The four friends made sure the gate was locked, left lots of food—more than they had the day before—then reluctantly headed for school.
“You don’t think he can get out, do you?” Rashawn asked as he glanced back.
“No, he’s still pretty little,” Rico replied. “But soon that low fence around Ziggy’s yard won’t be tall enough.”
“Then what?” Jerome asked.
No one answered. They all seemed to know what that would mean.
As they walked to school, they passed by the construction site. Trucks and heavy equipment still rumbled, but most of the clearing of the woods had been completed. “Wow! Look at that!” Rico said. “Look at how much progress they’ve made!”
“We were just here last week. I can’t believe they’ve done so much in such a short time,” Rashawn said. “We’ve been pretty busy with Dino and school, but this blows me away!”
“The area where we found Dino is flat as a pancake, mon!” Ziggy said in amazement.
“What if we hadn’t rescued him?” Rico wondered out loud. “And what about all the other animals that used to live there?”
“Where do you think they went?” Jerome asked.
No one had an answer.
• • •
The boys watched the clock all day, and even though everyone in their class wanted to talk about the animal show on Saturday, as soon as school was dismissed, the Black Dinosaurs raced down the street to Ziggy’s house.
When they got to his backyard, however, the deer was nowhere to be seen.
“Dino! Dino!” Jerome called out. He cleared his throat. His voice was beginning to get deeper, and sometimes it cracked when he yelled.
“Come here, Dino!” Rashawn said, worry in his voice.
“Where ya hidin’, mon?” Ziggy cried.
“I’ve got milk for you!” Rico called desperately. He looked at the other three boys. “Where can he be?”
Ziggy opened the gate and called again. “Dino! Come on, mon! Don’t make us worry like this.” The boys walked toward the back of the yard.
Just then they saw him—trotting toward them slowly, yawning.
“He was asleep!” Rico said with a sigh of relief.
“I bet he had fun all day, chasing squirrels and bugs and stuff,” Jerome said, grinning.
The boys hugged the fawn, then ran around the yard, letting him chase them as they laughed and got their shoes all muddy. Rashawn got the bottle and fed him, and the fawn promptly plopped down under a tree and fell asleep again.
“It looks like our little boy is growing up, mon!” Ziggy said triumphantly.
“And he didn’t make a mess today—at least not that we can see yet,” Rico said.
“I’m excited about the animal show on Saturday,” Rashawn said, stretching out his long legs as he sat down next to the fawn.
“Do you think we should give prizes for best animal and stuff?” Jerome asked.
“We haven’t got money for awards. Let’s just make certificates on the computer,” Rico suggested. “My mom will help us.”
“Great idea, mon!” Ziggy said. “What categories should we have?”
“Best Deer in the Whole Wide World!” Rico said with enthusiasm. The other boys cheered in agreement.
“Biggest Dog.”
“Cutest Cat.”
“Fuzziest Rabbit.”
“Scariest Pet. I bet Tito with the tarantula wins that one!” Jerome shuddered.
“You know, we can probably come up with a certificate for every animal that kids bring. It would be mean to send somebody home without a prize,” Rashawn said.
“You’re right,” Rico said, nodding his head. “Let’s make this fun for everybody. I’ll give my mom the sign-up list, and we’ll come up with an award certificate for all the animals that show up.”
He sat down on the other side of the fawn, which was sleeping soundly. Rico was much shorter than Rashawn, so his legs didn’t stick out as far. He wanted to be taller.
“How much do you think we’ll raise for the Ohio Wildlife Refuge Center?” he asked.
“Millions, mon!” Ziggy said as he plopped down next to them.
“You never were very good at math, were you, Ziggy?” Rico said with a laugh.
“It would be nice if we could do that, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate whatever we collect,” Rashawn said.
“What do we need to get ready for the show?” Jerome asked.
“Tables to put the cages on. Everybody bring a card table from home, okay?” Rico suggested. He liked being organized.
“And folding chairs. When we run out of table space, we can set the smaller animals in their cages on the chairs,” Jerome added.
“Everybody probably should bring all this stuff to my house on Friday evening so we can set up early,” Ziggy suggested.
