Give a 'Bot a Bone Page 3

  But the pooches had something else in mind. They pulled her straight toward our bake sale table.

  Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

  It took only two seconds for the big dogs to gulp down the cookies the teenagers had tossed on the ground.

  “Oh no!” the dogs’ owner cried. “Please tell me those aren’t chocolate chip cookies.”

  “They’re not,” I assured her.

  “They’re bacon chip cookies,” Java said.

  “Bacon chips?” the woman repeated. “No wonder my dog gobbled them down. Samson and Charlie love bacon. How much are the dog treats?”

  “Those are not dog treats,” Java said. “They are …”

  “Gourmet dog treats,” I said quickly, before Java could finish his sentence. “And they are all homemade. Only fifty cents apiece.”

  “I’ll take ten,” the dog owner said.

  She handed me a five-dollar bill.

  “Thank you,” I said. “And here are your cookies. Um … er … I mean your dog treats.”

  As the woman and her dogs walked away, I started shouting again. “Get your dog treats! Homemade dog treats here.”

  Another dog owner walked over to our bake sale table. His puppy started barking and jumping up and down excitedly.

  “I think King Kong wants a treat,” the owner said.

  I handed the man a dog treat and said, “That will be fifty cents please.”

  But before he could hand me the money, King Kong leaped up and grabbed another treat from the table.

  “Now, that will be a dollar,” I said.

  As King Kong and his owner walked off, I smiled happily at Java. “This is amazing! I told him. “Our secret recipe is going to make us the dog food kings! We’ve opened the door to a whole new business!”

  Java smiled back at me.

  He licked his lips.

  And tapped his toes.

  Then he shouted out, “I can do it!”

  The next thing I knew, Java had run to Mr. Waggz’s Pet Shop and flung open the door.

  “Hey, everybody! Come see our new business!” he shouted. “The door is open!”

  There were a few dogs with their owners inside the pet shop.

  At least they were inside before Java opened the door.

  The minute those pooches caught a whiff of our bacon chip treats, they were pulling on their leashes, trying to get to our bake sale.

  One of the dogs pulled so hard, he knocked over a cage full of little white mice.

  The mice spilled out of the cage and started running all over the pet shop.

  They hid in the corners.

  They climbed up the walls.

  And a whole crew of them escaped out the front door.

  Mr. Waggz was not happy!

  “Look what you’ve done!” he shouted angrily at Java.

  “I did not do anything,” Java replied calmly. “That Neopolitan Mastiff knocked over the cage.”

  Mr. Waggz’s face turned beet red. For a minute, I thought his eyes were going to burst out of his head.

  “Catch them!” he ordered Java. “Catch my mice!”

  Java just stood there for a minute staring at the little white mice. Then he went into action, scooping up the mice at record speed.

  I went into action, too. Only I wasn’t scooping up mice. I was scooping up cash!

  “Fifty cents a treat,” I called out to the stampeding dogs and their owners. “Come and get ’em!”

  10.

  The Toot Comes Out

  “It was really nice of Mr. Waggz to buy up the rest of our treats,” I told Java later that afternoon.

  “It was even nicer of him to say he would pay us just to go away,” Java said. “I did not know that going away was a job humans could get paid for.”

  “I’m just glad we were able to afford a new Snip-De-Frizz,” I told Java. “I don’t want to toot my own horn, but it was pretty smart of me to have that bake sale.”

  Java’s eye bugged out. A big smile formed on his face. “I can do it!” he shrieked.

  His body spun around. He stuck his rear end in the air. And he let out a giant TOOOOOT!

  I laughed. At least it didn’t smell.

  “Can I try the Snip-De-Frizz, Logan?” Java asked me.

  I wiped my bangs off my forehead. I figured Java probably had some hair-cutting program in his hard drive. After all, Mom had thought of everything else.

  “Just be careful,” I said, handing him the Snip-De-Frizz. “All you do is push the …”

  Buzzzzz …

  I never finished the sentence. Java was already snipping away at my head. A moment later, he stopped and looked at me proudly.

  “All finished,” he said. “Take a look.”

  I got up to look in the mirror of my mom’s Magneto Reflecto 9000.

  “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was bald. Completely bald.

  Bald.

  Bald.

  Bald.

  “AAAAAHHHHHHH!” I screamed again.

  Mom came running into the lab.

