The Invisible Harry Read Online Free PDF Page B

temptation.
    There was deadly silence. I mean, except for the traffic on the other side of the wall, and a jackhammer in the alley, and a siren a couple of blocks away, and the sound of the kindergarten singing through an open window. There was dog silence. There was no panting.
    I felt a chill race up my spine and settle in across my shoulders. This must be what it’s like when a mother turns around in the supermarket and her kid is gone.
    “Harry? Please? Harry?”
    I started in one direction around the perimeter of the yard, and Hubert went the other way. I whistled, I said his name, I waved my arms and snapped my fingers and clucked my tongue.
    Was he just hiding out? Chasing his tail? Or had he gone inside with the rest of the class? Where was my heart’s delight?
    And then, as Hubert bounced the ball, it disappeared!
    “Harry!” We both screamed with joy and ran toward him. I stepped on his paw, and he yowled. The ball dropped and rolled.
    I picked him up and rubbed my face in his neck. I inhaled his delicious doggy smell and kissed his silky ears. It was the happiest moment of my whole life so far. Even Hubert leaned over to pat his back.
    “Good to see you, little buddy,” he said. “I mean, good to have you back. You gave us a scare.”
    And then, in a different voice altogether, he added, “Billie, we already missed computer lab. We’ve got to go to Spanish.”
    I was fiddling with tying the skipping rope around Harry’s neck. He kept ducking his head, trying to sneak away. I decided to leaveit till later. I couldn’t go around cuddling a skipping rope all day anyway.
    “Mr. D. always has to flirt with Ms. Picayo for at least ten minutes. We won’t be late.”
    “What are you going to do with Harry all day? This is getting ridiculous!”
    “I don’t know what else to do.”
    “Well, you can’t keep him invisible like this. This is the worst. We lost him for two minutes inside a playground, and it was scary. Think about if that happened on the street? He’d go in the road and be puppy mush in two seconds!”
    What a horrible thought. The chill went right through me this time, leaving my blood frozen. I wondered whether death would make him reappear. Then I closed my eyes to stop thinking about that.
    “You’re right, Hubert,” I admitted, “I haven’t been very responsible…. He needs a collar so we can keep track of him.”
    “A collar? Billie, he needs a life!”
    “Well, what should we do?”
    “How should I know? We should go to Spanish before we get expelled.”
    I buttoned my sweater around Harry so that he could ride on my chest with his face peeking out.
    “Maybe he’ll fall asleep after all that exercise,” I said as he snuggled against me. “I guess at lunchtime we better call Jody and ask her for help.”
    I knew in my heart that meant giving him back, but I couldn’t say those words out loud.

12 • In a Muddle
    H arry slept through Spanish, as did most of the class.
    And he slept through most of reading time. When I felt him waking up, I asked if I could go to the bathroom, and I gave him a longdrink of water at the sink. I’ve heard that lots of dogs drink out of toilets, but Harry was so little, I was afraid he might fall in.
    The door opened so quickly, it hit me in the back.
    “Oh, sorry,” said Sarah. “Mr. Donaldson wanted me to check if you were okay, ‧cause you were taking so long.”
    “I’m fine,” I said, quickly putting my own hands under the stream of water that Harry was trying to drink from.
    “Or, uh, at least, well, actually …”
    I changed my mind. “I’m not feeling great, actually. I think I’m going to the nurse’s office to lie down for a few minutes. Maybe this, um, dizziness, will pass. Could you tell Mr. D.?”
    “Sure,” said Sarah. “I hope you feel better. It’s tacos for lunch.” The door slammed behind her.
    “You might like tacos, puppy boy,” I told Harry. “But we have to make a phone call first.”
    The problem