Ghost Dog Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

Andrew is smart, and he’s good at figuring out solutions to problems. For another, he gets way more allowance than I get and could easily help pay for dog food. Then there was the ghost. Even though the collie’s ghost had never acted threatening, it gave me the willies to know she could come into my bedroom while I was sleeping any time she wanted to.
    I felt an overwhelming desire to tell someone what was happening, and Andrew was the logical person because I knew I could trust him to keep my secret. Even though we still made up threesomes, we rarely mentioned the club we’d started as six-year-olds. When Andrew brought up the Knights of the Royal Underpants, I knew it was because he really wanted to be in on whatever I was doing every day after school.
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Meet me at my house after school.”
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    I ride the school bus home, but Andrew’s mom often drives him, so he gets home faster than I do. He rolled up on his bike before I had even peeled my banana.
    â€œI’m all eager, expectant ears,” he said.
    â€œYou have to swear you won’t tell anybody.”
    â€œI won’t tell unless what you’re doing puts you in danger.”
    I thought about that. What would happen if the dog’s owner came home and saw me feeding the dog? He or she might get angry and tell me to leave, but I didn’t think I’d be in any danger. They might even thank me.
    â€œI saw a TV news report last night,” Andrew said. “Two kids were standing on a freeway overpass, dropping rocks on cars.”
    I gave him a disgusted look. “That was not me,” I said. “That is dangerous, disastrous, and dumb.”
    â€œI know. They got caught because the State Patrol helicopter saw them and followed when they tried to run away. I was only giving an example of what I would not keep secret.”
    I checked my backpack for kibble, dishes, and water, then I put it on. “Let’s go,” I said.
    Andrew didn’t ask where ; he simply nodded and followed me outside.
    While we walked to the yard where the dog was chained, I told Andrew about the dog and that I was feeding him. When we were almost there, I said, “There is one more thing I need to tell you.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œBesides the dog I’m helping, there’s another dog. Not a real dog. I think it’s a dog’s ghost.”
    â€œHave you seen it?” he asked.
    â€œTwice. And I’ve felt her two other times, nudging my leg with her nose.”
    â€œWhat does she look like? Can you tell what kind of dog she is?”
    â€œShe’s a collie but she’s all white, even her eyes, and I can see right through her. You know how steam flows off the roof sometimes when the sun comes out after a cold spell, or how you can see your breath in winter? Well, it’s as if that steam or breath was formed in the shape of a dog.”
    â€œDoes she move?”
    â€œShe walks like a real dog, except that her feet don’t always touch the ground. She sort of floats. She came to my house last night while I was asleep. She stood next to my bed and woke me up.”
    â€œCool.”
    I wasn’t sure what I had expected Andrew to say but, as usual, he surprised me. The idea of a ghost in my bedroom, dog or human, made me uneasy—not scared, exactly, but nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. Andrew wasn’t at all anxious about possibly encountering a dog’s ghost.
    â€œWhat happened? What did she do after you woke up?”
    â€œShe tried to get me to follow her.”
    Andrew looked impressed. “Did you?”
    â€œI went about half a block and then I turned back. It’s a good thing I didn’t go any farther because Mom got up and would have caught me if I’d been going down the sidewalk after the collie.”
    â€œMan, I hope she’s there today,” Andrew said. “It would be awesome to see a dog