Patches Read Online Free Page B

is not getting the attention and love he deserves. Like this beagle puppy I know who is always tied up in a garage. He is so sad and lonely that he cries all day. Some people don’t understand that dogs do not like to be tied up all day, all by themselves. Dogs like to be with people. They like to be played with and hugged. If you don’t have time to make a dog feel like part ofyour family, maybe a dog is not the right pet for you. For more information, you can talk to Ms. Dobbins at the Caring Paws Animal Shelter.
    Hug your dog!
    Charles Peterson
    “What is
this
?” It was the next night, just before dinnertime, and Lizzie was staring at the last page of the newspaper. “Is that what you were doing last night? You wrote a letter?”
    Charles grabbed the paper from her. “It’s in there already? Cool!”
    Mom came over to see. She smiled when she saw the letter. “That’s great, Charles. Your first published writing. Maybe you’ll be a writer like me someday.” Mom was a reporter for the same newspaper that Charles’s letter was in. But Charles didn’t think that was why his letter to the editor had been published. Charles had senthis letter in by e-mail, just like it said to do in the paper. In the directions it said that the newspaper published just about every letter it received.
    Then Mom read the letter. “Oh, dear! Where
is
this poor puppy?” she asked.
    Charles and Lizzie told her about Patches.
    “Well.” Mom looked a little worried. “Don’t get mixed up with the owners, okay? That’s just asking for trouble. You should probably leave this in Ms. Dobbins’s hands from now on.”
    Fortunately, Mom did not make Charles and Lizzie promise to stay away from Patches. Charles knew he couldn’t abandon Patches now.
    That night, Charles read the letter over and over. It looked so official there in the paper! He read it out loud to the Bean and Buddy. Twice each, until Lizzie yelled at him to stop. Charles figured she was probably just jealous. When Dad got home, Charles read it to him, too.
    “Nice work,” said Dad. “Hug your dog. I likethat.” He reached down and petted Buddy. Then he had to pet the Bean, too.
    The next day at school, everybody was talking about Charles’s letter. His teacher read it out loud to the class, but lots of kids had already seen it. “Hug your dog!” people kept saying to Charles when they passed him in the hall or saw him in the cafeteria or the playground. Even the principal said it. Everybody seemed to think Charles’s letter was really good.
    “You’re famous!” said Sammy. It was after school, and they were biking over to the haunted house. (They still called it that, even though it wasn’t really haunted.) They were going to check on Patches again, and this time, Lizzie was coming with them.
    “I could have written that letter,” Lizzie said.
    “But you didn’t,” Charles pointed out. “I did.”
    Lizzie had no answer for that, so she changed the subject. “Is that the haunted house? Where’s the puppy? I can hear him howling already.”
    “
Shh!
” Charles put his finger to his lips. “We’llleave our bikes here. Then we have to see if anybody’s home before we go see Patches.”
    Noelle’s truck was not in the driveway. Charles and Sammy showed Lizzie where to lean her bike against the back porch of the haunted house. Then they climbed up onto the porch and peeked through the vines.
    Patches was tied up, as usual. He sat with his head tipped back so his floppy ears hung down. They swung back and forth as he howled with all his might.
    Oooohhhh, I’m soooo loooonely! Ooohhhh!
    “Awww,” said Lizzie.
    “No car in the driveway,” Sammy reported.
    “No bikes in the garage,” Charles added. “And if that old man is in the house, he never seems to come out, anyway. I guess the coast is clear.”
    All three of them dashed down the porch stairs and across the driveway. Patches jumped rightup when he saw them. His little tail wagged so hard