Cody Harmon, King of Pets Page 3

  Cody would definitely bring Rex to the pet show, not Angus. Not the cats either. The cats were beautiful, but they didn’t do as many things.

  Unless he brought Mr. Piggins.

  Rex or Mr. Piggins?

  Mr. Piggins or Rex?

  * * *

  On Wednesday, Cody and Tobit had both brought their lunch, so they reached their usual table in the cafeteria ahead of the kids waiting in the food line.

  Tobit took a big bite of his ham and cheese sandwich. “Izzy’s right,” he said. “The pet show’s not fair to kids who don’t have pets.”

  “Well,” Cody said, “lots of things are unfair. Races are unfair to kids who are bad at running. Reading contests are unfair to kids who hate to read.”

  “Mr. Boone said he might borrow that little tiny dog for the pet show,” Tobit went on.

  Cody didn’t like where this conversation was heading.

  “So that means it’s okay to borrow pets,” Tobit continued.

  Now Cody knew exactly what Tobit was going to say next.

  “So I could borrow Rex!”

  “No!” The word burst from Cody’s lips before he had time to think of how to soften it. “I mean, I think I’m taking Rex.”

  “Or Mr. Piggins!” Tobit sounded even more excited now.

  “I might take both of them,” Cody said.

  Tobit narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have twenty dollars. I bet you don’t even have ten.”

  “I’m working on earning it.”

  So far everything Cody had said was true, or sort of true, or might be true.

  “Earning it, like how?”

  “Doing stuff for my dad.” It was too terrible to have to admit that the “stuff” he was doing was homework, homework, and more homework.

  “Well, you can’t earn enough money to take all your pets,” Tobit pointed out.

  To Cody’s relief, Jackson Myers and two other boys arrived with their trays, talking about their next soccer game on Saturday. All three boys had pets of their own. Jackson’s pet was a ferret, which was definitely a cool pet, though not as cool as a pig or a rooster, and Ferrari the ferret was nowhere near as wonderful as Rex.

  Was Cody a bad friend not to want Tobit to borrow Rex or Mr. Piggins? Or any pet? But how could he loan a pet to someone who would throw a stone at a poor little squirrel?

  * * *

  During afternoon recess, Cody was glad when Tobit headed over to the blacktop to play basketball with Jackson. He wanted to check the oak tree to see if Stubby was there and to try to decide what to do. He almost wished there wasn’t going to be a pet show.

  Izzy ran up and plopped down on the grass next to him. Cody liked Izzy best of the girls, and she liked him best of the boys, because they were the two fastest runners in the class.

  “Hi,” Izzy said.

  “Hi,” Cody replied.

  “You look sad,” Izzy said. “Are you?”

  Cody was touched that Izzy cared enough to ask.

  “Not really.” He didn’t want to tell her that Tobit was mad at him, or that he had too many pets and not enough money, or that he had to read another whole book about pigs as soon as he got home from school. So he said, “I wish the pet show didn’t have costumes.”

  “Why?” Izzy asked. Before he could answer she said, “If you’re not good at making costumes, we can make the costume for you!”

  Cody didn’t need to ask who we was. He already knew. Izzy, Annika, and Kelsey were always together.

  “You’re bringing Mr. Piggins, right?” Izzy asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Cody said.

  “The three of us are great at costumes!” Izzy said. “Especially Kelsey, because she reads so much and gets lots of ideas from books. And Annika is already thinking of tons of costume ideas for her dog, Prime, so she’s bound to have some leftover ones. And I want to meet your other pets. We can come this weekend! I have softball Saturday morning. So can we come on Saturday afternoon?”

  It was all happening too fast. But it wasn’t as if Cody had a single costume idea himself.

  Izzy jumped up. “Tell Mr. Piggins help is on the way!”

  5

  Saturday morning Cody’s soccer team won their game. Tobit scored the winning goal, which made Cody happy. Maybe Tobit would forget about trying to borrow one of Cody’s pets.

  Then, back at home, Cody spent a full hour copying animal facts from his note cards into sentences to put into his report, with his mother looking over his shoulder the whole time. He was grateful when the girls showed up at one.

