Just Grace Walks the Dog Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Table of Contents

  Photo

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Just Grace Walks the Dog

  Extra Credit Report on Dogs

  What Grace Will Be Thinking About in Her Next Book

  Copyright © 2008 by Charise Mericle Harper

  All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

  www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com

  The text of this book is set in Dante MT.

  The illustrations are pen and ink drawings digitally colored in Photoshop.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Harper, Charise Mericle.

  Just Grace walks the dog / written and illustrated by Charise Mericle Harper.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Eight-year-old Just Grace and her best friend Mimi embark on a campaign to convince Grace's parents that they are responsible and dependable enough to get a dog. ISBN-13: 978-0-618-95973-0 [1. Dogs—Fiction. 2. Responsibility—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Diaries—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H231323Jw 2008

  [Fic]—dc22

  2007041169

  Printed in the United States of America

  QUM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  For the great dogs I have loved

  Mika and Emma

  UNFORTUNATE THINGS

  There are two kinds of unfortunate things: those that are unfortunate because they have not happened, and those that are unfortunate because they already really did happen. I am pretty unlucky, because right now in my life I have both kinds of unfortunate things happening at the exact same time! My unfortunate thing that did not happen is that I am not allowed to have a dog, and my unfortunate thing that did happen is that at school everyone calls me Just Grace.

  Some people say that when bad stuff happens in your life it gives you lots of character, which means that you end up being a super-interesting person when you grow up. I must be filling up with character pretty fast, because unfortunate stuff is always especially happening to me. Maybe that means I'll be on TV or something when I get big.

  UNFORTUNATE ON PURPOSE AND UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE

  When something unfortunate happens it is probably better if the unfortunate thing is a mistake instead of an on-purpose unfortunate thing. So I am at least lucky about that, because my biggest unfortunate thing was definitely 100 percent an accident.

  UNFORTUNATE ON-PURPOSE THING

  UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE THING

  MY UNFORTUNATE THING

  My real name is Grace, but at school my name is Just Grace, which is an unusual, stupid, and completely dumb name. How something can change from nothing special to completely dumb is a long, unfortunate story, and one that I am very tired of explaining. But if I don't explain it, then people think that it's an on-purpose thing and that my parents were crazy to name me that, and that I have been living with the awful Just Grace name since the day I was born, and maybe even worse, that I actually like it. And then they will look at me like I am 100 percent Just Grace. So I have to tell them the story so they can know that only my outside is Just Grace and that on my insides I'm a solid Grace all the way through. It's like being a girl M&M. I look like Just Grace/candy on the outside, but on the inside I'm all Grace/chocolate! It might not seem like it, but it makes a big difference!

  CANDY M&M

  GIRL M&M

  HOW THIS UNFORTUNATE THING HAPPENED

  There are four girls named Grace in my class. Miss Lois, my teacher, said that we all had to change our names or she would never be able to get the right Grace's attention when she said "Grace." Even when she was explaining this I could kind of tell she was right because all four of us looked up when she said Grace, and Peter Marchelli, who sits right next to me, didn't even stop doodling on his desk. Miss Lois named Grace Wallace "Grace W.," and Grace Francis "Grace F.," and Grace Landowski "Gracie," and then right before she got to me I said, "Well, if everyone else is having a new name, can I be called just Grace?" Since no one else was using the Grace name, it seemed like maybe I could have it. But Miss Lois didn't understand me, and even when I tried to tell her about her mistake she still didn't listen, or even care about it anymore. She closed her ears and wrote Just Grace in her rule book of class names and attendance.

  And then suddenly it was school law forever, that my new dumb name was Just Grace, because once it is written in the book it can never be changed.

  The first person to make fun of me was Grace F., and that was no surprise because back then she was still the Big Meanie and I thought she hated me.

  But that was before she changed back into Grace F., who is really very funny and an excellent artist, which are two things you would not imagine could be true until you got to know her.

  THREE GRACES PLUS ONE

  Grace F., Grace W., and I all had to do a project together, and that is how we all became friends. Grace L. was in another group so she got to be friends with Walker Marcie and Bethany, but I still think it made her sad that she was not friends with us, because our names were all Grace and she was a Grace too, but not one who was in our group. I can figure out stuff like that because of my teeny tiny superpower. My superpower helps me know when people are unhappy, even if they are pretending to be happy, and even if they are very good actors. It's called empathy power. The hard thing about superpowers is that they don't come with an instruction book so it's not always easy to know exactly when and how to use them. I think other superpowers, like superstrength or x-ray eyes, would be a lot easier to work.

  SUPERSTRENGTH POWER—EASY

  EMPATHY POWER—NOT EASY

  I felt sorry for Grace L. when we other Graces were joking around and having so much fun calling each other Grace, Grace, and Grace. But I couldn't figure out what to do to help her, so I pretended I didn't notice she was sad. This is a very hard thing for a person with my superpower to do, and it can sometimes end up giving me a stomachache.