“Good idea,” Rashawn said. “What about food?”
“My mum is making Jamaican iced tea,” Ziggy said.
“My grandmother said she’d bake some cookies for us,” Jerome told them.
“Tell her to make extra, mon! I love your grand-mum’s chocolate chip cookies!” Ziggy rubbed his tummy.
“They might taste better if you didn’t spread honey on them,” Jerome said with a laugh.
“You just don’t know what’s good, mon! The sweeter the better.” The rest of the boys just shook their heads.
“Anybody know what the weather’s supposed to be like on Saturday?” Rashawn asked.
“I’ll check the weather report online before I go to bed tonight,” Rico offered. “It’s been cloudy for the past few days—not too cold, not too hot. That’s probably what we can expect.”
The four friends then tidied up Ziggy’s yard as best they could, fed the fawn once more, and headed to their own houses to do homework. Rashawn and Jerome would return for the fawn’s middle-of-the-night feeding.
“Suppose it rains on Saturday?” Rico asked as they locked the gate.
“It just can’t, mon,” Ziggy said with assurance. “I’m absolutely sure it won’t rain.”
SATURDAY MORNING DAWNED CLOUDY AND DREARY. Thick, heavy rain clouds sagged low in the sky. All the weather reporters predicted heavy rain by the end of the day.
Ziggy, Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome had gathered in Ziggy’s kitchen to make final preparations for the animal show. All but Ziggy looked glum.
“Maybe it won’t rain until tonight,” Ziggy said cheerfully.
“Seems unlikely,” Jerome said, looking out the window. He nibbled on one of the cookies his grandmother had made.
“Do you think we should cancel?” Rico asked. He had placed a large stack of award certificates on the table. He, too, was eating one of the chocolate chip cookies.
“No way, mon! The show must go on!” Ziggy’s sunny attitude would not be stifled by rain clouds.
“Your backyard will be a muddy mess,” Rashawn said. “Kids won’t want to stomp around in that. Gee, these cookies sure are yummy!” Afrika slept quietly at his feet.
“And they won’t want their animals to get wet either,” Rico added.
“Let’s just move the show from the yard to the deck, then,” Ziggy suggested. “Our deck isn’t real big, but it has a roof and we can fit all the animals on it.”
“It will be a squeeze, but let’s try it,” Rashawn said hopefully.
“Let’s get started moving the tables and chairs to the deck,” Rico said, standing up, relieved a decision had been made.
“And I’ll make a sign for my front door, mon,” Ziggy offered, “and one for the front and back fences, so folks will know we haven’t canceled.” He got out the markers and wrote carefully on a piece of poster board:
RAIN OR SHINE—THE BACKYARD ANIMAL SHOW IS TODAY!
COME TO ZIGGY’S DECK THROUGH THE BACK FENCE. ALL ANIMALS WELCOME! DINO IS WAITING TO MEET YOU.
The boys hurried to clear Ziggy’s deck, sweep it off, and set up the tables and chairs. Dino played in the yard as the boys worked, s
niffing out invisible scents and chasing flying leaves. The wind had picked up a little.
Afrika moved to a corner of the deck, where he curled up under a table and went back to sleep. He paid no attention to the fawn.
Ziggy’s mother came out at one point, observed the boys’ work, and gave a nod of approval. “You’ll be sure to clean off my deck when this is over, right, my boys?”
“Oh yes, Mum! You don’t have to worry about a thing,” Ziggy assured his mother. He gave her a big hug.
“I’ve made cookies too,” she said. “Caramel cinnamon spice.”
“Thanks, Mum!” Ziggy gave her another hug.
“Don’t lay it on too thick, son,” his mother said with a smile. “I’m already in your corner.” She gave one final look around the deck and the yard. “I’ll be upstairs working on my sewing. Call me if you need me.” She stopped at the door. “I hope the rain waits until after your show, but if it does start to get wet, ask your friends to wipe their feet before they come in my house, you hear?” She went back inside.
By one o’clock, the rain still had not begun, but the sky was dark. The first participants began to arrive about a half hour later. Max, with his turtle, Tailgate, in a small glass aquarium, and Patrick, with his two frogs in a similar glass enclosure, took their pets out to the deck.
