The Pet-Sitting Peril by Willo Davis Roberts Page B

though he tried to reach them, didn’t jump nearly high enough to get over the fence. And if there was a hole where he could have crawled under, Nick couldn’t find it.
    Finally Sam gave a cry of triumph. “Here’s a gate! Only it’s locked on the inside. My foot’s too big to fit between the boards, and I can’t reach the latch. See if you can step in there, Nick, and reach up and unlock it.”
    Nick’s running shoe would fit between the slats in the fence if he forced it. He hoped he wasn’t stuck there. He reached up and found the latch, a difficult one to manipulate without seeing it, and then heard the welcome click as it gave way.
    Rudy bounded out to meet them, knocking Maynard over so that the little mop dog yippedonce, then threw himself with delight against his rescuers.
    â€œDown!” Nick commanded sharply. “Sit!”
    Rudy sat . . . right on Maynard. This time Maynard ki-yied , and Sam untangled the dogs while Nick got the gate relocked and pried his foot out of the fence. Just as he jerked free, a door opened in the house inside the yard and a man’s voice called out, “What’s going on out there? Is somebody running through my yard again? Doggone it, I’m going to call the cops if people don’t stay out of here! Why you think we lock the gate, if we wanted people in our yard?”
    Nick wasn’t sure why he felt guilty, but he did. Was that what had happened? Had Rudy chased someone from the scene of the fire and jumped over the fence after him, only to be trapped because he couldn’t unlock the gate and didn’t find his way out the front?
    Rudy’s chain dragged across his foot, and he grabbed for the leather loop at the end of it. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Nick muttered, and they all turned and ran.
    The smell of wet burned wood was a strongreminder of the near catastrophe as they walked back down the alley and to the street. Nick was getting cold, and he zipped his sweatshirt and pulled up the hood, as well. Someday, he thought, he was going to try living in a climate where it stayed warm in the evenings in the summertime, the kind of places Sam talked about. He had lived in Indiana and in Nevada and Texas, before his family moved to Northern California.
    His guilt increased when he saw that old Mr. Haggard was still waiting on the front porch. The outside light had once more been replaced, and Mr. Griesner was even now on a ladder, screwing a new bulb into the fixture in the entry hall.
    â€œWe found him. Somehow he got inside a yard and couldn’t get back out until we unlatched the gate,” Nick said. Up close, he saw that the old man’s face was deeply creased with fatigue or pain. “I’ll come back after I’ve put Maynard in his apartment and make you some cocoa, shall I?”
    â€œThat would be very kind of you,” Mr. Haggard said. He smiled, reaching out a handto Rudy’s big head. “I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to him, boy.”
    It made Nick uncomfortable, because he really had no control over what happened to Rudy. And he still wondered how the big Airedale had gotten behind a locked gate. All the pets in his care were still safe, though. He was sure glad about that.
    Fred had returned and followed them into the house. He and Maynard headed for their brightly colored bowls to eat and drink, and Nick locked the door behind them. At Mrs. Sylvan’s door he could see a crack of light, so she had come home, too. He was glad the fire hadn’t spread so he’d have had to get Eloise out of there; he didn’t know how he could have kept her from running away.
    It was only after he’d fixed Mr. Haggard’s cocoa, and the boys had each shared a cup with him, that they emerged from apartment one, ready to go home. His folks would be wondering why he was so late, and Sam’s would, too.
    Sam opened the front door, then