Free Lucy’s “Perfect” Summer by Nancy Rue

there’s a look I haven’t seen in a while,” Coach Auggy said, smiling his small smile at her.
    Dad pointed his face toward Lucy. “What look is that?”
    “It’s the ‘I hate schoolwork in the summer’ look.” Lucy dropped into her chair. “No offense, Mr. Auggy.”
    “None taken. But who said it had to be work ? Or school , for that matter?”
    “We’re going to ‘improve my reading skills.’ ” Lucy made quotation marks with her fingers the way Mora always did. “That sounds like schoolwork to me.”
    “Let’s watch our tone, Luce,” Dad said.
    “Sorry,” Lucy said. She didn’t add that after the day she’d had, she was doing well not to throw tortillas.
    “Apology accepted.” Mr. Auggy took a bite of rellenos and closed his eyes. Inez’s cooking did require stopping and savoring, no matter what else was going on. “I know they serve this in heaven,” he said. “Okay, so, captain, which one of your cats is the most intellectual?”
    “The most what?”
    “If they were human kids, which one would do the best in school?”
    Lucy picked a chili out with her fork. It was always best to test one before you took a whole mouthful. Inez sometimes forgot the Rooneys didn’t have hot-ready taste buds like the Herreras. Besides, that question required some thought.
    “Definitely not Mudge,” she said finally. “He’d be more like the playground bully.”
    Dad gave his sandpaper chuckle. “I’d have to agree with that.”
    “And not Lolli. She’d be all girly and worried about her clothes and stuff.” She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. “Probably not Artemis Hamm either. I bet she’d play soccer like me.”
    “So that leaves what’s-his-nose.” Mr. Auggy nodded at Marmalade who was curled up in the chair next to Dad. “You think he’d be a good student?”
    “Marmalade?” Dad laughed. “I think he’d sleep through all of his classes.”
    But Lucy shook her head. “He hangs out with you all the time, Dad. That means he’s gotta be smart.”
    Something soft passed over Dad’s face, like she’d just given him a homemade Father’s Day present he was going to keep forever.
    “How come you want to know that anyway?” Lucy said to Mr. Auggy.
    His small smile got bigger. “I thought you’d never ask. I found out about this program where they train dogs to go into schools and sit with kids while they read out loud to them.”
    “O-kay,” Lucy said.
    “Think about it. If you read to Marshmallow over there — ”
    “Marmalade!”
    “Is he going to say things like, ‘Dude, where did you learn to read?’ or ‘Uh, that’s these , not those ’?”
    Lucy shook her head.
    “So if you’re reading him a story, about catnip or mice or whatever, and he just purrs in your lap, you’re going to feel pretty good about your audience, right?”
    It would definitely be better than having Carla Rosa saying “Guess what? That was wrong” or Oscar pretending to snore. And who knew what the kids in middle school were going to say when she got all nervous and stumbled over words like rocks in the dark? Not a pretty thought.
    “I figure a cat can be as good as a dog — ” Mr. Auggy said.
    “Well, of course !”
    “So I thought we’d try it. What would you like to start off with?”
    Lucy blinked. “Are you serious? I get to pick what I want to read?”
    “Sure. Right now it doesn’t matter so much what you read as that you read. A half hour a day.” Mr. Auggy nodded at Marmalade again. “You think you can get old Jelly Belly to sit still that long?”
    “I definitely think he’s your man,” Dad said.
    “I don’t know what to read, though,” Lucy said. “I’ve never exactly read for fun.”
    “I thought as much.” Mr. Auggy reached under the boring looking book at his elbow and pulled out one with kids — hello! — playing soccer on the front. The Everything Kids’ Soccer Book . “You think Marmaduke would be interested in this?”
    Lucy didn’t even correct