Muttley (4 page)

“I can’t believe I got all of you out here in the middle of the night for a pot of chili,” Dad said to Chief Olson.

Lizzie looked at the chief just in time to see him hide a smile. Was he going to make fun of Dad? Lizzie knew how it could be down at the fire-house. The firefighters teased one another all the time. But the chief just shook his head. “Next time try not to overcook it” was all he said. Then his face turned serious. “It could have turned into something much worse. You did the right thing to call us.”

“That’s right,” said Meg. “What woke you up, anyway? I didn’t hear an alarm in there. I guess there wasn’t enough smoke yet to set one off.”

Lizzie looked at Muttley. Then she looked at Dad. Dad had been right about this dog all along. Muttley really was a little smartie. She knelt down to hug him. “He saved us.” She kissed his nose. “Muttley barked and licked my face and woke me up.”

The chief raised his eyebrows. “Did he, now?”

Meg smiled at Muttley and got down on her knees to pet him. “What a good boy,” she said. Muttley stretched and yawned.

Is it almost time to go back to bed?

Meg laughed. “This must be the foster puppy you’ve been telling us about. Sleepy, but smart, too. You sure were right about him.”

Dad nodded. Everybody else gathered around Muttley and started to pet him. One of the EMTs from Springfield looked up at Dad.

“A foster dog?” he asked as he let Muttley lick his face. “You mean you’re looking for a home for
this guy? My kid’s been begging for a dog. Maybe it’s time to cave in.”

“Nice work, pup,” said one of the other firefighters.

“He’s a hero,” said Meg.

Another firefighter smiled down at Muttley. “Do they have any more like him down at the shelter?” he asked. “Maybe I should go check those dogs out.”

Lizzie slept late the next day — the whole family did — but she headed over to Caring Paws as soon as she woke up. She could hardly wait to tell Ms. Dobbins about all the excitement in the middle of the night.

“One of the guys was acting as if he might adopt Muttley,” Lizzie reported as she finished the story. That was great — but she hoped that somehow she could convince Jimmy’s mother to adopt him first. Muttley and Jimmy belonged together, and there were plenty of other dogs at Caring
Paws for the EMT guy to adopt. “And another guy said that if we had any more like Muttley down here, he would come check them out.”

Ms. Dobbins wiped away a tear. She could be very emotional about animals. “Every single dog at this shelter has the potential to be a hero,” she said. “Whether that means saving a family from a house fire, or just loving someone who needs love. All these dogs ask for is a home.”

Lizzie felt tears spring to her own eyes. “Everybody needs to hear about what Muttley did,” she said. “Maybe people would come to the shelter if they knew what great dogs we have here, and maybe more dogs would get adopted.”

“Exactly.” Ms. Dobbins nodded enthusiastically. “We need to spread the word. It’s called publicity, and we are long overdue for some good publicity about the shelter.”

“We could have an award ceremony for Muttley, like on the steps of the town hall.” Lizzie remembered the ceremony last summer
for a firefighter named Joey. Joey had rescued some boaters whose canoe had turned over, dumping them into the lake. “Chief Olson could give him a certificate.”

Lizzie could see it all now. When Jimmy’s mom heard about Muttley’s heroic act, she would forget all about not being a dog person and decide to adopt him. Jimmy would get the dog he’d always wanted, and Muttley would be gone by the time Lizzie’s mom came home. That EMT guy, and all the other people who had been inspired by the ceremony, would come down to the shelter and adopt the rest of the dogs who needed homes. Everything was going to work out perfectly. “I bet we could do it tomorrow,” she finished.

Ms. Dobbins looked surprised.

Oops.
“Am I being too bossy?” Lizzie asked.

Ms. Dobbins waved a hand. “Bossy or not, it’s a great idea,” she said. “And not the first great idea you’ve had, either.” She smiled at Lizzie. “I’ll call the chief now. But we’ll need an article in
tomorrow morning’s newspaper to let people know about it. Could your mom write something? She’s great with stories like this one. She always makes me cry when she writes about animals.”

“My mom’s still away,” Lizzie reminded Ms. Dobbins.

Ms. Dobbins looked at Lizzie. “What if you wrote it?” she asked. “After all, you were there. You were a witness. I’m sure you could write that story.”

“Me?” Lizzie asked.

“I’m going to call Mr. Baker right now,” said Ms. Dobbins. “He loves stories like this. And he’ll love the idea of you writing it.”

Lizzie knew who Mr. Baker was. He was her mom’s boss, the editor of the
Littleton News.
She felt her heart thump-thump. Could she really do it?

“I ordered pizza,” Dad told Lizzie when he came to get her at the shelter later that day.
“We can swing by and pick it up right now if you want.”

“Sure.” Lizzie wasn’t really listening. She stared out the window of the car, trying to figure out the first sentence of her newspaper story. Mom always said that the first sentence, which she called the lead, had to draw the reader in. Should it begin with the facts?
Muttley, a mixed-breed puppy from the Caring Paws animal shelter, barked loudly to wake the Peterson family when some chili began to burn in their kitchen. . . .
Or maybe it should be more dramatic:
Four people‘s lives were saved when Muttley, a heroic foster puppy from the Caring Paws animal shelter, woke them from a deep slumber and herded them out of their burning home. . . .

