The Powder Puff Puzzle (2 page)

“D
AWN
B
OSCO,” A VOICE
called. “Wait a minute.”

Dawn stopped. She turned around.

Stacy Arrow was running down the street. Her feet were bare. She was running on her tiptoes. “My father says come back,” Stacy yelled.

Dawn blinked hard. “All right.”

They started back.

They had to go slowly.

“Ouch, my poor feet,” Stacy kept saying.

Mr. Arrow was waiting for them. He had a pile of big papers.

He had a bunch of crayons.

He smiled when he saw Dawn. “I have an idea.”

“To find my cat?” Dawn asked.

“It might help,” said Mr. Arrow. “I’m not sure.”

He called Emily out of the pool. “Dry off,” he said. “We need everyone.”

Stacy shook herself. “I’m drying off too.” They sat down at the table: Dawn and Stacy, Jason and Alex, Emily and Mr. Arrow.

“We’ll make signs,” said Mr. Arrow. “We’ll let everyone know. Someone may have seen Powder Puff.”

“Good,” said Stacy. “I’ll write my name.”

Mr. Arrow shook his head. “We’re going to write Powder Puff’s name.”

Stacy frowned. “I don’t know how to write Powder Puff. You forgot. I didn’t start school yet.”

Emily looked as if she were going to laugh. She didn’t though. “Just make a cat. I’ll write the words.”

Everyone drew a picture of Powder Puff.

Dawn drew a fat Powder Puff.

He had one white ear.

He had a white tip on his tail.

Emily drew a skinny Powder Puff.

Jason drew a long one.

Mr. Arrow watched. “Terrific,” he told Dawn.

“Mine’s terrific too,” said Stacy.

Mr. Arrow nodded. “Now,” he said. “Write LOST on top.”

Jason wrote a red LOST.

Alex wrote a yellow LOST.

Stacy wrote a blue LSTO.

They wrote Dawn’s name underneath.

They wrote her address too.

Mr. Arrow helped Stacy with hers.

Then he stood up. “Now put these signs all over the place.”

Dawn piled the signs up. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll bet we’ll find him now.”

“Hey,” said Jason. “What time is it?”

Mr. Arrow looked at his watch. “Lunchtime.”

Dawn put the signs under her arm. “I’ve got to hurry. Noni will be looking for me.”

She started down the driveway.

“Wait,” yelled Emily Arrow.

She rushed after Dawn.

She had a pack of thumbtacks.

“Thanks,” Dawn said again.

She started down the street.

“Come for a swim,” Emily called. “Come when you find Powder Puff.”

Dawn waved back with one hand. “Don’t worry. I will. I’m dying of the heat.”

She stopped at the corner.

She tacked Jason’s sign to a pole.

On the next street she put another sign.

She kept going. She passed the house with the ladder. She stepped around it.

By the time she reached home, the signs were gone.

She stood there.

Suppose the lady with the mousetail didn’t live near here?

Suppose she didn’t see the signs?

Dawn would have to do something else to find Powder Puff.

But what?

D
AWN SAT AT THE
kitchen table. “I’m not hungry.”

Noni pinched her cheek. “Maybe the cat will find his way back.”

“Maybe he won’t,” Dawn said.

“Eat some egg salad,” said Noni. “Have a potato chip.”

“I can’t,” Dawn said.

Noni sighed. “You want to look like a skinny little toothpick?”

Dawn gave Noni a kiss.

She went outside.

Powder Puff wasn’t in the yard.

He wasn’t in the street.

Dawn sighed.

How could she find him?

Jason came along. He was dragging a stick on the ground.

“What’s that for?” Dawn asked.

Jason raised one shoulder. “It’s a sword.”

“Don’t poke anyone in the eye.”

“Uh-uh.” Jason dropped the stick. “I have nothing to do.”

“Help me find Powder Puff.”

Jason sat on the curb. “How?”

Dawn looked up in the air. “We could look for the car. The red car.”

“It’s hot,” Jason said. “Too hot to walk all over the place.”

Dawn looked worried. “Maybe Powder Puff is thirsty.”

“You’re right,” said Jason. “I’ll help.”

He grabbed his stick.

They started down the street.

Dawn looked back at the house. “I’m going for a walk,” she shouted.

Jason looked back. “I don’t think Noni heard you.”

Dawn raised one shoulder. “Just as long as I said where I’m going.”

Jason didn’t say anything. He rolled his eyes.

Dawn sighed. “Wait a minute.”

She raced back to the house. “Noni,” she yelled.

Noni stuck her head out the window.

“I’m going for a walk,” Dawn said. “Jason and me.”

“Don’t go far.”

Dawn shook her head. She ran back to Jason.

They started down the street again.

They turned the corner.

Four cars were parked on the next block.

Two black ones.

A green station wagon.

One red car.

“Is that it?” Jason asked.

Dawn shook her head. “The other one was a mess. A big mess.”

“Just like that house,” Jason said.

Dawn looked up.

It was the house with the ladder.

The ladder wasn’t on the sidewalk anymore. It was against the house. A gray, dirty house.

