Fabulous Five 013 - The Christmas Countdown Read online

  "Why don't we start with that little white dog?" suggested Mona. "I know it's one of the older ones. It's been here a long time."

  Charles, who turned out to be the man with the sideways cap, took it from its cage. It was small with cute little button eyes that peeked through its shaggy white hair.

  "Oh, it's adorable," Melanie said, holding it next to her cheek. "Its tongue looks like a little pink cookie."

  "Do you want to be in the picture with it?" asked Garrett. He had mounted his flash attachment on top of his camera and was ready to shoot.

  "No! Not the way I look this morning," said Melanie, reaching up to smooth her hair.

  They took the white dog's picture and then the picture of a black poodle that pranced around excitedly on sticklike legs and was hard to stop long enough to snap its picture.

  Next Charles took a sleek gray cat and a long-haired yellow one out of their cages, and Mona held them together as Garrett shot a close-up of them in her arms.

  They took a picture of a mixed-breed dog that Melanie thought must be a cross between a golden retriever and a dachshund. Blond hair covered its long body, but its legs were so short it looked to her as if it were on its knees.

  Garrett took pictures of two more dogs and a cat before asking, "Do you want any more?"

  Melanie looked around at the rows of cages and wished they could take all of the cats and dogs out and hold them for a little while. She understood now why Mona came three times a week to play with them. It seemed like such a little thing to do when the animals loved it so much.

  "One more picture," she said, looking toward the cage at the far end of the row on the right.

  Charles let Rainbow out, and she came directly to Melanie and Mona. Both girls hugged her.

  "If I can talk my parents into getting her, you can come and play with her as much as you want," Melanie said to Mona.

  Mona smiled and held up her crossed fingers.

  "Take our picture with Rainbow," said Melanie.

  "I thought you didn't want your picture taken," responded Garrett.

  "This is special," answered Melanie, pulling a piece of mistletoe out of her backpack and holding it over the dog's head. Then she and Mona smiled for the camera and so did Rainbow.

  On the way out they stopped at Mrs. Graham's desk as she had asked.

  "This is the adoption agreement we ask everyone who takes one of our animals to sign. It gives information about the animal, but more importantly it says that the person will feed and take care of their new friend, they will take it to a veterinarian if it's hurt or sick, and they won't allow it to be used for any experimental purposes."

  Mrs. Graham continued, "It also says you will tell us if the animal becomes lost, and you will bring it back if you don't want it anymore and not just give it to someone else. The adoption agreement has to be signed by an adult."

  "Gee," said Mona, "I didn't know you were so strict. That's great."

  "It's almost like adopting a kid," said Garrett.

  "We care about our animals," said Mrs. Graham. "If you really do take several of them, we're going to have to have an adult sign one of these for each dog and cat."

  Melanie stared at the formal-looking paper. It made their project seem even more serious. She had thought they would just pay the money and the shelter would give them the cats and dogs. Well, when they found people to take them, she was sure they wouldn't mind signing a little adoption agreement. But what if they couldn't find enough people? What would they do then?

  "I'll take the film over to the one-hour photo lab and have the prints back this afternoon," said Garrett as they stood in front of the animal shelter a few minutes later. "I'll drop them off at your house," he said to Melanie.

  "Thanks, Garrett. You really are super," she said, and then said good-bye to Mona.

  On the walk home, Melanie thought again about the adoption agreement. There was no way Mrs. Graham was going to let them pay for all the animals and just take them if there was no one to sign the papers. She thought back to the conversation at her kitchen table yesterday when she and her friends were counting money.

  Christie had suggested that someone with a basement might keep the animals temporarily. That wasn't a bad idea, thought Melanie, but no one had agreed to do it. She thought about her own basement again. There was no way that it would work. Her parents had already said that they wouldn't agree to housing fifteen cats and dogs.

