Henry and Ribsy (Henry Huggins #3)(18)

“Come on down, sweetheart,” coaxed the other woman.

Just then the seventh grade burst out of the school building. Several boys began to play a noisy game of catch. Ribsy barked excitedly.

“Hi! We’ve been singing for the P.T.A.,” said one of the boys, as he ran past Henry.

“I want some,” howled Ramona.

Ribsy grew more excited. He strained at his collar and managed to get his paws on the lower rung of the jungle gym again.

“This is outrageous,” said Mrs. Wisser. “I’m going to report this dog to the principal.”

“But she’s got his bone,” said Henry desperately.

Ramona and Ribsy and the boys playing catch made so much noise that the two women did not hear Henry. “I think the principal should call the pound and have this dog taken away,” remarked the second woman, as Mrs. Wisser started toward the building.

“But he has a license,” protested Henry, wishing Ribsy would not bark so much.

“What’s the old garbage hound up to now?” one of the boys shouted, as he ran off to play catch.

“You shut up!” Henry yelled after the boy, who was a friend of Scooter’s. “And he isn’t a garbage hound!”

The doors of the school opened and the mothers who had attended the P.T.A. meeting poured out of the building. There was such a crowd that Mrs. Wisser was unable to enter.

“Quick, get her down,” Henry begged Beezus. If only they could get Ramona down and go home before Mrs. Wisser got back!

“Ramona, here’s your P.T.A.,” said Beezus, waving the bag of potato chips. “Come down and get it.”

“No,” said Ramona.

“Ramona Geraldine Quimby, you come down this instant,” ordered Beezus. “You come down or you can’t have any P.T.A.”

“Can’t you climb up and get her?” Henry was desperate. What if Miss Mullen, the principal, really did call the pound?

Beezus started up the jungle gym. “You just wait, Ramona. I’m going to tell Mother on you.”

Ramona began to shriek all over again. This excited Ribsy, who barked harder than ever and attracted the attention of some of the mothers, who walked over to the jungle gym to see what the commotion was about.

“Shut up, Ribsy,” ordered Henry. “Can’t you see the trouble you’re getting into?”

“How can I get her down?” Beezus asked. “I can’t carry her down and if I pry her loose, she might fall.”

“Why, the little girl is afraid of the dog,” one of the mothers said.

“No, she isn’t.” Henry spoke up, but no one paid any attention to him. They were all looking at Ramona.

“She’s so frightened she’s crying,” someone said. “Look at her little face all streaked with tears.”

And chocolate ice cream, thought Henry.

“I think it’s a shame a little girl can’t play on the school grounds without being annoyed by a dog,” said another mother.

“My dog isn’t annoying her. She’s annoying him.” Henry tried to explain the situation to the mother nearest him, but she looked at him as if she did not believe he was telling the truth.

“Maybe we should discuss this at the next P.T.A. meeting,” someone suggested.

“Next meeting! We’d better do something now,” said another mother. “It’s the Huggins dog. One of my neighbors says she has a terrible time with him because he sits and waits for her cat to come out of the house so he can chase it up a tree.”

Henry wished he and Ribsy could disappear. Now all the mothers in the whole school would think Ribsy was awful.

“Do you think we should call the police?” someone asked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” said one of the mothers. “I know that little Ramona Quimby. She’s a perfect terror.”

Henry felt better. At least he had one friend in the crowd.

“Well, really,” said another mother, “just because the poor little thing is too young to have established acceptable behavior patterns doesn’t mean we can let her be terrified by that dog.”

Henry did not know what the lady meant but he felt it didn’t sound very good for Ribsy.

“I think we should call the pound,” someone said. “You can see how frightened she is.”

“Why, Henry!” It was Mrs. Huggins. “What on earth is happening?”

“His dog chased that little girl up on the jungle gym and won’t let her come down,” explained one of the women, before Henry could open his mouth.

Mrs. Huggins glanced at Ramona and then looked sympathetically at Henry. “He’s not a vicious dog,” she told the woman.

“Mom, he didn’t chase her. Honest,” said Henry.

Then Mrs. Wisser, followed by Miss Mullen, the principal, pushed her way through the crowd of mothers. “There’s the dog,” Mrs. Wisser said, pointing at Ribsy.

Miss Mullen! thought Henry. Now I suppose I’ll really catch it. Miss Mullen was nice, but when she said something she meant it.

Miss Mullen was tall and gray-haired. When she spoke, other people listened. “Hello, Henry, what’s the trouble?” she asked pleasantly. The other women stopped talking.

Feeling uneasy, Henry looked around at all the mothers. He licked his lips and began. “Well, it looks like my dog chased Ramona up the jungle gym, but he didn’t really.” Henry gulped and went on. “She took his bone away from him and put it in her lunch box and he just wants his bone back, is all.” Henry decided it was not necessary to tell about the ice cream cone.