No Dogs Allowed Read online

  “They must have belonged to a magician,” said Kate. “And now they belong to us!”

  “This is so cool!” said Lucie.

  “We can’t have dogs. But now we can be dogs,” said Kate.

  When they got to their street, Kate said, “Want to come to my house for lunch?”

  “Sounds good,” said Lucie. “All I had since breakfast was that little pizza crust.”

  “Yuck. Don’t remind me,” said Kate.

  Sniff, sniff. Lucie leaned over and started sniffing around Kate.

  “Stop that! We’re not dogs anymore,” Kate said.

  “I know that. I just want to make sure we don’t smell doggy before we see your mom,” said Lucie.

  “You’re right,” said Kate. “Is there anything else? Do we have any dog hair on us?”

  They checked themselves out and didn’t find any clues that they had been dogs.

  “Wait! Our necklaces!” said Kate.

  “What about them? They won’t give us away,” said Lucie.

  “I just realized we didn’t pay for them,” Kate said.

  “We can go back later. Mrs. Bingly will understand,” said Lucie.

  When they got to Kate’s house, her mom was on the phone.

  “I’ll bet she’s talking to your mom,” said Kate.

  “Of course she is,” said Lucie.

  Their moms were best friends just like they were.

  Mrs. Farber’s job was baking cookies, cakes, and pies that were sold at the farmers market and at Didi’s Bakery.

  Mrs. Lopez was a teacher at the Little Apple School House.

  They were single parents and helped each other out a lot.

  “The girls just walked in,” said Mrs. Farber. “I’ll put us all on speaker phone.”

  “Hi, Moms!” said Lucie and Kate together.

  “I’m going to stay for lunch, okay, Mom?” said Lucie.

  “Sure,” said Mrs. Lopez. “Be sure to help clean up.”

  “I will,” said Lucie.

  “Bye, Christy,” said Mrs. Lopez to Kate’s mom.

  “Later, Liz,” Mrs. Farber answered.

  After they hung up, Mrs. Farber took four blueberry pies out of one oven and four apple pies out of the other. She was going to deliver them to the bakery later that afternoon.

  “How was your morning?” she asked the girls. “What did you do?”

  Lucie and Kate looked at each other. They were glad Mrs. Farber was busy slicing cheese for their sandwiches. That way, she couldn’t see the panic on their faces.

  “What do we say?” mouthed Lucie. “That we barked and wagged and hid behind a Dumpster?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Kate mouthed back. “I’ll handle this.”

  “We went to the thrift shop,” she said. “We got these necklaces.”

  Kate’s mom turned and looked. “They’re cute,” she said.

  “We got them in time for Adopt-a-Dog Week,” said Kate. “We’re going to enter the Amos-on-the-Airwaves song-writing contest.”

  “We want to help dogs find homes,” said Lucie.

  “You two are good helpers,” said Mrs. Farber. “And the way you love to rhyme, I bet you’ll come up with something great.”

  She set down two glasses of cold milk. Then she gave each girl a plate with a gooey grilled cheese sandwich, cut into four triangles.

  “Thanks, Mom,” said Kate, arranging the triangles neatly on her plate.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Farber. This looks delicious,” said Lucie.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw Lucie’s head diving down to her plate. Kate poked her in the ribs.

  “Stop that!” she whispered. “You’re not a dog anymore.”

  “Just kidding,” Lucie whispered back. She picked up the sandwich with her hand.

  They ate their lunches, helped with clean-up, then disappeared into Kate’s room. Kate closed the door behind them.

  “I miss being dogs,” said Lucie. She went down on all fours and wagged her behind.

  “Me, too!” said Kate. “It was fun.”

  “Let’s do it,” said Lucie, waving her make-believe paws in the air.

  “Okay,” said Kate. “Ready … set…”

  Woofa-woof! They barked and gave each other high fives.

  Woofa-wow! Their dog-bone necklaces lit up. With a pop and a whoosh, they were dogs again!

  “Uh-oh, I have a sudden urge to chew,” said Lucie.