“Lizzie?” Dad stopped at a stoplight and peered at her. “Did you hear me? I said we can have pizza for supper.” He waved a hand in front of her face. “I thought you’d be thrilled, after all that chili.”

“Pizza sounds great.” Lizzie smiled at her dad, but she was still thinking about her article. At home, she gobbled down two slices before she asked to be excused. Then she headed upstairs and turned on the computer. Mr. Baker had promised Ms. Dobbins that if Lizzie e-mailed him her story by eight o’clock, he would get it into the next morning’s paper. What a great surprise it would be for her family if the article was in the paper when they woke up.

Lizzie worked hard on her article — really hard. Muttley snoozed at her feet as she wrote and rewrote, struggling to get all the facts into a short but exciting story. When she finished, she read it over one more time before she sent it. It wasn’t bad.

“Maybe I am too bossy sometimes,” she said to Muttley. “But there are some good things about me, too. I know a lot, like Maria said. And I’m not afraid to say what I think, like Dad said. I’m kind and loving, like Mom said. And Ms.
Dobbins was right. Sometimes I have great ideas.” She lay down next to the sleepy pup. “I’m a mix, just like you.”

Muttley squirmed closer to her, sighed contentedly, and licked her cheek.

I love you just the way you are.

“I love you, too, Muttley,” said Lizzie. “And I hope my article convinces Jimmy’s mom that you are a very special dog.”

Later that night, Lizzie was sound asleep when she heard Muttley barking. “Oh, no.” She sat up in her bed. “Not again.”

“Nope,” she heard her mother say. “It’s just me.” And then Lizzie saw her standing in the doorway.

“Mom!” Lizzie jumped out of bed and ran to hug her mother. “You came home early!”

Mom laughed and squeezed Lizzie tight. “I drove all day. Your aunt Julie is feeling much better,
and when I heard about all the excitement here, I couldn’t stand to be away from all of you for another minute,” she said softly. “Now, go back to bed before your brothers wake up. It’s very late. I’ll see you in the morning.” She kissed the top of Lizzie’s head.

Lizzie went back to her bed to lie down, certain that she was too wound up to sleep. But Muttley padded in and curled in a ball at the bottom of her bed, and his soft sleepy snores were like a lullaby.

“‘Local shelter mutt is purebred hero.’” Mom read the headline aloud. “What’s this?” She took a closer look at the article. “By special reporter Lizzie Peterson.” She leaned back in her seat and beamed at Lizzie. “Well!”

“What?” asked Charles. “You wrote an article?”

Lizzie nodded. “It’s about what Muttley did,” she said. She had woken up early that morning and tiptoed out to the driveway to get the paper, her heart racing with excitement. She’d read the article five times before she folded the paper and set it at her mom’s place at the kitchen table.

“Yay, Muttley!” The Bean waved his toast, dripping jelly onto the floor. Buddy and Muttley raced to lick it up.

Everybody was in a great mood. It was wonderful to have Mom back home. Charles kept jumping up from his seat to hug her, and the Bean would not get out of her lap, and Dad refilled her coffee cup every time she took a sip. It made Lizzie happy to look across the table and see Mom there. She beamed at her mother. Even without the newspaper article, this would have been a perfect, perfect morning.

Mom was still staring at the newspaper. “This is amazing, sweetie. How did you talk Mr. Baker into it?”

Lizzie shrugged. “Ms. Dobbins did the convincing,” she said.

Mom started to read out loud. “‘Muttley, a mixed-breed puppy from the Caring Paws animal shelter, became a hero when he smelled smoke in the middle of the night. The scrappy pup raced upstairs, barking, when a pot of chili left on the stove began to burn.’” Mom lowered the paper and smiled over it at Lizzie. “Excellent lead, Lizzie,” she said.

Lizzie grinned. “Keep reading, keep reading!” she said.

Mom read through the article to the end. “‘Muttley will be honored at a special ceremony on Sunday at eleven-thirty a.m. on the steps of the town hall,’” she read. “‘The public is invited to attend.’”

Dad checked his watch. “Eleven-thirty?” he asked. “We’d better get a move on if we want to get the guest of honor there on time.” He got up and started to clear the table.

Muttley snoozed on the floor near Mom’s chair. She reached down to ruffle his floppy ears. “What a good puppy,” she said. “What a hero.”

Muttley licked her hand sleepily.

Me? A hero? Well, if you say so.

“So you’re not mad that we haven’t found him a home yet?” Lizzie asked.

“Are you kidding?” Mom said. “He saved your
lives. I love this puppy. This puppy deserves a medal!”

“I bet Muttley will have a forever home by the end of the day,” said Dad. “When people hear about what he did, they’ll be lining up to adopt him.”

