That Furball Puppy and Me by Carol Wallace, Bill Wallance

The Two Rats Glared at Me.
    My stomach did a flip-flop. I backed up slowly toward the door. Both rats inched forward. They moved apart—one coming toward me from my right side, the other from my left. I felt my tail fuzz. It sprang straight up behind me, almost as big around as the rest of me was.
    They stopped and stared. Not even their whiskers twitched. Then they moved again, quicker this time. Farther apart. I felt a shiver as I suddenly realized they were trying to surround me. They were trying to block my escape from the big, dark barn.
    Without taking my eyes from them, I backed up.
    â€œNow!” Nora hissed in her ratty voice. “Let’s get him!”
    Books by Bill Wallace
    Red Dog
    Trapped in Death Cave
    Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks
    The Backward Bird Dog
    Beauty
    The Biggest Klutz in Fifth Grade
    Blackwater Swamp
    Buffalo Gal
    The Christmas Spurs
    Danger in Quicksand Swamp
    Danger on Panther Peak
(Original title:
Shadow on the Snow)
    A Dog Called Kitty
    Eye of the Great Bear
    Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the Fridge
    The Final Freedom
    Journey into Terror
    Never Say Quit
    Snot Stew
    Totally Disgusting!
    True Friends
    Upchuck and the Rotten Willy
    Upchuck and the Rotten Willy: The Great Escape
    Upchuck and the Rotten Willy: Running Wild
    Watchdog and the Coyotes
    Available from MINSTREL Books
    Books by Carol Wallace and Bill Wallace
    The Flying Flea, Callie, and Me
    That Furball Puppy and Me
    Chomps, Flea, and Gray Cat (That’s Me!)
    Available from MINSTREL Books
    Books by Nikki Wallace
    Stubby and the Puppy Pack
    Available from MINSTREL Books
    For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books grants a discount on the purchase of 10 or more copies of single titles for special markets or premium use. For further details, please write to the Vice President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10020-1586.
    For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 100 Front Street, Riverside, NJ 08075.



The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”
    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

    A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
    Text copyright © 1999 by Bill Wallace and Carol Wallace
    Illustrations copyright © 1999 by Jason Wolff
    Originally published in hardcover in 1999 by Minstrel Books
    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book of portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
    For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
    ISBN: 0-7434-1029-7
    ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-1029-8
    eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-1669-2
    First Minstrel Books mass market paperback printing December 2000
    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
    A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
    Cover art by David Slonim
    Printed in the U.S.A.

To Kacey and Justin, Nikki and Jon-Ed, Laurie and Kevin, Bethany and Kristine



CHAPTER 1
    R
ing … Ring.”
    The loud, shrill noise made my ears twitch.
    â€œRing … Ring.”
    The sound came from the ringy-box on the wall. It was a strange, little white box that hung in the kitchen. Every time it said,
“Ring … Ring,”
the Mama would pick it up and start talking to herself.
    Sure enough …
    Mama left the dishes she was working on in the sink and wiped her hands on the towel. She picked up the