Noodle Read Free

She started to splash her way toward the puppy, swimming awkwardly in her big red suit.
    Lizzie held her breath. She could hardly evenstand to watch. “Is Emily going to make it?” She looked up at her dad, who was frowning as he peered through the binoculars. Then, suddenly, he smiled.
    “Yeah!” he yelled, pumping his fist. He was still looking through the binoculars. “Got him!”
    Lizzie looked back out at the lake. Sure enough, Emily was splashing back in their direction — with the puppy tucked under one red rubber arm. Lizzie felt tears prickling her eyes.
    Dad handed her the binoculars. “Stay here for a second so you’re out of the way. I’m going to go help pull Emily in,” he said. He dashed down to the shore and grabbed the rescuer’s rope, falling into place behind the other men. They all leaned back with their feet planted on the ground, like they were playing tug-of-war.
    Lizzie peered through the binoculars. Now she could see the puppy clearly. He looked wet and cold and miserable — but surprisingly, not tooscared! He wasn’t struggling at all. Emily had stopped trying to swim and was just holding the puppy tight as the guys on shore reeled her in like a giant red fish. Now that she could see him better, Lizzie thought the puppy looked about four months old. He was a little smaller than Buddy.
    Soon Tyler was on shore, and then the whole team was hauling on the rope, pulling Emily in. It wasn’t long before the rescuer and her precious cargo were standing on shore, dripping wet.
    Mom had been rummaging in the baskets. “Let’s go warm that puppy up!” she said. “Lizzie, Charles, take these blankets. The Bean and I will go start our van and get the heater going.” She tossed an armload of blankets to Lizzie. Lizzie and Charles took them and ran as fast as they could toward the puppy.
    Down at the shoreline, Tyler and Emily looked exhausted — but happy. The guys who had hauled them in were slapping them on the back, congratulating them. When Emily saw Lizzie and theblankets, she strode right over. “Good idea!” she said. “This little guy sure does have the shivers.”
    Emily handed the puppy to Lizzie. For the first time, she got a good look at him. Even though he was soaking wet, he was adorable. His long, curly fur was frozen into dark spiky points at the moment, but Lizzie thought she’d see soft golden curls when it was dry. He also had long, floppy ears, the cutest little black nose, and a soft, pink, puppy belly.
    Lizzie looked down into the puppy’s dark brown eyes and something happened.
    Lizzie fell in love.
    Oh, sure, Lizzie fell in love with
every
puppy she met. But this was different. There was something about this puppy that made Lizzie’s heart just melt. What was it?
    There was no time to wonder about that now. This little pup was shivering all over. He needed to warm up fast.
    Quickly, Lizzie wrapped the puppy in ablanket, and then another one, so that only his darling nose showed. She held him tight against her chest.
    “That was awesome!” Charles was saying to Tyler. “I want to join your team someday.”
    “We can always use new members!” Tyler stopped coiling rope for a moment to talk to Charles. “You’re welcome to come watch one of our training sessions. Your dad can tell you when and where.”
    Dad shook hands with all the rescuers. “Great job,” he said.
    “What about the puppy?” asked Emily. “What will you do with him now?”
    Lizzie looked at her dad. “He’s not wearing a collar, and I don’t see anybody searching for him. He must be lost.”
    “I didn’t notice any tracks out there on the ice,” said Tyler. “That part of the lake is probably still frozen too hard for footprints. Hard to say
where
he came from.”
    Lizzie hugged the bundled puppy even closer. The poor little thing. He must be so scared and lonely. “Can we take him?” she asked. “Just until we find out where he belongs?” Her heart was thumping. What if Dad