Piper Morgan to the Rescue Read online

  She stopped talking and looked at me. Her eyes squinched a little. She was thinking.

  “We can do it!” the woman said. “Come on over. We’ll see you at ten.”

  I looked from Miss Pamela to Mom. Something good was going to happen. I could tell.

  As it turned out, I wouldn’t be hearing that right away. Miss Pamela and Mom stood behind the counter whispering to each other. For a long time. I wanted to know what they were saying, but they were whispering, so I couldn’t hear.

  “Piper, would you like to help out today?” Miss Pamela asked.

  I’d forgotten about the way she always talked to me like I was a puppy, in that high-pitched, silly voice. But I decided not to worry about that because she was about to give me a super-awesome assignment.

  “We have a big group coming here today,” Miss Pamela continued. “We promised them a while back that if they’d come look at some of our animals, we wouldn’t charge the fee.”

  “Miss Pamela needs for you to help show them around,” Mom said. “But you need to make sure you show them all the dogs. No saving the cute ones for yourself.”

  Miss Pamela looked at my mom. “Do you guys want a dog? Because I could—”

  “Thank you, but not right now,” Mom interrupted. “Maybe in a little while.”

  I wanted to say, Yes-yes-yes! But my mom would give a big frowny face at that. It would be one of those Young lady, I told you not to do this faces, even though saying yes to a dog wasn’t against the rules.

  Begging for a dog was, though.

  I was still frowning over that thought when I realized I wasn’t in my chair anymore. I’d walked to the counter to talk to Miss Pamela. Mom had told me to stay in that chair.

  I went back over and sat down, trying to be as quiet as I could be. I’d do this until Miss Pamela told me what she wanted me to do next. Miss Pamela got really busy. The phone was ringing and people were coming in, and she and Mom were gone in the back for a super-long time. I sat there, staring out the window and bouncing up and down in my chair, until finally a big pink bus that read BIG RIVER BAPTIST CHURCH pulled up. It wasn’t as big as my school bus, but it still looked big.

  When the bus door opened, I wanted to jump out of my chair. All of a sudden, people were pouring out of that bus. There were more people coming out of there than seats in the bus, I was pretty sure.

  Then they were coming in the front door. And there was nobody at the front desk. It was just me in the corner.

  I went to the door where the puppies were and opened it. I was yelling, “Miss Pamela,” when I saw her standing right there. But she had lots of people around her.

  “Is everything okay?” Miss Pamela asked.

  “Yes, but the people are here,” I said. I pointed at the big crowd of people.

  “Oh goodness.”

  She looked around, but there were puppies everywhere. My mom was way down the hall, talking to a couple who were holding two puppies. She looked kind of busy too.

  “Could you let them know I’ll be right with them?” Miss Pamela asked. “Thank you, dear.”

  I went back outside, feeling all excited. I got to be a real worker.

  Instead of going to the lobby, I went behind the counter. That was what a real worker would do. I climbed up on the counter and stood, facing the group of people on the other side of it.

  “Listen up!” I shouted, because there was lots and lots of talking. They wouldn’t have heard me if I didn’t yell. “I’m Piper Morgan.”

  They all looked at me. They were all grown-ups and one little girl. She was standing in front of an older man.

  “I’m Shelby Sheridan,” she said.

  I smiled at her. She didn’t smile back. Sometimes it took a little while for people to become friends. I learned that when I was in the circus and when I was the helper bee at the school.

  “It’ll be just a minute,” I said. Then I started to jump down. I was going to go talk to Shelby to see if we could be friends.

  “Can I ask a question?” a lady near the front asked.

  I was already thinking about a way to jump down, but her question surprised me. I didn’t know any answers, but I liked this. It felt like I was a real employee.

  “Do you have any little dogs?” she asked.

  I smiled. “Lots of them,” I said. “There are Chihuahuas and terriers and something called a minpin.”

  I still didn’t know what a minpin was, but I liked the way the name rhymed. Plus, she was a cute little dog. She wasn’t my favorite dog, though. My favorite dog was Taffy.

