Muttley Read Free

something to love about Muttley.” Maria held up her sandwich — tuna on pita bread — with a questioning glance. Lizzie nodded, and the girls traded.
    “Well, he is incredibly cute. And Dad thinks he’s actually really smart,” Lizzie said. “He can tell by the way Muttley makes eye contact when you talk to him. That means he looks you right in the eye. At least when he’s awake, that is,” she added. “That’s the German shepherd in him, I bet.”
    She took a bite of sandwich. “Anyway, Dad thinks it will be easy to find a home for Muttley. I hope he’s right. My mom wasn’t that happy to hear that we agreed to take a foster puppy while she was gone. She said she was ready for a break from fostering for a while, and hoping to come back to a one-puppy household. We had to promise to find Muttley a home before she gets back.”
    Lizzie looked up and saw Daphne and Brianna on their way out of the hot-lunch line. They carried their trays to the table and sat down across from Lizzie and Maria.
    Lizzie did her best not to make a face when she saw the gross shepherd’s pie on their plates. She would rather have a turkey sandwich anytime. “So, when are you coming to Caring Paws again?”
    Daphne and Brianna looked at each other. “Actually, we can’t make it anytime soon,” said Daphne.
    “Um, right,” said Brianna. “We’re both kind of busy.”
    “Maybe you shouldn’t count on us for help at the shelter,” Daphne said.
    “Yeah, I’m not sure I have time to be in the Caring Club, either,” added Brianna.
    “What do you mean? Why not?” asked Lizzie. Neither girl answered. Lizzie looked at Maria. Maria didn’t look back at her. At thatmoment, Maria seemed very interested in her sandwich.
    “Well, fine.” Lizzie turned back to Daphne and Brianna. “Whatever. If you don’t want to be in the Caring Club and help animals, I won’t force you. There are plenty of other kids who want to join.” She didn’t mention that most of the other kids were little, Charles’s friends. So what? Even little kids could help animals.
    “I’ll come. I heard about your club. I want to be in the Caring Club.”
    Lizzie looked up to see who was talking.
Oh, no.
“Hi, Jimmy,” she said. “Um, right now the club is kind of full.”
    “But I love animals!” Jimmy squeezed his way onto the bench next to Brianna, knocking a half-full carton of chocolate milk off her tray.
    “Oops,” said Jimmy. “Sorry! Sorry, Brianna. I’m really sorry.” He jumped up to grab a bunch of paper towels, then smeared the chocolate milk all over the table and the floor.
    This was exactly why Lizzie didn’t want Jimmy Johnston to be in the club. It was bad enough to have him in her class, where he was always distracting everyone. He talked all the time and jumped up and knocked things over. Even when he sat still, he had to jiggle something: his leg would move like the needle of a sewing machine, or a pencil in his hand would
tap-tap-tap
on the desk. Some days it seemed as if Mrs. Abeson said nothing all day but “Jimmy, settle down. Jimmy, it’s someone else’s turn to talk. Jimmy, that’s not classroom behavior.”
    Lizzie knew that Jimmy didn’t
mean
to be the way he was. “Maybe there’s another club you could join,” she said.
    “But I’m really good with dogs. My gramps calls me —” Jimmy began, but just then the bell rang and it was time to line up and head back to class.
    “Maybe you shouldn’t say no to him so fast,” Maria whispered to Lizzie as they tossed their sandwich scraps into the composting bin.
    “Are you kidding?” Lizzie whispered back. “He’d make the animals nuts with all that energy.”
    Maria shrugged. “Maybe,” she said as she balled up her lunch bag and tossed it into the trash. “But I bet Ms. Dobbins wouldn’t mind the extra help. And if Daphne and Brianna aren’t going to be in the Caring Club, then you might wish you had some other members.”
    “Oh, they’ll come back,”