“Imagination is a good thing to have, Maisie,” Mr. Earhart said. “And you certainly have a big one.”
“All this nonsense does not get either of you off the hook,” Mrs. Earhart said sternly. “Next thing I know, you’re going to tell me you actually paid for the honor of almost getting yourself killed up there.”
They all looked down at their plates.
“What?” Mrs. Earhart said. “How much?”
“When will they ever get the chance to fly in an aeroplane again?” Mr. Earhart said.
Maisie smiled at Felix but decided to keep quiet. They had found Amelia Earhart and gone on her first flight with her. Now all they had to do was give her that compass, and they would be home in no time. Maisie knew Amelia Earhart had already given her the best advice: Be brave. And Maisie had already taken it. She’d saved all of their lives by landing that plane. Stage fright was nothing compared to that.
CHAPTER 10
JAMES FEROCIOUS
Maisie woke up to the sound of rain on the roof of the shed. She snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag, waiting for the door to burst open and Meelie and Pidge to come in like they did every morning. But this morning would be different. Maisie would give the compass to Meelie and she and Felix would be home in no time.
No sooner did she think that, then the door burst open and Pidge ran in, alone.
“It’s just terrible!” Pidge cried.
Maisie and Felix both sat up at once.
“What’s happened?” Felix asked her.
“James Ferocious is sick, and Mother says we can’t take him to the veterinarian because it costs too much money and Father gave all the week’s money to go in the aeroplane!”
“Dogs get sick all the time, Pidge,” Felix said. “Don’t worry.”
“But Meelie wouldn’t listen,” Pidge continued. “She took him to the veterinarian, anyway.”
“Well then, he’ll make him better,” Felix said.
“But how will we pay?” Pidge sobbed. “You have no idea the money troubles we have. Grandfather thinks Father is a spendthrift and a bad lawyer and irresponsible.”
“So Meelie is at the vet’s?” Maisie asked, already disappointed that she would have to wait to give Meelie the compass. “When will she be back?”
“How would I know that?” Pidge said.
“It’ll be okay,” Felix said, patting Pidge on the back. “You’ll see.”
“Want to play a game or something?” Maisie asked, eager to make the time pass as quickly as possible.
“I don’t think I can concentrate on a game,” Pidge said, shaking her head.
Then, as if another idea had just popped into her head, she slapped her forehead.
“Back in Atchison, our neighbors had a big black dog named Magic. That dog had the very same symptoms as James Ferocious and the veterinarian put him to sleep!”
“I think James Ferocious is going to be fine,” Felix said.
“Let’s play cards,” Maisie decided. “Do you have any cards?”
“That veterinarian back in Kansas,” Pidge continued as if neither Felix nor Maisie had spoken, “he said that someday they would be able to do an operation to save a dog like Magic, but that day had not yet come.”
She turned her teary face to Felix.
“What if Meelie comes back without James Ferocious?” Pidge asked him.
“Let’s do something to get your mind off this,” Maisie tried again.
Pidge looked at her angrily. “Do you have a dog?” she demanded.
“No—”
“Then how would you know anything about it?”
“I’ve always wanted a dog,” Felix said. “But our mother refused.”
Pidge kept her gaze on Maisie.
“I’m tired of playing with you,” she said. “Where is your mother, anyway? When Meelie comes back, I’m going to tell her that I don’t want you to sleep in the shed anymore.”
“When Meelie comes back,” Maisie said, “we’re leaving, anyway.”
“Good,” Pidge said, crossing her arms.
“Good,” Maisie said.
The rain kept falling, and Maisie, Felix, and Pidge kept waiting for Meelie to come back. Pidge sat by the window in the shed and watched for her. Maisie retrieved the compass and held on to it, ready to thrust it at Meelie as soon as she walked in the door.
It seemed to take forever, but finally Pidge shouted, “Here she comes! And she has James Ferocious with her!”
Pidge ran and opened the door, letting a very wet Meelie and James Ferocious inside.
The shed filled with the smell of wet dog, and James Ferocious set about shaking off all the rain, spraying water everywhere.
“I was afraid he was incurable,” Pidge said, hugging the dog’s neck.
Meelie chewed her lower lip.
“I’m afraid he is incurable,” she said finally, looking longingly at the dog.
“Oh no!” Felix said.
Meelie nodded. “He has what Magic had back in Atchison,” she told Pidge.
“Something called an ‘obstructed bowel,’” she explained to Maisie and Felix.