The Dragon in the Driveway Read Online Free

unlocking the garage door.
    “Emmy is alllll better now!” Emmy told them when they’d gently shaken her awake. All traces of Emmy’s jitters had vanished. She transformed back into her sheepdog shape, and they headed off to check out the trail of pine needles and leaves.
    “Emmy,” Jesse said, “you need to stay in your dog form when we get to the Dell. Something’s up.”
    Emmy let out a cooperative little yip, and then raced along the trail that led up the backyard to the top of the rise. There they dropped to their knees and followed Emmy through the tunnel in the laurel bushes to the Dell. On the other side, they jumped to their feet, but the mysterious trail abruptly ended.
    The Dell lay before them like a big bowl lined with wet clover and wildflowers, sparkling in the sunshine like a rainbow fallen to earth. On one side of the bowl was Old Mother Mountain. On theother side, not far from the overflowing stream, was the abandoned barn where Jesse and Daisy kept their Museum of Magic. Behind the barn lay the Deep Woods.
    Emmy began barking, and Jesse and Daisy gasped. A wide ugly gouge, paved with wood chips and mud, cut into the heart of the Deep Woods. Felled trees lay everywhere like dead bodies.
    “St. George is behind this,” Jesse said through clenched teeth.
    Emmy took off at a run, and the cousins ran after her, half sliding down the slope and across the squishy earth. Midway across the pasture, Daisy suddenly grabbed Jesse’s arm and stopped him. “Look!” she said, pointing.
    On either side of the ghastly gouge in the Deep Woods stood a tree—and around each tree trunk was a strip of cloth made from one of Miss Alodie’s old flowered shirts.
    “My
trees
, Jesse!” Daisy cried, jumping up and down and flapping her hands. “A Douglas fir and a quaking aspen! See?”
    Emmy bounded around them, barking.

CHAPTER THREE
EARTHMOVERS
    Daisy gripped Jesse and pulled him along as she walked right up to the Douglas fir. She shaded her eyes from the sun and called out, “Hellooooo!”
    Jesse shook his head while Emmy sat, her tail a tiny happy blur. They waited.
    The Douglas fir stood there silently, as trees usually do.
    Daisy cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hey there!” she hollered. She stepped closer and rapped her knuckles on the trunk. “Hello, Douglas fir! We’re here to help, if we can. Is anybody home? You know,” she said to Jesse, “in my book on tree lore, it says the Douglas fir stands for wisdom and dignity.”
    Jesse squinted up at the tall fir. “I can see that,” he said.
    Emmy jumped up and circled the tree three times. Then she stopped, lifted her hind leg, and tinkled all over the base of the trunk.
    “Emmy!” said Daisy. “That’s not very polite!”
    Jesse burst out laughing. “Sure it is. It’s dragon piddle. It’s probably magical,” he said.
    “Magical tinkle!” Daisy giggled.
    Emmy trotted over to the quaking aspen and once again lifted her hind leg. She had saved a generous sprinkling of dragon piddle for the second tree.
    “So what does the quaking aspen stand for?” Jesse asked.
    Daisy stared up at the tree and thought a bit. “I want to say a bunch of waggling tongues, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to look it up.” Daisy walked overto the quaking aspen. “I apologize for my dog, er, dragon,” she said.
    For a second, it looked like the tree really
did
mind: its pale green leaves quivered indignantly in the breeze. But then the breeze died down and the leaves stopped moving.
    Daisy sighed and stood back, hands on hips. “Maybe they just don’t trust us yet.”
    “Maybe,” said Jesse.
    Emmy let out a sharp bark of disagreement.
    “Then again,” said Daisy, “maybe they just wanted us to see this mess.”
    “Well, now that we’ve seen it,” said Jesse, “we have to do something about it!”
    Emmy barked twice to say “Yes!” and started into the ravaged wood. Jesse and Daisy looked at each other. They didn’t usually go into the Deep