Lara’s Special Summer
Mark S. Goldberg
Published by Mark S. Goldberg at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 Mark S. Goldberg
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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CHAPTER ONE
Once upon a time is a very good way to begin a story, if you aren’t sure when the story happened. But everyone who became involved in this tale knows it happened, or at least began, very early last summer. And it started with a very sweet, little girl named Lara.
Lara was only seven years old when this adventure began. You would probably like seven-year-old Lara if you knew her. She was somewhat slight, though her Grandpa called her scrawny, and rather tall for her age. Her face had just the right number of freckles (Brian Cooper counted them one afternoon) and her hair was just curly enough for her mother to keep it cut short. Her nose crinkled up when she was happy and her chin and both cheeks sagged when she was not. In fact, her chin and both cheeks were sagging at the exact time when her adventure, and our tale, began.
You see, Lara lives in Miami, Florida, where the winters are warm, the springs are warmer and the summers are just plain hot. That is just the way Lara enjoys her days the most. Especially school’s-out summer days, when she can ride her bike and run through the sprinkler and play, play, play from the minute the sun dries the dew off the grass until it disappears beyond the horizon in the evening.
So you can understand Lara’s sagging cheeks and chin, when you learn that she was stuck in her room on a sunny summer’s day. You see, Lara was being half-punished. She was told to stay in her room until she had straightened it up. Lara’s room was extremely messy. There were toys scattered all over, her shoes were out of her shoe bag and several books had to be put back on the bookshelf’. Lara knew it was only a half-punishment, though, because she understood it was her room and she had to keep it clean. But sitting on the floor with her whole face sagging wasn’t going to get that room cleaned any faster.
Or was it?
Suddenly, the books Lara had been staring at on her dresser jumped. Then they glided, one at a time, into the air. They floated across the room and onto the bookshelf. Lara’s blue eyes opened wide in amazement. She was so startled that she wasn’t certain what she had seen had really happened.
But it had.
The books were no longer on the dresser. They were on the bookshelf and in their proper order, to boot.
Lara crossed her room and sat down in her big, white bean bag, to better think the whole experience over.
“Let’s see now,” she thought. “I was sitting on the floor, thinking about those old books on the dresser and how they really did belong over on the bookshelf, when suddenly they jumped up and flew right on over there all by themselves. At least, I think that’s what happened.”
Lara glanced at the door to her room and debated whether or not she should run and tell her mother. You see, even at just seven years old, Lara was mature enough to sit and think most things out herself. And right now, she felt, was too soon to tell anyone anything.
So she sat and stared at her bedroom door, on which hung her shoe bag. She thought about those books putting themselves away. Then she thought about the pairs of shoes lying about her room and how nice it would be if all her pairs of shoes would put themselves away in their shoe bag.
And that’s just what they did.
The shoes did not fly across the room the way the books had. They did, instead, what shoes do best. They paired themselves up and walked across the room to the door. Then they walked right up the door and slipped into their pockets in the shoe bag.
“Oh, me,” thought Lara. "I must be some kind of magic. I made the books float across the room. Now I’ve made my shoes walk across the floor and up the door. I’m bewitched!” She thought that last thought with her nose crinkled up, exchanging her sagging cheeks and chin for an expression of pure glee.
Then she really set her mind and her new-found power to work. Games were put in the closet, toys in the toy box and stuffed animals on the bed without Lara ever getting up from her bean bag. Then, just for fun, she stood up and had the bean bag fluff itself up. That was a sight you should have seen.
However, now it was time. Lara, being a reasonably bright child, realized that a strange power such as this should not be kept secret. At least, not from her parents. They could tell her what had caused such a strange occurrence and what she should do now that this unique power was hers.
One last glance at a now-straightened room, and Lara ran down the hallway to find her mother. Unfortunately, this was Soap Opera time at Lara’s house. Lara’s mother, who was usually a very good and very understanding mother, was deeply involved in the lives of the family on television. Lara knew that very little would tear her mother away. But she tried anyway.
“Mama, something very strange just happened to me,” she started.
“Shh, not now, Lara. Go finish your room.” Her mother didn’t even look up from the set.
“Please, Mama. I’m magic!”
