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it’s different. I don’t mind,” Winnie said. “What is it?”
    â€œWe wanted to call him SMREG,” Tina said.
    â€œSMREG?” Winnie asked, “SMREG?” What kind of name is that for a dog? That’s really crazy! What’d you want to call him that for?”
    The Garbers laughed again, and this time Winnie was annoyed at being left out of the joke.
    Glenn stopped laughing long enough to tell her. “SMREG is GERMS spelled backwards!”
    â€œGERMS SPELLED BACKWARDS!” Winnie repeated loud enough for the whole block to hear. “Oh, that’s too much! That’s really great! Too bad it makes such an awful name for a dog! Here Smreggie,” Winnie called, trying it out. “Good doggie. Here, nice Smreg.” She laughed as hard as the others. Finally she remembered that she still didn’t know his name. She stopped laughing and asked, “So what
is
his name?”
    Glenn cleared his throat and took a deep bow.“Introducing,” he said … “Introducing Woozie Garber.”
    Winnie stared down at the shaggy, white dog who sat scratching himself at her feet. She shook her head and mumbled, “Woozie … Woozie … Woozie. What a name! It’s almost as bad as Smreg!” The dog looked up and barked at her. “Okay … okay,” Winnie told him soothingly, while patting his back. “Woozie is a lovely name. Lovely! And you’re a lovely doggie! Where’d you ever get a name like Woozie anyway?” she asked Glenn.
    Tina looked at the ground and shuffled her feet. Herbie and Glenn smiled. “Go ahead Tina,” Herbie insisted. “Go ahead and tell Winnie.”
    â€œOkay, okay,” Tina said softly, still looking down. “See, when I was real little I had this stuffed dog that I used to take to sleep with me and I called him Woozie and …”
    â€œYou’ve still got that old thing Tina,” Herbie accused, interrupting his sister. “I saw you with it the other night.”
    Tina put her hands on her hips and looked straight at Herbie. “Oh sure I’ve still got him. But I don’t
use
him anymore. He’s in this box in my closet and sometimes I like to take the box down and JUST LOOK AT HIM. That’s all!”
    Herbie and Glenn laughed some more. Tinachewed her bottom lip. Winnie felt sorry for her. “That’s not so funny,” she told the boys. “When I was little I had an old blanket I dragged around. I dragged it around for years, till it fell apart. And I called it Blangley. Anyway, I changed my mind. I think Woozie is a great name for him. He looks like a Woozie.” Tina smiled a private thank you to Winnie. Woozie jumped up and barked his approval. Then he suddenly took off like a rocket and ran down the block.
    â€œYou naughty old doggie! You come back here!” Tina hollered after him. But Woozie had already run up the Landon’s front walk. She poked her brother. “Go get him Glenn.”
    Glenn looked at Herbie. “Herbie can run faster than me. Go get him Herbie.”
    But Herbie looked at Tina. “Let Tina get him. She’s the youngest and she’s always complaining about how she NEVER gets to do anything. Right, Tina?”
    Tina looked at Winnie pleadingly. “Well, I see I’m elected dog catcher,” Winnie said. “I’m not scared of Germs, Incorporated!” She popped a fresh piece of gum into her mouth, pulled her sailor hat down over her ears, and ran to the Landon’s house.
    She paused before continuing up the front walk, wondering why Woozie decided to visit the worstpossible house on the block. She looked around. No Woozie. She thought hard about where he might be, then snapped her fingers, remembering the Collie that lived behind the Landon’s. At that moment Clarice opened the door and stepped out onto the front porch. She was sucking an ice cube and it