Bailey (4 page)

“Hello, little guy,” Kat said softly. She patted the puppy's head. She touched his silk ears. Bailey squirmed and wiggled with delight in Maya's arms.

“Okay, let me put you down, Bailey,” Maya said, struggling to hold the excited puppy. She squatted and gently set him on the floor.

Bailey sat on his haunches, smiling up at the girls.

“He's so tiny! Only eight weeks old,” said Kat. “I don't think I've ever seen a puppy so young before.”

“Me either,” agreed Maya.

“But look at his paws. They're huge!” Gently, Kat lifted one of Bailey's front paws. “That means you're going to be a big dog when you're fully grown,” Kat told him.

“Hey, do you think it's really true that retrievers have webbed feet?” asked Maya.

“Let's look,” said Kat. She and Maya examined the bottom of Bailey's paw closely, spreading it gently.

“Hey, it really is webbed!” said Maya. “That is so cool!”

“I read that most dogs have a small amount of webbed skin between their toes but not enough to say they have webbed feet. But quite a few breeds do,” Kat said. “Retrievers were bred to swim out to fishing nets and bring them back to shore, so the webbed feet help them to swim. That's what my
Dog Breeds of the World
says.”

Restless, Bailey licked Kat's fingers, then pulled his paw away. He jumped to his feet and looked at the girls, wagging his tail.

“I think he wants to play!” said Maya.

“Good idea, Bailey,” said Kat. “Let's do it!”

For almost an hour, the girls ran and tumbled with the puppy. He chased them, and then they chased him.

Round and round they went. Every once in a while, Bailey flopped down on his tummy and rested.

“Bailey has two speeds: full speed and full stop!” Kat told Maya, laughing.

Other times, the roly-poly puppy would go so fast, he'd lose his balance. He'd do a somersault, head over tail.

Finally, it was the girls' turn to catch their breath. Bailey bowed to them with both front paws out in front. It was as if he were saying, “Come on. Just try and get me!”

“We're taking a break, Bailey!” said Kat.

“Yeah, you're wearing us out!” Maya panted.

Bailey turned and sniffed the other empty crates. Then he found his big basket of toys. With a giant leap, he scrabbled over the side of the basket. He fell right into the jumble of rubber chew toys and cloth tug ropes. He twisted and turned until he was sitting again.

“Bailey, you're so cute!” Kat laughed.

Bailey grabbed a chew toy between his teeth. He shook it hard from side to side, his ears flying in all directions. Then he lost his balance and toppled over onto the toys again.

Maya giggled. “Oh, Kat, I wish I'd brought my camera! Oh, we could add Bailey's photo to our Puppy Collection!”

“Next time, for sure,” agreed Kat.

“Kat, do you really think there will be a next time? Do you think your aunt will let us come and play with Bailey again tomorrow?” asked Maya wistfully.

“I sure hope so,” said Kat. “Especially if we do a good job keeping Bailey happy today. We'll prove to her that she can trust us and we can keep Bailey safe.”

Just then Bailey leaped up. His ears swiveled here and there as he looked over the side of the basket. He waded through his toys to the side of the basket, attempting to climb over the side, when suddenly the whole basket tipped over. Everything tumbled out—all the toys and the puppy too!

“Oh, Bailey!” Kat cried in alarm. But the little yellow Lab picked himself up and gave an enormous shake. The girls both crouched down and clapped their hands.

“Good boy, Bailey!” they cried. “Here, boy!”

At once, Bailey's ears perked up and his eyes brightened. He galloped toward the girls at full puppy speed.

“Whoa, Bailey, slow down!” warned Kat. But Bailey came barreling toward them, and when he reached the girls, he couldn't stop. He tried, but his little legs went here and there. Bailey skidded into Kat, who fell back on her bum with a thump, knocking over Maya as well. Girls and puppy were tangled together in a heap.

Just then the door to the doggy day care opened.

“Aunt Jenn,” cried Kat, her heart sinking. There was her aunt, frowning, her hands on her hips.

“Girls?” Aunt Jenn raised an eyebrow.

Kat and Maya jumped to their feet. Kat reached down and scooped up Bailey. “We're fine. Bailey's fine,” Kat said quickly. “We were just playing. Everything's fine.”

“Totally fine,” Maya added.

