The next day was Monday, and Lizzie and Charles had to go to school. Lizzie could hardly stand to miss one minute with Noodle. Before she left, she kissed and hugged him so much that Buddy got jealous and came over to put his paws up on her knee. He wanted attention, too.
“Of course I’ll kiss you, too, Buddy,” Lizzie said, kneeling down. “I’ll always love you best of all. But” — she bent down to whisper into his soft brown ear — “wouldn’t you love to have a little brother?”
All day in school, Lizzie daydreamed about what it would be like if Noodle could live with the Petersons forever. When her parents first agreed that Buddy could stay, it had been like a dream come true. Having a dog of their own was the best thing that had ever happened to Charles and Lizzie and the Bean. So — what about having two dogs? Lizzie could hardly even imagine how much fun that would be.
So far, none of the phone calls they had made had turned up Noodle’s people. Maybe the Petersons would never find out who they were! Or, better yet, Lizzie pictured this: They would find them, but the people would say they just really couldn’t take care of a dog. They would ask if the Petersons knew anyone who wanted to adopt Noodle. “Well,” Mom would say, “I never thought we could handle one dog, much less two, but — we’d love to have Noodle!”
By the time school ended, Lizzie had practically convinced herself that Noodle was already hers — or at least that he would soon be hers forever. But she had figured out that it would probably be best if she did find his people, just so she would know for sure that he really needed a home. She had a plan, too! During math period, when she should have been practicing fractions, she had been thinking dreamily about the day before at the lake, when she had found Noodle’s collar.
Suddenly, she had remembered that she had seen paw prints in the snow near the tree. There was still enough snow on the ground that maybe, just maybe, she could find more paw prints — and follow them to find out where Noodle had come from!
On the way home after school, Lizzie admitted to Charles that she was hoping they could keep Noodle forever.
“But even if you find Noodle’s owners and they don’t want him, do you really think Mom would let us have another dog?” Charles asked as he and Lizzie arrived at their front door.
“I bet I could talk her into it,” Lizzie said as she pushed the door open. “Hi, we’re home!” she yelled. “Buddy! Noodle!”
The two puppies came galloping into the front hall, with the Bean running after them. Both puppies were barking, and the Bean was squealing with laughter. Noodle ran right up to Lizzie and Charles.
Yay! You’re home! Time to play! If only my people were here to play with us, too, then this place would be perfect!
Charles let Noodle lick his cheek. Then he made a funny face. “Um, what’s that yucky smell?” he asked, wrinkling his nose.
Lizzie didn’t say a word. She just pointed to the Bean and his matted Fur.
“Oh,” said Charles. “Right.” He leaned away from his little brother. Buddy and Noodle were edging away from the Bean, too.
The Bean frowned. Lizzie saw him sniff the arm of his Fur. Maybe, just maybe, he was almost ready to give in and let the stinky sweater be washed.
Lizzie’s mom came out of the kitchen. “Lizzie, I called the police station again,” she said.
Lizzie felt her insides go all mushy. “You did?” she asked. “Did they hear anything about any missing puppies?”
Mom shook her head. “Sergeant Martin was supposed to be back today, but he called in sick. The officer who answered said he didn’t think anyone had called about a missing dog over the weekend.”
Lizzie let out a breath. What a relief! If the police had gotten a call about Noodle, that would mean his people were looking for him, and that they did care about him, and that they probably would want to take their puppy back instead of letting the Petersons adopt him.
Lizzie pulled Noodle onto her lap and gave him a great big hug.
“I know, it’s disappointing,” said Mom. “We all want to find Noodle’s people as quickly as possible. Think how much he must miss them!”
Lizzie tried not to. Instead, she sent Noodle a thought message: Think about this: how much I love you!
Noodle squirmed deeper into Lizzie’s arms.
Mmmm, nice hugs. My people used to hug me like that. Even though this girl is nice, I still miss them!
“Mom, can you drive me and Charles to Loon Lake Park? There’s something I want to check out down there.” Lizzie put Noodle down and stood up. “And we can take the dogs for a walk, too.”
“By yourselves?” Mom looked doubtful. “Will you promise to be careful around that ice?”
“Of course!” said Lizzie. “I won’t go near it. Do you think I want to fall in?”
“Well, okay,” Mom said. “I have some grocery shopping to do. I’ll drop you off.”
On the way to the lake, Lizzie and Charles rode in the way back of Mom’s van, near the dog crate that held Buddy and Noodle. It was as if they were all trying to stay as far away as possible from the stinky Bean in his car seat.
“See you in half an hour!” Mom said as she let them off at the lake. “Be careful!” she called as she drove away with the Bean.
“That should be just enough time,” Lizzie said. She was holding Noodle’s leash, and Charles was holding Buddy’s. “Let’s go!”
Once again, Noodle pulled on his leash, dragging Lizzie along the shoreline. She noticed that the ice was beginning to melt at the edges of the lake. It was hard to believe that in a few short months she would be swimming in the cool, clear water! Most of the snow on the shore had melted away, too. Lizzie was disappointed. That meant they probably wouldn’t find any tracks.
“Where are we going?” Charles asked, stumbling along behind Lizzie.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the fallen tree. “See, this is where the collar was.” Lizzie pointed to the branches hanging over the ice.
“All the way out there? How did you get it?” Charles asked.
“It wasn’t easy.” Lizzie remembered inching her way out on that tree trunk. Then she remembered something else: the way the tags had jingled when she poked at the collar with a stick. One tag would not make a jingling sound. There had been two! She had forgotten all about the other tag.
“Charles! That collar! Besides that name tag, there was another tag on it. A rabies vaccination tag.”
Charles’s eyes lit up. “Really? Maybe it’ll give us another clue about who Noodle belongs to! Where is it?”
“It’s back home,” Lizzie said. “Remember? Dad hung the collar on a nail in the garage, since it was too big for Noodle anyway.”
Suddenly, Lizzie didn’t mind anymore about not finding any tracks. She couldn’t wait to get home to take a look at the other tag on that purple collar.
Dad was home by the time Lizzie and Charles got back from the lake. Lizzie ran straight for the garage and grabbed the collar. “See?” she said, when she was back in the kitchen. She showed it to her dad. “We forgot about the other tag!” Her words tumbled out as she explained. She picked up the magnifying glass on the table and looked at the tag. “Boston!” she said. “This says the dog was registered in Boston. Maybe Noodle’s owners are summer people who were up at one of the cabins for the weekend!”
Dad peered at the tag. “Huh. You may be right.” He grabbed the phone book and flipped some pages. “Ok, here’s a Boston area code that starts with eight. Let’s try that number!” He went right to the phone and dialed.
Inside her jacket pocket, Lizzie crossed her fingers. Was this it? The moment of truth when they would find Noodle’s owners?
But Dad shook his head. “No answer.” He was still holding the phone to his ear. Then he held up a finger. “Hold on, there’s a machine!” He waited for a second, then said, “Hello, my name is Paul Peterson from Littleton, near Loon Lake. Have you lost a puppy? We’ve found him, and he’s safe and sound. Call us!” Quickly, he rattled off his phone number and hung up.
“Now what?” Lizzie asked.
Dad just shrugged. “I guess we just have to wait to see if we hear back,” he said.