  Could I hide them down there? she wondered, but the instant she thought of it, she knew it wouldn't work. The washer and dryer were in the basement, and she or her mother did a load of laundry practically every day. And besides that, Jeffy rode his tricycle down there when the weather was bad outside. The only other possibility was the room behind the garage that her father used for a workshop. He hardly ever went out there this time of year, but it was too small for so many animals, and besides, it wasn't heated.

  Melanie trudged along in the snow, feeling more dejected than ever. Nothing was working out right. She had been so optimistic at first. She had believed that she and her friends would earn the money quickly and find lots of homes for the animals and she would get Rainbow for her own. She had even thought that she could work on the project with Shane and that he might even ask her out. But none of it had come true. Not the money, not the homes, not Rainbow, and not even Shane.

  Shane. Melanie stopped in her tracks. Why hadn't she thought of it before? Shane Arrington might just be the answer to some of their prayers. She took off for her house at a run and dialed his number without even taking off her coat.

  CHAPTER 7

  "Shane? It's Melanie," she said when he answered.

  "Oh, hi, Mel. How's it going? Are you calling to say that you've inherited a million dollars? Or that you've found someone to take all the animals?"

  Melanie crossed her fingers for luck and took a deep breath. "Not exactly," she said slowly.

  "Isn't 'not exactly' usually followed by 'but'?" he asked cautiously.

  This was it. There was no turning back now. "Actually it is," she said, and then plunged on in. "Not exactly, but I was wondering how your parents would feel about signing the adoption papers and keeping the animals at your house until we can find homes for all of them. I mean, you've said so often that your mom and dad are really cool and laid back and nothing bothers them and that they believe in love and peace and—"

  "Whoa!" cried Shane. "Just a minute. Let me get this straight. You're saying that if we raise the money to spring the animals and if we can't find people to adopt them, you want my parents to take them all in?"

  Melanie closed her eyes and crossed her Fingers again. Everybody knew that Shane's parents had been hippies and that they still made the peace sign and talked about love among all people on earth. Surely they loved animals, too.

  "Could you ask them?" she asked. "I mean, maybe they would. It would just be temporary until we found enough good homes, and it might save the lives of all those animals."

  Shane didn't answer for a moment. Finally he sighed and said, "They aren't home right now, but even if they say it's okay, there's somebody else you're forgetting. Igor. I couldn't just bring in a bunch of strange animals without checking with him first. It would hurt his feelings."

  Melanie choked back a giggle. "Okay," she said. "Talk to Igor."

  Shane put down the phone and was gone for a couple of minutes. "Hello, Melanie?" he said when he picked it up again.

  "I'm still here. What did he say?"

  "He isn't sure we have room. He says fifteen animals is a lot," said Shane. "But personally I think he's just afraid he won't get enough attention. Is there someone else who could keep some of them?"

  Melanie bit her lower lip. "I don't know," she admitted. "We're really stuck, but maybe we could divide them up into two groups with dogs in one group and cats in another. How would he feel about taking the cats?"

  Shane put down the phone and was gone again. "Igor says cats drive him nuts. They follow h
im around and bat at his tail as if it were a piece of string that he was dragging for them to play with."

  "What about dogs?" Melanie asked, trying not to panic. She had thought Shane's parents might give them trouble, but she hadn't counted on its being Igor.

  A moment later Shane came back on the line. "He says dogs are worse. He's nocturnal, you know, and dogs keep him awake during the day with their barking, and sometimes they even chase him."

  "Oh, no," groaned Melanie. "Can't you talk to him? We really need a place to keep some of the animals. The shelter won't release them unless we can guarantee homes."

  "Hold on," said Shane. "I'll try again."

  This time Shane was gone forever, and Melanie was beginning to wonder if he was ever coming back when she heard him pick up the receiver.

  "Okay, Mel," said Shane. "Here's the plan. Igor says that if he has to choose, it's the cats. I hope you realize that you owe him a favor now. He'll probably want you to catch some flies for him or dig him some worms."

  "Yuck!" cried Melanie. "You've got to be kidding!"

  "I'm not kidding," Shane assured her. "Besides, you'd better be nice to him. Igor's the only one who can convince my parents to take in the cats."