“I guess they’re going to paint,” Dawn said.

“Let’s try the next block,” Jason said. He pointed with his stick. “Forward march.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” He reached into his pocket. He pulled out two candy kisses.

“Too hot in my pocket,” he said. “They’re all soft. Want one?”

“Maybe.” Dawn held out one hand.

She pulled off the silver paper.

She popped the candy into her mouth.

“Gooey,” she said. She rubbed her hands together.

They were full of chocolate.

On the next street were nine cars.

Not one red one.

There were no red cars on the street after that either.

“I’m dying for a glass of water,” Dawn said.

“I’m dying for an ice cube,” Jason said. He waved his stick over his head. “Two ice cubes.”

He looked down the next block. “One ice cube for my mouth. The other one for the top of my head.”

They started down Stone Street.

“Hey,” Dawn said.

She stopped.

She pointed up at a white house. “Look.”

Jason stopped too.

“There in the window,” she said.

“A cat,” said Jason. “A black one.”

“Powder Puff,” Dawn yelled. The cat looked at them. He stood up on the windowsill.

He waved his long black tail. “Come on,” Dawn yelled. “Let’s get him.”

Jason shook his head. “Wait a minute.”

“No. Don’t wait,” Dawn said. “Hurry.”

She raced up the front path.

D
AWN RANG THE BELL.

Once. Twice.

Nobody answered.

The cat sat in the window. He looked at them. He meowed.

“Don’t worry, Powder Puff,” Dawn shouted. “We’ll save you.”

“We’ll get you a mess of potato chips,” Jason called.

“And some applesauce,” said Dawn.

She rang the bell again.

They banged on the door.

Still no one came.

They sat down on the steps.

They could hear Powder Puff meowing.

“This is terrible,” Dawn said.

“You’re right,” said Jason.

“Maybe we could walk around the back,” Dawn said.

Jason waved his stick around.

“I’ll take this just in case.”

“Just in case . . . what?”

“Just in case we see a kidnapper.”

They tiptoed down the driveway.

The yard was beautiful.

The grass was green.

“Look,” Dawn said. “A zillion flowers.”

Noni would love it.

A woman was kneeling on the grass. She was pulling out weeds.

She jumped when she saw them.

“We rang the bell,” Dawn said.

“We knocked at the door too,” said Jason.

The woman brushed her hair out of her eyes. She smiled at them. “Want to take a flower home?”

“Sure,” Dawn said, “I want to take my cat home too.”

The woman looked around. “I don’t see a cat.”

Dawn frowned. “It’s a black cat,” she said.

“It has a white ear,” said Jason. “It has a white tip on its tail.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said. “He’s not here.”

Dawn looked at Jason. “He doesn’t like strangers,” she said. “He likes to be in his own house.”

The woman pulled at a weed. It didn’t come up.

“He’d probably bite a stranger,” Jason said.

“He has very sharp teeth,” said Dawn.

“My,” said the woman. “He sounds tough.”

“Tough as a tiger,” Dawn said.

“Grrr,” said Jason.

The woman pulled at the weed again. She pulled hard.

The weed came up.

The woman nearly fell over.

“My cat,” said Dawn. “He’s in your house.”

“On your windowsill,” said Jason.

The woman stood up quickly. “Goodness,” she said. She brushed her hair out of her eyes again.

She started to run to the house. “Poor Blacky,” she said.

Dawn and Jason ran after her.

“No,” Dawn told her. “His name is Powder Puff.”

The woman stopped at the back door. She turned the knob. “I’m coming, Blacky,” she called.

She looked back at Dawn. “How did your cat get into my house?”

Dawn put one shoulder up. “He jumped into a car.”

“Somebody else was driving, though,” Jason said.

“I should hope so,” said the woman. She stepped into her kitchen. “Here, Blacky. Mommy’s here.”

Dawn stood on tiptoes.

She looked into the kitchen.

She watched the big black cat come down the hall.

He jumped into the woman’s arms.

“You’re safe now,” the woman told him.

She turned to Dawn and Jason. “Please get your cat off my windowsill. Get him out of here. I don’t want him to hurt Blackie.”

Dawn looked at the cat.

He was all black. Almost.

He had one white ear.

He didn’t have a white tip on his tail, though.

Dawn pointed. “I thought that was my cat.”

“I think I’d better sit down,” said the woman.

“I think we’ll look somewhere else,” said Dawn.

“Some detective you are,” said Jason.

J
ASON WAS RIGHT,
Dawn thought.

She was a terrible detective. Yucko.

She marched up to her bedroom.

It was hot up there.

Hot as an oven.

Powder Puff was stuck somewhere.

He was probably hot as an oven too.

Too bad cats didn’t swim. She’d take him to Emily Arrow’s pool when she found him.

No. She shook her head. She’d keep him home, just the way Noni said.

She lay down on the floor.

She looked under her bed.

It was dusty under there.

She was supposed to clean it.

She always forgot.

She pulled out a box.

It was a polka-dot box.

A Polka Dot Private Eye box.

She opened it up.