chance my sister, my cousin and I could look at some TV stories from Thursday afternoon?â
âSureâthere are plenty, and Iâd be happy to help.â Ms. Major stopped dancing to check the calendar on her phone. Pickles went back to chewing her laces. âHow about one oâclockâright after lunch?â
âWeâll be there,â I said. âThanks.â
Ms. Majorâs office is in the West Wing. My momâs office, the Oval Office, is there, too. Momâs is really nice, but a lot of the West Wing is so crowded itâs crazy. Almost everyone works in a cubicle, which is a room with no door and thin pretend walls.
Malik was on duty again, so Tessa, Nate and I had come downstairs with him. Trying to find Ms. Major was like being trapped in a maze. Finally, Malik called out: âHello-o-o? Ms. Ann Major, are you there?â
When an answering voice called, âHello-o-o-o!,â we followed it and found her.
âWelcome to my world,â Ms. Major said. It was a tiny space with bare walls except for a calendar turned to last January. The picture on it was a German shepherd. There was no place for four people to sit down, so we crowded around her desk. On it were an old, boxy computer, binders, papers and photos of Pickles.
âAs you know, several stations covered the events on Thursday,â she said. âSo I pulled up four examplesâFox, CNN, CBS and the local news with Jan and Larry. We could probably find more if you need them.â
It took us about half an hour to watch the four clips. A lot was the same, of course, but there were differences. Like three of the announcers treated the story mostly like a joke, and one treated it like the whole country had spun out of control. Also there were different views, depending on where the camera guys were standing.
The longest report was Jan and Larryâs.
It started with a close-up of Hooligan before hebroke his leash, and Janâs voice saying, âWith his diamond dog collar, the presidential pooch sported a glamorous new look this afternoon. But soon thereafter, chaos erupted on the South Lawn!â
âMs. Major,â Nate interrupted. âCould you go back over that part, please?â
âSure.â She restarted it.
âLook at that,â Nate said. âWhen Hooligan turns, you can see all the diamondsâtwelve of âem.â
What happened next on the video wasnât a picture, it was noiseâthe yakking birds. After that, Hooligan took off running with Tessa after him, her hair blowing everywhere, her eyes tearing in the wind.
âWell,
thatâs
not very flattering,â she said.
The clip went on to show the parade of pursuersâwith a close-up of the vice presidentâand even a view of flowers being crushed by stomping feet. Jan and Larry took turns narrating. At one point Jan said, âLook at that, Larry. For a time, when he was near the tennis courts, Hooligan eluded his pursuers altogether!â
âBingo,â said Nate.
âIs that what you were after?â Ms. Major asked.
âPartly,â said Nate, âbut keep going.â
Now the view pulled back to a bunch of confused-looking people searching for Hooligan by the bushes near the garden plot. Among them were Tessa and the vice president, but you couldnât see Mr. Bryant. Maybe he was there, but he wasnât in the shot.
The final few seconds showed Dadâs helicopterlanding and then Ms. Kootoorâcameraman catnipâwith Hooligan licking her face.
âI guess allâs well that ends well,â said the voice of Larry.
âBow wow to that,â said Jan. âIn other news . . .â
Ms. Major stopped the video on the last frame. Nate pointed to the screen. âSee that?â It was another view of Hooliganâs collar, and guess what? A diamond was missing.
Ms. Major looked at her watch. Like everyone who works for my mom, she