Dog Whisperer by Nicholas Edwards Page B

a goalie,” she said. “Dad’s really excited about it.”
    â€œHa,” her father said.
    Emily put in her new mouth guard and displayed her nicely protected teeth.
    Her father nodded. “Just remember, you’re never to go on the ice without that, no matter what.”
    Maybe she should start asking, regularly , how old she would have to be to take flying lessons, just to goof with him. Although suggesting skydiving lessons might be even better.
    When the presents were all unwrapped, her mother brought in a big spice cake with vanilla frosting, and everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her. Josephine came back downstairs, and behaved very nicely, except for the part where she put her face into the ice cream carton.
    It had been quite an eventful evening, and once Emily was in bed, she couldn’t seem to fall asleep. So, finally, she decided to go downstairs and get a glass of milk. Josephine took advantage of this by moving up to sleep on her pillow, but Zack followed her to the kitchen.
    They found her grandfather, who was famous for being a night-owl, sitting at the table, drinking coffee and reading the New York Post . As long as she had known him, he had always read several newspapers every day, including what he called “the rags.”
    When he saw her, he put down the newspaper and smiled. “Well, hello. You’re not sleepy, either?”
    Emily shook her head, giving Zachary a dog biscuit, and then sitting down across from her grandfather.
    â€œI think we should have more cake,” her grandfather said.
    â€œI do, too,” Emily agreed.
    So, he fixed each of them a big slice, along with some ice cream that was probably full of Josephine germs, but Emily didn’t mind, and apparently, he didn’t, either.
    â€œThank you for all of the gifts,” Emily said. “They’re excellent .”
    Her grandfather laughed. “Your grandmother said that shopping for the gear made her wonder if she could find a senior hockey league somewhere and get out on the ice.”
    Her grandmother was not at all athletic—but, she was very determined, and she would probably be a good player. Emily was pretty athletic, but she didn’t think of herself as being particularly competitive, so she had no idea whether she was going to be any good. But, her friend Florence was a total jock, and had promised to teach her how to play before the league actually started up.
    â€œIs this Mrs. Griswold person actually that unpleasant?” her grandfather asked.
    Emily nodded. “Yes. I mean, I don’t think people should vandalize her house, or do any bad stuff like that, but she is really mean.”
    â€œI’d imagine she is very sad,” her grandfather said.
    Probably, yeah. “Zack likes her a lot,” Emily said. “So, we’re kind of friendly. I mean, she says hi to me and stuff, when we go by, and she never did before.”
    â€œProgress, then,” her grandfather said.
    â€œI didn’t tell my parents, because I didn’t want them to get upset, but she’s the one who said they knew my birth mother,” Emily said. “Then, she said no, I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have said that, and all. But, I guess she was telling the truth.”
    Her grandfather nodded. “Yes, I gather you all had a pretty rough conversation the other night.”
    That meant that one—or both—of her parents had been upset enough about it to tell her grandparents. In fact, they had probably told her grandparents on both sides of the family, and maybe her aunts and uncles, and some of their close friends, too.
    â€œI didn’t realize how much I don’t know,” Emily said. “And—” No, wait, she really didn’t want to sound whiny.
    â€œWhat?” her grandfather asked, when she didn’t go on.
    Okay. She sighed. “It makes it feel as though they care more about how she