  “Don’t you dare look at my new slippers,” said Kate.

  “A dog’s gotta do what a dog’s gotta do!” said Lucie, leaping on one of the fluffy slippers.

  Kate let out a bark.

  “Girls, what is going on in there?” called Mrs. Farber.

  “We’re writing our dog song!” called Kate.

  “We’re putting in a woof or two!” said Lucie.

  They woofed a couple more times.

  “Let’s go to the park,” said Kate. “The dog park!”

  “How do we get out without your mom seeing us?” said Lucie.

  “This way,” said Kate, heading for the open window.

  The two dogs jumped out. They ran down the street, woofing all the way, with the pink dog bones on their collars twinkling in the sun.

  5

  Run, Dogs, Run!

  As soon as they got to the park, they headed for the dog run. Inside, dogs were running around having fun while their owners chatted and sipped coffee.

  Kate and Lucie were wondering how to get in when a man with a little dog opened the gate. He didn’t notice Kate and Lucie as they slipped inside.

  Once they were in, a group of dogs raced over and started sniffing them.

  “This is a little scary,” said Kate softly.

  “What are you worried about?” said Lucie. “They’re friendly.”

  “How do you know?” said Kate.

  “Just watch. I’ll tell them to sit,” said Lucie. “My dog books say it’s good to be the leader.”

  “Okay, tell them,” said Kate.

  “Dogs, sit!” said Lucie.

  The dogs didn’t know where the voice was coming from. They cocked their heads. They looked all around. Then they all sat.

  Seeing them listen made Kate feel braver.

  “Dogs, stay!” she said.

  While Lucie and Kate trotted off, the dogs stayed where they were.

  “See?” said Lucie. “We’re the leaders!”

  A ball came flying through the air.

  “I’ll get it!” called Lucie.

  “Yuck, it’s slobbery,” said Kate.

  “Who cares? We’re dogs!” said Lucie.

  She leaped up and grabbed the ball from the air. Just then another ball came their way. Lucie leaped up and grabbed that one too. Now she had two balls in her mouth.

  “Only you could do that,” said Kate. “Do not try to get three!”

  By then, the other dogs had started running around again. A huge dog came bounding toward them. Lucie dropped both balls.

  “I’m not arguing with him,” she said. “He looks like the leader to me.”

  “Good thinking,” said Kate.

  Suddenly, Kate’s eyes opened wide.

  “What’s the matter?” said Lucie.

  Kate stared hard at the spot behind Lucie.

  “Woof-woof-woof!” Kate barked.

  “What-what-what?” Lucie answered. She turned slowly, following Kate’s eyes.

  Standing right behind Lucie was the huge dog’s owner, with her mouth hanging open in surprise.

  “YIKES!” the dog’s owner called over her shoulder.

  A couple more people came over.

  “What’s going on?” said one man.

  “These dogs are talking like people!” said the woman.

  Uh-oh, thought Lucie.

  We’re in big trouble, thought Kate.

  The man turned to the woman, looking puzzled.

  “What are you saying?” he asked.

  “I heard that shaggy dog talki
ng. That dog said ‘What’s the matter’ and ‘What-what-what,’” said the big dog’s owner.

  “I know what-what-what’s the matter,” said the man. “You’ve been standing in the sun too long.”

  “No, I mean it,” said the woman.

  “Okay, let’s see,” said the man. He turned to Kate and said, “Speak!”

  For a second, Kate froze. To a girl, “speak” means using words. But to a dog, “speak” means …

  “Woof!” she barked.

  Lucie barked, too. “Ruff!”

  Other dogs joined in. Soon all the dogs in the run were barking their heads off.

  “Look what you started,” said another dog owner. He called to his bulldog, “Oliver, quiet!”

  Another person called, “Fluffy, come!”

  Soon all the people were calling their dogs, trying to get them to be quiet.

  Kate and Lucie took the opportunity to walk off and get a drink from the water bowl.

  “Phew! That was close,” whispered Lucie.

