Madison’s New Buddy
A Stressful Secret
That Saturday, Madison meets her friends at the shelter as usual. They’re hanging out in the new grooming area helping Mrs. Wallace wash a Shetland sheepdog named Bandit. Mrs. Wallace hands Madison a flat brush to groom Bandit. Madison loves grooming. She pulls the brush gently through the dog’s black-and-brown fur. Madison coos at Bandit that he looks lovely; nothing like Stella did when she first arrived.
Madison looks at Stella, who is a Chow Chow who arrived with fur so flat from being out in the rain. But now, her hair poofs out in every direction, almost hiding her eyes and ears from view. She almost looks like a stuffed animal. Keiko pets Stella as she states that because she’s so beautiful, she’ll be adopted in no time. Sofia dreamily responds that hopefully she’ll be the one to adopt Stella. Sofia has been trying to encourage her parents to let her adopt a dog, to no avail.
Jasmine’s mother, Dr. Arroyo enters the room. She holds out her arms for Stella, and takes her into the back room to examine her ears.
The girls redirect their attention to the Shelter Dog Reading Project. At the mention of the reading, Madison sinks deeper into her chair. She hadn’t been giving it any thought at all. Keiko says she was thinking of reading Charlotte’s Web, but the ending may be a little sad. Sofia mentioned she was thinking about Shiloh. Jasmine piped up that she had her eye on Because of Winn-Dixie. The girls continue to go back and forth with book ideas. Finally, Keiko turns to Madison and asks if she has any ideas yet.
Madison shakes her head and silently turns back to brushing Bandit. She feels her cheeks turning red as she imagines them finding out her secret. What is Madison going to do? Bandit begins to squirm, forcing Madison to focus on making him sit.
Jasmine suggests that they can all go to the library to pick out a pick. They can take turns reading to each other to see how it sounds. Madison pictures herself standing up in front of class reading to her classmates, and imagines them pointing and laughing at her.
Jasmine notices Madison’s lack of focus, and asks if Madison is okay. She responds quickly that she’s fine, she just doesn’t feel well. She excuses herself from the room to get some water outside, and hurries all the way to the water cooler. Keeping this secret from her friends will be harder than she thought.