How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor Page A

ago,” Carmella said. “And my mama the year after that. Then Gertie moved away.” She looked down at the picture of Willy she was still holding. “All I got is Willy,” she said.
    With that, she started crying again, and I was feeling so heavy it’s a wonder I didn’t sink right through the floor.
    Suddenly Carmella sat up straight and snapped her fingers.
    â€œYou know what?” she said.
    Me and Toby waited.
    â€œI am gonna call Gertie and borrow some money,” she said. “Shoot, I’d pay a million dollars to get Willy back if I had it.”
    â€œA million dollars!” Toby said.
    She nodded. “Yep.” Then she added, “If I had it.”
    So me and Toby watched her make the first sign:

    LOST. LITTLE BLACK-AND-WHITE DOG NAMED WILLY. $500 REWARD.

    I pressed my lips together hard to stop myself from smiling when she wrote that $500 on there.
    This sure was working out good, I thought.
    Then we all sat around the coffee table, making more signs. When we had a bunch, Carmella said, “There. That oughtta do it.”
    â€œYou want me and Toby to put some up now?” I said.
    Carmella frowned down at the signs in her hand. “Well, I kind of feel like I ought to wait till I have the money, you know?”
    â€œHow long is that gonna be?”
    â€œNot long, I hope,” she said. “I’ll call Gertie tonight.” She looked down at a dog toy on the floor. A chewed-up rubber slipper. She wheezed a little bit as she bent to pick it up.
    â€œI think I’ll go drive around some more,” she said, turning the slipper over and over on her lap. “I can’t hardly stand to think about another night without Willy.”
    â€œWe’ll come back tomorrow, okay?” I said.
    Carmella nodded. “Okay.”
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    Me and Toby watched Carmella drive away, then raced back to our car to get some food scraps for Willy. I put a
biscuit and half a grilled cheese sandwich in a grocery bag, then rummaged through the stuff in the trunk till I found a towel for Willy’s bed.
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Let’s go.”
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    Willy sure was glad to see us. He wagged and yipped and carried on. When we got up on the porch, he jumped all over us, licking our faces and all.
    When I opened the grocery bag with the scraps, he like to went crazy. He gulped everything down, then licked that bag till there wasn’t one little crumb left.
    I put my arm around him and laid my head on top of his.
    â€œI promise I’m gonna take you home, okay?” I said. I pulled him onto my lap and stroked his back. He laid his head on my knee and sighed.
    â€œHe looks kind of sad,” Toby said.
    I looked down at Willy. “Don’t be sad, little fella,” I said.
    He lifted his doggie eyebrows, and I could see what he was thinking right there on his face. Then the tears that I’d been trying to hold back for so long came spilling out.
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Georgina?” Toby said.
    How could I answer that? Should I start with that big red F at the top of my science test today? Or should I just jump right on into how mean our daddy was to
leave us in this mess? And then should I move on to how bad it felt to live in a car while my best friend went to ballet school with somebody better than me? Then I could add the part about Willy. How here we were with this cute little dog who never hurt anybody and now he was all sad and probably scared, too? And then there was Carmella, crying and missing her dog so much? And right in the middle of this sorry mess was me, the sorriest person there ever was.
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    When Mama got off work that night, we drove over to Wal-Mart. I waited in the car while her and Toby went inside. I pulled out my notebook and read my notes on How to Steal a Dog.
    It sure sounded easy when I read through it. I turned to a fresh page and wrote: April 20.
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    Step 6: When you find some