Fabulous Five 013 - The Christmas Countdown Read online

  "Don't forget your books!" called Mrs. Edwards. Melanie spun on her heel, grabbed her books, and kept going.

  In her room she kicked off her shoes and jumped into the middle of her bed to open the envelopes. The first one contained a five-dollar bill wrapped in a piece of paper with a note that said, To the save the dog fund. It was signed, Martha Glosner. The shaky scrawl looked as if it had been written by a very old person. Melanie thought about Mrs. Miller, and how she loved her Duchess so much. The little dog still hadn't turned up.

  The other envelope obviously had been sent by a child. It contained forty-five cents in change, which was taped to a piece of cardboard.

  Melanie sat on the bed and looked at the money. Five dollars and forty-five cents. It wasn't much, but of course this was only the first day they would have received donations in the mail. With the rest of what they had collected and the money they each put into the box instead of exchanging presents, they had a little over one hundred dollars. Melanie sighed. They only had this week to raise enough money, and Christmas Eve day was getting closer and closer.

  "The total now stands at one hundred seventeen dollars and sixteen cents," said Christie, as she sat at the collection table on Tuesday with her pad and pencil. Jon was sitting next to her watching her add the figures, and Shane, Randy, Melanie, and Jana were standing with them.

  "Don't forget the five dollars and forty-five cents we got in the mail," reminded Melanie.

  "Oh, yeah. That makes it one hundred twenty-two dollars and sixty-one cents."

  "Two dollars and thirty-nine cents more and we'll have enough for five animals," said Jana.

  "We're still a long way off from fifteen," said Christie, chewing on the end of her pencil. "And we've only got four days left." Worry lines etched her forehead.

  "That's five more cats and dogs than we have homes for," said Shane. He was playing with two quarters he had taken from the money box. "Igor's really getting grumpy over the thought of sharing his sandbox with a bunch of cats."

  "I don't blame him," said Randy. "We'd better do something fast."

  "Hey, here comes Chet Miller and Jay Chisholm. Chet was in the school play with Beth, maybe he'll give something," said Jon.

  "Hey, Chet. Jay," called Shane. "Step right up here and let us give you the golden opportunity of a lifetime." Shane made his voice sound as if he were a barker in a circus, trying to draw a crowd into a show. "Tell you what I'm gonna do. For the measly sum of fifty cents apiece we're going to give you a chance to win the pet of your choice. Where else can you get an offer like that?"

  "That's an opportunity? It sounds more like a threat," said Chet, smiling. "My family already has a dog and two cats. If I brought another animal home, somebody would have to leave, and I think my dad would pick me."

  "Well, you can at least donate fifty cents," said Jon.

  Chet and Jay dug into their pockets and pulled out some change. "This is all I've got," said Jay, dropping some nickels and dimes into the box.

  "There's Max McNatt. Why don't you ask him to donate?" asked Chet. "Hey, Max. Come here."

  Melanie looked at Max, who was big and burly and played nose guard on the varsity football team. He wore his blond hair short and swaggered around Wakeman as if he owned the school. His round head was set right on top of his shoulders so that he reminded Melanie of a human snowman. He was blustery and scared her when she was near him, and his sister, Geena, who was in the seventh grade, was kind of wild, too.

  "What do you want?" Max demanded brusquely.

  "We're collecting money to save cats and dogs who are going to be put to sleep at the animal shelter," Shane answered. "Would you like to donate?"

  "Why should I?" Max responded.

  Melanie stared at him with disgust. It was the sort of answer she had expected from him.

  "Because you're a nice guy?" questioned Shane.

  "Who told you that?"

  "I heard it from the center on Georgetown's football team," Shane shot back.

  Max glared at him, and Melanie saw Randy stiffen, but Shane kept his cool.

  "Tell you what," said Shane. "We'll flip a coin and you can call it. If it comes up the way you say, I'll put fifty cents in. If it doesn't, you put fifty cents in."

  Max's eyes narrowed as he looked at Shane. "Let me see the quarter," he growled. Shane handed it to him and he turned it over twice, looking at both sides.