  Five minutes after they arrived, Kelsey already had Furface and Puffball in her lap.

  “They’re purring!” she marveled. “Does that mean they like me?”

  “Sure,” Cody said, even though both cats purred for anyone.

  Annika was occupied with Rex. Cody could tell she was trying to find out if Rex was as smart as Prime.

  “Sit!” she commanded.

  Rex sat.

  “Shake!”

  Rex offered his paw.

  “Lie down!”

  Rex obeyed.

  “Roll over!”

  Rex rolled.

  “But can he count?” Annika asked. “Prime can count. Well, almost count. Rex, bark once when I say the number one, and bark twice when I say the number two. Are you ready? Okay: two!”

  No bark came from Rex.

  “One!”

  Silence from Rex.

  Annika looked pleased, but Cody would have bet the entrance fees for all of his pets put together that Prime couldn’t really count either.

  Izzy was already outside with Angus. She was the kind of girl who had a hard time sitting still. And Angus was the kind of dog that had a hard time sitting still. Through the window, Cody saw the two of them running around the yard side by side. Running and running and running.

  “So,” Kelsey said, “which pet needs a costume? Izzy said you were bringing Mr. Piggins? Or are you bringing the dogs and cats, too? Do you need one costume, or costumes for everyone?”

  This was the moment of decision.

  Cody wanted to bring Rex most. But Rex was the one who would most understand if he couldn’t go. Rex was the one who understood everything. And nobody else at school had a pig.

  “Mr. Piggins,” Cody said, looking over at Rex, Furface, and Puffball with a guilty pang. And what about Sir B? And the chickens? Even awful Angus!

  Kelsey looked sad, too, stroking a cat with each hand. “Will the others mind being left behind?”

  “I don’t have ten dollars for every single pet,” Cody mumbled.

  “That would be a lot of money,” Annika agreed. “Two dogs, two cats, one pig: five times ten is fifty.”

  “No,” Cody said. “I don’t have five pets. I have nine.” He told them about Sir B and the chickens.

  “Ninety dollars,” Annika corrected herself.

  How could she do math like that so fast in her head?

  Izzy came back inside, Angus bounding beside her, panting with joy. She threw herself down on the floor and Angus was all over her, licking her face, her hands, her bony knees, any part of her with skin to lick. Izzy couldn’t stop giggling.

  “Can I take Angus to the pet show?” Izzy pleaded. “Can I borrow him for just one day?”

  Cody’s stomach tightened. If only Mr. Boone hadn’t told everybody that he had borrowed Bitsy! Izzy wasn’t like Tobit. He didn’t think she’d ever throw a stone at a broken-tailed squirrel. But it was strange and scary to think of any of his pets going off with anybody but him.

  “That’s what I was thinking!” Kelsey said. “If you let other kids borrow your pets, then they’ll pay the ten dollars, and all your pets can go to the pet show, and the Humane Society can get…” She looked over at Annika. “How much money did you say it was?”

  “Ninety dollars,” Annika said.

  “Ninety!” Kelsey proclaimed triumphantly. “Should I take Puffball or Furface?”

  “Angus!” Izzy
hugged the dog. “We’re going to the pet show!”

  “I’m taking my dog, Prime,” Annika apologized to Rex. “But you’re such a wonderful dog. Somebody else will want to take you. Cody, Tobit doesn’t have a pet, right? He can take Rex.”

  “No!” Cody said. He hadn’t meant to say it so loudly.

  “Tobit has a pet?” Kelsey asked.

  “No, he doesn’t, but…”

  How could Cody say he didn’t want to let his own best friend bring Rex to the pet show? But he didn’t want to tell the girls about Stubby. He didn’t want to make Tobit look bad in front of them.

  Izzy was the only one who seemed to understand how scary it was to let other kids borrow his pets.

  “I’ll take good care of Angus,” she promised. “Such good care! I’ll be the best dog borrower there ever was!”

  “I’ll be the best cat borrower,” Kelsey echoed. “If I can decide which cat to borrow.”

