Natalie Wants a Puppy (6 page)

Granny and I put Puppy to bed in her kennel. Only this time she doesn’t want me to leave her. Somehow, this makes me sadder about Mommy and Daddy being gone.

I can hear Puppy whining when Granny and I go to my bedroom. Percy is already curled up on my bed. I curl up with him.

“Granny, I want them to be home.” Tears leak out of me. “Why did they have to go get a baby? I liked it with just us. I don’t need a little brother.”

Granny sits on my bed and hugs me. Her cheek is against my cheek. She whispers in my ear, “Maybe God knew that your little brother needs you, Nat. He’s so young. But he’s already had a hard time in China.”

“How come?” I ask, still staying hugged.

“He was born with his lips and mouth not quite right,” Granny says. “That’s why he got put in the orphanage.”

I don’t want to know this part. “Does his mouth hurt?”

“He’s already had an operation on it. He might need more.” Granny stops talking. I can feel that she loves her grandson already.

After more hugging, but no more talking, Granny says her prayers. I say mine. Then she tucks me in. When we’re quiet, I can still hear my puppy doing whining in the kitchen. “Puppy’s too lonely, Granny.”

“I’ll check on her, sweetheart.” She pets Percy’s fluffy back until he purrs.

“I wish Percy would like Puppy,” I say. “Puppy just wants to be friends.”

“You’re right about that, Nat. Seems like that’s how it should work, doesn’t it? Percy’s had a whole lot of loving his whole life. Puppy hasn’t had much of it. She could sure use some of that love.”

I get it. I know my granny is talking about more than cats and dogs.

In the morning, I run to the kitchen to see my puppy. She is already eating her breakfast.

“Natalie Elizabeth,” Granny begins, “would you
like to explain this to me?” Granny never uses that “Elizabeth” name. Very much.

“What?” Then I see that she’s dumped out my backpack. My graduation paper is on top of the pile. “It isn’t important,” I tell her. On account of I don’t even want to go to that graduation.

“Are you kidding? You only graduate from kindergarten once, you know.”

“I don’t want to go,” I say.

“Nat, do your mom and dad even know about this?”

I shrug up my shoulders. Inside, my answer is,
They don’t care.

Granny makes sure I have my math sheet. Plus also, she hands me the graduation sheet. “You turn this in. You hear me?”

I nod and stick it into my pack.

Kindergarten kids are wilder than ever. Poor Miss Hines gives up on doing work. We play games that are
real
fun, instead of
math
fun.

I almost forget to turn in my math worksheet.

“Good job,” Miss Hines says when I give it to her. “What about your graduation paper, Natalie?”

I go back and get it. “Do I have to come if my parents don’t?” I ask.

“I’m sorry your parents won’t be back, Natalie,” Miss Hines says. She takes another look at my
graduation paper. “But it looks like somebody’s coming to see you. You’ve requested three seats.”

“Granny must have messed up marking that sheet,” I guess. “Do I have to come?”

She puts her arm around me. “Well, I sure hope you do, Natalie. It just wouldn’t be graduation day without you.”

Miss Hines gives me a smiley face. And even though I don’t feel smiley, I know that I am going to miss my teacher’s smiley faces next year.

Granny acts very funny on my last day of kindergarten. When I wake up, she is making herself a toasted cheesy sandwich. On account of she’s been awake so long that it should be her lunch.

Three times she drops stuff. A pan. Her shoe. Percy.

I wear my favorite purple shirt I drew on with markers. Granny lets me.

“Was that the phone, Nat?” Granny runs to the phone.

“No, Granny!” I call after her.

A gazillion times, she looks out the front window.

“Granny,” I ask when she and Charley drop me off at kindergarten for the last time, “are you okay?”

“What?” she asks. Then she kisses my head. “Have fun at school, Nat. I’ll pick you up. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Miss Hines takes us one by one to work on our talking parts for graduation. I sit in the back of our class, so I am almost last.

Finally, she calls me to sit in the kid seat by her desk. “What are you going to say for the program tomorrow, Natalie?”

“I don’t want to say anything. My parents won’t be there.”

“Well,” Miss Hines says, “if you change your mind, I know you’ll come up with something wonderful.”

Laurie and I hold hands and walk out of our kindergarten class on the very last day.

“We really did it,” Laurie says.

“Yep.” I feel a little proud in my heart about this.

Laurie runs to her van. I look around until I see Granny walking up to meet me. “Hi, Granny!”

“Thought I’d never find a parking spot!” Granny calls. She has a huge smiley face on anyway. “Brought you a little surprise.”

“Really?” Granny knows I love surprises. I’m already thinking of a gazillion surprises it could be. Like ice cream. Or a purple dress she’ll make me wear to graduate. Or even Puppy 24.

