It was time for a short break.
The Aldens decided to get to know the other dog owners a little better. They went to talk to Dante first.
“Good luck in the next round,” Jessie said.
“Thanks,” Dante said. “You, too.” Dante was acting nervous. He kept glancing over at the door.
“What kind of dog is Buffalo?” Benny asked.
“Ummm.” Dante scratched his chin.
“A spotted one. Look, I gotta go somewhere.” He tugged Buffalo away quickly and left the room.
“Dante sure was in a rush to get out of here.” Violet said. “Maybe we can get to know him better later.”
Mr. Benjamin was in the corner of the room, brushing Ninja’s teeth. The Aldens walked over to him.
“Hello, Mr. Benjamin,” Henry said. “Congratulations on the audition so far.”
“There is no need to congratulate me,” Mr. Benjamin said, standing up. “I knew Ninja would be picked.” He tucked Ninja’s toothbrush in his pocket. “I’m sorry for you kids, though. Your dog doesn’t have a chance.”
Henry didn’t want to seem rude, so he just said, “Ninja is a very good actor.”
“The best,” Mr. Benjamin said. “It’s so wrong that we had to come here to Greenville.”
“Greenfield,” Benny corrected.
“Whatever,” Mr. Benjamin said. “Ninja never has to try out for a role. He is always given everything that he wants!” Mr. Benjamin gathered Ninja’s leash. “We are off to buy Ninja a bottle of water in the mall’s food court. Ta ta.”
The Aldens were alone in the big room.
“I’m so nervous,” Violet said. “Mr. Benjamin seems confident that Ninja will win. But I really hope that Watch will get the best score,” she said. “Then he’ll be a star.”
“And Josh will get his bike fixed,” Henry put in.
“Josh can bring his bike when he visits us in Hollywood!” Benny said.
Just then Grandfather came into the audition room. “I met Ms. Werner outside,” he said. “She said you had a short break, so I came to take you out for a snack.” He gave Benny a wink. “How is everything going?”
“Great! Watch has been picked to go to the next part of the audition,” Jessie said.
“He’s going to be famous,” Benny said. “When Watch is a superstar, you can be his chauffeur so you’ll drive him to all his important meetings,” Benny explained.
“We’ll even get you a fancy hat!”
Grandfather laughed.
After a snack and a short walk, Grandfather dropped the children and Watch back at the audition room. He made plans to pick up them up when it was over later.
“You see, I’m already the chauffeur,” he said.
After Grandfather was gone, Henry saw something odd through the big window at the back of the room.
Ms. Werner and Dante were outside speaking privately. It looked like Ms. Werner was giving Dante a marker pen. But he wasn’t sure. “Did you see that?” Henry asked Jessie.
“I think I saw Ms. Werner give Dante a marker,” Jessie said.
“That’s what I thought, too!” Henry said.
“That’s really weird. A bunch of strange things have happened at this audition,” Jessie said.
“You should write it all down in your journal when we get home,” Henry said.
“Yeah,” Jessie agreed. She began thinking about what she’d write. She’d start with the fact that none of the dogs in line were eating the Wundermutt food. Except Buffalo.
“Hello.” Lisa came over to the children. “Your dog is terrific.”
Jessie beamed. “Thanks,” she said.
“Is it fun to work in show business?” Benny asked.
Lisa didn’t smile. “No. I don’t think it’s fun.”
“Why not?” Benny asked. “I think it would be great!”
Lisa groaned. “It might be great for some people. But I don’t want to be in show business. I want to do other things for the Wundermutt Company.”
“What do you want to do?” Violet asked in her soft voice.
“I’m an inventor,” Lisa told the children. “I’ve created a new dog training product. It’s called—”
“Lisa, I need your help,” said Ms. Werner, who had come back into the room.
“I have to go now.” Lisa sighed. “But I have a plan.” She tossed back her hair and gave a small smile. “Soon everyone will notice me and listen to my incredible idea!” With that, Lisa hurried off.
“What do you think she has in mind?” Henry wondered.
It was time for the obstacle course. Lisa showed the dogs and owners how it worked. “Each dog will have to go over the log, under the bench, through the hoop, and finally, slip down the slide,” she said.
“We want to see how athletic and healthy your dog is,” Ms. Werner said. “Plus, these same tricks will be used in the commercial.”
Ms. Werner pointed at Lisa’s clipboard. “We will give each dog points for how well they perform on each of the events we have planned. At the end, the dog with the most points will get to go to Hollywood, star in the Wundermutt commercial, and win one hundred dollars in prize money.”
“Wow!” Jessie said. “That’s exactly enough to get Josh’s bike fixed.”
“Winning is going to be a piece of cake!” Benny exclaimed.
“Benny’s always thinking about food,” Henry said with a laugh.