  Cody hadn’t yet decided if anyone would get to borrow any dog or cat. Or rooster. Or chicken. But apparently it had gotten decided for him. Ninety dollars would be a lot of money for the Humane Society. And this way every single pet would have a chance to shine.

  “But…” He could already think of tons of problems with this plan. “What if everyone wants to borrow a pet? I only have nine. What if everyone wants to borrow the same one?”

  What if Tobit still wants to borrow Rex?

  The girls looked at one another, apparently stumped by the problem.

  “You could draw names from a hat,” Kelsey suggested slowly.

  “But what if I don’t get Angus?” Izzy moaned.

  And what if Tobit got Rex?

  “You could let people bid on them,” Annika suggested. “The highest bidder wins, with the money going to the Humane Society. Think of how much you’d raise then!”

  “But what if I can’t afford Angus?” Izzy wailed.

  And what if Tobit won the bid on Rex?

  “You could have a sign-up sheet,” Kelsey said. “Yes! First come, first served. And we came first, and it was our idea, so we get served first. But should I sign up for Furface or Puffball?”

  “Yay!” Izzy shouted. “I get Angus!”

  Cody sighed. Kelsey was already looking for a blank sheet of paper on the messy desk in the corner of the family room where his parents had the family’s one ancient computer.

  Three days ago Tobit had asked if he could borrow Rex. If this was first come, first served, Tobit was first.

  But Tobit had thrown a stone at Stubby, even though the stone had missed.

  “Here’s some paper!” Kelsey crowed. “And here’s a pencil, too. Okay. Mr. Piggins—Cody. Angus—Izzy. Furface—me. Or Puffball—me? Or Furface—me? No, Puffball—Kelsey. Next: Rex. Everyone’s going to want Rex. Who do you think will get to take him?”

  The question made Cody’s heart hurt.

  6

  “He’s big,” Kelsey said as they all—including Rex and Angus—stood outside next to the pigpen. “I forgot how big he was.”

  “How much does he weigh?” Annika wanted to know.

  “About five hundred pounds,” Cody said proudly.

  “Is that extra big?” Izzy interrupted her roughhousing with Angus to ask.

  “No,” Cody told her. “The biggest pig ever was almost two thousand pounds.”

  Who would have guessed a pig fact for his animal report would come in handy so soon?

  “We’re going to need a big costume,” Kelsey pointed out. “A really big costume.”

  “I think it’d be funnier,” Annika said, “if he had an itty-bitty costume. Or a tutu!”

  “He’s a boy,” Cody reminded them.

  “Piglet in Winnie-the-Pooh is a boy,” Kelsey said. “He wears this little striped outfit. But it covers most of him. So I don’t think Mr. Piggins can dress up as Piglet. Wait! Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web! No. He doesn’t wear any clothes.”

  Cody started getting his hopes up. “So maybe Mr. Piggins doesn’t need clothes either?”

  “Cody,” Kelsey said, “that’s why we’re here. To come up with a costume for him.” She closed her eyes, as if trying to remember the pictures from the book. “Wilbur does win a blue ribbon at the fair. So we could put a blue ribbon on Mr. Piggins—or a sash! Yes, a big blue sash that says SOME PIG, TERRIFIC, and RADIANT. Those are things Charlotte weaves about him in her web. And we can put a toy spider on his head!”

  “Nobody but you will get it,” Cody said.

  “Everyone will totally get it!” Kelsey protested.

  “Cody’s right,” Izzy chimed in. Cody had thought she was too busy tumbling on the ground with Angus to be listening.

  “Well,” Annika said, “everyone will think Mr. Piggins is so amazing that his costume doesn’t really matter.”

  Cody’s thoughts exactly.

  “So can we make him be Wilbur?” Kelsey begged. “I’ll make the sash, and I have a little stuffed spider.”

  Annika nodded. Izzy, rolling on the grass with Angus, flashed a grin.

  Cody shrugged. “Fine.”

  Mr. Piggins’s costume was the least of his worries right now.

  * * *

  After the girls had gone, Cody knew he should work some more on his animal report. It would be terrible if after all the time he had spent on it so far, he didn’t end up doing a good enough job to earn Mr. Piggins’s entry fee. But instead he sat staring at the list Kelsey had started.