“Lara, don’t bother me now.” Her mother’s tone of voice sounded a bit annoyed that time.
Lara had to do something. She had to think of something. That’s it! She had to think of something. Whatever she thought of’ would move. Then her mother would sit up and take notice.
Lara focused all her attention on the television set. To be exact, she stared right at the on-off switch, thinking to turn it off. She focused and she stared. She glared and she dared. But something was wrong. The set was still on and her mother was still watching it.
What was wrong? Perhaps she had imagined everything in the first place. Maybe she had been daydreaming. Perhaps her room was still a mess and she’d only thought she had straightened it up by using her mind. Could it have been a mirage?
Lara ran back to her room. There it was, all neat and clean. Everything had been picked up and put away in its right place. She stared at her toy box and the lid opened. All by itself. She stared into her toy box and her roller skates floated out. She still had her power!
She again ran down the hallway. By this time, her mother had finished watching her show. The look on Lara’s face was one her mother knew meant something was not right. Oh, yes, it’s true that mothers can tell when something is going on.
“No, Lara, you cannot leave your room until it is looking the way it should.” This time her mother’s intuition was wrong. She thought Lara just wanted to go out and play without cleaning her room.
“No, Mama, I’m magic. I’m bewitched. I can move things just by looking at them. Watch.” Again Lara tried the television. It didn’t work. She tried to move the little plant on the floor, thinking perhaps the television was too heavy. It wouldn’t move either. In fact, nothing she stared at would move.
“Young lady,” her mother warned, ”you had better get in there and finish straightening your room this instant.”
“It is straight, Mama. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I cleaned up my room just by staring at it.” Lara tried staring at an ash tray on a table. Nothing happened.
Her mother walked past her down the hall and looked in Lara’s room. The room was clean, except for the pair of roller skates Lara had stared out of the toy box. You can imagine how pleased Lara’s mother was with the appearance of the room.
“You can do a good job, Lara, when you put your mind to it,” her mother said.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I did it with my mind. I just thought about it and it happened.” But, again, Lara was having second thoughts about the whole affair. She hadn’t been able to move anything in the family room.
Her mother simply smiled at what she thought was one of Lara’s silly children’s games and went into the laundry room to sort clothes.
Lara wasn’t sure what to think. She sat down on her bedroom floor and put on her roller skates. As always, she’d put both skates on first and then tie them. You can imagine her surprise, when she went to tie the first skate and found it was already tied. Then she looked over at the second skate in time to see its lace finish tying itself.
“This,” she said to herself, “is going to be one crazy afternoon.”
She was right.
CHAPTER TWO
Lara wasn’t fortunate enough to have fancy in-line shoe skates that lace all the way above the ankle. In fact, her skates weren’t even the metal kind with a skate key. They were plastic. The shoe part was plastic and the wheels were plastic.
This meant two things. First, they didn’t look like real skates. And, second, they didn’t go as fast as real skates. Nobody really knew why Lara played with her skates so seldom, until they got a good look at those skates.
But since they were already out and already on her feet, Lara decided she might as well go out and skate a while.
Just then a thought popped into her head. Perhaps she wasn’t magic at all. Maybe it was her room that was magic. After all, when she tried to move things in the family room nothing happened. Things had only moved in the bedroom.
She walked out the front door and was greeted by a great, warm sun. Her nose crinkled as she skated out of the driveway and onto the sidewalk.
One of the bigger kids on the block (a boy, and not a very nice one) zoomed right by her on his bicycle and almost knocked her down.
“Ooh,” thought Lara. "If only the magic weren’t just in the bedroom. Then I could skate right by him so fast that he’d fall off his bike in surprise.”
No sooner did Lara think that thought, than the skates began moving all by themselves. The initial shock took Lara by surprise and she almost fell over backwards. But she managed to maintain her balance as the wheels rolled faster and faster.
It was truly a sight. Here was a girl, standing up as straight and still as she could, with skates zooming her down the block faster than a ten-speed bike. In fact, she passed that boy’s bike so quickly that she was already three houses away when he fell over in surprise.
