On Sunday night, before bedtime, Lulu carefully set the alarm clock for 6:25. She picked out the clothes she wanted to wear—so she wouldn’t have to think about them in the morning. She tracked down her disappeared sneakers and carefully placed them next to her bed—so she wouldn’t have to go looking for them in the morning. She even, to save a few seconds, squeezed some toothpaste onto her toothbrush—so she wouldn’t have to squeeze toothpaste in the morning.

She figured that she could be dressed, washed, and tooth-brushed in three minutes and fifteen seconds on Monday morning, which would leave her forty-five seconds to eat some cold cereal, and one whole minute to run to Brutus’s house.

Lulu was feeling extremely pleased with her plan. So, after saying good night to her mom and her dad and her pet goldfish and the photo of Mr. B that hung on her wall, she sang herself to sleep with a money song:

Lulu expected to have some merry money dreams that night, but instead she dreamed all night about—guess who?—Fleischman. He was standing outside her front door and shaking his head and saying over and over again, “THREE dogs you’re walking? Mistake. A big mistake.”