Sammy and the Devil Dog by Susan Brown

Author:Susan Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stephanie Browning
Published: 2017-09-15T10:00:13+00:00

Chapter 13

Secrets

Brian’s face paled. He clutched his textbook as though it would protect him. “What?” he demanded.

“Please come down to the office, Brian,” Mrs. Martinez said. “Right now.”

Sammy looked back and forth between them, feeling sick. Brian sank further into his chair and spread his big arms over the desk as though bracing himself to be pulled away forcibly.

“No,” Brian said. “I don’t want to.”

“Now, Brian,” Mrs. Martinez ordered. Hot red spots burned in her cheeks.

Brian looked around the room, eyes big. Most of the kids just looked at him with scared expressions. Frank was grinning. Mrs. Bennett moved smoothly to Brian’s side and crouched so that she could speak to him at eye level.

“Better go, Brian,” she said. “Help Mrs. Martinez straighten things out.”

“It isn’t fair,” Brian yelled. “Everybody always thinks I did everything. I hate all of you!”

He lurched out of his desk and, fists jammed in his pockets, went with Mrs. Martinez and the officers.

“He does do everything,” Frank crowed. “This is so cool!”

“Frank,” Mrs. Bennett said. “Shut up.”

After that, no one seemed much interested in explorers. Mrs. Bennett finally wrote some fraction problems on the board and told the kids to work on them until lunch recess.

When the bell rang, Sammy would have headed outside with the rest of the kids. Everybody was still full of nervous energy. She could hear the high pitch of her classmates’ voices as they shouted about the games.

“Wait, Sammy!” Erin caught her arm. “You’re supposed to see Mrs. Sovich again, aren’t you?”

Sammy pulled her arm back. “She would have called me if she really wanted me to come.”

“Are you sure?” Erin worried. “What if you get in trouble?”

“You mean more trouble.” Sammy snapped, but she went to the office.

Mrs. Pope and Mrs. Sovich were deep in conversation. “Something has to be done,” Mrs. Pope said. “That poor boy. He’s not like those brothers of his. He has a good heart.”

Mrs. Sovich shrugged. “I don’t know about them. But Brian’s headed for serious trouble.”

“If he isn’t there already. It makes me so angry....” They noticed Sammy then.

“Oh, Sammy,” Mrs. Sovich said. “I’d forgotten we had an appointment. Go on in.”

Sammy started to go and then stopped. “Mrs. Pope, is Brian okay?”

The office manager hesitated. “Yes, he’s gone home.”

“The police didn’t arrest him, did they?”

Mrs. Pope shook her head. “No, they just wanted to ask him about some break-ins near his house. They thought he might have noticed something.”

Sammy was sure there had to be more to it than that, but she was also sure Mrs. Pope wouldn’t lie to her. Reluctantly, she turned toward the counselor’s office. She caught a glimpse of Mrs. Martinez on the phone in her office. There was no sign of the police officers.

Slowly, Sammy took her lunch out of a paper sack and arranged it in front of her. She had a sandwich, carrot sticks, four cookies, grapes, a chocolate chip granola bar, a box of fruit juice and a paper napkin. With her mom’s help, she had made it after Jack had been walked and fed more ham, cheese and Cheerios.

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