Mom always said Charles was good with little kids. Charles was proud of that. He was good with puppies, too. Not just his own puppy, Buddy, but lots of other puppies, too. The Petersons — Charles and his older sister, Lizzie, and the Bean and Mom and Dad — were a foster family for puppies. They took care of puppies who needed homes, and helped find forever families for each one.

Now, hugging the Bean, Charles whispered again into his ear, “Let’s go home and see Buddy, okay?”

The Bean had stopped shouting, and now he nodded and smiled. “Buddy,” he said. “Buddy-Puddy-Muddy-Wuddy.”

“That’s right,” said Charles. “Buddy’s waiting for us.”

Miss Penny smiled. “You’re a terrific big brother, Charles. I bet you’re a huge help to your parents.”

Charles shrugged. Behind him, his mom put her hands on his shoulders. “He sure is,” she said. “He’ll be a help on our field trip next week, too. I’ve asked him to come along when we go to Fable Farm.” Mom had signed up to be a field trip helper. So far she’d gone along on the day care’s trips to the library, the firehouse, and a bakery. But this time she was in charge. She was planning a special trip for the Penny’s Place kids, a visit to a local farm where they had ducks and geese and sheep and all kinds of vegetables and flowers, too. Charles was going to get to leave school early that day just so he could come along.

“Oh, that’s terrific,” said Miss Penny. “We’re going to have a big group that day.”

“Charles and the Bean and I will go to the farm in the next few days,” Mom told Miss Penny. “We thought it might be a good idea to check things out there ahead of time so we can plan our visit.”

“Wonderful,” said Miss Penny.

Just then, the Bean pulled himself away from Charles’s hug and pointed high up in the air. “Up, up, up, up, up,” he yelled.

Everyone turned to look. Daniel waved and grinned at them — from on top of the fridge.

“How does he do that?” Mom asked. “I never even saw —”

Miss Penny just laughed as she strode over to lift Daniel down. “You can’t take your eyes off him for a second,” she said to Mom and Charles. To Daniel and the Bean, she said, “Go get your things from your cubbies and help Annabelle straighten up the block corner. It’s almost time to go home.”

“How do you do it?” Mom asked Miss Penny, once Daniel and the Bean had been shooed into the other room. “I mean, there’s something happening every minute here, but you always keep your cool. And the kids seem to respond when you tell them to do something. I think the Bean listens to you better than he listens to me.”

Miss Penny shrugged. “I’m used to it, I guess,” she said. “But there’s one thing I’m not used to, and I think I need your help.” She gestured toward a door at the back of the kitchen. “She’s out here.”

“She? Who?” asked Charles, as he followed along, curious.

Miss Penny unlocked the door with a key she pulled out of her pocket. “Her name is Molly,” she said, as she pushed open the door to a small pantry.

Charles only had one moment to wonder why Miss Penny would be keeping a little girl in that room. As the door swung open, he realized that Molly was not a little girl.

Molly was a puppy.