August’s House

It was already the middle of January, and we still hadn’t even chosen
what science-fair project we were going to work on. I guess I kept
putting it off because I just didn’t want to do it. Finally, August was
like, “Dude, we have to do this.” So we went to his house after school.
I was really nervous because I didn’t know if August had ever told
his parents about what we now called the Halloween Incident. Turns
out the dad wasn’t even home and the mom was out running errands.
I’m pretty sure from the two seconds I’d spent talking to her that
Auggie had never mentioned a thing about it. She was super cool and
friendly toward me.
When I first walked into Auggie’s room, I was like, “Whoa, Auggie,
you have got a serious Star Wars addiction.”
He had ledges full of Star Wars miniatures, and a huge The Empire
Strikes Back poster on his wall.
“I know, right?” he laughed.
He sat down on a rolling chair next to his desk and I plopped down
on a beanbag chair in the corner. That’s when his dog waddled into
the room right up to me.
“He was on your holiday card!” I said, letting the dog sniff my
hand.
“She,” he corrected me. “Daisy. You can pet her. She doesn’t bite.”
When I started petting her, she basically just rolled over onto her
back.
“She wants you to rub her tummy,” said August.
“Okay, this is the cutest dog I’ve ever seen,” I said, rubbing her
stomach.
“I know, right? She’s the best dog in the world. Aren’t you, girlie?”
As soon as she heard Auggie’s voice say that, the dog started