Lara lived on a special block. It was one block that was six blocks long. This was because of’ a canal which ran through everybody’s backyards. Florida is full of canals. This canal made it impossible to have connecting streets without building several bridges. So Lara’s block was super long. That meant she could travel on her skates almost forever in a straight direction before she would have to make a turn. But she was moving so fast that the corner was actually approaching quickly.
What to do!
She stared at the skates and thought to herself, in a very loud and nervous thought, “STOP!” What she should have thought was, ‘slow down.” But she was only seven and very frightened and did not realize that thinking stop when skating at such a great speed would cause her to tumble.
The skates screeched to a halt and Lara did a complete somersault, in mid-air, before landing on her back in a neighbor’s front yard. She lay there for a minute, wondering if she had any broken bones. Deciding that she would be in great pain if anything were broken, she attempted to sit up.
The whole neighborhood was spinning. Then Lara’s head cleared and she looked around. No one had seen her zoom down the block except Lenny, who was just now picking up his bike and giving Lara a very strange stare. It was okay if he saw, because no one ever believed the stories he told anyway. Perhaps, she would get a little more respect from him now.
But that was a minor concern. The major concern, right now, was that the room didn’t have the magic. She did. She had wished she could skate faster than Lenny’s bike and she had. Whether it was by thought or by staring or by whatever means, the Power was hers.
She stared at the skates and the laces untied themselves. She took the skates off her shoes, because she felt it was safer to walk back to her house at this time. At least, until she knew how to better control this strange, new power.
Lara reached home, sat down on the front step to think and, without even realizing it, wished all the summer insects away from her. All the buzzing and the biting stopped. What she must do now is discover just how she got this strange, magic power into her.
Lara thought so hard her cheeks and chin began to sag. She went over in her mind all the unusual things she had done that day. But there had been nothing unusual at all. It had been just a plain, ordinary summer day. It was hotter than any other day had been this summer. But still, it was ordinary.
So, Lara thought back over the entire past week, hoping to find something there. Nothing.
Then two weeks, a month, two months.
“Let’s face it,” she said aloud, “there’s just nothing special about my life. At least, there hasn’t been up until now.”
She thought some more. Honestly, there had been nothing special that she could think of. They hadn’t moved into a haunted house. Or received any strange visitors. Or even experienced any unusual atmospheric conditions.
What could it be?
Suddenly Lara had a very strange and very scary thought. If’ she had such mysterious powers, why couldn’t she turn those powers on herself and force the information out of the back of her mind, where she was certain it was stored.
She picked up her skates and went back in the house.
Lara closed and locked her bedroom door. When you are seven years old, you’re allowed to lock your bedroom door, but only in the afternoon.
On the back of Lara’s door, hanging right next to her shoe bag, was a full-length mirror which Lara almost never used. She stationed herself directly in front of the mirror and, staring without blinking at her own blue eyes, began thinking to herself that she wanted to know exactly how she got the Power. She was so nervous at what might happen that, in truth, she secretly hoped that nothing would happen at all. But that was just at first.
“Tell me about the Power. How did I get the Power? Tell me about the Power,” she kept thinking to herself.
Seven year olds do not have very much patience, as a rule. But Lara kept up what she called her ‘spell’ for over five minutes. She was slowly becoming bored with the entire business, when the magic began to work.
The Lara in the mirror started to pale. The whole mirror image then went all fuzzy. It was as if the mirror were filling up with smoke. Clouds of white, puffy smoke. Lara was worried that possibly the same thing was happening behind her and that was what she was seeing in the mirror. But she didn’t want to interrupt her spell, so she kept on staring straight ahead.
By this time, all she could see in the mirror was the white smoke. Lara realized that it was a spell, a real spell, and that it wasn’t just something happening behind her.
The smoke began thinning out. What Lara saw then, in the clearing mirror, was herself. But not in her room. And not on this particular day, either. What she saw was herself enjoying her own birthday party, way back in February.
It wasn’t the whole party, just different parts of what happened that day. There was Pin The Tail On Mickey; the special round birthday cake with the doll in the hole in the middle; opening the presents; being all dressed up; blowing out the candles; keeping Herbie the Beagle in the backyard so he wouldn’t bother the children; making a wish and blowing out the candles; the parents all sitting in the living room talking; Grandmom bringing out the birthday cake she had made with the doll in the hole in the middle; Lara wishing for whatever she had wished for; the cake-doll winking at her as Lara blew out the candles...
