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was dripping onto her pink and white dress. Winnie nodded at her and cracked her gum.
    â€œHi Winnie. Want to play?” Clarice asked timidly.
    Winnie shook her head from side to side and cracked her gum louder. “That’s disgusting Winifred!” Clarice said between slurps.
    â€œSo’s sucking on an ice cube!” Winnie answered.
    â€œWell, if you don’t want to play, what are you doing here?” Clarice asked.
    â€œOh, just looking for a dog is all,” Winnie said.
    â€œWhat dog?” Clarice wanted to know.
    And that was when Woozie chose to show himself. He appeared around the corner of the house, ran over to Winnie, looked up at Clarice and began to bark furiously.
    â€œMommy!” Clarice screamed. “Mommy! There’s a big dog after me! Help, Mommy … HELP!”
    Winnie grabbed Woozie by the collar and triedto persuade him to leave quietly with her. But Woozie kept barking and Clarice kept screaming until Mrs. Landon came to the door. Clarice hid behind her mother’s back.
    â€œWinifred Barringer, what are you doing on our front walk with that dog?” Mrs. Landon asked.
    Oh boy, Winnie thought. Here we go! She stood up straight and faced Mrs. Landon. “He ran away and I’m just trying to catch him, is all.”
    â€œRan away from whom, Winifred? Exactly whose dog is he?” Mrs. Landon demanded.
    â€œHe’s the Garbers’ dog,” Winnie said, biting her lip.
    â€œThe Garbers’ dog! I see. Please get him out of here, Winifred. I could report the Garbers for letting their dog run loose. I could very well do that.”
    â€œOh, please don’t, Mrs. Landon. They just got him and it was
my
fault … really.” She
would
do something like that, Winnie thought. She just would!
    â€œVery well, Winifred. I see no reason to be nasty.” Out came the smile. “But I never want this to happen again. Is that clearly understood?”
    â€œYes, Ma’am. Clearly.”
    Woozie meekly followed Winnie down the Landon’s walk as if he had understood all of what Germs had said. She never even raised her voice, Winnie thought. She can be rotten without even trying!

chapter five
    The next morning Winnie got up at eight. She read over the letter she’d started to Iggie. It sounded stupid. She ripped it up and started again:
    Dear Iggie
,
    How are you? I’m fine. You’ll never believe this but the Garbers
(
our new neighbors
)
who moved into your house got a sheep dog. Anyway, his name is Woozie and today he ran off and where did be run to of all places? You guessed it—the London’s!!! Well, Mrs. Germs was really mad. Actually, she was really mad because she doesn’t like the Garbers. Well, it isn’t exactly that she doesn’t
like
them because she
doesn’t even
know
them. It’s just that she doesn’t want them around because they’re Negro
. (
They say black
.)
    â€œWinnie! Breakfast,” her mother called.
    Winnie folded the letter and put it under her school papers in her middle desk drawer.
    Later that morning Winnie, Herbie, Glenn and Tina sat on the curb, in front of the sewer grating that was next to Iggie’s driveway. Winnie reached over and picked up some pebbles from the hole at the foot of the driveway. Iggie’s folks had been planning to fix up that hole in the fall. Winnie threw the little pebbles into the sewer, one by one. They made a clinking sound.
    The Garbers looked glum. Nobody had anything to say. Winnie wished she had stayed home and slept all morning. “What’s eating you guys?” she finally asked.
    â€œNothing much,” Glenn answered.
    â€œWell, it must be
something
,” Winnie said.
    Herbie jumped up, imitating his brother. “Oh nothing much … nothing much is wrong … like fun it’s nothing much!” His voice got very gruff and his fingers automatically went up to his mouth.