  IF I IGNORE MY SUPERPOWER, I FEEL SICK FOR A LITTLE WHILE.

  MR. FRANK

  Today was the last day I will ever see Mr. Frank standing in my classroom at school. He was our student teacher and the real reason I became friends with Grace W. and Grace F., who used to be the Big Meanie. He made me work with them when we had to do a language project. Sometimes when someone forces you to do something you would not normally do, the ending part and how it works out is a surprise, one that you would have never guessed in a million years. I would have never thought that I would be friends with or even like the Big Meanie. But I was lucky, because this forcing thing only sometimes works out in a good way.

  Dad had to work on a project with a man named Jeremy at his job, and now he says he doesn't like the Jeremy man very much anymore. Before Dad knew him better he thought Jeremy was funny and a hard worker, but now he says Jeremy takes too many coffee breaks and is irresponsible, which is a word I was happy he was using about someone else and not me.

  Anytime I do something wrong Dad loves to use the irresponsible word on me, and usually he likes to use it more than once or twice in a row.

  IRRESPONSIBLE EXAMPLE

  THREE NEW THINGS

  It was not hard to say goodbye to Mr. Frank. I did not cry like Jane Dublin did. She will probably never see him again, so I can understand why she was so sad she had to cry. He has to go back to the university to finish off all his learning before he can get his certificate that says he is a real teacher. Before he came to our school I didn't know it took so much work just to stand in front of our class and tell us what
to do. The real reason I did not cry or feel bad about Mr. Frank leaving is that Grace F. lives right next door to him. She says I can come over to her house anytime I want to see Mr. Frank. And even though her mom won't let us knock on his door, because that would be bothering him, we can probably still see him because she says he usually comes outside if he hears you talking to his dog through the fence. He has a very fat and very friendly golden retriever named Winkie.

  I am definitely going to visit Grace F., because one visit to her house will give me three new things all at the same time. I will get to see her bedroom, I will get to call Mr. Frank "Jeffrey," the way she does when he is not in school, and I will get to play with Winkie, his golden retriever. I am newly crazy about dogs. They are like cats, which I already liked, but better because you can take them places with you like a real friend. Plus you can teach them to do tricks and they will try to learn them, which cats definitely don't do.

  MIMI

  Mimi is my best friend in the whole world and she lives right next door to me. This is extra lucky because stuff like that hardly ever happens. The even better part is that we can see each other from our bedroom windows. Mimi got a book from the library so we could learn Morse code and send flashlight messages to each other at night in the dark. We have tried to do it a couple of times but it's kind of hard and it takes a really long time. I think it's much easier to send the message to Mimi than to figure out the message that she is sending to me. Still, it's a good idea, and if we keep practicing we might get really good at it. It would be excellent to stay up all night flashlight talking. And the extra best part is that none of our parents would ever even know about it.

  COVER OF MORSE CODE BOOK

  HOW TO DO FLASHLIGHT MORSE CODE

  Flashlight Morse code is not fun and easy like it said it was going to be on the cover of Mimi's book. Flashlight Morse code is confusing and frustrating, but they couldn't put that on the cover because then no one would try it. Every letter of the alphabet has a different code, and it's all dots and lines. You have to spell out everything you want to say letter by letter using the right code. A dot means you flash the flashlight on and off really fast, and a dash means you leave the flashlight on for longer. Just to spell out "hi" you have to do four fast flashes for the h and then two fast flashes for the i. Mimi and I both copied out the code chart and taped it to our windows, but it's still not easy to do. Mimi said the easy part was a lie, but she was sure the fun part would be true if we practiced more.

  MORSE CODE CHART

  MIMI AND CATS

  Mimi is allergic to cats, which is why they used to be my favorite animal and why they are not now. Mrs. Luther, my other next-door neighbor, has a great cat named Crinkles. She says he is a cat-dog, which means she thinks he is kind of like an M&M too, cat coating on the outside and mostly dog on the inside. I don't think she is really right about that, though. I have tried to teach Crinkles some really easy tricks, and he did not even try to do them at all. If he was part dog, he would love to learn new stuff. Every time I touch Crinkles I have to remember to wash my hands and change my clothes before I see Mimi, or else she will start her sneezing. So it is much easier to just not touch him instead. Mimi is worth it.

  MIMI AND DOGS

  I thought I would forever not have an animal friend in my life until Mimi said that she thought she might not be allergic to dogs. She went to visit her uncle, and his new dog, Chesapeake, did not make her sneeze even once. And even though she didn't touch him, this was a big surprise, because if she even stands next to a cat she will sneeze like crazy and then have to take her medicine so her eyes don't get puffed up like supersize marshmallows.

  MIMI WITH NORMAL EYES

  MIMI WITH PUFFED-UP EYES

  Mimi is also not allergic to frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, birds, and fish, but those are not animals that I would want for a pet. I like animals with fur who are cuddly and can make you feel better just by hugging them.