Wait!
Lara sat down on the floor with a bump. The mirror was just a mirror again. But now she thought she knew where the Power was coming from. Back in February, on her birthday, Lara’s grandmom had baked a special cake. She had called it chiffon and it’s the kind of cake which is baked in those special cake pans that have a funnel in the middle. So, when you take the cake out of the pan, it has a hole in the center. Lara’s grandmom then took a little doll and put it standing in the hole, so that you could only see the doll from its head to its tummy. Then, when the cake was frosted, it looked like the doll had a fancy birthday dress on.
Grandmom brought the cake out with the candles all burning. It was very pretty. Everyone cheered for Lara to make a wish. She knew wishing on a birthday cake was a silly thing. So she made a silly wish. It was so silly that she didn’t even remember what it was.
But, regardless of that, Lara did remember that when she blew out all the candles the doll winked at her. At the time, she thought her eyes had been playing tricks on her. Now, after seeing it again in the mirror, she remembered it clearly. The doll had winked. When she blew out the candles, that doll had winked at her!
And this morning, while she was straightening up her room, Lara had found that little doll and tossed it up on her bed to play with later. It had been way at the bottom of the toy box and Lara hadn’t remembered where or when she had gotten it.
Now she remembered.
CHAPTER THREE
“So you’re the reason I’ve suddenly become magic.”
Lara was sitting on her bed, with her door securely locked, staring at the little doll with a mixture of amazement, gratification and pride.
“You are what’s made me magic, aren’t you?”
The little doll didn’t say a word. She just winked. But a wink from a toy doll is just about as unbelievable as a nod or a comment.
Since just about everything that had happened all afternoon had been crazy, Lara wasn’t at all surprised at owning a doll who winked at her questions. However, she did expect somewhat more of a response.
“Aren’t you going to answer my questions?”
The doll winked again.
Lara tried to use the Power. She narrowed her eyes to small slits and stared at the doll. She thought, over and over again, “Why did you make me magic? How did you make me magic?”
The doll just winked.
“I guess you can’t work magic on the thing that made you magic,” Lara thought aloud.
“That, my young mistress, is a certitude. By that, I mean you are absolutely correct,” said Herbie, as he crawled out from beneath Lara’s bed.
Now, if you had been following the story closely, you would be just as shocked as Lara was when Herbie made that statement. Not because Herbie had been hiding in Lara’s bedroom, but because Herbie’s full name is Herbie the Beagle. Herbie is a dog. and, as we all know, dogs can’t talk.
“I must be going crazy,” said Lara, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
“An indubitably inaccurate contention,” said Herbie, leaping up on the bed.
Herbie was a fine looking Beagle. He was a brownish-tan color, except for the white areas around his nose, on all four feet and at the very tip of his tail. He also had a white spot, in the shape of a lightning bolt on the top of his head. His tail was long and arched regally up over his back. He was just the right size for Lara. He came up to her knees when he stood on all fours.
“You are quite sane, dear Lara,” the Beagle continued. “And, I might add, quite clever in deducing the fact that Esmeralda did give you your new-found powers.”
“Esmeralda?”
Lara looked over at the doll again. She was one of’ those plain dolls that does nothing special, doesn’t look special or even have any special kind of’ clothing. In fact, she was the kind of’ doll which usually doesn’t even get a name. Especially a name as fancy as Esmeralda.
The doll winked at her again.
“She is quite aware of what you’re thinking,” said Herbie. “But Esmeralda is her name. It has been her family’s name for well over a hundred years. Confidentially, it does suit her. Oh, and by the by, although I have, in the past, condescended to that frightfully hideous title you have bestowed upon me, my name is not now, nor has it ever been, and I pray never will be Herbie the Beagle. My name is Sir Basil Smythe-Woofington.”
“Sir Basil Smythe-Woofington?” Lara giggled at the name.
All this was happening much too fast for Lara to understand. Most of’ the words that Herbie (that is, Sir Basil) was using were too hard to understand, too.