Bailey gave a little happy puppy bark. He squirmed and licked Kat's hands. “See?” Kat said. “Bailey's fine.”

Aunt Jenn's face cleared. She grinned. “Okay, that's good. I just thought I'd come and say thanks. It's probably time for Bailey to nap again. I'm sure you've tired him out! He'll be fine now until I close up and can spend the evening with him.”

Kat nodded, hugging the sweet puppy close to her. Aunt Jenn wasn't angry. She wasn't worried about Bailey.

Carefully, Kat and Maya put Bailey back in his crate.

“Bye, little guy,” Kat told him, giving him a last rub on the head.

“Have a good little sleep,” said Maya. She kissed the palm of her hand and then placed the kiss onto the puppy's head.

“Thanks, girls,” said Aunt Jenn. “It looks like you did a great job looking after Bailey today.”

Kat and Maya held their breath. They didn't want to ask. They didn't dare hope. But they couldn't say good-bye until they knew.

“So,” continued Aunt Jenn, “do you think you two could come again tomorrow and maybe Thursday afternoon as well? Bailey's owner won't be back until Thursday night. I'm sure Bailey would like some playmates, especially if I'm as busy tomorrow as I've been yesterday and today.”

“We'd love to,” said Kat. “Right, Maya?”

“You bet,” agreed Maya with a huge smile on her face.

• • •

On Wednesday, the girls hurried toward Tails Up! right after school.

Kat complained to Maya as they walked. “Megan and Cora stood behind me in the line after recess. Then they started making little kissy noises as we walked back into class,” said Kat. “When I turned around, they looked all innocent and said, ‘Oh, Kat, were you looking for Owen?' They are so annoying. Can't they think of anything better to do than bug me?”

Maya shook her head. “I told you. Revenge. An eye for an eye. If they do something mean to you, do something mean back.”

Kat shrugged. “Yeah, maybe,” she said. And then all thoughts of school and Megan and Cora vanished as Kat turned onto Orchard Valley's main street. Tails Up! was in sight, and there was a little lonely puppy waiting for them.

Once again, the reception area was crowded with customers and their dogs. Kat was pleased. Aunt Jenn's business was doing so well!

The girls made a beeline to the doggy day care room.

“It's us, your buddies!” Kat called out to Bailey as they hurried toward his crate. She saw the puppy jump to his feet and wiggle. He gave little excited puppy woofs, asking to come out and play.

“I think Bailey recognizes us,” cried Maya.

Kat lifted up the puppy and gave him the first hug. Then she passed him over to Maya, who covered his head in little kisses.

As soon as Maya set Bailey down, the retriever puppy went off to explore the room again, sniffing here and there, his tail high. After a while, the girls sat on the floor and rolled Bailey's ball back and forth between them. Bailey raced after it excitedly. The ball was too big for him to hold in his mouth, but he pounced on it like a kitten, and sometimes he managed to trap it between his big puppy paws. The girls laughed while he wrestled with it.

The golden-yellow puppy had tons of energy, but Kat and Maya were careful to make sure he didn't get into any mischief. He even used his newspaper properly!

Dinnertime came quickly. It was time to put Bailey back in his crate.

Kat picked him up and snuggled him in her arms, enjoying his puppy smell. The girls stood in the sunshine, looking out the window at the backyard.

The yard was large and surrounded by a chain-link fence. There was a smaller fenced area along one side, something like a doggy “playpen.” There were also some bushes and trees running down two sides of the fence for shade.

Kat pointed at a small children's wading pool propped up against the fence. “I bet Aunt Jenn is going to fill that with water for her boarders one day,” she said.

Reluctantly, the girls said good-bye to Bailey. Kat gave the weary puppy a final kiss on the head, and Maya tugged gently on his ears. “We'll see you again tomorrow, little guy,” Maya said.

“Don't worry; we'll be back,” Kat said, putting him back in the crate.

“Maybe we should take Bailey outside tomorrow,” Maya suggested as the girls headed home. “I bet he'd love playing on the grass.”

“He would,” Kat agreed. “And imagine how much fun he'd have splashing around in the pool.”

“Well then, let's do it,” Maya said. “Let's take him in the back tomorrow.”

Kat shook her head. “Aunt Jenn said we had to stay inside with him, remember?”

“Well, at least let's think about it, okay?” she suggested. “It would be for Bailey, after all. His last afternoon with us.”