  “We have to be more careful from now on,” said Kate.

  As they started slurping up water, a scruffy dog appeared. The dog sat down and started scratching. And scratching. And scratching!

  “Uh-oh, maybe he has fleas,” said Kate.

  “If we catch fleas, our moms will be so mad,” said Lucie.

  “Run!” said Kate.

  They raced out of the dog run as soon as the gate opened.

  6

  Kate and Lucie to the Rescue

  Sniff, sniff.

  Kate’s and Lucie’s cold, wet noses went up in the air.

  “Do you smell what I smell?” asked Lucie.

  “You mean Banana-Fandana gum?” said Kate.

  “Exactly,” said Lucie.

  “Do you hear what I hear?” said Kate.

  Thunk, thunk, thunk.

  “You mean Danny’s basketball?” said Lucie.

  “Yes! We’d better get away, or those boys will try to adopt us again!” said Kate.

  They started running, but Danny and DJ had already seen them.

  “It’s those same dogs!” called DJ.

  “You get in front. I’ll get behind,” said Danny.

  “We’ll close in on them,” said DJ.

  “Oh, no you won’t!” whispered Kate.

  “We’re going to outsmart you,” whispered Lucie.

  Lucie ran left. Kate ran right. They zoomed around and got in front of DJ. Then they sped out of the park, leaving the boys far behind.

  “That was close!” said Lucie. “One more minute and I would have belonged to DJ.”

  “And I would have belonged to Danny,” said Kate.

  “It’s too terrible to talk about!” said Lucie.

  Now that they were out of danger, they slowed down.

  “Do you see what I see?” said Lucie, staring down the street.

  Kate saw a dog sniffing around a garbage can. He was so skinny, his ribs were showing.

  “He doesn’t have a leash,” said Kate.

  “He doesn’t even have a collar,” said Lucie.

  The dog was brown with four white paws and white at the tip of his tail.

  “I once read that white on the tail means good luck,” said Lucie. “But this dog doesn’t look very lucky at all.”

  “Maybe his luck is changing,” said Kate. “Let’s turn back into girls and help. We can take him to the shelter.”

  “Girls can’t just go up to a stray dog,” said Lucie. “My dog books say it’s dangerous.”

  “Okay, we’ll stay dogs and get him to follow us,” said Kate.

  “Good idea,” said Lucie.

  Kate and Lucie turned and headed toward the animal shelter. They wagged their tails as if to say, “Come follow!”

  They went a little way and peeked back to see if the dog was there. He was!

  They kept going. They looked back again to make sure he was still there. He was, and now another dog was behind him.

  “There’s another unlucky dog,” said Lucie.

  The new dog had sad eyes and scraggly gray fur. She was limping and couldn’t go very fast.

  “Poor dog,” said Lucie.

  “We better slow down,” said Kate.

  They slowed down, and the dog was able to keep up.

  “Looks like her luck is changing, too,” said Lucie.

  They kept going.

  Yip! Yip! Tiny barks were coming from an alley. Two soft brown eyes peeked out from the corner of a building. A little tan dog looked like he wanted to join the line, but was too scared. He’d take a step out, then step back. Out and back.

  “Come on, little dog,” Kate said in a gentle voice.

  He took a step out. Then another. And another. With a few more steps, the little tan dog was at the end of the line.

  “Wow!” said Kate. “Now we’ve got three dogs for the shelter.”

  “I hope they can find homes for them fast,” said Lucie.

  “They will,” said Kate. “It’s a good thing it’s Adopt-a-Dog Week.”

  Just as they reached the shelter, the door opened. Maybe it really was going to be a lucky day for these dogs.

  7

  At the Shelter

  Kate and Lucie led the three dogs inside. Behind the counter, a man was reading some papers. A woman was working at her computer.

  The little tan dog yipped.

  The woman stopped typing and looked up.

  “Um, George,” she said to the man, “there are five dogs standing by themselves in the lobby.”

  George put down his papers.

  “One…two…three…four…five. Yup, Carmen, there are five,” he said. “How did they get in?”