“Precisely,” continued Sir Basil. “The hyphenated Smythe-Woofington appendage dates back, most definitely, to my mixed ancestry. You see, Mother was a full-blooded-”
“Herbie?”
“Sir Basil.”
“Okay. Sir Basil. You’ve been Herbie the Beagle for such a long time that it will take a while to get used to Sir Basil,” began Lara. “But what I have to know first is why you’ve started talking as if’ you’ve been talking all your life. And why you’re talking at all.”
“To begin with the latter query first, Esmeralda only talks with wizards, animals and royalty. I, of course, am animal and royalty. You, on the other hand, are neither. Therefore, any future discussions you find necessary you may have with me.
“Now to answer your former query. I have been talking ever since I was an eight-day-old pup. Obviously, at that time, I spoke nothing but Hound. Still, my grammar, syntax and enunciation were all faultless. Is it any wonder that I should handle the transition to Human English with such ease? Or did you expect me to chase my tail and cry, “Whoopee, golly gee, I can talk”?
“Well, I didn’t know you were a royal dog, Sir Basil,” Lara explained. “So I’m sorry if I said the wrong thing. But now can you tell me how my grandmom got Esmeralda for my cake, though?”
“Certainly. You see, the very first Esmeralda wasn’t a doll at all. She was a beautiful gypsy girl who lived in Paris, France, well over a hundred years ago. Your parents probably know the story of how Esmeralda fell in love with a handicapped and extremely ugly church-bell ringer, at whose side she ultimately passed on.
“But what people don’t know is that Esmeralda’s love and compassion and dedication for her friend did not go unnoticed. For, not far away, there was a very kind sorceress who, at the exact moment of Esmeralda’s death, captured all of Esmeralda's love and kindness and placed it within the body of a plain, little doll.
“You see, the sorceress did not feel Esmeralda deserved to die. So she granted her a very unique existence. Esmeralda’s goodness, kindness and devotion was to be passed on through time to other good and loving girls, all of’ whom would be owners of simple, little dolls similar to that first one over a hundred years earlier.
“I know. You wonder why such a beautiful and kind person as Esmeralda has been given such a plain doll’s body, when there are so many beautiful dolls. The reason for that is simple. The sorceress wanted Esmeralda and all the young girls who would ever come in contact with her to remember that love and kindness are not items you can wear like a pretty face. They are internal essences which anyone can have, no matter what they look like.
“You must remember that, Lara. Cleaning up your room and skating faster than Lenny could ride his bike, those were selfish wishes. However, we realize you did not know that you had the Power at that time, and so, we excuse those selfish thoughts. But the next time you use your gift for a selfish gain, you will lose the Power forever.”
Lara was becoming more and more impressed as Sir Basil spoke.
“Excuse me, Sir Basil, but you will tell me how Grandmom got Esmeralda for me, won’t you?”
“Ah, yes. I was coming to that. It seems that the last little girl that had the Power wasted it away on a simple, selfish wish. As always, when that happens, Esmeralda’s gift leaves that girl’s doll immediately and travels elsewhere. This time, just by chance, it came to your doll. So, you see, your grandmom actually had nothing to do with it.”
It was then Lara remembered her loss of power in the family room.
“How come, when I went to show my mother the Power, I couldn’t do anything?” she asked Sir Basil.
“That is because the Power is a child’s gift. It can never be shown to an adult. Because, like all true magic, it ceases to be when it isn’t honestly believed.
“Now then, Lara, all this talking has made me dreadfully thirsty. Be a dear and open your door so I can get to my water dish.”
Lara got off the bed and opened the door.
“Don’t be gone long,” she begged Sir Basil. “I have many more things to ask you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Lara glanced back at Esmeralda, who was sitting on the bed right where she left her. Lara thought of the beautiful story Sir Basil had told her and pictured in her mind what a wonderful person Esmeralda must have been.
She picked up the doll and set it in a very special place on her bookshelf. Next, she puffed up her bean bag and plopped herself into it.
“Well,” she said to herself. “I certainly have a special summer ahead of me. It’s going to be filled with righting wrongs and all sorts of adventures. And I’ll be certain to remember what Sir Basil said and use the Power only for the good of others and never for selfish reasons.”
