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
I couldn’t either I licked Hannah goodbye She hugged me then waved as we left Miguel and I raced each other down the front staircase I won As always While Miguel caught his breath he looked at his phone Looks like we’ve got a new case Penny Miguel said A girl named Portia needs our help Then Miguel told me about Portia Portia had done lots of hard things Portia went to fourth grade even though some people didn’t think she was smart enough Portia played tennis and rode horses even though some people said she wasn’t strong enough Portia learned to do lots of things people never thought she could All because Portia had something called Down syndrome Portia was a champion at proving everyone wrong Miguel said But Portia still had one 7
thing to conquer one fear to face Portia was afraid of dogs And two new dogs had just moved into Portia’s apartment building Right downstairs So Portia needed to get over her fear And fast Most of the Helper Hounds would never understand how anyone could be afraid of dogs But me I get it I used to be afraid of dogs too As Miguel told me more about Portia I remembered my dream about the Grey Sisters I shook My bad dream used to be my real life Well kind of