  Shane reached out and took it back. "That's okay, if you're afraid to take a chance." He flipped the coin and caught it.

  "Heads!" shouted Max.

  Shane looked at him as if he were surprised at the call. Then he slapped the quarter down in his opposite hand and held his two hands palms together and looked at Max. Slowly, he raised the top hand to reveal a quarter tails-side up.

  "Darn!" said Max, reaching into his pocket and taking out some change, which he tossed into the box before stomping off.

  "That makes one hundred twenty-three dollars and eleven cents," said Shane, tossing the money he had been holding into the box, too.

  Melanie stared at him, and he smiled. She could have sworn that she saw him throw in two quarters, but it had looked as if he just had one when he was flipping with Max.

  "McNatt's really a sweet guy, when you get to know him," said Chet. He smiled and left.

  "Max makes Ebenezer Scrooge seem nice," said Jana. "His sister Geena's in my Social Studies class, and she's always disrupting class and picking on people."

  "Let's forget about them," said Christie. "Now that we're getting some money, doesn't anyone know anyone who wants a cat or dog?"

  "What about Mrs. Miller?" asked Jana. "Did she ever find her dog, Duchess?"

  "No," said Melanie. "Hey! That's an idea. If Duchess doesn't come back, maybe we can give her one."

  "I don't know," said Jon, shaking his head. "Maybe she's too sad to want another dog right now."

  Melanie looked at him. He might be right. "I'll ask Mom about it. She talks to Mrs. Miller a lot. Maybe she can find out."

  A glimmer of an idea was starting to grow in Melanie's mind. Maybe this was just the opening she needed to get Rainbow, she thought as she headed for her afternoon classes. If she could convince her parents to go with her to the shelter to pick a new pet for Mrs. Miller, it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce them to Rainbow. It just might work, if she played it right. Maybe she would get a pet for Christmas after all.

  CHAPTER 9

  "Are you going to Bumpers today?" Melanie asked Katie as they were getting their books out of their lockers after school.

  Katie shook her head. "I wish I could, but my sneakers are shot. Mom gave me some money this morning, and I'm going to the mall to get some new ones."

  "The mall!" shrieked Melanie, slapping her forehead with the back of her hand. "Why didn't I think of that? Come on. Help me catch everybody before they leave the building."

  "What are you talking about?" asked Katie. "All I said was that I was going to get new sneakers."

  Melanie slammed her locker and gave Katie an exasperated look. "Don't you get it? The mall. All those shoppers with money. I'll bet lots of them would donate to save the animals if they had the chance."

  Katie's eyes shot open as if she'd just been struck by lightning. "You're right. And we're going to give them a chance."

  The two girls darted through the crowded hallway flagging down each of their friends before they left their lockers until they had the entire Fabulous Five together and had told them the new plan.

  "I think it's terrific," said Beth. "Should we get the boys, too? I know they would help."

  "There isn't time," said Jana. "I have to be home in an hour and a half."

  "Besides," said Christie proudly, "this is something just for The Fabulous Five to do together."

  The girls were out of breath by the time they had jogged the seven blocks to the huge downtown mall, and they exchanged smiles of victory at the bumper-to-bumper stream of cars heading into the parking gar
age.

  "Genius, pure genius!" said Beth, patting Melanie on the back.

  The interior of the mall was even more crowded than the parking garage, and the girls had to link arms to stay together in the surging crowd as they went past the picture-taking booth where Santa Claus sat, then got on the escalator up to the second level.

  "How are we going to get noticed?" asked Jana.

  "I brought the poster from our cafeteria table," said Christie, holding a roll of poster board out for them to see. "But I don't see anywhere to put it so that people will see it."

  "I know," said Melanie. "Let's set up by the pet store in that little oasis with the indoor trees, the waterfall, and the park benches."

  "Good idea," said Katie. "People shopping at the pet store ought to be especially interested in saving animals."

  When they reached the spot, a pair of elderly ladies were just leaving one of the benches, and Beth grabbed it before anyone else could get there. Then the girls unrolled their poster and taped it to the backrest of the bench where it could be seen by people passing by.