  Melanie was bent over laughing when she hung up the phone. Shane had been wonderful, and she was sure that he was beginning to like her. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been so willing to help her out with the cats. But as much as she wanted to dream about Shane, she still had a lot to do for the second half of her plan.

  She found her parents in the dining room wrapping Christmas presents.

  "May I come in?" she asked timidly.

  "Sure," said her mother. "Most of yours are already wrapped. We're working on Jeffy's things while he's playing at a friend's house."

  Melanie glanced at the assortment of trucks and games still waiting to be wrapped. She hoped that when her parents had said most of her presents had been wrapped, they had meant that one would wear only a bow. A present named Rainbow.

  "What is it, sweetheart?" asked her father. "Did you want to ask us something?"

  Taking a deep breath, Melanie nodded. "I was just wondering if I could invite The Fabulous Five to sleep over tonight?"

  Her mother was thoughtful for a moment. "I don't see why not. Do you, Larry?"

  Mr. Edwards shook his head. "It's okay with me."

  "Thanks," Melanie said, giving each of them a hug and bounding out of the room. She grabbed the phone and punched in the first number.

  Melanie was waiting by the front door when her friends began to arrive. Jana was the first, and Melanie was glad that her parents were watching the six-o'clock news in the family room instead of sitting in the living room where they could see her friends come in.

  "Come on. The coast is clear," she said, helping Jana maneuver a sleeping bag through the door that was so fat it almost got stuck. "You'd better take it upstairs to my room while I watch for the others to arrive."

  Jana nodded and dragged the enormous bag up the stairs just as Katie came up the front sidewalk. Her sleeping bag was as big as Jana's, and she tugged it up the stairs without being seen by Melanie's parents either.

  By the time all of The Fabulous Five had arrived and stuffed their sleeping bags into Melanie's room, there was hardly space for the girls to squeeze in.

  "Now that we've gotten them here, why did you want us to bring all these old blankets and rags hidden in our sleeping bags?" asked Christie.

  Melanie listened at the door for a moment and then said, "I couldn't tell you on the phone because Mom was in the same room, but Shane and I have a plan for keeping the cats and dogs in case we can't find homes for them before Christmas Eve."

  "Wow. That's great," said Beth. "What is it?"

  "Shane and Igor have agreed to keep the cats at their house, and I'm going to hide the dogs in my dad's workshop behind the garage. He never goes out there this time of year, and I think I can keep my parents from finding out that the animals are there if I'm really careful."

  "But why do you need all this stuff?" asked Katie, looking around at the assortment of rags and blankets on the floor and wrinkling her nose.

  "I asked you to bring them over because the workshop isn't heated. The dogs need something to burrow into to keep warm."

  "Gosh. I don't know," said Jana. "Do you really think you can keep the dogs a secret from your parents? And how are you going to get this stuff out to the workshop without their seeing it?"

  "Yes, I can keep it a secret," Melanie insisted. "And we are going to take this out to the workshop tonight after my parents go to sleep."

  "Oooooh," groaned the rest of The Fabulous Five in unison.

  Sleepovers were usually a blast, but tonight was one of the longest evenings Melanie could remember. Everyone was too antsy to have any fun. Besides that, they couldn't think of anything to do. Jana tried calling Randy and Beth tried Keith's number, but neither boy was home. Then they called Mona Vaughn and talked to her about all the poor dogs and cats in the animal shelter until they were all depressed enough to cry.

  "We could call kids and try to talk them into adopting an animal," suggested Beth. "Maybe Alexis Duvall would take one, or Kim Baxter."

  "Naw," said Katie. "I've already talked to both of them. Alexis is allergic to animals, and Kim has a parrot named Squawker who drives her whole family crazy. I don't think she's much of a candidate for a dog or cat."

  Melanie looked at her watch. It was only ten after nine. Her parents wouldn't be going to bed for a long time.

  "Is anybody hungry?" she asked. Nobody was.

