Noodle Read Free Page A

said no?
    But Dad nodded. “Of course. I’m sure Mom will agree. We’d better stop to see the vet on the way home and get him checked out. He seems fine, but I’d like to make sure.”
    Lizzie and Charles grinned at each other. All right! A new foster puppy! How exciting. This was turning out to be the best winter picnic ever, even though they were leaving before the picnic part even happened.
    Mom was waiting for them in the nice warm van. She had packed all their stuff, and the Bean was already buckled into his car seat. Buddy was in the way back, safe inside his travel crate. “We’re all ready to go,” Mom said. “Here’s what I think: I think we should take this puppy home, just until we find out where he belongs. But we’dbetter stop at the vet’s first, just to make sure he’s all right.”
    Lizzie, Dad, and Charles started to laugh. “That is
exactly
what we were just saying,” Dad said. “Great minds think alike!”
    “Great minds?” Charles looked bewildered.
    “It’s just an expression,” Lizzie told him. “Here, hold the puppy while I get in.” She handed over her bundle, then climbed into the van. As soon as she had her seat belt buckled, she held out her arms and Charles reluctantly gave the puppy back. Lizzie snuggled her chin down into the blankets and gave the puppy’s nose a kiss. “You’re safe now,” she told him. The puppy had already stopped shivering. He looked back at Lizzie with big, shiny eyes. She felt her heart melt again.
    “I wonder what breed this puppy is,” she said. “With this curly fur, he looks kind of like that poodle named Fiona who goes to Aunt Amanda’s doggy day care.”
    “He also reminds me of Goldie,” Charles said. “Like how she looks after a bath.” Goldie was a golden retriever, the first puppy the Petersons had ever fostered. Now she lived next door, with Charles’s best friend, Sammy.
    Lizzie thought about that, then nodded. “You’re right, I guess he does have that retriever nose and ears. I wonder if he’s a golden doodle!”
    “A
what?”
Dad asked from up front.
    “It’s a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle,” Lizzie explained. “They’re very popular lately. Some people also have Labradoodles.”
    “I can guess what
those
are a cross between,” Mom said. “How do you
know
all this stuff, Lizzie?”
    Lizzie just shrugged and smiled. She loved knowing all about dogs and dog breeds and dog training. She couldn’t think of anything more interesting and fun.
    Unless, she thought, looking down at the bundle on her lap, it was a new foster puppy!

CHAPTER FOUR
    “Oh, my goodness,” said Dr. Gibson, when she unwrapped the blankets. “Would you look at this little peanut? What a cutie-pie!”
    Lizzie smiled at the vet. “I know,” she said. “He’s a sweetheart. He seems to trust us already.”
    “That’s because you helped to rescue him,” Dr. Gibson said.
    Lizzie nodded. Maybe that was part of the reason she had fallen in love so fast. She knew she would never forget the way this pup had come into her life. What if she had never seen him swimming out there in the middle of the icy lake? Lizzie pushed the thought aside as she watched Dr. Gibson start her exam.
    The vet sat the puppy on her examination table and put her stethoscope to his chest. She listened through the earpiece, cocking her head to one side. “His heart sounds good!” she said. She draped the stethoscope back around her neck and picked up another instrument. She looked into the puppy’s ears and mouth, then shone a small flashlight into his eyes.
    The puppy blinked.
    Ooh, that’s bright! But it’s nice and warm in here, and this lady is gentle. Maybe soon my people will be here, and then we can all go home and have something to eat!
    “I think he’s going to be just fine,” said Dr. Gibson, when she had finished her examination. “He’s just all worn out from his adventures, and he’s probably missed a meal or two. He’ll get his