  “Are any of them puppies?” someone else asked.

  The questions went on and on. And the coolest part was that I knew a lot of the answers. I knew them from seeing the dogs at the park and listening to Mom talk. By the time Miss Pamela came out, I think I sounded like a real expert.

  “Thank you, Piper,” Miss Pamela said. She sounded really, truly impressed. “Piper is our little helper today. She’ll take you back to where all the cages are while I help this lovely couple with their new friend.”

  I looked over, sure that “lovely couple” would be holding one of the little dogs I loved. Instead they had one of the cute little kittens. I let out the breath I’d been holding, then hopped down from the counter to show all my new friends where the cutest pets in the world were.

  Fur Fact #5

  Little dogs are cute and fun, but big dogs are the most popular. Retrievers are the most popular dogs and they’re sixty-five pounds or more! German shepherds are really popular too, and they can be seventy-five pounds or more.

  Why are these dogs so loved? Because they’re sweet and they behave.

  But small dogs are great too. Beagles and Yorkshire terriers are the most popular small dogs, followed by boxers and dachshunds.

  All puppies are little when they’re born. But some people can say you can tell how big a dog will get by looking at its paws. If a little puppy has big paws, watch out!

  CHAPTER

  6

  I really was a helper for Miss Pamela. It was awesome.

  The church brought bunches of people and they all followed me into the room where the pets were. Mom was still in the back—now they were looking at cats. A couple of people headed back to the cats, but most stayed with me.

  “Here they are,” I said, waving my hand in the air dramatically. I learned that while working in the circus. You waved when you were showing things off.

  “They’re so cu-u-ute!” one of the women exclaimed. She was looking at one of the poodles. I breathed a big sigh of relief. My favorite dog, Taffy, was the Yorkie—that’s short for Yorkshire terrier, by the way.

  “Those ones are the best!” I gushed. Then I opened the door to the cage to show them.

  “Can I see this one?” one of the other women asked. She was pointing to the one with bigger dogs in it.

  I looked at the woman with the poodles. She seemed to have it all under control. I opened the other cage.

  Then someone else wanted a cage opened.

  I looked at the door. Where was Miss Pamela? I needed her. Everyone wanted to see puppies and some of the cats at once, and there was only one me. Plus, how could I guard my favorite doggy’s cage if I was helping everyone?

  I was helping with a golden retriever’s cage when I saw—oh no!—that girl Shelby was standing in front of my Yorkie’s cage. I whipped open the cage for the retriever people, then rushed over to her.

  “Can I see this one?” she asked.

  “You don’t want to see her,” I said.

  Shelby frowned, looking inside the cage again. “Why not?” she asked.

  “She pees everywhere,” I said quickly. “Floors, countertops, her cage . . .”

  I knew that because Mom had complained about it last night. I thought it was cute, but Mom said that was why we could never have her as a dog. I was hoping she’d change her mind.

  “So?” Shelby said. “I want to see her. I want to hold her. I want to see her
NOW!”

  People had stopped playing with their dogs and were now staring at us. We were making a scene.

  “Okay,” I said, mostly because I had no other choice. “But don’t be mad at me if she pees on you.”

  I opened the cage and pulled Taffy out. I pulled her to my chest and held her for a long, long time. I’d only held her once before—when I stopped by here with Mom after day care so she could pick something up. Then my mom wouldn’t let me hold her long because we “didn’t have time for that.”

  Now I didn’t have time either. Shelby was reaching for Taffy, and if I didn’t let her go, she might hurt her.

  “Not like that,” I said. “You have to support her bottom, too.”

  Shelby looked annoyed, but she was holding Taffy by her front legs and it was all awkward and stuff. I put my own left hand on Taffy’s bottom to push her closer to Shelby’s chest.

  “I know how to hold a dog,” Shelby snapped.