  "Why do we have to wait until your parents go to sleep?" asked Beth. "The house will be as quiet as a tomb then. It seems to me that if we sneak out to your father's workshop now while the television is on and they're busy talking, we have a better chance of making it without being heard."

  "Are you kidding?" said Christie. "What if they saw us sneaking down the stairs?"

  "And carrying all this stuff!" cried Jana.

  "I know," said Beth, rushing to Melanie's window and throwing it open. "Let's drop it out the window before we go downstairs."

  "Great idea," said Melanie. She picked up an armload of rags and tossed them out into the darkness. "Come on, everybody, and help."

  "What are we going to do now?" asked Christie when all the blankets and rags were gone from the room. "This is the craziest thing I've ever done in my life."

  "Just follow me," instructed Melanie. "And if anybody giggles, you're dead!"

  Melanie put on her jacket and mittens and listened at the door again. Behind her, the rest of The Fabulous Five were putting on their jackets, too. When everyone was ready, she opened the door and tiptoed into the hall.

  "Act casual," she instructed as she sauntered down the stairs. After a minute, her friends started down, too.

  "Melanie? Is that you?" asked her mother from the family room. Then she stepped to the door and got a surprised look on her face. "Where on earth are you girls going at this time of night?"

  Melanie gave her mother a bored look. "Oh, just out in the backyard to look at the stars," she said.

  Someone choked behind her, and Melanie braced for giggling to break out. Instead, Beth pretended to cough and Christie cleared her throat.

  "Did I hear you right?" asked Mrs. Edwards. "Did you say that you're going out into the backyard to look at the stars?"

  "Sure," said Melanie, as if she had never heard such a strange question. Then she made a beeline for the back door and called back over her shoulder, "Mars is ascending into the seventh moon tonight, Mom. Didn't you know?"

  As soon as the door closed behind the five of them, they couldn't hold back their giggles anymore.

  "Mars is ascending into the seventh moon?" shrieked Christie between laughs. "That sounds like astrology—you know, like your horoscope—not the kind of stars you look at in the sky."

  "Who cares?" said Melanie. "It worked, didn't it?"

  For the
next half hour the girls gathered blankets off the grass and picked rags from out of the bushes and put them onto the workshop floor without interruption from Melanie's parents. When they were finally finished, Melanie surveyed the job with satisfaction, thinking how cozy it would be with each dog in its own little nest. Now all the animals would be saved, and there was only one major thing left to do—get the money.

  CHAPTER 8

  "Thirteen dollars and eighty-five cents! Is that all?" Melanie asked in disbelief. "We collected over forty dollars Friday."

  "I know," said Jana. She was seated with Randy behind the collection table in the cafeteria on Monday. "The kids have been looking at the pictures Garrett took of the cats and dogs on the poster and talking about how cute they are, but most of them said they gave last week or they were broke. And no one signed up for a pet."

  "I can't believe it either," said Katie. "Don't they care about what happens to the poor animals?"

  "All I can say is, we'd better get a lot of money from the newspaper ad," said Randy. "There are only five more days before Christmas Eve, and right now all we can afford to pay for is two animals."

  "Well, I'm going to have to find a way to talk my mom and dad into going to look at Rainbow," said Melanie.

  "Lots of luck," said Jana. "I talked to my mom and Pink last night about getting a cat, and they said no way. With both of them working and me going to school, we couldn't take care of a pet."

  When Melanie got home from school, she ran into the kitchen and dropped her books on the kitchen table. "Do I have any mail?" she called.

  "Who'd write to you?" asked Jeffy, who was sitting at the counter licking cookie batter out of a bowl.

  "None of your business," said Melanie, darting her finger into the bowl and swiping some batter.

  "The mail is in the family room on the TV," said Mrs. Edwards. "I think there may be a couple of letters for you. I suppose they're donations for that animal fund you're working on."

  Melanie ducked out of the kitchen before her mother could ask any questions. She wasn't ready to admit that they still hadn't found homes for the dogs and cats or to take a chance on giving away her own secret plan. She grabbed the stack of envelopes and shuffled through them, taking out two that had her name on them and heading for her room.