Read Acting Out for Free Online Page B

sooner rather than later.” I watch David’s face. He lowers his head. His shaggy bangs hide his eyes.
    “Okay, let’s take him in,” he agrees.
    I go to pick up Rover, but he slinks away. He moves toward the door. I don’t want to scare him so I follow slowly. But he keeps on moving right out the door and down the hall.
    “Sorry,” I say to David. I wish Sunita or Jules was here. I’m much better with dogs than I amwith cats. We watch as Rover disappears into Ashley’s room.
    “Hi, Rover, wanna play dress up?” we hear her ask.
    “No, Ashley!” David calls. “Don’t you dare. He might be sick.”
    We go to her door. Ashley is on the floor, surrounded by her dolls and stuffed animals.
    “I can’t anyway,” she says. “He’s under my bed.”
    And that’s where he stays—as far away as possible—way beneath the farthest corner of Ashley’s bed. Did I scare Rover? I was just trying to help him.
    David and I sit on the floor beside Ashley’s bed, amongst all of her stuffed friends, and try to figure out what to do.
    “I don’t think we ought to reach in there,” I say, lifting the bedspread and looking under the bed. “He’s backed himself into the corner and his fur is bristly. He looks afraid enough to bite.”
    “Okay, we’ll leave him alone for a bit,” David says, and I let the bedspread fall back.
    Ashley gives me a teacup and a cookie, both made of plastic. Next she hands the same to David. He quickly puts his on her floor like he doesn’t know what to do with them.
    “No, David, do it the way you’re supposed to,” Ashley chastises.
    Supposed to? Sounds like they’ve done this before. David blushes. I bet he doesn’t want me to know he plays tea party with his sister. He takes a small, pretend sip.
    “Come on, the right way!” Ashley says. “The
right
way,” she repeats.
    David holds the teacup in one hand and extends his pinky. Oh my gosh, he
has
done this before. He takes a sip and makes a teensy, almost proper, sipping sound. With his other hand, he takes the fake cookie and dunks it daintily into the plastic teacup and then…he gobbles, gobbles, gobbles as loud as he can, just like Cookie Monster.
    “Cookie, cookie, cookie!” he growls.
    Ashley falls over laughing. “That’s the right way!” she says. I can tell this is a favorite game for both of them.
    “Nice work, Hutchinson, nice work,” I say. David blushes. I pretend not to notice and gobble my cookie, too. I’m not as loud as David, but Ashley still laughs.
    “You’re not going to mention this to any of the guys at school, are you?” he asks.
    “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I say.
    That’s when we notice that Rover is panting. From beneath the bed, his breathing is quick and fairly loud. David looks under the bed, clicks histongue, and calls softly, “Come on, Rover, nck, nck, nck.” I can tell that he’s alarmed but that he doesn’t want to upset Ashley.
    “You sound like you’re trying to get a horse’s attention,” I say. “Try this: Ppsss, ppsss, ppsss.” I wiggle my fingers at Rover.
    Rover looks at us but stays put.
    My mind is racing. Rover doesn’t look like he’s in really bad shape like Puff did, but I really want to get him to the clinic. “Maybe we can move the bed away from the wall and you can reach him,” I suggest.
    “You can use my stuffed animals like a fence so he can’t get by,” Ashley suggests. “If you use the biggest ones it should work.”
    “Great idea,” David says. “Of course, if Rover actually felt fine, a fence of stuffed animals wouldn’t be anything to him. He’d sail right through.”
    But the way Rover looks now he’s unlikely to even hop over Ashley’s Barbie dolls. Ashley and I gather up all the dolls and stuffed animals from the floor. She lays on her stomach and scoots halfway under the bed. David hands her the toys one by one to build the fence.
    “Get the pet carrier before we move the bed,” I say. “Then we can tuck him right into it.”