Honey Read Online Free PDF Page A

you really think it’s that easy? Don’t you remember what we went through with Shadow? Have you gone out of your mind? How disappointed do you think Noah will be if this doesn’t work out?”
    Did Lizzie really want him to answer all those questions? Charles didn’t know where to start. By now, he realized that he had probably made a big mistake. But he hadn’t
meant
to. Now he was going to have to tell Noah that it might not work out after all. And there was no way he could avoid Noah. The boys had made plans to go together to a big wheelchair basketball tournament, and it was only two days away.
    “I didn’t —” Charles began. He reached down to pet one of Honey’s soft ears. She and Buddy had just been tearing around the living room, and now they were both taking a quick nap between play periods. Honey had laid her head on Charles’s lap and fallen asleep instantly. She was so softand warm! Now she lifted her head. She seemed to understand that Charles was upset, and she licked him gently on the cheek.
    It’s okay! Don’t worry! Everything will be fine.
    Lizzie threw up her hands. “You didn’t think, that’s what.” She sighed. “Honey’s a wonderful dog. But even though she’s almost full-grown, she’s just a puppy. She can’t be anybody’s service dog right now. First she would probably have to spend some time with puppy-raisers — like the Downeys, the family that raised Shadow, remember?”
    Charles did remember. The puppy-raisers’ job was to help the puppy grow into a happy dog. Puppy-raisers were supposed to teach puppies their manners and make sure they grew up strong and safe. But hadn’t Honey already been raised pretty well? She might only need a littlemore time to grow up with people who cared about her.
    Charles kissed the top of Honey’s head. “What if
we
could be Honey’s puppy-raisers?” Charles could just imagine how much fun it would be to play with Honey and Buddy every single day, and to watch Honey grow up into a beautiful big dog like Murphy.
    “I doubt that could happen,” Lizzie said, shaking her head. “Anyway, then Honey would have to go to a training center to learn all the things she would have to know in order to be a service dog.” Lizzie crossed her arms again as she went on, interrupting Charles’s daydream. “If she makes it through training — and not all dogs do! — then she would be assigned to someone who needs her and who is ready to take care of a service dog. Could that be Noah? Maybe. But that’s a long, long way off.”
    All Charles heard was the “maybe” part. Sothere was still a chance! He was not ready to give up on the promise he had made to Noah.
    Just then, Mom came into the living room. Charles could hear Dad and the Bean upstairs, getting ready for the Bean’s bath. They were singing the alphabet song. The Bean usually only sang it the regular way through G, then after that he liked to put in whatever letters popped into his mind. So Charles heard, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G!” Then, to the same tune, “T, L, B, C, L, B, C!” The Bean loved C, L, and B, since those were letters that belonged to people in his family.
    “What’s going on?” Mom asked. She came right over and sat down on the floor next to Charles, so she could pet Honey. She looked from Lizzie to Charles. “I could hear you guys arguing all the way upstairs.”
    “Charles thinks he found a home for Honey —” Lizzie began.
    Charles thought he saw Mom’s face fall. Butthen she put on a smile. “Really?” she asked. “That’s — that’s great!”
    “But he hasn’t!” Lizzie went on. “Charles thinks we could be Honey’s puppy-raisers, then she could go to Noah as a service dog. He just doesn’t understand why that won’t work!”
    “I’m not sure I do, either,” said Mom. She leaned over and nuzzled the top of Honey’s head. “I know when we wanted to be Shadow’s puppy-raisers, they told us that you guys were too young. But we’ve fostered