Labracadabra Read online

  Thump. His tail on the hardwood floor. Good night to you, too, Larry.

  That’s when it hit me. Maybe it was all those breeds that Larry was made up of that made him so special. Larry was no ordinary mutt. Larry was a Labracadabra!

  5

  IT HAPPENED AGAIN THE next Sunday at 3:40 when I was swimming.

  You remember Brandon, the kid with the most potential to be my best friend? We had really hung out at his birthday party, but then his older cousins came and did double back flips on the trampoline and he forgot about me.

  He was at my house, and I could tell he was getting a little bored. We were having a hard time figuring out what to do next, but I didn’t want him to go home. We’d even had a double chocolate ice cream cone, but it hadn’t done any good.

  Just then my dog jumped into the pool. He started swimming so fast—like a motor-boat—that you couldn’t even see him. He was all tail. Brandon started laughing. Then my dog’s tail started wagging in circles like the wheel of my bike when I’m going a hundred miles an hour. And suddenly Brandon shouted, “Look! A rainbow!” And sure enough the spray from his tail was making a rainbow the whole length of the pool—and it’s a big pool. Brandon said, “Your dog is so cool. Do you mind if I tell my mother I’ll be home later?” My dog looked at me. He held his tail up, like thumbs up, and we both knew Brandon was a lock for best friend.

  That night after Brandon left—yeah, he even stayed for dinner—my dog was exhausted. My mother said I should get ready for bed. I wasn’t even tired, but I lay down on my bed. My dog came right in without even stopping in the doorway and lay down on the floor next to me.

  It was hard for me to lie still. I wanted to see what other kind of magic his tail could do. But I knew I didn’t have a lot of wiggle room with Mom and her whole, “importance of sleep when you’re a kid and still growing.”

  So I tried to just lie there. That’s when I realized my dog knew exactly what I was feeling.

  Thump.

  He was trying to tell me he was still there.

  Thump.

  He was trying to tell me he would always be there.

  Like a heartbeat. Thump thump thump thump thump.

  If that isn’t magic, you tell me.