Free The Sasquatch Escape (The Imaginary Veterinary) by Suzanne Selfors Page B

Pushing aside some empty butterscotch pudding cups, Pearl squeezed between the old man’s chair and Maybell’s chair to get a better look. Then she reached out and touched the sasquatch’s leg.It didn’t seem to mind. Ben couldn’t believe she’d touched it. Was that courage or curiosity?

    “They think it’s a dog,” Ben told her as the old man tossed another cup under the table. “They can’t see very well.”
    “A dog?” Pearl smiled. “That’s so funny.” She laughed. “That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.”
    “Well, it won’t be funny if they find out it’s not a dog. How are we going to get it out of here?”
    The sasquatch burped. Then it sniffed the air. Its brown eyes rested on the chocolate bar in Pearl’s hand. Pearl shook the bar. “You want—?”
    “
Don’t
ask it questions,” Ben reminded her. Making the sasquatch angry would just complicate matters. He imagined it stomping through the senior center, old people screaming and fleeing in its wake. “Give it a piece.”
    Pearl broke off a corner of the chocolate bar and tossed it. The sasquatch caught the chocolate chunk, shoved it into its mouth, and grunted again. Then it shifted onto its knees and began to crawl toward Pearl and Ben. “Dr. Woo was right,” Pearl said as she backed away. “We can tempt it with chocolate.” She shook the bar again. “Here, sasquatchy, sasquatchy.”
    The creature crawled out from under the table. As it squeezed its enormous body between the two chairs, Maybell’s fell over backward. Her sensible shoes stuck up in the air. Ben scrambled to hisfeet and tried to upright Maybell, but she was too heavy for him to lift.
    Pearl moved quickly, waving the chocolate bar as she led the way between tables of seniors who were busy chatting and eating pudding. As the sasquatch crawled after Pearl, it knocked the seniors over like bowling pins. Chairs toppled. Pudding cups and spoons flew, as did eyeglasses, hairpieces, and a pair of dentures. “Whoa!” “Help!” “Whoopsy daisy!”
    “Ben?” his grandfather called from across the room. “What’s going on over there? Is that a dog?
Oy vey!
Who let a dog in here?”
    “Sorry,” Ben told Maybell, though she didn’t seem to mind being upside down. She’d found another pudding cup and was enjoying its creamy goodness. Ben wove around the flailing arms and legs, trying to catch up to Pearl and the sasquatch. Pearl had almost reached the back door. They were so close to making their escape. But Grandpa Abe had grabbed his cane and was heading straight forPearl. Ben’s heart thumped wildly. He needed to create some sort of distraction.
    He opened the Sasquatch Catching Kit and pulled out the fog bomb. How did it work? There were no instructions attached, and even if there had been, there was no time to read them. It made fog, right? That’s why it was called a fog bomb. He took hold of the little cord that hung from the green ball. But was it safe to activate it inside a building? Maybe not. Or maybe so. Sweat dotted the back of Ben’s neck. The sasquatch stopped to lick something off the floor. Pearl jumped up and down, madly waving the chocolate bar. Grandpa Abe was getting closer and closer….
    Ben didn’t mean to pull the cord. His brain was still arguing with itself about whether it was safe to activate a fog bomb inside a room, especially a room filled with very old people. But he was scared, and sometimes, when riddled with fear, the body doesn’t wait for the brain to finish its debate. And so his fingers pulled the cord.
    “Uh-oh,” he whispered as a plume of fog instantly shot out of the green ball, rising straight to the ceiling. Then it spread wide, filling the senior center with an instant fog bank. Cool mist settled on Ben’s face. The scent of the sea drifted up his nostrils. The only thing missing was the sound of a foghorn in the distance. Grandpa Abe and the room itself disappeared. But so did Pearl and the