I can see something in the backseat. Only the sun is too shining. I run toward Charley. Somebody gets out. And that somebody is my daddy.

“Daddy!” I scream. I run very hard to him.

Daddy picks me up and swings me over his head. Then he just hugs me. “Boy, did I miss you, Nat!”

I love hearing those words. “I missed you too!” I shout. Only it doesn’t come out. On account my mouth is smooshed into my dad’s shoulder. “Where’s Mommy?” For a teeny second, I have a
scary thought. What if she didn’t come back? What if she’s still in China? What if—”

“Nat!” Mommy steps out on the other side of Charley. “Honey, I’m over here!”

Daddy sets me down. I run to the other side of the car. “Mommy!” I scream.

She steps out of the backseat. I run to hug her. To be hugged up by her.

But her hands are full.

And they are full with a real, live baby.

I stare at the boy my mom is holding. He is wrapped in a green blanket. His eyes are black and look like Anna’s. He has a lot of black hair. And I can see a scar on his lip, like the one Jason has on his arm.

“Are you sure it’s a baby?” I ask. “Jason’s baby was bald.”

Mommy laughs. “He’s almost six months old. But he’s small for his age because he didn’t get a very good start in life.”

Part of me feels sad about that baby’s bad start and the scar. Only the rest of me feels aggravated. On account of I want to hug my mommy, but her hands are full of baby.

“Want to hold your brother?” Mommy asks.

“No thank you,” I answer. What I want to hold is Mommy.

Granny drives us home. I sit in front. They sit in back. We are two plus three.

Granny does all the talking. “Nat, I called your dad in China and told him about your graduation. I knew they’d find a way. And here they are. Now, isn’t that something!”

“Yeah,” I answer.

“I signed them up on that graduation sheet,” Granny goes on. “So we’re all set for tomorrow. Tell Nat what it was like the first time you saw Samuel.”

“Samuel?” I ask.

“One of the nurses started calling him Samuel,” Mommy explains. “The name stuck. I like it. Don’t you, Nat?”

“It’s okay,” I answer. But it isn’t okay. Well, it is. Only not all the way. There is no fanciness in that name.

“I’m still not sure about the name,” Daddy admits. “
Samuel. Samuel,
go to your room.
Samuel,
stop coloring the wall. I don’t know. It’s like something’s missing.”

“Tell us about your puppy, Nat,” Mom says, just when Granny pulls us into the driveway.

“Puppy 24 is a great puppy,” I say. “Plus, she already loves me.”

“How could she not?” Mom asks.

Granny and I get to our front door first. It takes Granny forever to unlock it.

“Hurry, Granny!” I can’t wait for Mom and Dad to meet Puppy.

The door opens, and Puppy 24 comes running outside.

“How did you get out of your kennel?” I ask
Puppy. She lets me pick her up.

“I bet I forgot to put her in,” Granny says. We walk inside. “I was in such a tizzy when your dad called me from the airport.”

Daddy comes in and pets my puppy. “Pleased to meet you, Puppy 24.” Then he takes the baby so

Mommy can hold Puppy.

“She’s adorable,” Mommy says. Puppy 24 wags her tail like crazy. I can tell she loves Mom already. “Will she grow any bigger?” Mom asks.

Granny laughs and disappears toward the kitchen. In a minute, she’s back. “Where’s Percy, Nat?”

I look around, but I don’t see my cat. I hadn’t even thought about him. “He’s probably hiding.”

“Why would he do that?” Daddy asks.

“He doesn’t like Puppy,” I explain. I check under the couch and in the big chair. I look out at
the backyard. Then the front yard. My heart gets thumpy. “Percy!” I call.

“I hope I didn’t let him out when I was in such a rush before,” Granny says.

I run through the house, calling, “Percy! Percy!” Only he’s not anywhere. What if he thought I didn’t love him anymore? That I only loved Puppy?

When I get back to the living room, the baby is crying his head off. Granny, Mommy, and Daddy are in a circle around him. Making faces. Making goo-goo noises.

“Hey!” I cry. “Percy’s gone!”

“He’ll come back, honey,” Daddy says. He jiggles the baby. But that baby keeps crying.

“No!” I can feel this bad twitchy in my heart. Percy’s gone, and it’s my fault. “Percy won’t come back!”

“Nat, sweetheart,” Granny says. “We’ll all look for that cat together. Give us just a minute here. Okay?”

But I don’t have just a minute. Percy ran away from home. And I’m the only one who cares. “Never mind!” I yell. I run up the hall.

“Nat?” Mom calls.

But I keep running. All the way to my room. On account of I am running away too.