  I was going to argue with her more, but then I remembered I wanted to be Shelby’s friend. It had been a long time since I’d had a really good friend. All the other kids at Mrs. Dorris’s house were practically babies. I wanted to hang around someone my own age.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I stepped back. “Her name’s Taffy. She’s my favorite.”

  The girl looked at me, and this time she didn’t have the mean look on her face that she had before. She actually smiled at me. “She is really cute,” she said.

  “What do you have there?” the old man who had been standing behind Shelby in the lobby asked. He’d squeezed through the crowd until he was standing beside Shelby.

  “Her name is Taffy,” the girl said. “She’s mine.”

  “She pees a lot,” I said.

  I wasn’t sure where that came from. When she said, “She’s mine,” though, my chest had gotten all squeeze-y and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wanted Taffy to come home with me.

  “Ewww!” Shelby suddenly squealed. She pulled Taffy way away from her and I thought she was going to drop her. I reached out to hold the puppy just in case.

  “Oh my,” the old man said with a chuckle. And then I saw it. A yellow spot on Shelby’s perfectly white T-shirt. Uh-oh.

  “I told you,” I said.

  “She tinkled on me!” Shelby said very loudly. People were staring again.

  “I’ll take her,” I said. This was the not-so-fun part of the job—cleaning up after the animals. They weren’t as cute when they made a mess!

  “That’s okay,” the old man said. “We’ll find a different dog. What about this little one over here?”

  Yay! She didn’t want Taffy after all. This was the best thing to ever happen to anyone ever.

  “Okay, everyone,” Miss Pamela called out from the doorway before I could show Shelby and the man more dogs. “If any of you are ready, please bring your new pets to the front counter so we can fill out the papers.”

  Only a few people had pets. The rest of the animals were back in their cages. I followed Shelby and the old man toward the lobby.

  “Grandpop, can I please, please, please have Taffy?” Shelby begged. “I’ll make sure she won’t make a mess, I promise.”

  “We’ll see,” he said.

  “But what if someone else buys her?” Shelby asked.

  Suddenly, she turned to look at me. I was still holding Taffy and hoping nobody would notice. Maybe I could even take her home with me. Mom would see how cute she was and want to keep her forever and ever.

  “Can you please make sure nobody buys Taffy?” Shelby asked. “Please? I’ll be your best friend forever.”

  I nodded. Who can say no to a best friend forever? Plus, it was easy to promise I would never let anyone else buy Taffy. No way would that happen . . . because she would be mine.

  Fur Fact #6

  Dogs are like humans . . . only different. Here are a few ways dogs are different from us:

  #1 Dogs sweat through their paws and sometimes their noses.

  #2 A dog’s whiskers can sense even the smallest change in air direction.

  #3 When dogs drink water, they bend their tongues and lift the water up to their mouths all rolled up.

  #4 When a puppy is born, he’s both blind and deaf. He also has no teeth.

  #5 A dog’s nose is so unique, it could be used to identify him . . . like human fingerprints!

  #6 A dog’s ears are very sensitive, which is why rain, thunder, and fireworks upset them so much.

  CHAPTER

  7

  Dinner was different when it was just Mom and me. Nanna was what they call “retired,” which I think means that you’re tired after working for lots and lots of years. Nanna says, “That’s about right.” When you’re retired, you have time to do the stuff you love. And Nanna likes to cook.

  Every night at Nanna’s house, we had a homemade dinner with vegetables that she made herself. She didn’t even use a can. Mom is all about the can. Tonight we’re having ravioli, and dinner rolls that look like a smile.

  I think that’s yummy. But sometimes I miss Nanna’s cooking. Shhhh. Don’t tell Mom that.

  “I was very proud of you today,” Mom said after watching me stuff a whole ravioli in my mouth.

  I couldn’t say anything to that, so I just chewed my ravioli.

  “You were so mature, helping everyone find dogs,” Mom continued. “I may have been wrong about having you at the rescue shelter. You may be the perfect person to help out there.”

  That made me smile the biggest smile you can smile with a part-eaten ravioli in your mouth.

