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ILLUSTRATIONS BY TATEVIK AVAKYAN
“Yeah, we’ve watched Bailey so many times, and
he’s never like this,” Drew grumbled before becoming
distracted by the Yorkie at her feet. “Agh, no! Stop
pulling on my pants, Bella. You already put a hole in
my sock.”
“I guess we should have listened to Mom when she
said Bella would be a handful,” Mia sighed.
But they hadn’t. The twins had been too ecstatic
when their neighbor, Ms. Morse, asked them to watch
her puppy for a few hours after school. They’d been
wanting to get into the pet-sitting business for a while.
Their only client so far had been their aunt’s Golden
Retriever, Bailey, but they’d watched him a lot so they
considered themselves dog-watching pros. Bailey
came when they asked him to, ate when they put out
his food and went out to go to the bathroom as soon
as they opened the back door. Otherwise, he just
camped out on his doggie bed and chilled.
Bella was the complete opposite. The twins’ new
client had been all been jumping all over them since
they walked in the door ... and even though she was
a tiny Yorkie, she jumped high and her yapping was
pretty loud! They’d already tried to take her for a walk,
but Bella had growled whenever they got near her with
the leash. Then, they tried to feed her the afternoon
meal that had been left in the fridge, but Bella had no
interest in that.
So Mia was sitting while she read the rest of Ms.
Morse’s note, hoping it left instructions for making
Bella behave.
“Why don’t you try throwing that ball?” Drew asked
her sister as she eyed the toy bucket in Mia’s hands.
“Maybe that’ll get her to leave my pant leg alone.”
“Bad news — Ms. Morse’s note says she bought
lots of toys for Bella before she brought her home, but
Bella doesn’t really like any of them. It basically says
not to bother with them.”
“Well, we have to try something,” Drew pointed out.
She stood, picked up the purple ball and threw it into
the living room.
Bella’s head turned to follow the ball, then it turned
back to the sisters. “Woof! Woof! Woof!” she barked
Pet - sit t in g
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“Ugh, I really thought this was going to be a piece of
cake,” Mia groaned to her twin sister, Drew.
Story We ❤
