Just Grace and the Double Surprise Read Online Free PDF Page A

calling her Mr. Scruffers," I said. "I'm going to think of something better." "Hmm," said Mom. "How about Cleo, or Millie, or ... oh, I don't know. I'm sure you'll come up with something." Mom wanted to keep talking, but I was dying to go over to Mimi's house. "Can I go and show Mimi? Please! Please! Pleeeaaase!!" Mom turned around and pointed to Mimi's front door. "She's not there. They left about an hour ago." Mimi's house looked dark—no lights were on. That meant..."They all left? To get the sister?" I asked. Mom nodded yes. I couldn't believe it! Mimi's big day was the same day as my big day? And we didn't even plan it that way. It was crazy unbelievable!
    WHAT MR. SCRUFFERS IS VERY GOOD AT

    Sniffing. I think she sniffed every single thing in our whole entire house. Mom said she was probably making a smell map of her new world. Dog brains have a whole different way of knowing about stuff than people's brains do. She can tell information about something by its smell. I use my eyes. I like my way better. I'm glad I don't have to sniff all the socks to tell which are mine.

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    Mr. Scruffers is also very good at sitting—if she thinks you have a treat in your hand—and at coming when you call her by her Mr. Scruffers name. It's good that she's so smart, but bad that she likes that name.
    WHAT ELSE MR. SCRUFFERS IS VERY GOOD AT
    Mr. Scruffers is good at barking, especially when she sees a cat. When Mom said I could show Augustine Dupre my new dog, I didn't even think about anything except excitement. Since Augustine Dupre lives in the apartment in our basement it only took me about two seconds to get down there. I did my special knock on the door so that she would know it was me. I do this so that if Crinkles is visiting she doesn't have to shoo him away. Crinkles is really my neighbor Mrs. Luther's cat, but he's in love with Augustine Dupre so he spends a lot of time visiting with her. Before we got the dog Dad would not have been happy to know that Augustine Dupre had a cat in her apartment—even if it was just a sometimes cat. Before Mr. Scruffers, Dad had a No Animals in the House rule.
    As soon as Augustine Dupre opened the door Mr. Scruffers went crazy! I couldn't see Crinkles but Mr. Scruffers must have smelled him.
    WHAT IS HARD TO DO
    It's really hard to talk in a normal voice if a dog is barking, a cat is hissing, and the person you are visiting is completely confused and upset. It is also really hard to know what to do when all these things are happening at the exact same time. The only good part was that I knew the exact right word to describe what was going on. It was chaos! We had just learned that word in school. It means crazy disorganized mess. It's one of those words that when you learn it you think, "I bet I'll never use this word in real life." But I had just learned it yesterday and here I was using it already. Miss Lois would have been impressed!
    WHAT HAD NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE
    "Sorry!" shouted Augustine Dupre, and she slammed her door right in my face. I had never had that happen before in my whole entire life. It was a surprise. It looks cool on TV, but when it happens to you in real life it feels kind of weird.
    I could hear Augustine Dupre talking on the other side of the door. I guess she was upset because I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She talks in French when she is worked up about something. She was probably talking to Crinkles, trying to get him to stop hissing. I wonder if he could understand French? I had never thought about that before.
    All the noise got Mom worried too, because she stuck her head through the upstairs door and shouted, "Is everything okay down there?" I was glad that Mr. Scruffers had stopped barking. "Yes, just excited, we're okay," I answered. "Well, don't bother Augustine Dupre for too long," said Mom, and she closed the door. I wasn't sure if we were ever going to be bothering Augustine Dupre again. Her door was still closed and we were