Ginger by Kate Klimo

Author:Kate Klimo
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-97902-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

Do you know what I did then? I took myself for a walk. I took myself to all the places Skinny Man took me. There was no one to scoop up my poop, so I kicked it aside and went on my merry way. I was headed for the park. I didn’t need Skinny Man to run. I could run by myself. I must have looked mighty bold. But deep down, do you know what I was thinking? I was thinking that maybe Skinny Man was somewhere in the park. Maybe he had gone to the park without me and gotten lost. Maybe I could find him and bring him home and everything would be just the way it used to be.

Up ahead, I saw Other Owner with Poufy-Head. She called out to me in a scolding tone, “Ginger! What are you doing out here without your father?”

I went up to Poufy-Head and danced in front of him, all excited. Look at me, I’m free! Don’t you wish you were, too?

Freedom is for lowlifes, he said. You’re going to be sorry you ever tasted freedom.

Other Owner lunged for me, but I was too fast for her. I danced away from her, and then I ran until I couldn’t hear her calling my name anymore. On and on I ran, deeper and deeper into the park. I chased a squirrel. I sniffed and scratched at a rabbit hole. I rolled in a nice dead bird. Now I smelled just like the park, like something wild. Oh, it felt so good! Poufy-Head was wrong! Being free was the way to be.

Then it got dark, and bit by bit, it didn’t feel so good to be free. The shadows scared me. Nothing smelled familiar. The world was filled with Dangerous Things. Skinny Man had never taken me this deep into the park. There were deer, and raccoons, and a skunk that I backed away from so fast I almost fell into a stream. I leaned down and lapped up some water. Freedom made me thirsty. Hungry, too. I found some garbage and ate it all up. It tasted a little ripe, but I wasn’t choosy. Then I found a box of slimy stuff. I knew what it was right away. Skinny Man liked to eat it sometimes. A man in a Car delivered it to the door. It was Pizza Pie. I had just started chowing down on the oily mess when I heard a deep snort.

Put down the pizza, someone said.

I dropped the Pizza Pie and found myself face to face with the ugliest, meanest-looking dog that I had ever laid eyes on. Though his ribs poked through his mangy coat, he was all muscle. He had one beady black eye, and the other was all shriveled up in its socket. He had a tattered ear and a snaggletooth and one leg that was twisted and shorter than the other three.

Step away from the box, he said.

I did as I was told.

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