Growling Gracie

Growling Gracie — page 7 — So we call them sisters I first met Gracie and Twinkles last year Last July to be exact A crazy-busy weekend at our dog hotel to be exacter Our uncle Robert brought them over that Saturday morning See the dog’s owner Doris was Uncle Robert’s new girlfriend We hadn’t even met Doris yet The kennels were booked solid that weekend Mom Alfreeda and I had been working like dogs for two days straight Our workdays were super long They started before Spot our rooster even crowed Then we worked until midnight My dad couldn’t help in the kennels He was Up North again studying wolves in the wilderness Normally running a dog hotel meant lots of fun But we were so busy that there was just tons of work taking

Growling Gracie — page 8 — care of those dogs I couldn’t wait to have some actual fun with them At about nine o’clock that Saturday morning we were knocking through a long list of chores Alfreeda was sitting on the floor inside pen seven Hurry up she snapped at me then yawned real wide Her droopy eyes were half closed I yawned right back at her and headed into pen seven I tossed a little dog bed onto the floor What took you so long she demanded I was too tired to fight back I just yawned again and kind of teetered from side to side But Alfreeda wouldn’t let up How come it took you ten minutes to get one teensy dog bed from the storeroom huh she growled at me

Growling Gracie — page 9 — It wasn’t ten minutes I said Was too she snapped At this rate we’ll get the morning chores done by next month Her face was turning kind of purple The veins stuck out on her neck Well I sure wasn’t going to let Alfreeda be the only alpha fighter around our place In case you don’t know alpha means first or top In wolf packs the alpha male and the alpha female are the biggest smartest bravest strongest and fastest wolves And yeah they’re the most fierce too They take care of the weaker ones I frowned hard at my sister and yelled Stop yelling at me Mom Alfreeda won’t quit yelling at me Shh Mom said in a super-firm voice She frowned

Growling Gracie — page 10 — at us through the chain-link fence She sat on the floor of pen eight and rocked a homesick dog in her arms No fighting today you two And I mean it Whoa I couldn’t remember the last time Mom had sounded that crabby She went on in that crabby voice I got about three hours of sleep last night thanks to four homesick dogs I won’t stand for a second of your fighting this morning That shut us right up About then Uncle Robert’s super-loud car came roaring up outside His old sports car made the loudest bangs and backfires you’ve ever heard You could hear him coming from a mile away Oh no Mom said with a groan I already told him not today Okay so that was weird Mom always liked it when

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