Free Doggone It! by Nancy Krulik Page A

away in boxes,” Jeremy reasoned.
    Just then, a red car pulled into the driveway beside the house.
    “That’s the new family!” Katie cheered. “Let’s go meet them.” She started to run over toward the car.
    Katie didn’t get very far. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared, as a woman with dark, short hair and small, round glasses got out of the car. She looked really familiar.
    Frighteningly familiar!
    “It can’t be . . . ” Suzanne began.
    “I think it is,” Jeremy told her. He looked again. “Oh yeah. It’s her, all right.”
    “Oh no!” Katie cried out. “This is awful!”

Chapter 2
    There was no doubt about it. The woman who had gotten out of the car was Mrs. Derkman, Katie’s third-grade teacher— strict Mrs. Derkman, the teacher with the most rules in the whole school.
    “Suzanne, can you believe how horrible this is?” Katie exclaimed.
    Suzanne didn’t answer. She just stood there with her mouth wide open as Mrs. Derkman walked toward the kids.
    “You bought the house next to mine?” Katie asked in disbelief.
    “Didn’t your mother tell you?” Mrs. Derkman replied.
    “I um ... she . . . I think she wanted it to be a surprise,” Katie stammered.
    “And we are definitely surprised!” Jeremy said.
    “I can tell.” Mrs. Derkman laughed. “Suzanne, please close your mouth before a bug flies down your throat.”
    “Barbara, which of these boxes goes in the bathroom?” Mr. Derkman called to his wife.
    Barbara? Katie had never thought of Mrs. Derkman as someone with a first name before.

    “Well, I’d better get to work. I have a whole house to unpack.” Mrs. Derkman smiled at Katie. “We’ll talk later, neighbor.”
    “Yes, Mrs. Derkman,” Katie answered quietly.
    As Mrs. Derkman headed toward her new house, Jeremy strapped on his helmet and walked over to his bike.
    “I . . . well . . . I gotta get home,” he said nervously.
    “Don’t you want to play ball or something?” Katie asked him.
    Jeremy looked at Mrs. Derkman and her husband. They were on their front porch, watching the movers. “Not today, Katie,” Jeremy told her. “Maybe we can play tomorrow . . . at my house.”
    As Jeremy rode off, Katie smiled at Suzanne. “I’ll go get my jump rope. We can make up some new rhymes or something.”
    Suzanne picked up her rope. “Uh, I have to be getting home,” she told Katie nervously. “It’s getting late.”
    Katie looked at her friend. “Late for what?”
    “Um, um ... I just have to go,” Suzanne said.
    Katie looked down at Pepper. “At least you still want to play with me, don’t you, boy?” she asked, scratching the spaniel between the ears.
    Crash! One of the movers dropped a heavy box on the lawn. The loud noise scared Pepper. He turned and ran inside as fast he could.
    Next door, Mrs. Derkman was yelling at the movers. She sounded angry and impatient—just the way she did when the kids in class 3A wouldn’t listen.
    “This is a nightmare!” Katie exclaimed.

Chapter 3
    “Would you like some more carrots?” Katie’s mother asked at dinner that night.
    “No thanks,” Katie mumbled.
    “But you’ve hardly eaten a thing,” Mrs. Carew said. “I made all your favorites—veggie burgers, carrots, and mashed potatoes.”
    Katie sighed. Veggie burgers were her favorite. But she didn’t feel much like eating.
    “I’m not hungry,” she mumbled.
    “Well, I’ll have some more carrots—and potatoes, too,” Katie’s dad said, patting his stomach. “This is a great dinner.”
    Katie’s mother smiled. “Speaking of dinner, I was thinking we should invite the Derkmans for a barbecue tomorrow. They’ve probably been too busy unpacking to cook.”
    Katie gulped. Mrs. Derkman? Eating at her house? How horrible was that?
    “No!” Katie shouted out suddenly.
    Her mother looked surprised. “What do you mean ‘no’?”
    Katie sighed. Didn’t her mother understand anything? “Mom, Mrs. Derkman is my teacher. I can’t have dinner with