Mavis couldn’t believe her plan hadn’t worked. She had been so sure everything was going to turn out great.
But it hadn’t.
So here she was, sitting outside the gatehouse with Rose, waiting on someone from Wonderland to come and pick up Henry.
“I wonder if he wins a lot of races,” Rose said, patting the top of Henry’s head. “I bet he does.”
Suddenly Mavis snapped her fingers. “Hey, we should go there sometime!”
“Where?”
“To Wonderland.”
Rose shook her head. “My mother doesn’t approve of Wonderland. My uncle AJ goes there and loses a lot of money.”
“We could go to watch sometime,” Mavis said. “We wouldn’t even have to tell anybody. It could be like our first Best Friends Club field trip.”
Rose got that worried look that Mavis knew well.
“Forget it, then,” Mavis said. “I’ll go by myself.”
Rose didn’t answer, so Mavis said it again.
“I’ll go by myself.”
Then, just as Mavis was starting to get irritated, a white van pulled up to the gatehouse. Painted on the side in black letters was:
WONDERLAND GREYHOUND PARK
PALMETTO ROAD
LANDRY, ALABAMA
A bald-headed man wearing a red Wonderland T-shirt got out of the van. Over the pocket of his shirt was the name Roger. “Well, you little devil,” he said to Henry. “We been looking all over for you.”
Henry put his tail between his legs and hung his head.
Then the man slipped a collar and leash over Henry’s head and said, “Thanks for calling me, y’all.”
Before Mavis even had a chance to hug Henry goodbye, the man scooped him up and put him into a crate in the back of the van.
“Bye, Henry,” Mavis called.
“Bye, Henry,” Rose called.
The man climbed into the driver’s seat, draped his arm out the window, and gave Rose and Mavis a wave.
“Can we come watch him race sometime?” Mavis asked as the van was backing away from the gatehouse.
“This one ain’t racing no more,” the man said.
Then the van drove off, leaving a puff of black smoke behind it.