Ms. Werner announced that Buffalo would run the course first. Ninja would be next, and finally, Watch.
Buffalo moved up to the starting line. A bell rang and Buffalo started out. The dog jumped smoothly over the log, though his back feet briefly touched it.
As Buffalo went through the course, Dante cheered him on.
“Good dog!” he shouted. “Don’t mess up. No mistakes. People are counting on you. When you win this audition, it’ll prove a point.”
When Buffalo slid under the bench, he hit the underside with his back. The bench wobbled but didn’t tip. Buffalo sailed through the hoop, but skidded on his landing. For the last trick, Buffalo slid smoothly down the slide.
At the finish line, Dante gave Buffalo a big hug. “Good job, Bandit!” he said. “Great work.”
“Bandit?” Benny whispered. “I thought his dog’s name is Buffalo.”
“I don’t know why he called his dog another name,” Henry said.
“We must have heard wrong,” Violet said.
“All of us?” Jessie asked.
“Great work, Buffalo.” Ms. Werner said. “A solid run.” She told Dante he didn’t need to stay to watch the others.
“Buffalo needs to be refreshed,” Dante said. Then they headed out.
When Mr. Benjamin moved Ninja to the start line, Benny began to clap. “Go, Ninja!” he said. He still wanted Watch to win, but it was exciting to see his favorite TV hero in action. “Now, Ninja, now!” he shouted. That was what the announcer on “Ninja at Night” said whenever Ninja sprang into action.
But Mr. Benjamin wasn’t pleased. He just glared at Benny.
“Sorry,” Benny said, and then he was quiet.
The bell sounded and Ninja was off. He went over. Under. Through and down. Unlike Buffalo, Ninja didn’t need any direction on the course. He did it all perfectly on his own.
“Good job, Ninja,” Benny said softly when Ninja’s turn was over.
“Ninja really did well,” Henry admitted. “He’s a pro.”
“I told you Ninja would win,” Mr. Benjamin said, as Ninja sat down next to his feet.
Watch was getting ready to take his turn on the obstacle course.
Mr. Benjamin looked around the room. “Hold on,” he said. He turned to Ms. Werner. “I can’t find Ninja’s leash.”
Everyone looked around, but nobody noticed the leash.
“I’ll check over by the stage kitchen,” Henry said. Lisa went to look with him. Jessie and Benny said they’d look by the door and under the waiting area chairs.
“I’ll check the little office,” Violet told them, and Ms. Werner followed her. The desk was messy. Violet picked up a coffee mug so she could move some papers. On one side of the mug was a picture of a white fuzzy dog. There was a big red heart around the dog. On the other side there was some writing.
“I’ll take that!” Ms. Werner said. She was right behind Violet.
Ms. Werner took the cup so fast that Violet didn’t have time to read the writing.
“That dog looked familiar,” Violet said. “Is that a photo of a famous dog?”
“No,” Ms. Werner said, putting the cup away in a cabinet. “But I wish he was.”
Violet looked around the desk. “No leash here.”
“I found it!” Benny suddenly called out. “It was under one of the chairs,” he said.
Without saying thanks, Mr. Benjamin took the leash. He hooked up Ninja and quickly left the room.
“Okay, Watch,” Jessie said, stepping onto the starting line for the obstacle course. “Do your best.” She scratched Watch on the neck and set him free.
Brinnnnggg! The bell sounded. Watch was off and running.
Watch went over the log easily, but as he appeared on the other side there was a loose bit of rope tangled around his leg.
“Where did that come from?” Henry asked.
Watch managed to remove the rope himself by shaking one of his hind legs. He then hurried to the next task. As he ran beneath the bench, one of the four legs suddenly came off! The bench tipped over and narrowly missed falling on him. When Watch jumped through the hoop, it broke in two.
“Something bad is going on,” Violet said.
The final task was the slide. Watch got up the steps okay, but as he began to slip down, the whole slide began to shake. It wobbled. Then it creaked. It was beginning to fall over!
“Oh no!” Jessie said. She lunged towards Watch to grab him. She had him in his arms just before the whole slide collapsed with a loud and heavy clomp. Henry, Violet, and Benny rushed over. Ms. Werner and Lisa hurried over, too.
“Is he all right?” Ms. Werner asked, very concerned.
“He’s fine,” Benny reported after giving Watch a big hug.
“I’m glad he’s okay,” Ms. Werner told the children. She turned to Lisa, “How could that have happened? Did you check the course?”
“It was fine when Ninja and Buffalo went through,” Lisa said. “I didn’t think I needed to check it again. I really don’t know what happened.”
“I’m sorry about the slide,” Ms. Werner said. She took the clipboard from Lisa and made some notes on the top page. Then she turned to the children, “Watch needs to do better in the next round if he wants to win.” |