  I asked Mom and Dad if I could have a dog and they said no and that to have a dog you have to be dependable and responsible. Responsible is the opposite of irresponsible, so it is no surprise that Dad thought of that part. Responsible and dependable are a lot alike, so I made up a chart to show how a good pet owner like me would behave to be both. And then so Mom and Dad could know that I was being serious, I taped it to the fridge. We have one of those fridges that look magnetic but then when you put a magnet on them the magnet just falls off. That means we have to tape everything on, which is much uglier, plus we don't get to use cute or funny magnets like most other people do.

  MIMI TEST

  Mimi and I decided to go to the park to test for sure that she is not allergic to dogs. There are always dogs in the park, so it was easy. We stayed for over an hour and played with three little dogs and two big dogs, and Mimi did not even have one single sneeze the whole time. It was amazing! She even let one of the dogs lick her chin. I was worried about that because that was awful close to her eyes, and you really aren't supposed to let strange dogs lick your face. I think she was just so excited to be close to a friendly, furry animal that she couldn't help it. It was hard to get Mimi to leave since she has been starved of animal attention her whole entire life. When something super good is happening, it is hard to give it up and just go home. We talked all the way home about how we couldn't believe all the time we had wasted when we could have had a dog in our lives. And how that was going to have to change really soon.

  MIMI WITH REAL DOG

  ANIMAL PEOPLE

  Mimi is not allowed to have a dog because her parents are not animal people. Her mom and dad did not have any pets when they were growing up, so they can't really help the way they are. It is very hard to change a non-animal person into an animal person. My mom and dad both had pets when they were kids so they have to be animal people, even though when I asked them they said they are not. They probably wouldn't admit it but they are sort of like M&M's too. They have non-animal person outsides with animal person insides. All I have to do is peel off their outside non-animal person shells.

  MOM AND DAD

  SHELL ON

  SHELL OFF

  DOG CHOICES

  Mimi says that she is more of a big-dog person than a little-dog person. I don't know how she can know that, because up until we went to the park she didn't know if she was even an any-kind-of-dog person. At first I thought it was maybe because little dogs reminded her of cats and her allergies, but she said it wasn't that. Now I think it's because she is so excited about dogs that she wants to have as much dog as she can get. It's like if you suddenly tasted ice cream for the first time in your life and found out you totally loved it. You'd want to eat the whole container. I told Mimi that I think our chances of being allowed to have a dog are better if we pick a little dog, because a little dog is closer to a no dog than a big dog is.

  MAX

  Max is Mimi's next-door neighbor. He is my one-house-away neighbor. He and Mimi and Sammy Stringer did their school project together, which is how they all became friends. Sammy spends a lot of time visiting with Max. Sometimes Mimi and I do stuff with them, because if they are right there standing outside it's not polite to ignore them.

  Sammy is not my favorite person, but I am starting to like him a little better. Mom says your tastes change when you grow up, so I guess that is what's happening. So far I still don't like grapefruits or cabbage or peas or spinach, so the food-tastes-changing part probably hasn't started yet. When Mom was little she said she didn't like potatoes or tomatoes, but now that she is grown up she loves them. I hope she is wrong about the food-tastes-changing part, because I can't imagine eating a cabbage and saying "yummy" at the same time. That would be disgusting!

  PICKING A DOG

  Max came over when Mimi and I were standing outside talking about the kinds of dogs we liked. "German shepherds are the best dogs ever," said Max. "My uncle has one, and Lady can do all sorts of tricks and even lets you use her tummy as a pillow when you want to t
ake a nap." "Oh my gosh! That sounds perfect!" said Mimi. "I think we should get a German shepherd!" "Wow! Are you getting a dog?" asked Max. "I could teach it some tricks." Talking to Max was not helping Mimi to change her mind and forget about picking a big dog. So I said, "Isn't a German shepherd the same kind of dog that Mr. Hurley has?" Mr. Hurley is our neighbor across the street, and his dog, Oliver, who is a German shepherd, is not even a teeny tiny one bit friendly. He acts like he can't wait to get away from you, and Mr. Hurley always says, "Leave him be, children. He's not used to you little ones." Even though none of us is really that little anymore.

  "Yeah, well, that's because he's seventy-seven years old," said Max. "Mr. Hurley is that old?" I was surprised. Mr. Hurley looked old, but old like my dad, not old like a grandpa. "No, not him, silly—Oliver." Now Max was laughing at me. "Oliver is seventy-seven dog years old, which is eleven years old in human years." Sometimes Max thinks he is such a smarty-pants and the knower of everything about everything. I was glad when Mimi said, "I don't know—Oliver doesn't seem like he was ever very friendly. And his fur doesn't look very soft either." We would have probably talked about it some more, but Sammy walked up and Sammy is not a furry-animal person. Not on the outside or on the inside.