Rico collected their dollars, then placed the animals on the deep wooden railing that surrounded the deck. “If it does rain,” Rico said, looking up at the sky, “at least these guys won’t care if they get wet. We’ll put the other animals under the shelter of the roof.”
“The rain is gonna wait, mon!” Ziggy said confidently. “I just know it.”
“Well, Mutt and Jeff love rain. They hope you’re wrong,” Patrick said. “Yum, great cookies,” he added as he gobbled a couple of the chocolate chip ones.
Brandy and Tiana showed up next. Rashawn looked nervous, but he opened the back gate and let them in. The two cats, Sanfran and Cisco, were identical—golden tabbies with blue eyes. They seemed upset about being in a cage, mewing loudly and angrily as Tiana set them on one of the card tables. Brandy’s rabbit, Pixie, seemed unconcerned. She was munching happily on some lettuce that Brandy had placed in the cage.
“Where should I put Pixie?” Brandy asked. As she had promised, she gave Rico two dollars instead of one.
“Wow, thanks, Brandy. How about over here, away from the cats. We don’t want to upset her—she seems pretty happy.”
“You give her food, she’s cool,” Brandy said with a smile as she set the rabbit’s cage on a wobbly card table. Afrika continued to sleep quietly beneath the table.
Tiana, however, was worried that her cats were so distressed. She whispered to them through the door of the cage, trying to calm them down. It didn’t seem to be working. The cats got louder. Afrika woke from his nap and glanced over at the cage where the noise was coming from. He barked once, then went back to sleep.
“I don’t think your dog likes my cats,” Tiana told Rashawn.
Rashawn tried to look relaxed, but his right foot kept tapping on the wooden floor of the deck as he spoke to Tiana. “Old Afrika just likes to get twenty-three hours of sleep a day. This whole animal show thing is not his idea of fun either.”
By this time, Liza, with a sloshing jar of goldfish, and Mimi, with a plastic cage carrying gerbils, arrived at Ziggy’s deck. The gerbils were asleep in a discarded toilet paper roll. Right behind them Roscoe came through the gate with his hamsters.
“Let’s put the gerbils and hamsters on the same table,” Rico suggested. “And we’ll put the goldfish over here,” he said, pointing to a smaller table. “At least they don’t make any noise.” The cats were still meowing loudly.
“Ah man, look who’s coming!” Jerome said, frowning. “It’s Tito and his spider!”
Tito walked onto the deck, a smile on his face, and, in a plastic cage, the biggest tarantula any of them had ever seen. “Am I too late?” he asked. He gave Rico his dollar. The other kids backed away from him.
“That’s a really big bug, man,” Jerome said weakly.
“Let me introduce you to Harry. He’s really nice, once you get to know him.” Tito reached over and started to unlock the cage.
“No, don’t!” Jerome said frantically. “I mean, let’s wait until everybody gets here, okay? Each person will get a few minutes to talk about their pet, okay?” Jerome was sweating.
“Sure thing,” Tito said calmly. He left the spider on one of the tables and walked around the deck, looking at the other animals. Nobody else put a pet on the table where the spider’s cage was.
Rebecca showed up then with Mariah Canary. The bird seemed uneasy, flying around the cage and bumping into its sides, chirping nervously. “I don’t think she’ll be singing today,” Rebecca said as she paid her dollar. “She doesn’t like crowds. My mom said I have to bring her home if it starts to rain.”
“Okay,” Rico said. “We’ll take good care of her.”
Bill arrived next, stomping onto the deck with his heavy boots, carrying Bronco the snake in a long, wooden box. Everyone was amazed at how long it was—almost five feet stretched out, Bill said—but it stayed curled and coiled in its box.
“It looks wet and slimy,” Liza said, shivering a little.
“Touch it,” Bill said. “You’ll be surprised how smooth and dry it feels. Snakes get a bad rap, but they’re really cool.”
“Does it bite?” she asked as she touched the snake timidly.
“Never. It’s as gentle as a lamb.”
“Wow, it really does feel cool. I never expected that,” Liza said.
