Bella (5 page)

DON’T MISS THE
NEXT PUPPY PLACE
ADVENTURE!

Here’s a peek at MOOSE!

Packing for his weekend away was easy. Getting up early? A breeze. The only hard part about going to Camp Bowser, thought Charles, was saying good-bye to Buddy. Now, sitting in the backseat of Aunt Amanda’s van, Charles remembered how Buddy had looked up at him so hopefully when he put his duffel bag by the door. “Sorry, Buddy,” Charles had told him, as he sat down to give him
a hug. “You’re not coming with me this time. I wish you could, but I think you might scare Moose. You stay home and keep Mom and Dad and the Bean company, okay?” Charles was not sure that Buddy understood, but he had given him lots of extra-special hugs and pats while he waited for Aunt Amanda to pick him up.

“Buddy’s going to miss you and Lizzie this weekend,” said Aunt Amanda now, catching Charles’s eye in the rearview mirror. It was as if she had read his mind. “Your parents will, too. The house will be awfully quiet with both of you away.”

Charles nodded. At the moment, he had a lump in his throat that made it hard to answer. He hoped he would not feel too homesick up at Camp Bowser. He looked over at Moose, who was snoozing in an enormous crate next to Charles’s seat. A few other crates were crammed into the back of the Bowser Mobile, Aunt Amanda’s van, holding more dogs that were on their way north for a
weekend of fun in the country. Aunt Amanda had brought her golden retriever, Bowser, but she had left her three pugs home with Uncle James so the little dogs wouldn’t scare Moose.

“We’re going to have a good time, Moose,” Charles said softly. “I bet you’ll love it at Camp Bowser.”

Moose opened his eyes and looked up at Charles, worried wrinkles furrowing his big forehead.

Really? Are you sure? Because I think it might be kind of scary
.

Charles poked a finger through the crate to scratch Moose’s ear. “It’ll be fine. You’ll see.” Moose sighed and went back to sleep, head on crossed paws.

“I’m counting on you to keep a close eye on Moose this whole weekend and be his pal,” said Aunt Amanda. “If there’s another thunderstorm, or something else frightens him, the best thing to
do is distract him so he doesn’t focus on the scary thing. Talk gently to him, but don’t baby him. Give him some treats so he has a happy experience instead of a frightening one. Can you do that?”

“Sure,” said Charles. He patted his pocket, where there were four or five small dog biscuits. He always carried treats, just in case he met a stray dog or one he wanted to make friends with.

Then he reached into his backpack and pulled out the deck of cards he’d brought along. He had also packed
1-2-3 Magic
, the book he hoped to learn some tricks from. He planned to start with card tricks, since those seemed the simplest. There was only one problem. Even though
1-2-3 Magic
was supposedly for beginners, the author started the directions for every card trick with “Shuffle the cards . . .”

Charles did not know how to shuffle. When he and Sammy played War, which they sometimes did for hours at a time on rainy days, Sammy
always shuffled. Charles suspected that Sammy sometimes shuffled some of the better cards into his half of the deck. It might be good if he learned to shuffle, too.

He opened the little box of cards and shook them out. “Oops!” They slid out of his hands and spilled all over the floor of the van.

“What do you have there, Charles?” Aunt Amanda looked at him in the mirror again.

“Just some cards.” Charles scooped up as many as he could reach. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone that he was learning magic. He wanted to surprise everyone once he had some great tricks ready. He split the deck into two parts and tried shoving them together, but most of them fell into his lap. He scooped them up again and tried another way, the way Sammy did it where he flipped the corners together. That was even worse. The ace of spades, the queen of hearts, and the four of diamonds ended up inside Moose’s crate.

Charles kept picking up the cards and practicing. But by the time Aunt Amanda turned off the main highway and drove up a long, bumpy dirt road, he had still not learned to shuffle. When the van came to a stop, he shoved the cards into his backpack and zipped it shut. “Is this it?” he asked. “Is this Camp Bowser?”

“That’s right,” said Aunt Amanda. “Welcome.”

Ellen Miles loves dogs, which is why she has a great time writing the Puppy Place books. And guess what? She loves cats, too! (In fact, her very first pet was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat named Jenny.) That’s why she came up with a brand-new series called Kitty Corner. Ellen lives in Vermont and loves to be outdoors every day, walking, biking, skiing, or swimming, depending on the season. She also loves to read, cook, explore her beautiful state, play with dogs, and hang out with friends and family.

Visit Ellen at www.ellenmiles.net.

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Copyright © 2011 by Ellen Miles.
Cover art by Tim O’Brien
Cover design by Steve Scott

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Lexile is a registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc.

First printing, February 2011

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e-ISBN: 978-0-545-32459-5