Chapter Two: Suzy Sings
My best friend, Autumn Doyle, and I walk two blocks each day to Andrew Jackson Elementary School. Autumn lives next door to me. She is in the third grade too, but she is a year older than me. Autumn is tall and skinny with long, red hair. She helps me with all of my scientific experiments. We plan on using my new metal detector to start an expedition in the field behind my house this summer. So far, we’ve only dug up old soda cans around the yard. I’m hoping to find an ancient treasure in the field, though. It doesn’t look like it’s been explored much. My dad says that it is possible that there could be some Civil War items buried out there somewhere. I want to find something important so that I can be on the Discovery Channel. That would be a good start to my career as a scientist.
Suzy follows us to school nearly every day. Suzy was given to us when he was about three months old from my cousin, Ben. Although my dad claims that he is a full-blooded mutt, he is actually a Cocker Spaniel mixture. Suzy’s mom was a Cocker Spaniel, but I’m not sure about his dad. If it weren’t for the fact that his tail wasn’t clipped off when he was a puppy, Suzy would look exactly like a Cocker Spaniel. I don’t understand why people do that to their dogs anyway. It seems awfully cruel.
Everyone laughs when I tell them his name is Suzy. I’ve tried to change his name several times, but he will only come to Suzy. Ben said that Suzy was born to a litter of five female siblings. After giving all but two away, they were left with one female and one male. The male was named Elvis, and the remaining female was Suzy. They decided to keep the remaining female after giving the male puppy away. It wasn’t until they took Suzy to get her shots that they discovered they gave the wrong puppy away. Ben and his parents had spent a lot of time training the puppy to recognize its name. It’s embarrassing at times, but I guess a boy named Suzy sounds better than a girl named Elvis.
We’ve tried tricking Suzy into not following us to school. Autumn or I will throw a stick or ball in the opposite direction, while we run our fastest in the other direction. I’ve even tried feeding him before we leave. He’ll just gulp it down as fast as he can so that he can catch up with us. After Thanksgiving last year, Dad fed him some leftover turkey with a gigantic bone for treats. We made it halfway to school when we saw Suzy running to catch up with us with the bone hanging from his mouth.
It wouldn’t bother me so much if Suzy would go home after he walks us to school safely. Instead, he will sit outside my classroom window waiting for me to go out for recess. All of my classmates will pet and play with him at recess. He even gets involved with our softball games. The problem is that he fetches ground balls in the outfield, but he carries them off all over the school campus. I think that he thinks it funny to make the softball team chase him all around the school. He tried to steal a dodgeball once during a game, but it went flat when he sank his teeth into it to pick it up.
Mrs. Crocker constantly reminds me that I needed to find a way to keep Suzy at home. The gym teacher had recently complained about Suzy’s constant interference in dodgeball and softball games. I don’t think Suzy means any harm. He just wants to be included in all the fun. Just like any other kid my age, he doesn’t like to be left out of anything. He never really means to do any harm. When stealing a softball, he eventually lets the players catch up with him to get the ball back. He just loves all of the attention. He would get more than enough attention today. Today, he would become the star of the school.
Autumn and I were at our desks at 7:45 like we are everyday in Mrs. Crocker’s class. We would be counted tardy if we were not at our desks by 7:45. The National Anthem begins at that time. As I stood with the rest of the class when the song played, I noticed Suzy’s head was poking through the half-open window. I was hoping no one else would notice, but Suzy was determined to draw attention to himself.
“Awwwl,” Suzy suddenly sang out.
Everyone looked in his direction in surprise.
“Awwwl, Awwwl,” sang Suzy.
Giggles and chuckles were bursting out within the classroom. Suzy continued to sing for the remainder of the song. The entire classroom was in laughter as we sat back in our seats.
“Owww,” Larry Morgan mocked.
“Owww,” Several other classmates began mimicking Suzy.
Meanwhile, Suzy still had his head poking through the half-open window. Several students had gotten up to pet him through the window. Suzy was soaking in all of the attention.
“Owww,” Larry Morgan crooned to a classroom full of laughter.
Soon, everyone in class was mimicking Suzy. Mrs. Crocker, however, did not seem to find the situation very funny.
“Take this to the principal’s office,” Mrs. Crocker ordered as she handed me a folded up note.
I lowered my head in shame and slowly walked down the hall to the principal’s office. Students from other classrooms were staring and laughing at me as I made my way down the hall. Others, like some of the softball players, were clapping. Coach Nelson poked his head out of the gym long enough to remind me that he had warned me about Suzy.
“I told you to do something about that dog,” he smirked.
I opened the door to Mr. Brady’s office and handed the receptionist the note Mrs. Crocker had given me. She read the note and told me to have a seat until Mr. Brady was finished with his meeting. I was so embarrassed. As I sat waiting for Mr. Brady for what seemed like hours, the bell rang signifying that it was time to change classes. The hallways filled with students walking by staring at me waiting for Mr. Brady. Usually, it means a kid is in big trouble when you have been sent to the principal’s office. It’s not like I had been caught shooting spitwads or anything. My only crime was that my dog wanted to be part of the class.
Finally, Mr. Brady’s door opened.
“Good morning, Serina,” he greeted as he motioned for me to enter his ominous office. “I understand old Suzy stirred up quite a commotion this morning,” he began.
I shook my head yes. I was too frightened to reply at that point. I had heard horror stories about kids being sent to Mr. Brady’s office before. Jimmy Kimmel, a fifth grader, was summoned to Mr. Brady’s office in the middle of class last year for no apparent reason. He was never seen again. Some people said that he was being held prisoner in the janitor’s office as punishment for the time he put Jell-O in Billy Duncan’s gym shorts. I’d also heard that he and his family had to move when his father received a promotion at the company he worked for. I’m not sure what to believe, but I’m going to be on my best behavior in Mr. Brady’s presence. I don’t want to be a prisoner of the janitor.
“Is there not a way that you can leave Suzy at home?” he asked.
“I’ve tried everything, but he won’t stop following me,” I replied.
“Have you tried chaining him up?”
“He goes crazy when I put him on a chain.”
Suzy lived on a ranch in the country before Ben gave him to me. As a puppy on the ranch, he had grown accustomed to the freedom that accompanied life in the country. My dad said that putting a chain on Suzy would be like trying to ride the wildest bull at the rodeo.
“I like Suzy, but he can’t be allowed to disrupt class,” Mr. Brady replied. “I overlooked the dodgeball he ruined. Coach Nelson reminds me every day that Suzy is interfering with softball practice. I’m sorry, but you must find a way to keep Suzy at home. You have one week to find a way to keep him home. If he is back here this time next week, I’ll have to call your father.”
"Okay,” I murmured.
My dad had already warned me that he would take Suzy back to Ben if Suzy caused any trouble. “Letting a dog run loose all the time is just asking for trouble,” he would constantly remind me.
By the time I left Mr. Brady’s office, it was recess. I could use the relaxation since today had gotten off to such a bad start. I got outside just in time to see Coach Nelson chasing Suzy across the softball field. Suzy was running as fast as he could with the softball clutched in his mouth.
Coach Nelson didn’t stand a chance.