Chapter 20

Alanna Lu didn’t know what happened. One minute, Marty and Freckles were being oohed and aahed over by the other dogs’ owners, then a doggy stampede had broken out.

A poodle broke out of the pack first, and then the rest of the dogs followed, with Marty and Freckles in the rear.

Were they chasing the other dogs?! she thought in horror.

The poodle galloped between the legs of a Cupid’s Dart player and made him sway. He might’ve stayed upright, except the rest of the pack was following, hot on the poodle’s heels. The player went backwards, arms wheeling. He was going to fall! Alanna Lu squinched her eyes shut, then peeked them open again when she didn’t hear a thud.

One of the guy’s buddies in line behind him had caught him under the armpits just in the nick of time. The dart-throwers watched as Marty and Freckles leaped over the almost-fallen man’s sneakers, still in pursuit of the pack.

The poodle swerved, but still bumped into the side of a local artist’s table, making it wobble. Prints and art books dominoed over each other, falling to the floor where the artist’s friend threw herself over them so the dogs wouldn’t trample them.

Moving like a flock of birds, they split and went around her.

“No, NO!”

Alanna Lu turned at the shout.

Oh, no.

The poodle had taken it upon herself to leap onto the table holding the cakewalk prizes. Uninterested in sampling any, she barreled down the middle of the desserts, stepping in cakes and trifles and puddings. She crashed through them all as though they didn’t exist.

“No, Lady! Bad dog! Bad dog!”

Alanna Lu gasped in horror as the poodle bumped into the top prize cake‌—‌a five-tiered, heart-shaped beauty with red ombre frosting. It slowly tipped…‌then fell, plunging into the gluten-free fudge cake next to it before exploding onto the floor, leaving angel food cake and strawberry filling splattered everywhere.

When the poodle neared the far end of the table, she hopped off, tracking icing paw prints out the exit.

The rest of pack followed in her wake.

Those big enough jumped onto the table, while the smaller hounds simply swarmed around the sides of the table. They were charging for the exit.

Marty and Freckles were the last, barking the entire way.

Alanna Lu lifted her camera, then lowered it again. Some journalists could take photos of tragedies while they were happening, but she was not one of them.

This is a disaster!

Bakers howled lamentations over their ruined masterpieces. Children squealed‌—‌some with delight, others frightened by the noise of the stampeding dogs.

The dogs left behind in the venue leapt at end of their leashes, barking after the deserters.

She looked around. Tom’s boss stood statue-still in the middle of the room. Tom ran up to her. Turning to him, his boss’s face darkened.

“Whose fault was that?!” she asked.

Oh no! thought Alanna Lu. Did the boys just cost Tom his job?