But Lara’s first problem was where to begin. Should she just sit out on the front step and wait for an emergency to happen? Or perhaps she should wander across the city, seeking out evil and injustice?
“Then, again, you could always turn on the radio and listen to the news,” suggested Sir Basil, who was just returning from his trip to the water dish. “However, let me assure you that you will never need to seek out trouble. Believe you me, it will find you. Just as sure as if you carried a magnet in your pocket.”
“Sir Basil, do you think I’m prepared to go out and fight troubles and save people, when I’ve never done anything like that before?”
“Ah, humility. That’s what I like, a girl with a smattering of humility." Sir Basil sat down and scratched behind his left ear. “Now look here. The only way you’re going to learn how to handle your new-found talent properly is by practicing it. Quickly, now. Run and get my leash and I’ll take you for a walk to find some adventure.”
That was a terrific idea!
Lara ran down the hall and into the kitchen, where the leash was kept.
“Mama,” she called out to her mother, who was finished sorting clothes. “I’m going to take Sir Basil out for a walk. "
Her mother looked up from her clothes. “You’re taking whom for a walk?”
“I mean Herbie.”
“Come over here, Lara. I want to tell you something.” Her mother’s voice didn’t sound angry. It sounded the way a math teacher sounds when she’s trying to explain prime numbers to you. “Herbie is just a dog. He’s not smart, like people are smart. So if you call him Herbie today and some silly name tomorrow, you’re going to get him all confused and he won’t know what his name really is. Your daddy’s told you this before.”
“I know,” said Lara, sounding as sorry and ashamed as she could. “I forgot, I guess. But I won’t do it again. Can I go out now?”
‘Okay. But don’t go far.”
Outside, Lara said to Sir Basil, “I feel awfully embarrassed. Mama said all those terrible things about you being just a dog and not being as smart as people.”
“Tut,” said Sir Basil. “She’s a grown up. and you can’t expect a grown up, one who doesn’t fully believe in magic, to believe in educated dogs, can you?”
“I guess not.”
They began their walk. Down Lara’s long block they went. They rounded the corner and went over the small bridge that crossed the canal. Then, after looking both ways, they crossed the street and went into the schoolyard. Once inside the schoolyard, Lara took off Sir Basil’s leash and ran with him across the field. They had just rounded the basketball courts and were coming up on the main school building when they were stopped short by the sounds of a scuffle and someone sobbing.
Together, Lara and Sir Basil peeked around the side of the building. There on the ground lay a small boy, flat on his back. Sitting over him, with his knees on the smaller boy’s shoulders, was Lenny.
Lenny wasn’t really doing anything to the smaller boy at that moment except scaring him. But that was enough. The other boy was crying just from the fear alone.
Sir Basil looked up at Lara. “Here’s your first real chance to try the Power,” he said.
Lara wasn’t really sure of’ just what she should do. All she knew was she wanted that big, mean Lenny off that smaller boy. She thought, perhaps, she could give that other boy Kung Fu power. But she knew that then he could possibly do some terrible damage to Lenny. So she thought again. If only she could tumble him off.
Of course, that was it! Lara was learning tumbling in the dancing class she took with Miss Doris each Wednesday. And maybe a good tumble was just what Lenny needed.
Lara opened her eyes extra wide, while thinking to herself over and over again that she would like for Lenny to do a backward somersault off of’ the smaller boy. And then, once off of him, he should continue doing them until he was all the way across the field and up against the far fence.
Sure enough. Lenny let out a yelp of surprise as he rolled backwards off’ of the smaller boy. Then he began yelling louder, as he started rolling backwards faster and faster, toward the gate in the school fence. When he reached the fence, he just lay on the grass, looking amazed and bewildered and extremely dizzy. After a few moments, he tried to stand up, but he was so dizzy from all those somersaults that he just fell down again.
Lara ran over to the smaller boy, who was just picking himself’ up. "Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, now I am. But I don’t think he is,” the boy answered, pointing to where Lenny was trying to stand up for the third time. “One minute he says he’s going to punch me in the ear and the next he’s rolling around on the ground like he’s a monkey.”
