Free Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

clean,” said Henry. He scooped up handfuls of water from the tub and poured them over the dog. He poured and poured but the lather only grew thicker. If only he hadn’t used so much shampoo! He tried mopping Ribsy with his washcloth. That helped but it still wasn’t fast enough. He had an idea. He moved Ribsy around so that he faced the end of the tub, and turned the shower on him. Ribsy tried to jump out but Henry held him. Ribsy raised his head and howled.

    â€œHenry!” his mother called. “What are you doing to that poor dog?”
    â€œJust washing him,” answered Henry, and turned off the shower. Ribsy shook himself. Henry used four bath towels on him, but still he wasn’t dry.
    Oh well, it’s a warm day. Maybe the sun will dry him off, thought Henry. He took one of the towels and hastily wiped it over the floor and tub.
    â€œHenry, I have to go downtown this morning. I hope you and Ribsy have good luck at the dog show.” Mrs. Huggins had her hat on, ready to leave.
    â€œThanks, Mom. Say, have you seen the leash? It says on the entry blank all dogs must be on a leash.”
    â€œI think you left it in the basement,” Mrs. Huggins said as she went out.
    Henry ran down to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs he found the leash—at least, it had been a leash once. Now it was chewed into half a dozen pieces. Henry looked hurriedly around for something to use in its place. If only he had more time! The only thing he could find was his mother’s rainy day clothesline. After climbing up on an apple box to untie it, he ran upstairs and fastened one end to Ribsy’s collar. It was longer than a leash but it would have to do.
    When Henry went out on the front porch, he saw Beezus and Ramona coming down the street. Beezus was carrying a squirming black puppy that kept trying to lick her face. “Puddles, you stop that!” she commanded and set him on the sidewalk. Puddles was wearing a red bow on his collar and Henry was pleased to see that Ribsy wasn’t the only dog with a rope for a leash.
    â€œCome on, Henry, we’d better hurry,” said Beezus.
    Ribsy sniffed at the puppy and decided to ignore him. “Hey, look,” exclaimed Henry. “There’s Mary Jane and Patsy and Robert and Sassy up there ahead. We’d better run.”
    When they reached the park, Henry saw that already there were hundreds of boys and girls and dogs there ahead of them. Henry had never seen so many dogs. There were boxers, Great Danes, Pekingese, Airedales, cockers, Saint Bernards, Pomeranians, beagles, setters, pointers, and just plain dogs. Some, like Puddles, were wearing ribbons on their collars, some wore sweaters, and some had on little paper hats.
    A loudspeaker on a sound truck blared out. “Take your entry blanks to the registration desk by the tennis courts.”
    â€œCome on, Ribsy.” Henry found his way through the crowds of children and dogs to the registration desk. There he waited in line to weigh Ribsy on a big scale. At first Ribsy didn’t want to be weighed, but Henry and a boy scout managed to shove him upon the scale and keep him still long enough to see that he weighed twenty-eight pounds.
    â€œYou’ve grown a lot heavier in a year,” said Henry. “Maybe we shouldn’t call you Ribsy any more.”
    After the dog was weighed, a lady gave Henry a yellow cardboard arm band. It had “Woofies Dog Food—Woofies make dogs woof for joy” printed on it. Below that there was a space for the kind of dog, weight class, and the ring in which the dog was to be shown. The lady wrote on it, “Mixed breed—25 to 40 pounds—Ring 3.”
    Henry led Ribsy toward a sign with “Ring 3” printed on it over by a flower bed. Ribsy stopped to shake himself and then, before Henry knew what was happening, he dashed over to the flower bed and rolled in the dirt.
    â€œHey, cut that out!”