Flash by Ellen Miles Page B

cute!” She reached out a hand to pet him.
    Charles saw the puppy’s tail droop down as he crouched, ready to run. “Hold on,” he said to Becky, putting a hand on her arm. “That lady was right. He
is
shy.”
    Flash sniffed, and listened, and looked, learning as much as he could about these people. It was important to
know
as much as you could. And always be ready to run.
    Becky slowed down. “So, what do we do?” she asked.
    “Just inch forward slowly,” Charles said. “So we don’t scare him.” He reached down to pick Buddy up, so his little tan puppy wouldn’t bound forward and scare the black-and-white puppy off.
    Hey! Hold on! I was just about to go meet my new friend! Buddy licked Charles’s face. Sometimes when he did that, Charles laughed and put him down. Not this time.
    Charles and Becky took one baby step at a time, trying to get closer to the puppy without scaring him away. He crouched down, watching themintently. His long tail was waving slowly back and forth.
    “Buddy!” Charles cried as the squirming puppy in his arms struggled and kicked and pushed himself out of Charles’s grip. Charles grabbed Buddy’s leash. But it was too late. Buddy galloped toward the other puppy. The white-and-black pup dashed back toward the fence near the driveway with his tail between his legs. He stood behind a fence post, eyeing them warily.
    “Now what?” Becky asked. “Should we go get the grown-ups? Or Steph and Lizzie?”
    “No way,” Charles said. “If Lizzie gets involved, she’ll just get all bossy.”
    Becky nodded. “Steph is the same way. And they’re worse when they’re together. They’ll just gang up on us and take over.”
    Lizzie thought she knew everything about dogs. But Charles knew a few things, too. “I think we can handle this ourselves.”
    “Okay, so what do we do?” Becky was ready for action.
    Charles thought for a second. “Let’s try this,” he suggested. “We’ll walk away, toward the barn, like we forgot all about him and have something more interesting to do. That sometimes works with Buddy when we’re out in the yard and he won’t come when I call. If he gets curious enough, he’ll come running after me when I go the other way.”
    “Okay,” said Becky, shrugging. “So, we pretend like we don’t care? It’s worth a try.”
    She and Charles turned their backs to Flash and started walking toward the barn. Buddy led the way, with his tail up and his chest out.
    Buddy wasn’t sure where they were going, or why, but he wanted to be part of it. He’d be in front!
    Charles peeked back over his shoulder. “It’s working!” he whispered to Becky. “He’s following us!”
    Sure enough, the black-and-white pup was trotting along right behind them with a quizzical look in his alert, shiny eyes.
    Good! A job! Just what Flash needed, when he was so unsure about this new place. These people needed to be herded along. He would make sure they stayed together and kept moving.
    The dog followed them right into the musty, dark barn. “Great,” Charles said in a low tone. “We’ve got him inside, where he’s safe. I didn’t want him running away. If he went down to the main road, he might get hit by a car.”
    “We can get him into an even safer place,” Becky said. “There’s an old horse stall down at the end. Dad said maybe Steph could have a horse someday.” She groped around by the door. “Where’s that light switch — there it is!” She switched on the lights. In their dim glow, Charles saw a rusty red tractor parked near the door.
    “I hope Flash will follow us all the way there,” Charles said. “Hold on. I’m going to tie Buddy up so he doesn’t get in the way.” He looped Buddy’s leash around the steering wheel of the tractor. Buddy whined a little.
    Hey! Why do I have to be tied up? I want to play with my new friend!
    But when Charles told him to “stay,” Buddy sat down and looked hopeful. Charles dug into his pocket and pulled out a