Lizzie hoped that Jimmy’s mom would be first in line. “And some of the other dogs at Caring Paws might find forever homes, too” — Lizzie held up her crossed fingers — “once some of that publicity starts to work.”

Everybody bustled around, getting ready to go. At the last minute, the phone rang. Dad picked it up. “Hello?” he said. A moment later, he waved to Mom. “You go ahead,” he said. “I’ll follow you in the other car.” Then he went back to the phone call.

When the rest of the Petersons and Muttley arrived at the town hall, a small crowd had already begun to gather. Ms. Dobbins was there, handing out flyers about some of the other dogs available for adoption at Caring Paws. Lizzie waved at her.
Then she spotted Jimmy. His mom stood behind him, hands on his shoulders. Lizzie ran over to say hello.

“I made something for Muttley,” Jimmy said. He dug in his jacket pocket and pulled out a medal on a wide red ribbon. It was made out of cardboard covered with tinfoil. “HERO,” it said in big letters across the front.

“Wow,” Lizzie said. “My mom just said that Muttley deserves a medal, but I never thought of making one. That’s cool.”

Jimmy knelt down to put the medal around Muttley’s neck. Then he gave Muttley a long hug and a kiss on the nose. Lizzie felt a lump in her throat as she watched Jimmy whisper into Muttley’s ear. Muttley’s tail swished back and forth as he licked Jimmy’s cheek. How could Jimmy’s mom resist when she saw how much Jimmy and Muttley loved each other? Maybe by the time the ceremony was over, she would decide to adopt Muttley.

“Hey, Lizzie,” someone said, and Lizzie turned to see Daphne and Brianna. “That was a pretty cool article in the paper,” said Daphne.

Lizzie could tell it wasn’t easy for Daphne to give compliments. “Thanks,” she said. Now maybe it was time to for her to give Daphne a compliment. After all, even if she was a pain, she had been really good with the animals at Caring Paws. Daphne was a mix, too. “Who knows?” Lizzie said. “If we didn’t have Muttley, maybe our house would have burned down. And it was your idea that we should foster him. So I guess we owe you a big thank-you.”

Daphne smiled. “By the way, I might be able to come to Caring Paws this week,” she said.

“Me, too,” said Brianna. “Do you think Ms. Dobbins will still need us?”

“Definitely,” said Lizzie. “I know she’d be really happy to have you back.”

Daphne and Brianna knelt to give Muttley
some hugs, and Lizzie and Jimmy smiled at each other.

Then Chief Olson walked to the microphone at the top of the steps and waved at the crowd for attention. “Welcome, everybody,” he said. “Thank you for coming down to honor a hometown hero.” He held up a certificate. “I’d like to present this award to Muttley, a brave and caring temporary member of the Peterson family.” Chief Olson told the story of how Muttley had smelled smoke and woken everyone up before things could get serious. Then he beckoned to Lizzie. “Lizzie, would you bring Muttley on up?”

Lizzie looked down at Muttley, who was draped over one of her sneakers, settled in for a short nap. “Psst, Muttley,” she said. “Wake up! It’s time for your award.” Muttley stretched out all four legs and groaned.

Do I have to?

Then Muttley rose to his feet and let Lizzie lead him up the stairs. His medal glinted in the sun as he sat next to Chief Olson. A photographer stepped forward and took pictures as Chief Olson handed the certificate to Lizzie. As she took it, she began to cry a little and had to wipe her eyes with her other hand. She was so proud of Muttley.

“Thank you,” she said as the crowd applauded. She caught Ms. Dobbins’s eye and added, “And don’t forget: there are lots of other great dogs at Caring Paws, and they’re all looking for homes.” Lizzie bent to show the certificate to Muttley.

When she straightened, she saw Dad making his way up the stairs, along with a man who looked familiar to Lizzie. “We have an announcement to add.” Dad leaned over to speak into the microphone. “This is Mark, who met Muttley the night he became a hero. Mark is an EMT from Springfield. He called me this morning to
say that he’s decided to adopt Muttley and give him a great forever home.”

That’s where Lizzie knew him from! It was the EMT guy who had said he might adopt Muttley. And now he had been the first to speak up — before Jimmy’s mother had the chance to change her mind and adopt Muttley. Lizzie felt her stomach sink. She turned to find Jimmy’s face in the crowd. She could hardly stand to look. He must be disappointed. But there was Jimmy, grinning as he galloped up the steps two at a time. “Dad!” he said. “Really? You mean it?” He threw his arms around Mark.

Lizzie’s head was spinning. Her own dad came over to put his arm around her. “Isn’t it great?” he whispered. “It turns out that Mark is Jimmy’s dad. The guys on his crew want Muttley to be their firehouse mascot. Mark called just before we left to say that he had made up his mind, and I was so happy to tell him how much Muttley and Jimmy already love each other.”

“Can you believe it, Lizzie?” Now Jimmy was on his knees with his arms around Muttley. “Muttley’s going to be my very own dog.”

Once again, Lizzie had to wipe her eyes. There was no question in her mind: Muttley had found the perfect forever home.