The Powder Puff Puzzle Read Free Page B

cream.”
    Dawn looked back. “I like your cookies too. I just can’t eat them right now.”
    She felt like crying.
    Suppose they never found Powder Puff?

CHAPTER 8
    “Y OU CAN EAT A little ice cream,” Jason said. “You don’t even have to chew it.”
    “Well . . .” Dawn began. “I guess . . . Maybe.”
    They went into the ice-cream store.
    Jason bought a two-stick orange ice-pop. Dawn bought a one-stick pop.
    She’d buy another stick for Powder Puff if she found him.
    They went outside again.
    “Now what?” Jason asked. Orange ice dripped down his arm. He licked the bottom of the stick.
    “Now I don’t know,” said Dawn. “I can’t think of one thing.”
    “Maybe we should go in Emily Arrow’s pool,” he said. “We’ll think better if we’re nice and cool.”
    Dawn shook her head. “I have to keep looking.”
    They crossed Linden Avenue.
    They started down the street.
    “I’m all sticky,” Jason said. “It feels terrible to be sticky and hot.”
    Dawn nodded. She ate the last of her ice. She was still thirsty. When she got home she’d ask Noni for a drink. A drink of ice-cold water.
    Noni.
    “Hey,” Dawn said. “We forgot.”
    Jason looked at her.
    “I’m supposed to get something for Noni.”
    She dug in her pocket. “It’s a little round thing. It looks just like . . .”
    She reached into her other pocket. “It’s called a . . .”
    She put her shoulders up in the air. “Can’t find it.”
    “We’d better go to the hardware store anyway,” Jason said. “We can ask Bernie about it.”
    They rushed back to Linden Avenue.
    They turned in at the hardware store.
    Bernie was behind the counter.
    He was talking on the phone.
    Dawn and Jason stood there waiting.
    They waited a long time.
    “We could be here forever,” Dawn said.
    “Let’s look around,” said Jason. “Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
    They went toward the back of the store.
    The aisle was piled high. Pails. Circles of rope. Boxes of nails.
    Dawn banged her knee on something. “Look,” she said. “Snow shovels.”
    Jason lifted one. “I wish it were snowing right now,” he said. “I’d lie down in it. I’d roll around. I’d . . .”
    Dawn turned to the next aisle.
    Cans of paint were piled almost to the ceiling.
    She looked at the sign.
    GREEN PAINT
    BOX OF TWO CANS
    HALF PRICE
    No wonder that painter was painting the house green, Dawn thought.

    Bernie came down the aisle. “Hi, Dawn.”
    “That’s not such a great color,” Dawn said. She pointed to the paint.
    Bernie laughed. “I know. The painter bought some this morning, though.”
    “I need something for Noni,” Dawn said.
    “What?”
    She raised one shoulder. “I don’t know. She needs it to fix the sink.”
    Bernie scratched his head. “A washer, I guess.”
    She followed him down the aisle.
    She stepped over a paint roller.
    She took the washer Bernie gave her.
    She waited for Jason to come to the front of the store.
    Then they started for home again.
    Noni was in front of the house. She was waiting for them. “You forgot to take my washer.”
    “Don’t worry,” said Dawn. She held up the new washer.
    “Good job,” Noni said.
    Dawn opened her mouth. “Hey, Noni. Jason. I just thought of something.”
    Noni smiled. “What?”
    “I think . . . maybe . . . I know where Powder Puff is.”

CHAPTER 9
    D AWN DIDN’T WAIT to tell them about it.
    She went into the kitchen.
    She stood on a stool.
    “What are you doing?” Noni asked.
    Dawn grabbed a bag of potato chips. She waved them in the air. “Just in case,” she said.
    She jumped off the stool.
    Noni sighed. She put the stool back. “You have to put things away when you’re finished.”
    Dawn reached up. She gave her a kiss. “Next time.”
    She raced out the door. “Come on, Jason.”
    Noni popped her head out. “Where are you going?”
    “Not far,” Dawn yelled back. “Not far at all.”
    They went down the street.
    “Where are we going?” Jason