Field Trip Read Free Page B

getting a puppy. Who knows? The day is young.”
    “Your dad is teaching me the business. And how to multitask.” Brig gazes at Dad with admiration.
    “Yeah, Dad’s super good at doing more than one thing at a time.” Look at how he left me homeless and destroyed my career. Is it really less than an hour since I was asleep, with a fixed address and a great future ahead of me?
    Atticus growls at Conor, and Conor falls off the seat in the van.
    “Well, let’s go,” Brig says. “The guys are restless.” He climbs back into the van and shoves the pile of junk he was sleeping on off the seat, urging Conor away from Atticus and showing Atticus that his space is his again. Atticus is territorial and likes to sit next to the sliding window where kids used to buy Bomb Pops and Fudgsicles and Dream Bars. Dad added removable seats and a couple of shelves and ceiling hooks for his tools and gear, but he left the order window and the freezer and all the other equipment in place. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts selling frozen treats just because he can. He’d think it was awesome.
    Brig and the border collies look expectantly at Dad and me:
Go!
    “Brig’s coming, too?” I ask Dad as we climb into the front seats.
    Dad turns the key in the ignition. “We’re kind of taking his bedroom with us, and if I’m not around, there’s no work, so why not? Look how much fun we had last year when we took on passengers. It’s a good thing we ignore that rule about not picking up strangers.” He nods, proud of our family’s eagerness to flout the basic standards of safety.
    “Mr. Duffy picked me up when I was hitchhiking,” Brig tells me. “Convinced me not to run away, said I should stick around, work for him, make something of my life. But I’m sure you know the whole story.”
    I didn’t know you existed until ten minutes ago, I think, but I nod.
    “He’s like the dad I never had.” Brig smiles.
    Hunh. Well, I’m sure you’re like the son he never had, too, if you love working for him so much you sleep in the van. “That’s…nice,” I finally say.
    The Duffys belong to a national rescue group that fosters border collies; did Dad join one for runaway teens, too? He has a thing for strays.
    “Brig coming along is a good omen, Ben. Can’t you feel it?” Dad asks.
    I feel resentment, anxiety, and the hot, slobbery breath of Conor on the back of my neck.
    When Dad, Atticus, and I set out to rescue Conor last summer, it was just the three of us, and I was super ticked-off at him. But on the way to the shelter we picked up a teen hoodlum, a cranky mechanic, and a runaway waitress. By the time we got home, we’d become a weird little road family, and Dad and I were getting along great. I can tell by the way Dad’s smiling at Brig and the dogs in the rearview mirror that he thinks the same thing is going to happen this time. I guess he’s never heard that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. I almost feel a little bad for him.
    “Well, it’s not like we don’t have room for more people.” I sigh.
    Dad slaps his thigh. “I almost forgot! We have to make a quick stop and pick up the twins.”
    Of course we do. We need a set of twins.
    All righty then.

Atticus: I’m always on the boss’s side. Even though he changes his mind too fast and too many times, he’s usually right.
    But he may have gone too far this time. Our new home might have a lot of stairs that will hurt my hips when I climb them, and small windows so there aren’t nice patches of sun on the floor where I can sleep.
    We should stay where we are. We could send this puppy to a new place and keep the boy who works for the boss. He’s coming along nicely, settling in with the family. My boy didn’t notice him until today, so he’ll need some time to adjust.
    And we’re getting more new people now. That’s good. The boss and the boy never fight in front of people. They try harder to get along when they’re not alone. We