Pugsley Read Online Free

He laughed even louder.
    “Well, it looks like they’ll get along,” said Mom, who had come outside. She was holding Buddy on a leash.
    When Pugsley saw Buddy, he wriggled out of Charles’s arms and went flying over to say hello to the little brown puppy.
    Hi! Hi! Hi! I like you! Do you like me? Let’s play
!
    Buddy looked surprised for a moment. But then he started tugging on the leash as if he wanted to run around with Pugsley.
    “Let’s take them out in back and let them run around in the yard,” Lizzie suggested.
    “Sounds like a good idea,” said Aunt Amanda, who was still standing near the van, watching the whole scene.
    “Can you stay for dinner?” Dad asked.
    “No, we’re heading to the country,” Aunt Amanda said. “I should be on my way. Anyway, it looks as if Pugsley is off to a very good start in his new home.”
    “New
temporary
home,” Mom corrected her. But she was smiling as she looked down at Pugsley.
    Lizzie felt sure that everything would work out just fine.

CHAPTER FIVE
    “Is it Wednesday yet?” Mom pushed the hair off her forehead and let out an exasperated sigh.
    Charles gave her a strange look. “Mom! That’s silly. It’s only Saturday night!”
    “She knows,” Lizzie told her brother. She looked from her mom to Pugsley, who was chasing his tail in the middle of the kitchen floor. Since Friday, when Pugsley had come to stay, it did seem as if a
lot
more than twenty-four hours had passed. And next Wednesday, the day when Pugsley would be allowed to spend some time at Bowser’s Backyard, did seem very, very far off. Lizzie could tell her mom was already eager for a break from all-Pugsley-all-the-time.
    To be honest, so was Lizzie.
    Pugsley had more than lived up to his nickname. What a pest! He was constantly getting into trouble, stirring up trouble, looking for trouble, or making trouble. Well, maybe he had slept for a few hours here and there. Usually on the couch, which was the one place Mom had said she really did
not
want him to sleep.
    And of course, before he could curl up for a nap on the couch, Pugsley had to throw each and every one of the couch pillows to the floor, then pounce on each one in turn,
grrr-ing
and snarling, to teach them a lesson. What was the lesson? Nobody knew. Nobody but Pugsley.
    Pugsley had kept Lizzie on the run all day. If she wasn’t petting him or playing with him, he would run off and get into all sorts of mischief. Whenever she took her eyes off him for even one minute, he would do something bad. Like on Friday night. Only a couple of hours after Pugsley had arrived, Lizzie was on the phone telling her friend Maria all about Mr. Pest. “Hold on,” Lizziehad said suddenly, looking around, “where
is
he, anyway?”
    Lizzie ran through the downstairs rooms. As she rounded the staircase, she heard snorty growling noises coming from above. She dashed up the stairs. “Pugsley!” she said. “Oh, no!”
    Lizzie found Mr. Pest standing in Charles’s room, looking up at her with innocent eyes.
    What? Did I do something wrong
?
    The little dog was surrounded by a sea of wrinkled clothes that he had pulled from the neat stack of clean laundry Dad had left on Charles’s bed. A pair of underpants drooped from his jaw.
    Lizzie folded her arms.
    Pugsley wagged his tail and opened his mouth, and the underwear fell on top of the pile.
    “Argh!” Lizzie said, remembering what Aunt Amanda said about ignoring bad behavior. It wastoo late to punish Pugsley now, anyway. The deed was done.
    By the time Lizzie had finished picking up the laundry and sorting it into two piles — “still mostly clean” and “needs another washing” — Pugsley had slipped off again.
    Lizzie caught Pugsley as he dashed out of the bathroom, holding the end of a long, long,
long
ribbon of toilet paper. “You!” Lizzie cried. “You are in big trouble, Mr. —”
    Watch this! Watch this! Did you ever see anything so funny? Look at the way it just keeps coming and coming