As soon as we rang the doorbell, I heard barking.

“Shut up!” someone yelled, probably Katie. “Shut up! Dog! Shut up! SARAH! PUT HIM OUTSIDE! SAAAARAAAH!”

“I’M DOING IT!” Sarah yelled back.

Dad looked really nervous. He kept saying, “Are you sure about this?” When he heard all the noise, his face went kind of white. But I wasn’t worried. I’ve been to Katie’s house a couple of times, and it’s always like that, since way before they had a dog. Sometimes I think Camellia likes it over there because all the yelling makes it so different from our house.

The barking got farther away, and then finally the front door opened and Katie was standing there.

“Camellia!” she shrieked happily, the way she does every single time they see each other. “And Parker, oh my gosh, when did you get so tall?” She saw me about two weeks ago, but normally she doesn’t talk to me much. And maybe I’d grown since then. She reached past me to shake Dad’s hand. “Hi Mr. Green, great to see you. Come in, you guys!”

But as Camellia stepped forward, suddenly I heard the barking again — only it was coming from behind us now. I turned around just as a dog came galloping around the side of the house at full speed.

He was not small or fluffy or silly-looking. He was a big, brown-eyed golden retriever with long, shining, sun-colored fur, and he was running straight at me.

“OH MY GOSH, SARAAAH!” Katie hollered. “You left the gate open again!”

“I DID NOT!” Sarah screamed from the back of the house.

“Well, now we’re never going to catch him!” Katie yelled.

Something made me open my arms as the dog hurtled toward me. I mean, he wasn’t even a little bit scary. He just looked really, really excited to say hello.

Which is what he did, by leaping up and planting his paws on my shoulders and licking my face all over.

“Ew, GROSS!” Katie yelled. She reached to grab his collar. “Get DOWN, Dog, OFF! Leave Parker alone!”

“It’s OK,” I said. I got on my knees and the dog sat down in front of me. His tail went thump thump thump on the porch. I didn’t even know dogs could smile, but this dog had the hugest grin I’d ever seen. He looked like someone had poured sunshine all over him.

“You’re such a pain in my butt, Dog,” Katie said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Woof!” the dog said, tossing back his head so his long silky ears flapped. He grinned at me. I got the weird feeling he agreed with me about how dopey Katie and Sarah were.

“Come in and I’ll get you his stuff,” Katie said. Dad started to say something, but she kept on talking right over him. “We got a crate for him, but good luck keeping him inside it!”

Camellia and Dad followed Katie inside. When I stood up to go in, the dog came with me. He poked his nose into my hand and made a whuffling noise. His head was smooth and soft when I petted it. He stayed beside me as we followed Katie around the house. She had already filled a plastic bag with dog food and a leash and two half-chewed rawhide bones. In the kitchen she picked up his metal water bowl, emptied it into the sink, and put that in the bag, too.

Sarah came stomping in from the backyard. “I totally did not leave the gate open, Katie.”

“That’s what you said last time!” Katie said.

“Yeah! Because it was true last time, too!”

“So what, he just teleports through the fence?”

“Whatever!” Sarah snapped. “I just know it’s not my fault!”

“Girls, girls,” their mom said, coming into the kitchen. She said hi to us and immediately started thanking Dad for taking the dog off their hands. Dad looked kind of uncomfortable, but he’s about as bad at saying no as I am. The dog poked my leg with his nose, looked pointedly at the back door, and then looked up at me.

“Can I take him outside?” I asked.

“Sure,” Katie said. “Just make sure the gate is closed.”

Sarah stuck out her tongue at her sister. I held the door open for the dog. He immediately bounded down the steps and raced across the yard. I was hoping I’d see him get through the fence so I could figure out how he did it. But he kept circling back around to me instead of trying to escape.

Their fence was made of wood and was only as high as my waist. Maybe he could jump right over it. Our fence was chain-link metal and nearly as tall as me. No way would he get over that.

I walked around the yard, looking at the fence. The dog trotted beside me, wagging his tail the whole time. The sun lit up his fur like fire.

The gate near the front of the house was closed. But as I came closer, I saw something. There was an outdoor storage chest set up against the fence. It looked like the one Troy’s dad used to keep his garden tools in.

As I walked up to it, the dog ran over and jumped up on top of it. He shook out his fur and sat down. He looked very proud of himself. I could see that from there it would be supereasy to jump over the fence, even if you were a lot smaller than a golden retriever.

“You’re pretty clever, aren’t you?” I said, sitting on the chest beside him. He lay down on his side and put his head on my knee, panting happily. I scratched behind his ears. “You’re much cleverer than Katie and Sarah, that’s for sure,” I said. “I can’t believe they didn’t see this. I guess they don’t think like us, huh?”

The dog looked up at me with his big brown eyes.

“Well,” I said, “if you’re coming home with me, you’re going to need a real name.”

His tail swished back and forth like he understood me.

“I’ve been reading this book about King Arthur,” I said to him. “I bet you’d make a great knight of the Round Table.” He did have a really noble-looking face. And then I had the best idea. He was more than a knight — he was a wizard, magically escaping whenever Katie put him outside. Of course, I’d figured out how the magic worked, but it was still a mystery to everyone else.

“Merlin,” I said. His tail thumped. I think he liked it. “All right, clever dog. I’m going to call you Merlin.”