“I think I’d rather pet a lamb,” Brandy said, walking away.
Brian arrived next with Iggy the iguana. Sporting a bright red collar and matching leash, the green reptile trotted next to Brian like a well-trained dog. It looked around at the assembled children with its bulging eyes and saggy skin as if it knew everyone was marveling at it. Most of them were.
Just then Dino trotted over to the deck. With pale caramel-brown fur, delicate white spots, black nose, and nervous, flickering tail, the young deer was magnificent. As if he knew he was the star of the show, he paused, then walked slowly around Ziggy’s backyard directly in front of the assembled children, seemingly just so he could be admired. He was the only animal not on the deck. Ziggy, Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome beamed with pride.
“Ladies and gentlemen, meet Dino the baby deer!” Rico announced proudly.
“Oh, he’s just beautiful!” Tiana said softly.
“Look at those spots—they look like little clouds,” Brandy said.
“Such big eyes. He’s awesome,” said Patrick. “You guys are so lucky.”
“I wish I had long eyelashes like that,” Liza said.
“You’d have to have a deer nose to match them,” Max teased. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Ziggy opened the deck gate and ran into the yard to pet the fawn. Dino ran over to him, nuzzled his neck, and dug down for the apples he knew Ziggy had for him.
Most of the girls clapped with delight, and the boys nodded with approval. “Can I pet him?” Bill asked, his voice a little harsh. He was heading to the gate at the edge of the deck.
“Uh, that’s probably not a good idea, Bill,” Rashawn said loudly and clearly, walking over to the gate. He stood at least four inches taller than Bill. “Dino is a wild animal, and he’s used to us, but strangers might upset him. That’s why he’s not on the deck with the others.”
Bill said nothing more and backed away. Ziggy continued to run with the fawn in the yard, and the kids laughed and cheered as boy and deer chased each other.
The dogs and their owners were the last to arrive, and for some reason, they all showed up at the same time. Simon and his poodle Pookie. Cecelia and the German shepherd she called Monster. And Samantha with the fluffy golden retriever named Honey.
Pookie, the smallest of the three, barked furiously at Monster. She sounded like a two-year-old yelli
ng at a teenager. Monster growled, but ignored her. Honey, the friendliest dog of the three, pulled away from her owner and ran to greet Afrika, who was still trying to sleep through all the commotion. Afrika was not amused and got up quickly, heading for the safety of the house. Just above the husky’s head was the wobbly card table where Pixie’s cage was.
Although he surely didn’t mean to, Afrika bumped the table as he got up, and the rabbit’s cage clattered to the deck. The cage door snapped open, and Pixie scooted across the deck. Brandy screamed and scrambled to the floor, trying to catch her frightened bunny.
Pookie kept barking, louder and more frantically. She pulled loose from Simon and added to the confusion by barking at both the terrified rabbit and the golden retriever, who by this time was sniffing at the cage where the cats’ cries had turned to desperate screeches.
Pookie bumped Honey, who knocked down the table where the cats’ cage was. Both cats bolted from their cage as the door flew open, claws swiping at the frantic little poodle, who would not stop barking. Honey, her large, fluffy tail thumping cheerfully behind her, bounded across the deck, sweeping across cages and knocking them to the floor. She seemed to think it was all a wonderful game and joined in the chasing of the cats, which headed toward the door into the house, and the rabbit, who scurried right behind them.
For a few seconds, everything was an unbelievable, noisy, confusing mess. No one seemed to know what to do. Girls were screaming, boys were yelling, dogs were barking, and everyone was chasing one animal or another. In the confusion, Bill’s snake got loose and Iggy’s leash got yanked from Brian’s hand by the German shepherd. Brian fell to the deck with a cry of surprise, and the iguana ran into the house.
The German shepherd bolted off the deck and into the yard. The fawn, clearly terrified of the large, barking dog, ran frantically through the yard, doubled back to the gate, and then leaped gracefully onto the deck in a desperate attempt to escape. His hooves clattered on the wooden floor. His eyes were large with fear.
Rico tried to grab Dino and calm him down, but with the barking and the screeching and the screaming all around, the deer panicked and bolted into the house.