.
I’d finally managed to sit up, but Meatball had planted himself firmly in my lap and was snuffling up and down my chest with his big squashed-up nose. His forehead was wrinkled forward over his serious brown eyes. He shoved his head inside my jacket. I scratched the folds of wrinkles around his neck. Meatball was absolutely soaked. I wondered how long he’d been sitting outside.
“Let’s bring him inside and scan him for a microchip,” Mom said.
“A microchip?” Parker said with a grin. “You mean he might be a robot dog?”
“Yeah, right,” I said. “No one would make a robot dog this slobbery.”
Mom grabbed Meatball’s collar and wrestled him off me. Finally we got him onto the metal table and he immediately lay down and flopped over with his head as close to me as he could get it. I rubbed his solid white belly while Mom looked for
a microchip.
“Of course not,” she muttered. “Does nobody want you, poor boy?” She tugged on one of his floppy ears. Meatball rolled onto his stomach, wiggled toward me, and pawed at my jacket, which by this point was covered in little wet brown-and-white dog hairs.
“Oh, I’m an idiot,” I said, realizing why he loved my jacket so much. I pulled out one of the dog biscuits I’d found in the waiting room. “Is this what you’re looking for?” I said, offering it to him.
SNORF. The biscuit disappeared in a whoosh of crunching and slurping. Meatball licked the palm of my hand a few times for good measure, leaving it damp and sticky.
“I’ll call Wags to Whiskers and see if they have room for him tonight,” Mom said.
“Wait,” I said. “Can’t we take him home with us? Look how much he likes us.”
Meatball helpfully rolled over and gave her a winning upside-down grin.
Mom gave Mr. Green one of those grown-up looks. Parker’s dad shrugged. “I’d have trouble saying no to either of those faces,” he said, nodding at me and Meatball.
“One night,” Mom said with a sigh. “And I’ll check him over first. Eric, call your sisters and tell them we’ll be late for dinner.”
Parker followed me out to the waiting room and high-fived me. “Maybe this is it,” he said. “Maybe you finally have a dog!”
I hadn’t really thought about keeping Meatball, like, forever and ever. He wasn’t exactly the dog I’d always pictured for myself.
But I couldn’t send him off to a shelter all by himself. Poor guy. I just wanted to give him somewhere warm and friendly to go. Did that mean we had to keep him? Was I stuck with him now?
In addition to the New York Times- and USA Today-bestselling Wings of Fire series, Tui T. Sutherland is the author of several books for young readers, including the Menagerie trilogy, the Pet Trouble series, and three books in the bestselling Seekers series (as part of the Erin Hunter team). In 2009, she was a two-day champion on Jeopardy! She lives in Massachusetts with her wonderful husband, two adorable sons, and one very patient dog. To learn more about Tui’s books, visit her online at www.tuibooks.com.