Lenny had regained his balance by this time and was walking back toward them. When he saw Lara, his face took on a more understanding expression.
“What are you anyway,” he wanted to know. “First you skate by me this morning on those crummy skates of’ yours and you’re going faster than anything I’ve ever seen before. Then you show up and I start rolling backwards all over the ground. I don’t know how you did it, but you’re not going to get in my way anymore.”
It was quite obvious what Lenny was going to do. He was going to punch Lara. That big boy, the biggest on her whole long block, was going to hit her. She could probably save herself by using the Power. But she needed time to think before she could make the Power work.
Lara didn’t really have to worry. For it was then that Sir Basil began to snarl. It wasn’t just a dog growl, but a real snarl. His lips curled back and all his teeth showed and a nasty sound came from deep down in his throat.
Lenny stopped in mid-stride. He knew what that Beagle was growling about. Herbie was going to protect his mistress. Lenny turned around and ran for the gate. Sir Basil ran off after him. Lara knew that although Sir Basil could catch Lenny easily if he wanted, the Beagle would rather just chase him for a while. And he seemed to be making quite a sport of’ it. Although, you must admit that Lenny did deserve a good lesson.
“I like your dog,” the small boy said.
"So do I,” said Lara. “So do I.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The boy’s name was Todd and he seemed very friendly. He told Lara that he was eight years old, but was small for his age. He also added that he had just recently moved into the neighborhood and didn’t really know too many children yet.
“What did Lenny mean when he said you made him do those flip-flops across the yard?” Todd asked his new friend.
Lara hesitated before answering. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to tell other children about the Power. And Sir Basil was too busy chasing Lenny to give her any advice. So for the moment, she decided to hedge. That is, she didn’t give out any real information.
“Who knows what that mean old Lenny means when he says or does anything? Did you know he bothers us little kids because the kids that are his own age won’t play with him?” And with that, Lara successfully changed the subject.
While Lara was discovering that Todd lived only two blocks away and Todd was discovering that Lara lived just around the corner from the school, Sir Basil returned. His ears were up and his tail was wagging rapidly and he looked as if he had just had a splendid time. Lenny was nowhere to be seen.
“What’s your dog’s name?” asked Todd, kneeling down to scratch the top of Sir Basil’s head.
Lara glanced at Sir Basil as she slowly began to pronounce the word “Sir." Sir Basil wrinkled the top of his forehead, the way people do when they’re thinking, and slowly shook his head no.
“His name’s Herbie,” said Lara. “Herbie the Beagle.”
“I thought for a minute there that you didn’t even know your own dog’s name. I mean the way you had to think about it.”
“No,” she said. “His name’s Herbie the Beagle and that’s that.” She crinkled her nose in a smile that showed Todd she wasn’t put off’ by his question.
Sir Basil walked around behind Todd and sniffed at something on the ground.
“My watch!” Todd cried out. In almost one motion, he swooped the watch up and put it to his ear. Then he gave a sigh of relief’ and said it was still ticking.
“It must have fallen off when that big kid pushed me down,” he said.
Then he noticed what time it actually was and told Lara he had to be getting home. He asked if they couldn’t meet at the schoolyard again the following day. Lara said she’d like that very much. She watched as Todd ran off down the block.
He seemed like a very nice boy. He was only a little shorter than she was and had very curly black hair. Lara thought he was cute.
“Why didn’t you want me to tell him your right name?” Lara asked Sir Basil, when Todd was finally out of sight.
“Well now, surely you can figure that out for yourself. What if’ he came over to your house to visit and your mother heard him call me something other than Herbie? You’d most definitely be in for another lecture.”
They both decided that Lara had had enough practice with her power for one day. She put the leash back on Sir Basil and they began their walk home.
They hadn’t even gotten to the corner when Sir Basil suddenly went stiff and cocked his head to one side. It was as if he were suddenly listening to some silent voice Lara couldn’t hear. And, truth to tell, that’s exactly what was happening.
“Oh dear me,” clucked Sir Basil. “I was afraid this would happen.”
“What? What's happened?” asked Lara, looking about her for signs of anything strange.