Pepper, the lab's scrapyard dog, stomped over and waited as Harrison spread out the newspaper. Front page. Arts and Entertainment. Business.
Sports. Pep muscled Harrison aside
and lay down on Sports. Petey, the ex-service dog, took
the obituaries. Both dogs scratched and yawned and scratched some more.
Sidney,
on the other hand, glanced at the
headlines, then made a beeline for the crossword puzzle. As the little white dog settled down on the lobby floor to wrestle with two down: a motorist caught in the crossfire, Harrison stood, half-asleep, staring out
the window, scratching and yawning and scratching some more.
“His
lips are moving.”
Harrison
jumped a million miles. An unfamiliar researcher was staring at Sidney.
“Sprawled like that with his lips moving. The dog looks like he’s
reading the newspaper. Is that what you boys over in the Dog Wing are working
on? Stupid pet tricks?”
Harrison
shrugged. “His lips are moving because he’s chewing gum. Strengthens his jaw
and tongue. Helps with enunciation.” Harrison grinned a little. The gum had
been his idea. Which Dr. Stone thought was completely cool.
Petey
and Pepper got up to sniff hello. “What the heck are these two? A dog-faced Dr. Jekyll
and his canine Mr. Hyde.” The researcher bent and pushed her fingers through the
fur at the back of Sidney’s neck, looking for his ID tattoo. “So. You got
Number 56 ‘reading’ the newspaper?”
Harrison
was surprised by her sloppy analysis. “Um. He’s more doing the crossword than reading
the newspaper.”
The
researcher stood up. Adrianne Goldmancha,
Project RabBit read her name tag. Oh, right. The new researcher. Hired to
straighten out some problems on the Bunny Side, Dr. Stone had told him. All
very hush-hush and serious. If you run into her, Harrison, be sure to help her
out.
Dr.
Goldmancha crossed her arms. “Dogs don’t do crosswords. And why are you letting
him use a pen?”
Sidney
sneezed. Nose drops fell all over fourteen across: sounder of the tuning note at an orchestra rehearsal.
“Sorry,”
Harrison said. He scooped up the Entertainment
and Business sections. “We always put
the paper back the way we found it. Maybe a little dog snot here and there.”
He
glared at Sidney. “You’re making a bad impression.”
Sidney
put a paw protectively over the comics. Pepper rushed over and growled at the humans.
Dr.
Goldmancha crossed her arms harder. “What’s the rush, kid? The dogs aren’t done
with the funnies yet.”
“We’ll
stash ‘em for later. Petey’s due in the lab, Pepper’s got time-trials all
afternoon, and Sidney’s supposed to be working on his book report.”
“Pft.
Pen all over the crossword; the comics section missing. So much for putting the
paper back the way you found it, kid.” Dr. Goldmancha strode off.