  I chewed. And thought. And chewed and thought some more. By the time I swallowed, I knew what I wanted to ask.

  “Can we bring Taffy home with us?” I asked.

  Now Mom had a ravioli in her mouth. In her case it was only part of one, though. She didn’t look so happy anymore when she finished chewing.

  “Piper, what did I say about dogs?”

  I’d thought about that. I’d thought about it since Shelby left the store today. I had a good argument for it too.

  “You said we aren’t in one place enough to have a dog, but I just want to bring Taffy home for a few days. Maybe this weekend. And I’ll feed her and take her outside on her leash to pee and you won’t have to do anything, I promise. Please, please, please?”

  “I’ll think about it,” Mom said, spearing the other half of her ravioli piece with her fork.

  “I’ll think about it” isn’t a good thing. “I’ll think about it” is something a grown-up says to make you stop asking. But “I’ll think about it” isn’t the end.

  “I’ll think about it” means there is still time to change your mom’s mind.

  Fur Fact #7

  Dogs are popular pets, but cats are pretty popular too. In fact, there are more cats as pets than dogs. Here are some fun facts about cats:

  #1 Grown-up cats meow only to communicate with humans.

  #2 Most cats like to be petted, so pet away!

  #3 Cats can’t taste sweet foods.

  #4 Cats purr when they’re happy. Cats purr when they’re upset. Can you tell whether your cat is happy or upset?

  #5 There are sixteen to twenty-four whiskers on every cat. Go ahead—count them!

  CHAPTER

  8

  I was trying to play a game of Duck, Duck, Goose with the rest of the kids at Mrs. Dorris’s day care when my mom came to get me. It wasn’t going well. Especially since some of them couldn’t really walk yet.

  Mrs. Dorris was a sweet woman with a round face and big, smiley eyes. She and Mom didn’t normally talk for long times, but they did today. I was listening closely.

  “Piper is just a delight,” I heard Mrs. Dorris say. “Look at her.”

  They both turned to look at me, so I gave them a big smile. Then I guess they figured out I could hear them. They started talking about grown-up stuff.

  When Mom and I were in the car, I thought about the good things Mrs. Dorris had said. “I’m doing
a really good job as Mrs. Dorris’s helper,” I pointed out.

  “You’re her helper?” Mom asked, sounding all surprised.

  “Yes. I help make lunches and sit quietly during naps. I also keep the other kids entertained when Mrs. Dorris needs to ‘sit a spell.’ ”

  Mom laughed. Then she said, “It sounds like you’re a good little helper.”

  “I am,” I said. “I know I can help out with a puppy, too!”

  I let Mom think about that for a minute. I wanted her to decide that good helpers could help at the rescue shelter too. I wanted to spend more time with Taffy.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Mom said. “If it’s okay with Miss Pamela, maybe we could take Taffy home with us for a couple of days. We could do that with different puppies until they find homes.”

  “Really?” I asked. I bounced up and down on my seat, so excited I could barely sit still. This was the Best. News. Ever.

  “Don’t get too excited,” Mom warned. “We still have to get Miss Pamela’s approval.”

  I was still too excited to stay in my seat. I waited until the car was in its parking space and pushed on my seat-belt button before Mom even had the keys out. I was reaching for the door handle when Mom reminded me I couldn’t cross the parking lot without her anyway, so what was my hurry?

  I hopped up and down in place to try to get some of my excitement out. It didn’t work. I wanted to run to the building and grab Taffy up in my arms and never, ever let her go. But I took a deep breath and held my mom’s hand as we walked slowly—so slowly—to the building where little Taffy would be waiting.

  Once we were safe on the sidewalk, I let go of Mom’s hand and ran. I pulled open the door fast and rushed inside. Miss Pamela wasn’t at the front desk, so I ran straight to the back. Straight to Taffy’s cage.

  Only Taffy wasn’t in there.

  The cage was empty.

  “Where is she?” I asked in a panicky voice.

  Miss Pamela was down at the end with the cats. She hurried over when she saw the look on my face.