  Mr. Piggins

  Cody Harmon

  Angus

  Izzy Barr

  Puffball

  Kelsey Green

  Furface

  ?

  Rex

  ?

  Sir B

  ?

  Chicklet

  ?

  Daisy

  ?

  Doodle

  ?

  Rex nuzzled his nose against Cody’s leg.

  “Maybe I should take you and let someone else take Mr. Piggins,” Cody said aloud.

  Rex looked up at him with his beautiful brown eyes.

  But who else had a kindhearted dad with a pickup truck who would be willing to haul a five-hundred-pound pig to school? Plus, Kelsey had her heart set on making the Wilbur costume.

  “Whoever gets you has to be worthy of you,” Cody said to Rex. “He can’t be the kind of person who would throw a stone at a squirrel even if the stone missed. You’re a perfect dog. You need to be with a perfect human.”

  Rex gave his tail an approving thump. Cody knew Rex wasn’t bragging about how perfect he was. Rex thumped his tail because he approved of anything Cody said. Rex and Cody agreed on everything.

  * * *

  The only thing Cody hated even more than doing homework was talking on the phone, even to people he loved, like his Grandma Jean and Grandpa Joe. It was always a terrible moment when his mother would be on the phone talking to them, and she’d say, “Oh, Cody’s right here. I’ll let him say hello to you.” And then he could never think of a single word to say.

  But now he found the Franklin School directory his mother kept in the drawer of the desk in the family room and looked up the number he wanted.

  The person who answered was a woman who sounded like a mother. This was getting harder by the minute.

  “Is…” Cody made himself keep going. “Is Simon there?”

  “May I tell him who’s calling?”

  What was that supposed to mean? Then Cody figured it out: this was a weird way of asking his name.

  “Sure. I mean, it’s Cody. Cody Harmon. From school.”

  A moment later he heard Simon’s voice. “Hello?”

  “You don’t have a pet, right?” Cody asked.

  “No,” Simon said, sounding bewildered by the question. Maybe Cody should have found some way to lead up to it.

  “Do you want to have one?”

  “Not really.” Simon sounded even more bewildered. “I don’t think I’d have time for one, because of homework and violin.
Pets are a big responsibility.”

  “I mean, would you like to borrow my dog for the pet show? You’d have to pay the ten dollars for his entry fee and make him a costume—not a dumb costume, but a costume that wouldn’t make him look ridiculous, because I don’t want anybody laughing at him. And you’d have to take good care of him, extra good care of him, during the show.”

  “I could do those things,” Simon said. He paused. “But … why?”

  Cody told him about his problem of too many pets, and not enough money to enter them, and the plan the girls had helped him make.

  “I’ll bring the sign-up sheet to school on Monday,” Cody said. “But Rex is my golden retriever, and he’s not an ordinary dog. So I didn’t want him going to whatever kid grabbed the sheet first. He’s actually the best dog in the entire world.”

  “Wow,” Simon said.

  Cody tried to decide if Simon was being sarcastic. But Simon wasn’t a sarcastic kind of person. He was a serious kind of person who got straight A’s and was the best at reading, the best at math, the best at spelling, the best at everything.

  “I’ll do my best,” Simon said.

  Cody felt as if a giant had stooped down and lifted off the heavy stone crushing his heart.

  “Can I meet Rex first?” Simon asked. “So he’ll feel comfortable with me at school that day? And so I can get an idea for a costume that will fit his personality?”

  “Definitely!”

  But as soon as Cody hung up, the humongous stone dropped back onto his chest with a thud.

  What was Tobit going to say when he found out Cody hadn’t loaned Rex to him, but had loaned him to Super-Duper-Pooper Simon?

  7

  Even worse than doing homework or talking on the phone, Cody remembered too late on Monday morning, was talking to Mrs. Molina. But he had to tell her about the pet sign-up sheet.

  Luckily, as he was trying to summon up his nerve before morning announcements, the three girls snatched the piece of paper from on top of his pile of books and hurried to Mrs. Molina’s desk. Cody jumped up from his seat and followed them.