  "Does anyone have anything to collect the money in?" asked Jana.

  Nobody did, but Melanie spotted an empty soft-drink cup floating in the fountain and retrieved it. "Here," she said, shaking off the water drops. "Okay, guys. Time to go to work."

  "Excuse me, Ma'am," said Beth, stopping a plump woman coming out of the pet store. She was carrying a cat's clawing post decorated with a big red ribbon. "Wouldn't you like to help save the lives of fifteen dogs and cats that the local animal shelter is going to put to sleep on Christmas Eve?"

  The lady looked startled. "Christmas Eve? Oh, my."

  "That's right," piped up Melanie. "It costs twenty-five dollars apiece to adopt the animals, and we're trying to raise enough money to adopt all of them."

  The lady gave a breathless little sigh and set down the clawing post. Then she dug into her purse and pulled out a dollar bill. "Here," she said. "Good luck."

  Melanie and Beth looked at each other in wide-eyed disbelief. "Why didn't we think of this before?" Melanie burst out. "It's a snap."

  "What's this about animals being put to sleep?" The girls looked up to see a man standing beside them in jeans and a ski jacket, holding the hands of two snowsuited toddlers.

  "That's right," said Christie. "The animal shelter is overcrowded and they have no choice."

  "Well, we certainly want to do something about that, don't we, kids?"

  The two children nodded their heads vigorously. Then the man handed each of them a quarter and instructed them to drop it into the cup.

  "Wow!" cried Beth. "This is what I call Christmas!"

  "Just a moment, young ladies." The voice that spoke this time did not sound friendly, and the girls turned to see a mall security guard with his arms folded across his chest, frowning at them. "I'd like to know what you think you're doing?"

  "We're . . . um . . ." Melanie stammered.

  "We're collecting money to save the lives of fifteen dogs and cats at the animal shelter," spoke up Katie.

  "And of course you know that soliciting in the mall without a permit is against the law," the guard said sternly. "There are signs posted all over the mall," he added, pointing to a large sign beside the door to the pet store that said: ABSOLUTELY NO SOLICITING IN THE MALL.

  Melanie cringed. She had been in the mall thousands of times, but this was the first time she had ever seen the sign.

  "Gosh, Officer. We're sorry," she said. "We didn't realize we were breaking the law. We're only trying to help the animals."

  The officer's expression softened a little. "The correct procedure is to go to the main office of the mall on the first floor and fill out a request for a permit. The office will review it, check your references, and let you know in a few days."

  Melanie's shoulders slumped. "Thanks," she said, "but we don't have a few days."

  The girls rolled up their poster again and headed for the exit, saying good-bye to Katie, who still had to shop for sneakers.

  "I guess we'll just have to think of something else," said Jana.

  Melanie nodded and then brightened. "Well, at least we got another dollar and fifty cents."

  "Wow! Look at all the mail Melanie's got." Jeffy grabbed for the envelopes Melanie had in her hands a little while later, and she jerked them away.

  "Leave me alone, squirt. These are donations." She thumbed through them, counting. "Seven. That's more like it," she said with a smile.

  "You're keeping track of the money you're getting, aren't you?" asked her mother.

  "We sure are," Melanie answered, heading for her room. "Christie's our accountant," she called over her shoulder.

  "Oh, that reminds me," her mother called after her. "Mona Vaughn called to say that the shelter will give you a fifty-dollar discount. Congratulations."

  "Whoopee!" Melanie sang to herself as she raced into her room. After the disastrous trip to the mall, she needed cheering up. "And I'll bet there's fifty dollars here." She dropped the envelopes on her desk and tore one open. It contained five dollars. She laid it on the corner of her desk and put the accompanying letter aside.

  The rest of the envelopes had an assortment of money from two to ten dollars. The total was thirty-three dollars.

  Melanie held the stack of money against her cheek. It wasn't fifty dollars, but it was a lot more than the five dollars and forty-five cents they had gotten in the mail the day before. It was enough for one and a half animals, and if she got even more tomorrow and the next day, they had a chance to get the three hundred and twenty-five dollars they needed now with the fifty-dollar discount from the shelter.

