Lucky Dog Days (3 page)

The girls collected more belts and jewelry. They collected some dresses and shoes. They even got some baby clothes at one house. One man gave them two winter coats.

People liked to help pets. The girls filled the whole wagon. The brown bags were filled up too. The bags were heavy.

“Set them in the wagon on top of the coats,” said Tracy. “Then we can go to one more house.”

“We’ve got enough,” said Molly. “I’m hot. Let’s go home.”

Mary Beth wanted to go home too.

“Just one more house,” said Tracy, sniffling. “This big one here with the rose garden.”

The girls sighed. They followed Tracy up the walk to the door. On the door was a sign that said,
DELIVERIES USE BACK DOOR
.

“Is that us?” whispered Mary Beth.

“Not exactly,” said Tracy.

But the girls trudged around to the back. They rang the doorbell again and again.

Finally a man looked out the window.

He looked mean.

“We are collecting rummage,” shouted Tracy. “To help pets.”

“I don’t like pets,” said the man. “Go away.”

“What a crab,” muttered Molly. “A hex on that guy.”

“We don’t care,” said Mary Beth. “We’ve got piles of stuff. We’ll have more than anybody else.”

The girls walked past the rose garden.

They walked down the sidewalk to where they had left the red wagon.

Then they stopped.

“Rat’s knees!” said Molly. “Our wagon is gone!”

The Red Wagon

J
ust then a big car drove by.

A girl was leaning out the window. “Hey!” she called out, and waved.

It was Rachel. Her mother was driving the car. It was filled with rummage for the sale.

“Have you seen a red wagon filled with rummage?” asked Tracy.

Rachel shook her head. Her mother drove off.

“I’ll bet she took it,” said Tracy.

“She didn’t take it,” said Mary Beth. “She has enough stuff of her own.”

“It’s your fault,” grumbled Molly to Tracy. “You made us go to one more house.”

The girls looked behind bushes and trees.

They looked to see if the wagon had rolled down the hill.

“It’s gone,” said Tracy. Her nose was really running now.

Yuck, thought Molly. But it was sad that Tracy had lost her wagon.

“Let’s go tell Mrs. Peters what happened,” said Mary Beth.

The girls walked slowly toward their leader’s house.

They had no red wagon to pull.

They had no bags to carry.

They had no rummage to sell to help a pet.

When they got to Mrs. Peters’s house, Rachel’s car was in front. Rachel and her mother were carrying things into the garage for the sale.

“Hello!” called Mrs. Peters. “Did you come to help?”

Molly nodded. They could help sort the clothes. And put price tags on them.

“Why, just look at the carload of things that Rachel brought,” Mrs. Peters said.

Molly looked.

A hex on Rachel. She always had to have the most of everything.

Even rummage.

“My goodness! Just look at the big load of things the boys are bringing,”
called Mrs. Peters from the doorway.

“What hardworking Pee Wees you boys are!” she said.

Molly turned around to look.

In the doorway stood Roger and Sonny and Tim.

Right beside them was Tracy’s red wagon.

It was filled with coats and shoes and belts and jewelry!

How Much Is
That Doggy?

“O
ur diamonds!” shouted Tracy.

“Our belts and shoes and coats,” said Mary Beth.

“You stole our rummage!” shouted Molly.

She wanted to go over and grab the diamonds out of Roger’s hand.

She wanted to hit him. Smack, smack, smack!

She could too. She was strong.

But she didn’t want to start a fistfight in Mrs. Peters’s garage.

“This is our rummage,” said Tim. “We found it sitting right on the sidewalk.”

“It belongs to us!” shouted Tracy. “That’s my wagon! And those are our diamonds.”

“Prove it,” said Roger. “I don’t see your name on it.”

All three girls talked at once. They told Mrs. Peters how they came out of the mean man’s yard and found their wagon was gone.

“Nobody was near it,” muttered Sonny. “How did we know it was yours?”

Tracy grabbed her red wagon back. She stuck her tongue out at the boys.

“The main thing is,” said Mrs. Peters brightly, “that this rummage will help the homeless pets. No matter whose it is!”

But it
did
matter, thought Molly.

We worked hard to get that rummage!

Harder than Rachel.

Much, much harder than Roger, Tim, and Sonny.

The girls grumbled as they unloaded the wagon.

“What price should we put on the diamonds?” asked Mary Beth.

“We won’t put a price on them,” said Mrs. Peters. “We will sell them to the highest bidder. That way your necklace will bring in a lot of money for the shelter. It may not be made of real diamonds, but it is very pretty.”

On the day of the sale, everyone was there.

All the Pee Wees.

All the parents.

All the neighbors.

HELP A PET
, said a banner stretched across the top of the garage.

Tiny welcomed all the buyers with loud barks.

A sign in front of Mrs. Peters’s house said,
PEE WEE SCOUT SALE HERE TODAY! HELP A PET
.

“Is he for sale?” asked one lady, pointing to Tiny.

“Oh, no,” said Mrs. Peters. “He’s my dog.”

Molly had an idea! She leaned over and whispered into Mrs. Peters’s ear.

Mrs. Peters grinned. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Molly,” she said.

Then Mrs. Peters and Molly got into her car.

“We’ll be right back,” they called.

They drove to the animal shelter.

When they returned, Miss Penn was in the car. So were six cages, with a dog in each one!

“Kevin,” called Mrs. Peters. “Could you boys help us with these?”

Roger and Sonny grabbed one cage.

Kevin and Tim grabbed another.

They lined them up in front of the garage.

“It looks like this is the animal shelter!” yelled Roger.

“Or a pet shop,” said Sonny.

The people who came to buy rummage had to walk past the cages first.

“A dog sale to help dogs!” said Tim.

“It was Molly’s idea,” said Mrs. Peters.

“A super idea,” Miss Penn agreed.

“We can find some good homes for the dogs and earn money for the shelter at the same time,” Roger said.

A Thousand
Dollars for
the Dogs

B
y noon, all the dogs were sold except one.

“They are going like hotcakes,” said Miss Penn. “I’ll go back and get some more. And I’ll bring a cat or two.”

“That was really smart,” said Mary Beth to Molly. “How did you ever think of that?”

“When the lady wanted to buy Tiny,” Molly explained. “She gave me the idea that we could sell dogs.”

“Dogs make good rummage,” said Mrs. Peters, smiling. “Molly is our Pee Wee hero today.”

“I could have thought of that,” said Rachel. “It’s not so great.”

“You’re just jealous,” said Tracy.