Goldie Read Free Page A

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 wasduring 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 justneed 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, andCharles 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