Poke Poke Poke Woof Mario Woof Poke Poke Giggle Wait What Giggle Giggle Poke Shake Huh Poke Pet Pet Hold on I cracked open one eye Then the other A girl with bushy hair like a squirrel’s tail smiled at me Wait a minute Where was I Silly Penny Hannah said Hannah My tail thumped I wasn’t back in the alley after all I was at the Mayfair House with the Helper Hounds 3
CHAPTER 2 I stretched across the cool floor My front pads landed on Sparkplug He turned around fast and happy-barked in my face I took two quick sniffs Did Sparky have the bacon breath You were drooling and barking in your sleep Penny Hannah said She ran her hand down my back And your hair is standing up Bad dream Hannah scrunched her red eyebrows at me It was nice of her to ask me about my dream It was pretty scary So I sat up and shook it off But I was at Mayfair House in my bright red Helper Hounds vest to help Hannah with her bad dreams 4
Hannah had bad dreams Really scary stuff Hannah used to tell me about a big hairy monster that creeeeeeked the door open at night Sometimes Hannah cried when she told me about the monster When she did I leaned in closer I rested my big blocky head on her lap And then Hannah would pet me But sometimes like this time I dozed off Rude I know But just for a second Hannah was such a good storyteller She spoke low and slow Plus she was an even better petter What could I do When I fell asleep Hannah kept talking And that’s what I was there for to listen to Hannah talk about monsters or anything else that worried her But good news lately Hannah’s dreams had gotten much better Sometimes she even dreamt about me Did Penny fall asleep again Hannah Miguel said 5
Miguel I sat up straighter and tilted my head toward Miguel My tail hadn’t stopped thumping since I woke up She did Mr Miguel Hannah said But that’s okay I pretend she’s sleeping with me at night So it’s good practice when she does it for real Miguel laughed Well I’m glad this lazy girl can help I slurped Hannah’s hand I was glad I could help too Miguel made small fists and brought his hands to his hips This was the here command I stood and took two steps toward Miguel He clipped my Helper Hounds leash on Well time for us to go Miss Hannah Miguel said Sparky and Tasha should be leaving soon too Penny will be back next week Same time same place Can’t wait Hannah said 6
