The Pup Who Cried Wolf Read Free Page A

trying to take out the guard dog with a shoe gun. My instincts switch from training mode to watchdog mode. I bark. I stop and spin around to spot the intruder.
    Dear, sweet Mona is standing in the hall just outside the bedroom door. The bandits must have awakened her. She looks terrible. Her hair is sticking out everywhere. She looks like she could use another two hours of sleep. And she has her arm cocked back with a weapon in her hand. It is a fluffy yellow and pink fish in the shape of a slipper.
    She has the same weapon as the intruders! What a confusing coincidence. I decide to ignore the confusion and focus on the job at hand.

    I bark again and do a 360 to keep the enemy pinned down.
    Mona must have the same idea. A second slipper comes whizzing through the air. No, not whizzing exactly. Fluffy bedroom slippers don’t whiz so much as they flutter. The problem is, it’s hard to aim a slipper, and instead of hitting the intruder it hits me. Right in the ribs.
    I yelp to let her know that she missed her target, but she disappears into the bathroom.
    She must think I’ve already scared off the bad guys. I sniff around just to make sure, and try not to step in the sticky mess of soda and popcorn. All clear. That was a close one.
    â€œNice work, Wolfie.”
    I turn around. Heckles is yawning and rubbing his whiskers sleepily.
    â€œYou’re just lucky you’re worthless,” I tell the rat. “Otherwise, you could have been stolen. A burglar was just in here. A sneaky burglar who thought he could get past the defenses of a wolf brother and not be detected.”
    â€œBurglar.” He snorts.
    â€œMona’s lucky I’m around,” I say. “That burglarcould have cleaned her out. I wonder how he got away so fast.”
    I think about taking another exercise lap or two around the apartment, but I decide against it. I need to be rested and alert in case the intruder comes back.
    I head to the kitchen, where a bright red bowl with white paw prints all around the sides is waiting. Running laps and chasing out intruders has made me hungry. I hope I didn’t eat all of my Nibbles and Nuggets The Simple Formula for the Super Dog from last night.
    Nibbles and Nuggets, for short, are yummy. Each nugget is a perfect circle, exactly the same as every other nugget, and each nibble is a tasty triangle. Duck-flavored and delicious.
    Sure enough, I am still munching, trying to keep my energy up, when Mona comes in.
    She looks at me and crosses her arms. I can tell she is still grumpy about the burglar. Me, I’m already over it, and I’m the one who got smacked in the ribs for my trouble.
    That gives me an idea. I gulp down my last bite and then try to take a step. Oh, no! My lefthind leg is all injured and limpy. Head down. Tail between my legs. I limp away from her. Sad, sad eyes. Limp, limp, limp. Go right for the heart. Every dog knows how to do this. Stop, turn, and look. Betrayed. Abused. Then limp some more.
    It’s working! She comes over and scratches behind my ears. Ohhh, that feels good. Her hand runs down my spine. Ahhh. Then ever-so-gently she checks out my poor limpy leg.
    I flinch. Then I start trembling to make sure she feels good and sorry. I’m listening for the magic words that will definitely make my leg feel a lot better.
    â€œDo you need to go outside?”
    Wahoo! The most magic words of all! I bark and turn in circles.
    Oops.
Hurt leg. Limp some more.
It’s possible to recover a little too quickly from these things. The trick with humans is to get them to do what you want, and still let them think they are in charge.
    After she gets dressed and cleans up the mess, she checks me over a couple more times to make sure I’m all right before we go for our morning walk. I love our morning walks! Not that I need them, you understand. A wolf doesn’t needanything other than a full moon once a month, and a pack to go hunting with.
    Soon I’ll be