The 12 Dogs of Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page B

control.”
    â€œYou’re going to get me a job with the dogcatcher?!”
    Dolores nodded. “Just until your dad shows up—if he ever does.” Then she left the room. Emma breathed a sigh of relief, and the puppy whimpered. Emma was just about to let him out from under the blankets when Dolores suddenly popped back in. “Look, you’re whimpering like some little lost pup, and I’m only trying to help you.”
    â€œYou don’t need to bother the dogcatcher. I’ll find a job. I promise,” Emma said. But Dolores’s attention had already moved to the braids coming out from under Emma’s cloth cap. “Is that how you always wear your hair?” she said, taking some professional interest.
    Emma just shrugged, wanting to engage Dolores as little as possible. And it worked—Dolores left. Emma rescued the puppy from the blankets, and the two snuggled up together on the bed. Soon they were both asleep.

8

Old Jake
    Mrs. Clancy brought into the world a beautiful baby boy, seven pounds, eight ounces. But that did not impress Mrs. Walsh, whose only concern was that now Mrs. Clancy could not bring into the world the Christmas program. She had to find someone else. She asked Mrs. Jones, the history teacher, but Mrs. Jones said she couldn’t do it because she didn’t have any music experience in her past. Then she asked Mr. Shaw, the biology teacher, but he said if he couldn’t dissect it, he couldn’t understand it. Finally she asked Mr. Cullimore, the school coach, who said sure—he was game for anything!
    So Mrs. Walsh gathered all the students into the assembly hall and made the grand announcement that Coach Cullimore would now direct the Christmas program and the singing of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” She also seemed to take pleasure in announcing that Emma, who would participate in the program, was not from New York City but from Pittsburgh, and that she would not be going home anytime soon. Emma blushed a deep red, while the other kids fought to stifle laughs. Why Mrs. Walsh enjoyed being mean no one really knew, but she did and that was a fact. So it was no wonder that they were all happy when she left them alone to get on with the rehearsal.
    Now Coach Cullimore, who was also the math teacher, was perfectly capable of being a shortstop or doing long division, but he could not, as his dear old mother use to say, carry a tune in a bucket. Nor could he play the piano, which became obvious after just a few notes. The students cringed.
    â€œI think it’s more like this,” Mike suggested, as something more closely resembling music came from the piano.
    â€œYou’re in!” Coach directed. “You can take the position at the piano from here on out.”
    â€œNo, no, no,” Mike protested, head shaking. “My mom forced me to take lessons, but I never practiced. I really can’t play. But my mom, now, she’s great on the piano!”
    â€œReally?! Do you think she would be willing to come play for us?” the coach asked Mike.
    â€œWell, not if I ask her,” Mike said in a knowing manner. “But maybe if you asked her personally . . .” Mike really liked the coach and knew his mom would too.
    Emma was to be the Partridge in a Pear Tree, and found herself sticking her head through a hole in a large cardboard painting of a pear tree. This was her second embarrassment of the day—not something an adventure hero should be doing. Unless, of course, that adventure hero was working undercover. That thought helped Emma get through the rehearsal and the rest of the day until school let out and she could go look for that job she promised Dolores she would find.
    Naturally Emma first went to the town newspaper to offer her services as a paper “boy.” But this was the Doverville Trumpet not the Pittsburgh Herald , and the editor of the paper himself doubled as the paper “boy.” She