The Case of the Missing Family Read Free Page A

Kayla and Dad. They would’ve wanted me. Wouldn’t they?
    “I don’t know,” Raina says, shifting in her seat. “It just seems like you could have tried harder to find him a home. What if he doesn’t get adopted? You know what happens to dogs who don’t get adopted, don’t you?”
    I don’t know what happens to dogs who don’t adopt humans. I just know that they disappear. Forever.
    “Relax. He’s already been adopted,” Uncle Marty says. “I called the pound a couple of weeks ago to check.”
    This is all very interesting, but I wish Uncle Marty and Raina would stop talking about me and start talking about Kayla and Dad. I know what happened to me. I don’t know what happened to them.
    But pretty soon Uncle Marty and Raina stop talking altogether.
    I put my head on my paws and listen to the owls and the crickets and the sound of the moving van. It’s relaxing. In fact, it’s so relaxing I am almost falling asleep. But every time I start to drift off, Raina sneezes and wakes me up.
    After one especially loud sneeze, she blows her nose. It’s so cool when humans do that. I wish I could blow my nose, but I don’t know how.
    “How much farther is it to Springtown?” Raina asks.
    My head pops up. Springtown? Is that where we’re going?
    “A couple of hours,” Uncle Marty says. “You can take a nap if you’d like.”
    I don’t know how long a couple of hours is, but I know I won’t be taking any nap. Kayla and Dad went to Springtown! Maybe Uncle Marty really is taking my old family’s stuff to them!

4
Rest Stop
    We’ve been driving a long time. We’ve been driving so long that it’s starting to get light outside. Is it morning now? It could be. I’m hungry. I need to stretch my legs. And I really need to go outside.
    I wonder if we’re close to Springtown. We should be after this amount of time. But we’re still driving.
    Could Kayla and Dad still be in Springtown? Why didn’t they ever come home? And why didn’t they send for me? Is it because of the tornado?
    I’ve never been in a tornado, but I’ve seen the Wizard of Oz . So I know a lot about them. Here is what I know about tornados:
    They are big, scary clouds that spin ’round and ’round.
    They sound like trains.
    They can pick up a house, turn it around a few times, and put it down someplace else.
    In the Wizard of Oz , the dog, Toto, was the hero. He moved the curtain when his human was talking to that wizard. If he hadn’t done that, his human would never have gotten home.
    I want to be a hero like Toto. I want to go to Springtown, find my family, and help them get back home.
    It feels like the van is slowing down now. Are we here? Are we finally here? I wish I could see out the window.
    “Ready for a rest stop?” Uncle Marty asks.
    Rest stop? What’s a rest stop?
    “ Y-y-ah-choo! ” Raina says. Then she adds: “Yes. I’d also like to get some allergy medicine. I think I have some in that bag I tossed in the back.”
    The van rolls to a stop, and Uncle Marty turns off the engine.
    “Can you reach your bag from here?” Uncle Marty asks.
    “No. I’ll need to get it from the back,” Raina replies.
    I hear keys jingling. The front doors open and close. Then I hear the latch turn on the back door. As the back door opens, sunlight pours into the back of the van.
    I squeeze myself even farther under the chair. As far as I can possibly squeeze. I close my eyes. Please don’t notice me , I say inside my head. Please, please, please don’t notice me!
    I feel boxes and furniture shifting around behind me.
    “Got it,” Raina says. The back door closes, but does not latch.
    I hear Uncle Marty and Raina walking away from the van. I wiggle my way out from under that chair and climb up on top of it. Now I can see out the side window.
    It looks like a rest stop is a place with lots of grass and trees. I see cars, trucks and even a bus parked beside us.
    There’s a small building straight ahead. I watch as Uncle Marty goes in one