his roof at home.
Sideways, he looked at himself in the window. His front tooth was still there. Why didn’t the tooth fall out? He needed the money to get a giraffe kennel.
The window worked like a mirror. Art froze. Behind him, he could see Mario walking his greyhounds up the street. Or the greyhounds walking Mario. Art ducked behind the ‘Snip-pets’ sign. Having Mario in his Red reading group was bad enough.
‘You should look up giraffe food in a book, or online,’ said the pet shop owner in a loud voice.
‘Would it have picture too?’ whispered Art trying to hide behind the chair so Mario wouldn’t see him.
‘Not always. What’s wrong? Why are you hiding? ‘The pet shop owner stared until Art stood up.
‘Looking for … ar … an octopus. I was just playing a game. Thanks for your help.’Art peered around the door. Luckily, Mario had gone.
Art decided to forget about giraffe books. As usual, he’d find other ways. Art shut the pet shop door firmly behind him.
‘I’ll start my Giraffe Plan today.’ Art often talked to himself as he walked down the street. Some spies wrote messages in secret ink. Others used code. But they all needed to ask questions.
‘Who would know about giraffes? And where can I keep Geoffrey?’ muttered Art as he walked down the street. If he talked to himself, the ideas seemed to stick in his head.
Mario jumped out at him from the Bakery corner.
‘Yah! Got you Artie!’
‘No you haven’t!” Art backed off as the dogs attacked.
‘Talking to yourself again Artie. You ought to be careful. People will think you’re out of your tree.’
Mario’s greyhounds jumped at Artie. Yip.Yip. Yip. Their muzzles gleamed. Their bony legs stretched.
Artie backed away, even though his brain told his legs to stay.
Mario was always frightening smaller kids. Art was as tall as Mario but he felt small when Mario shouted and waved his arms around. So Art put on his you-can’t-scare-me voice. ‘Get lost Mario.’
Mario just laughed and yanked his dogs away.’ These dogs are better trained than you Artie. See you at school tomorrow. Just wait.’
For what? As Art hurried home to check his house for giraffe space, he thought about Mario. He liked dogs but none that belonged to Mario. At school, Mario was always teasing him about ‘training’. Especially when Art tried to train for the cross country by puffing around the school oval. One day, he’d get into the school cross country team. Anyway, nest week, Mario’s greyhounds would look like ants beside HIS giraffe.
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