The Missing Dog Is Spotted

The Missing Dog Is Spotted — page 5 — Loyola who despised basketball always had a great comeback No she would say Equestrian’s my thing I’m actually training to be a jockey Trevor enjoyed the next part the confused look on the face of whoever had suggested that Loyola was a basketball player Either they didn’t get her sense of humor or they didn’t know what a jockey was Trevor knew all too well that jockeys were elite racehorse riders He also knew that the ideal jockey was small Unusually small Like Trevor Trevor was the shortest boy in his class In fact he was shorter than the boys below him in grade five And the boys in grade four And even a few in grade three Trevor understood exactly why Loyola didn’t like standing next to him It was because she’d look like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk Or the beanstalk So they stayed clear of each other their secret pact standing between them What are you doing here he asked Borrowing books she replied curtly a stack of them

The Missing Dog Is Spotted — page 6 — on her hip Awkward silence Then the library’s telephone rang Queensview Elementary Library Ms Wentzell the librarian said from behind her desk How can I help you A short pause and then Oh dear How sad Ms Wentzell said her voice stricken Both Trevor and Loyola drifted out of the aisle and toward her desk No I haven’t seen it But I will keep a lookout What’s your telephone number just in case She jotted it down And you’ve checked with the animal shelter Of course Of course I’ll ask around and I’ll let you know Bye for now Ms Wentzell sadly shook her head as she hung up What’s wrong Loyola asked Someone’s lost a dog she explained She got up from her desk and went to the library’s window She looked across the school’s soccer field and scanned the fence line What does it look like Trevor asked White with brown spots Short ears Medium-sized All three studied the landscape but there were no dogs with spots mingling with the recess crowd If not here then maybe the cemetery Ms Wentzell suggested

The Missing Dog Is Spotted — page 7 — The cemetery Trevor and Loyola exclaimed together The owner says it loves to run in wide-open spaces Yes but the cemetery Trevor repeated Trevor knew a bit about the old Twillingate Cemetery He passed by its ugly iron gate every day on his way to and from school The signs posted next to the gate were bleak Beware of Falling Gravestones Enter at Your Own Risk Closed at Sunset No Dogs Allowed Inside the cemetery was even more ominous It was jammed with ancient gravestones toppling this way and that There were some benches and a hedgerow and beyond that there was the newer part of the cemetery with much plainer markers arranged in straighter lines There were never any visitors or dogs for that matter which added to the forlorn look of the place The cemetery’s no place for lost dogs he said to Ms Wentzell Mr Creelman would never allow it Mr Creelman was the cemetery’s elderly grounds keeper He was in charge of a small group of equally elderly men called the Twillingate Cemetery

The Missing Dog Is Spotted — page 8 — Brigade They cared for the grounds and made repairs to the gravestones in need of cleaning When they took breaks from their work they hung out at Sacred Grounds Cafe nearby which was famous for its excellent lasagna Trevor knew all this because Mr Creelman had once been a guest speaker at the Queensview Mystery Book Club Trevor joined the Queensview Mystery Book Club as soon as it was formed back at the beginning of grade six because he had always loved solving riddles The club was one of the reasons that Queensview was better than any other school he’d been to which was four so far When Mr Creelman visited the club he talked about how to uncover buried family secrets by studying grave markers He also told them about the history of the stone carvers at Twillingate Cemetery and what the symbols meant Then he hauled out a book called Famous Last Words and grimly recited one gravestone poem after another in his gravelly monotone voice Trevor shook his head at the memory The school bell rang Ms Wentzell returned to her desk but Trevor lingered pretending to study the large map of the world on the wall near the window He was waiting for Loyola to leave so that he could retrieve his book without her help But she took forever to sign out her tall stack of books

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