Henry Huggins Read Online Free

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    Henry felt around in his pocket. The silver dollar his grandfather had given him was still there. He watched the little rainbow fish chase the silvery fish and decided he had to have a pair of guppies. After all, it was his very own money he was spending. He would keep them on the dresser in his room. They would just stay in his room and swim quietly around in their bowl. He didn’t see how his mother could object to two quiet little fish that didn’t bark or track in mud or anything.
    â€œI’ll take a pair,” Henry told Mr. Pennycuff, and watched him fasten waxed paper around the top of the bowl with a rubber band and put it into a bag.
    â€œNow be sure to put the bowl near a heater in cold weather so the fish won’t get chilled and catch ick.”
    â€œIck?” said Henry.
    â€œYes, ick. It’s short for ichthyophthirius . When the fish get chilled, they catch ick and are covered with tiny white spots.”
    â€œGosh,” said Henry. Maybe there was more to keeping guppies than he thought.
    â€œOh, don’t worry,” said Mr. Pennycuff. “They can stand water down to sixty degrees. If it were that cold in the house, you’d have the heat on.”
    That sounded easy. “How often do I change the water?” asked Henry.
    â€œYou shouldn’t have to change the water. The snails help keep it clean. Just give the fish a tiny pinch of food once a day. It’s only when the fish don’t eat all their food or when you have too many fish in a bowl that the water gets dirty.” Mr. Pennycuff gave Henry his change.
    â€œI didn’t know that,” said Henry. “I’m glad you told me. Here, Ribsy.” He handed Ribsy his package of horse meat. The dog took it in his mouth and they left the pet store. “You’ll have to carry your meat all the way home today. And don’t you stop and try to eat it before we get home, either. It has to last you a few days.”
    Ribs wagged his tail and trotted on ahead of Henry with his meat. Henry tried to walk without jiggling the package. He didn’t want to slosh the guppies any more than he had to. When Ribsy was half a block ahead of Henry, he dropped his package and looked back at Henry. Then he began to tear the paper off the meat.
    â€œHey! Cut that out!” yelled Henry. He started to run but the water in his fishbowl sloshed and he had to stop.
    Just to be safe Ribsy picked up his meat, trotted farther down the sidewalk, and finished tearing off the paper.
    â€œStop that! You—you—you old dog!” Again Henry tried to run. This time he held the bowl straight out in front of him, but the water still sloshed.
    Ribs gobbled part of the meat and then trotted ahead with the rest of it in his mouth. Just as Henry was almost close enough to reach for the meat, Ribsy put on a burst of speed.

    â€œRibsy! You come here!” The dog ignored Henry. “I’ll get you for this!” Henry was really angry now. He set his package of guppies on the sidewalk and ran after his dog. This time Henry caught up with him.
    Henry grabbed one end of the meat and pulled. Ribsy, growling deep in his throat, hung onto the other end and pulled. The dog had a better grip on the meat because he could sink his teeth into it. Henry found that raw meat was cold and slippery.
    â€œYou let go that meat!”
    Ribsy growled more fiercely. He sounded as if he meant it. The harder Henry pulled, the louder Ribsy growled.
    Henry was sure Ribsy wouldn’t really bite him, but just the same he knew it was not a good idea to annoy any animal when it was eating. Anyway, he couldn’t stand there all afternoon playing tug-of-war with a piece of horse meat. His guppies might get cold.
    â€œAll right, you old dog! Go ahead and eat it and see if I care. You’ll just have to eat canned dog food the rest of the week.” He went back to his guppies while Ribsy wolfed the rest of the