On the Dog Read Free Page B

legs slipped down to Harley’s skin. Andrew and Judy ran. But one of the legs caught the belts that held them together. They were trapped!
    Andrew looked up. A huge armored creature towered over them. Pointy hairs stuck out all over its body. A snout hung down in front. It was a sharp, prickly snout!Above the snout were two black cannonball eyes.
    meep …
“Flea!” Thudd said. “Flea not see Drewd and Judy. Flea not see much. But flea feel living thing move. Flea jump on! Flea need blood to live.”

    The flea lowered its needle-sharp snout-mouth to Harley’s skin. Andrew and Judy yanked at their belts, trying to get free.
    Maybe the flea felt something. Instead of biting Harley it jumped! Up and up they went! Andrew had the feeling in his stomach that he got when an airplane took off.
    The wind whooshed by their faces. It was scary to see how high they were!
    meep …
“If human jump like flea, human jump six hundred feet high!” Thudd squeaked.
    Then they were zooming down, down, down! They could see the top of Harley’s head and the furry brown hilltops of his ears.
    “Hold on, Andrew!” screamed Judy. “We’re going to crash!”
    The flea landed on top of Harley’s head. Andrew and Judy were jolted loose from the flea’s leg. They tumbled down through the hairs to Harley’s skin.
    A dark shadow passed over them as the flea crept along the hairs above.
    “Let’s head for Harley’s ear,” said Judy. “It’s high, so we can look around. And if anything nasty comes along, we can hide inside. I’ll bet it’s like a big cave in there.”
    Judy and Andrew trudged through the dog hair. Suddenly Andrew felt like he was on an elevator going up! Harley wasn’t sleeping anymore. He was on the move. And so were his ears!

A HAIRY SITUATION
    Harley’s ears were going up like enormous furry tents!
    “What’s going on?” asked Andrew, looking up through the dog hairs.
    meep …
“Harley move ears to find where sound come from,” said Thudd. “Dog ears like antennas.”
    Andrew listened. The only sound he heard was the Atom Sucker. It was whistling softly.
    meep …
“Harley hear something coming,” said Thudd. “Dog ears hear betterthan Drewd ears. Human use mostly eyes to find out things. Dog use mostly nose and ears. Dog eyes see things blurry. See just yellow, blue, gray.”
    “Grrrrr!”
Harley growled.
    “I wonder what he’s growling about,” said Andrew. “If I climb to the tip of a hair, maybe I can see what’s going on.”
    Andrew unbuckled the belts that held them together.
    The scales on the hair made it easy to climb.

    From the top of Harley’s head, Andrew saw a strange sight. The forest of hair on the back of Harley’s neck was standing straight up!
    meep …
“Harley scared!” Thudd said. “Muscles in skin make hair stick out. Happen to humans, too. Called goose bumps! Lotsa hair make animal look big, look scary! But humans not got enough hair to look scary.”
    “I think I see what Harley’s growling at!” Andrew shouted down to Judy. “A very long puppy just came up to the fence.”
    “That must be Hot Dog!” Judy shouted up. “He just moved in with the Greenes across the street from us. They’re
so
nice, especially Josh. His birthday is two days before mine.”
    A dreamy smile stretched across Judy’s face.
    “Now Hot Dog is sniffing the fence!”yelled Andrew. “You know, where Harley always pees.”
    meep …
“Harley smell on fence tell all about Harley to other dogs,” said Thudd. “Smell tell if Harley male or female. Tell if Harley boss dog or shy dog.”
    Harley kept growling. He hunched down low to the ground and crept toward the puppy.
    “Harley is right in front of Hot Dog now,” said Andrew. “He’s putting one of his front paws on Hot Dog’s shoulder.”
    meep …
“Harley say he boss dog,” said Thudd.
    “Now Hot Dog is rolling over on his back,” Andrew reported.
    meep …
“Hot Dog agree. Harley boss dog,” said Thudd.
    Harley started