  She arranged the letters that had come with the money in a neat stack to look at later. I'll call Christie right away, she thought, getting up. She can tell me what the new total is and we can count dogs and cats. When Melanie came into the living room, she found her mother with Mrs. Miller.

  "Sit down, Clare, and tell us what's wrong." Mrs. Edwards was holding Mrs. Miller's arm and helping her into a chair. Melanie had been so busy with the money she hadn't heard the doorbell chime. Mrs. Miller's eyes were red, as if she had been crying, and she was holding a scrap of paper in her hand.

  "I've just received a call from Mrs. Mertz on Sherwood Street," she said in a shaky voice as she wiped her eyes with a crumpled tissue.

  "There, there," said Melanie's mother, patting her hand. "Can we get you a glass of water or something?" Mrs. Miller waved her hand to reject the offer.

  "What did Mrs. Mertz say?" asked Mrs. Edwards.

  Mrs. Miller looked up at her. Her eyes were brimming with tears. "They said they found the body of a little Pomeranian dog that had a tag saying its name was Duchess, and my telephone number was on it."

  "Way over on Sherwood?" Melanie said in disbelief. "How could she have gotten way over there?"

  Mrs. Miller shook her head. "They said it looked as if she had been run over."

  "Oh, my," said Melanie's mother. "Did they give you their address?"

  Mrs. Miller held up the paper she had been holding, and Mrs. Edwards took it.

  After she read it, she handed it to Melanie. "Your father's down in the basement. Go tell him what's happened, and ask him if he'll go get Duchess. Tell him to take a box along."

  Melanie went with her father to get Duchess. When they returned, he got a shovel, and they scraped the snow away and buried the little box with the body in it in the corner of Mrs. Miller's backyard.

  "Go get your mother and Clare," said Mr. Edwards. "We'll show them where Duchess is buried."

  Melanie did as she was told, but before she followed them back to Mrs. Miller's yard, she ran into the family room and took a red carnation from a vase.

  When she joined the others at the small grave site, she handed the carnation to Mrs. Miller. The older lady smiled at her and laid in on the little mound of earth.

  CHAPTER 10

  "That was so sad," said Melanie at the dinner table that n
ight. "Mrs. Miller really took it hard."

  "Yes, she did," her mother agreed. "She had Duchess for a long time. The little dog was like a baby to her. A lot of older people need animals as companions. They give them something to care for that can return their affection."

  "I was thinking," said Melanie. "Would it be too soon to give her another dog?"

  Her mother looked at her with raised eyebrows.

  "My friends and I have enough money to buy four or five dogs or cats, and it just seems like a good idea to give one to her." Melanie hurriedly added, "But we wouldn't do it unless Mrs. Miller wanted one."

  "That's very thoughtful, Melanie," said her mother.

  "Do you think you could talk to her and see how she feels about it?" asked Melanie. "We're going to have some super dogs and cats. Maybe she'd rather have a cat this time."

  "It might be a little too early for her to take either, sweetheart, but if it seems right, I'll talk to her."

  Later in her room, Melanie sat staring at her open English book, absentmindedly drawing Santa Clauses in her notebook. It had all seemed so simple when she had thought up the idea of saving the animals. There were all those beautiful kittens and puppies and older animals. All Melanie and her friends needed was money and people to take them. How could anyone resist giving money to save such sweet animals or not want to give a home to one of them?

  She looked at the picture of herself and Mona with Rainbow that she had thumbtacked over her desk. It seemed impossible that someone wouldn't want Rainbow. She was so loving and trusting. Melanie moved her fingers across the photo. She could almost feel the fine hair covering the dog's gorgeous head. She bit her lip to hold back the tears. In a way she knew how Mrs. Miller felt.

  She sighed and thought about her and Shane's plan to keep the animals if Christmas Eve came before they found homes for them. It was a crazy plan, and she had avoided even thinking about it, hoping instead that people who wanted the pets really would come forward. But what if no one did? What if she was stuck with eight or nine dogs hidden in her father's workshop? How would she feed them? Or let them out to go to the bathroom? What had she been thinking about anyway?