  “I have no idea, but let’s go easy. We don’t want to scare them,” said Carmen.

  George reached into the treat box, then stepped out from behind the counter. The three hungry strays came toward him.

  “We’ll need five leashes,” said Carmen.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” whispered Kate.

  “Yeah, or we’ll end up shelter dogs, too,” Lucie whispered back.

  While Carmen and George were looking at the gray dog’s hurt paw, Kate and Lucie started walking backward. Slowly. Very slowly.

  They turned toward the front door. Slowly. Very slowly.

  But the door was shut tight.

  “Uh-oh,” whispered Lucie.

  “Follow me!” whispered Kate.

  She took off down the hall. Lucie took off after her. Running through the hallway wasn’t so easy. Their paws went sliding across the slippery floor.

  Kate slid into a wall. Lucie slid into a desk. They scrambled to get their paws back under them.

  Workers saw Lucie and Kate running through the shelter. They came out to try to catch them. These workers had treats, too.

  Kate and Lucie weren’t looking for treats. They were looking for a place to hide.

  “Quick! This way,” said Lucie.

  But they saw a wall ahead.

  “Quick! That way,” said Kate.

  But more people were coming.

  “Around this corner!” said Lucie.

  There was a staircase. They ran down and heard the workers coming after them.

  Kate and Lucie ran into an empty office. As fast as they could, they said “woofa-woof” and gave each other high paws. When they popped out of the office again, they were girls.

  “Did you see two dogs?” asked one of the workers.

  Kate stopped to catch her breath, then said, “Sure, there are lots of dogs.”

  “This is a shelter, isn’t it?” said Lucie innocently.

  “We mean two runaway dogs,” said another worker.

  “Runaways? Nope, didn’t see any,” said Kate, walking calmly toward the stairway.

  “’Bye,” said Lucie, waving over her shoulder.

  Upstairs, Carmen and George passed by with the three strays on leashes.

  “These dogs are so cute,” said Carmen.


  “I’m sure we’ll find homes for them soon,” said George.

  Kate and Lucie walked toward the lobby with big grins on their faces.

  “Hey, look at these,” said Kate, pointing to two posters on the wall.

  One poster said DO ADOPT IF …

  The other said DON’T ADOPT IF …

  Under each title was a list. The lists told you if you would or wouldn’t be a good person to have a dog.

  “Those posters just gave me an idea for the song,” said Lucie.

  “Is it a prizewinning idea?” said Kate.

  “Could be,” said Lucie.

  “Okay, let’s hear it,” said Kate as they left the shelter.

  8

  A Song Is Born

  Lucie started to sing:

  Doo-wop, doo-wop!

  Do we adopt-adopt?

  Doo-wop, doo-wop!

  Do we not-adopt?

  “That’s really good,” said Kate. “Keep going.”

  “That’s all I have,” said Lucie. “I’m stumped.”

  Suddenly, they heard a boy’s voice singing:

  Tell me, can you be at home?

  Can you buy me a bone?

  The girls couldn’t believe it! The voice belonged to DJ. The girls glared at him.

  “Excuse me! This is our song,” said Kate.

  “We don’t need help from any goofy boys,” said Lucie.

  “What’s the matter? Those were good lines,” said Danny.

  Kate and Lucie thought about it. They didn’t like to admit it, but Danny was right.

  “Hey, what were you two doing in the shelter?” said Danny.

  “Um, we were just doing some research,” said Kate.

  “That’s right, for the song contest,” said Lucie.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Kate. “I hope you weren’t thinking of adopting dogs.”

  “Nah. We were just passing by,” said Danny.

  “But now that you mention it, maybe we should get a couple of puppies,” said DJ.

  “Sounds good to me,” said Danny. “I want a shaggy one. Like that one we saw on the street.”

  “And I’ll get a spotted one,” said DJ.

  Kate and Lucie looked at each other.

  “You saw dogs on the street?” said Kate.

  “I bet they ran away from you,” said Lucie. “Any sensible dogs would.”