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At recess, Carter walked up to his teacher’s desk, holding his stomach He rarely le day

"Aren’t you feeling well, Carter?" Ms Jensen asked in a soft caring voice that reminded him of his mother’s

"I have a stoainst his forehead, then took him down to the nurse’s office Mrs Weaver was about the sarandmother and had hair that was coly as she took his te at the therested he lie down on the couch for a little while

Carter tried to sleep but he couldn’t stop thinking After a fewidly out the office --and that hen he saw it

A dog

Outside in the schoolyard was a dog just like the one Carter had iht size, and he jumped and leaped at the students and then chased after a ball He was skinny and dirty, but Carter could tell that he was a good dog

He was exactly the kind of dog Carter wanted, although this one didn’t have red fur It was dark and his plumy tail was clu it furiously Watching the other kids play with hi

"I couldn’t reach your mother," Mrs Weaver told him when she returned

"I feel better now," he o back to your classroo recess rang If the dog was still on the playground at lunchtime, Carter would play with him A sense of exhilaration filled him and he could hardly wait for the midday break

Carter ate his lunch in record ti to button up his coat He’d left Ti his chocolate chip cookies The cold, sharp air hit hiht in the face, but he didn’t care There weren’taround the yard, sniffing, his nose to the ground When he saw Carter, the dog instantly ran toward hi eyes

"Hi, boy," Carter said and dropped to one knee He withdrew the Twinkie fro

Thewas starved Now Carter wished he hadn’t eaten any of his lunch He wished he hadquickly, he hurried back into the school His sister had co about another peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich If she didn’t want it, Carter did Not for himself but for the stray

As he’d expected, his sister ith her friends She’d eaten everything in her lunch but the sandwich

"Bailey," he said, breathless now "Can I have your sandwich?"

Bailey squinted up at hiave it to Ti to eat mine"

"No, you weren’t Come on, Bailey, I need that sandwich"

"What’ll you trade me for it?" she asked

Carter didn’t have a lot of time If he didn’t hurry back outside, soht even leave the schoolyard "You can watch whatever you want on TV Saturday enerous offer and she knew it They only had one television set and theirwhat to see Bailey liked sissy stuff, while Carter liked action heroes

"All Saturdaylook, Bailey handed over her peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich

Grabbing it, Carter hurried back outside The playground was croith kids by then, but as soon as the round toward hiot down on one knee He wiped the ri the sandwich out of his pocket, he tore off the plastic and held it out to the mutt The bread disappeared as quickly as the Twinkie had

"You shouldn’t be feeding that dog"

Carter glanced up to find Mr Nicholson, the sixth-grade teacher, as on schoolyard duty during lunch, scowling down at hi once"

"No!" An automatic protest cao to a shelter

"He doesn’t belong on the playground"

"He’s a nice dog"

Mr Nicholson didn’t agree or disagree "I don’t want to see you feeding hiain Is that understood?"

Carter nodded The teacher didn’t exactly say Carter couldn’t feed the stray What he’d said was that he didn’t want to see Carter do it

The teacher went off to intervene in an argu’s face "It’s all right, boy, I’ll bring you food Will you be here tomorrow?"

The mutt looked back at hi for Carter

On his way back to class, Carter washed his hands He wondered how long the dog had been lost He sure was dirty, and he seemed lonely, too Carter’s heart ached for hiood home and a family, just like everyone did Carter hoped the Aniured out how to bring him to his house

First he had to explain to his father that this dog wasn’t a puppy but a grown-up dog that needed a ho, either He was a plain ordinary dog He’d probably already had his shots

That night Carter couldn’t keep still at the dinner table All he could think about was the dog in the schoolyard, out in the cold and dark by hiht then and there He orried the dog ht not be safe, or that the people froht not be such a bad thing, because he ht be adopted by a fa for himself

"Carter, eat your dinner," his father said

Carter stared down at his plate Spaghetti was one of his favorite meals His mother had made it specially for him, and all he could do irl the noodles around with his fork He needed to figure out how to s

"Hoere your classes?" his ht