  “Logan! What are you doing in here? You know the rule …” Mom stopped suddenly and stared at me. “What did you do to your head? You look like an ostrich egg.”

  “I didn’t do it. Java did,” I told her. “He shaved my whole head with the Snip-De-Frizz.”

  “Impossible,” Mom said. “That thing’s been broken for over a month.”

  What?

  That meant I hadn’t broken it after all.

  But I couldn’t tell Mom that. I didn’t want her to know that this wasn’t the first time I had been in her lab without her.

  “It’s a miracle!” I said. “The Snip-De-Frizz fixed itself!”

  “No it didn’t,” Java blurted out. “That’s a new Snip-De-Frizz. Remember, Logan? We broke the old one.”

  Mom gave me an angry look. Thanks to my big-mouthed, tattletale of an android cousin, I was in trouble.

  “Normally, you’d be grounded for three weeks for going in my lab without me,” Mom said. “But I think looking like a bald eagle for a couple of weeks is punishment enough.”

  I took another look in the Magneto Reflecto 9000. Mom wasn’t kidding. Wait until the Silverspoons got a look at my shiny, round head. They were never going to let me forget this.

  Java stared at me. He looked around the lab.

  Finally, he grabbed a baseball cap off Gunther the skeleton’s head, and handed it to me.

  “This is kind of like hair, Logan!” Java beamed. “Put it on.”

  I put the cap on my head and stared at my reflection.

  I did look sort of cool.

  Java smiled broadly. He seemed really proud of himself.

  I had to laugh.

  Sometimes it’s hard to stay mad at an android cousin.

  Positively Pawsome Treats for You and Your Furry Friends

  Logan’s cookie recipe wasn’t something humans wanted to sink their teeth into. But the dogs sure loved them.

  Turn the page for a recipe you can actually share with your dog.

  You will both find them positively pawsome!

  Here's What You Will Need

  1 banana, sliced thinly

  Juice of 1 lemon

  2 tablespoons of butter, melted

  2 tablespoons brown sugar

  1 cup chunky peanut butter

  ½ cup honey (Only for adult dogs. If you have a puppy, leave out the honey. The treats will still be yummy.)

  1 cup flour

  Mixing bowl

  Baking Sheet

  Parchment paper

  Pastry brush

  1 handy-dandy adult helper

  Handy-Dandy Adult Helper

  Banana

  Honey

  Lemon

  Flour

  Butter

  Mixing Bowl

  Brown Sugar

  Baking Sheet

  Peanut Butter

  Parchment Paper

  Pastry Brush

  H
ere’s What You Do:

  Ask your handy-dandy adult helper to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

  Place the bananas in the mixing bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice over the bananas to make sure they don’t turn brown.

  Place a sheet of parchment paper on the baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to cover the parchment paper with one tablespoon of melted butter.

  Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar over the melted butter.

  Lay out the banana slices evenly on the baking sheet.

  Brush the banana slices with the remaining butter and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

  Have an adult place the banana slices in the oven and allow them to bake until they are golden brown. (About one hour).

  Set the banana slices aside to cool.

  While the bananas are cooling, mix the peanut butter and honey together.

  Stir the flour into the peanut butter and honey mixture.

  Mix in the baked bananas.

  Line the baking sheet with a fresh piece of parchment paper.

  Drop tablespoon-sized clusters of the mixture onto the baking sheet.

  Have an adult place the cookies in the oven and allow them to bake for 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

  Let the cookies cool completely before you and your furry friend take a bite.

  (If you have any questions about giving your dog, or any other dog, treats please have your handy-dandy grown-up assistant call a veterinarian for advice.)

  About the Authors

  Nancy Krulik is the author of more than two hundred books for children and young adults including three New York Times bestsellers and the popular Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo; George Brown, Class Clown, and Magic Bone series. She lives in New York City with her husband and a crazy beagle mix. Visit her online at www.realnancykrulik.com.

  Amanda Burwasser holds a BFA with honor from Pratt Institute in New York City. Her senior thesis earned her the coveted Pratt Circle Award. A preschool teacher, she resides in Forestville, California.

  About the Illustrator

  Mike Moran is a dad, husband, and illustrator. His illustrations can be seen in children’s books, animation, magazines, games, World Series programs, and more. He lives in Florham Park, New Jersey. Visit him online at www.mikemoran.net.