Mini Mysteries. Rick Walton

and raced toward

      his house, dragging a giggling Marie on the leash behind him.

      Noelle dashed after them. “See you next week!”

      Within minutes, the dog had slid onto the Earls’ porch.

      “Uh-oh, trouble,” Noelle said, pointing to the garden.

      A huge brown mutt sniffed and sifted through Mrs. Earl’s tomato

      patch, ignoring the girls. “Think he’ll fight with Ralphie?” asked

      Noelle.

      “I doubt it,” Marie said, “but we’d better be careful—”

      Suddenly, before Marie could finish, Ralphie jerked the leash out

      of her hand and charged at the brown dog. The brown dog looked up,

      barked, and raced after Ralphie.

      “Stop!” Marie shouted. “Ralphie, stop!”

      But Ralphie didn’t stop. He leaped at the other dog and put two

      front paws on the brown dog’s side. Then the two dogs nipped at each

      other’s necks. The dogs fell onto the lawn, wrestling and growling.

      “Oh, no!” cried Noelle.

      When the dogs heard Noelle, they stopped playing and turned to

      the girls, their tongues dangling in excitement.

      “They’re friends!” Noelle said.

      “Who are you, big guy?” Marie asked.

      “No name, but look!” Noelle pointed to a gold metal charm that

      dangled from the collar. “Madeleine’s trained him.”

      “Hey, poochie. Where do you live?” Marie asked.

      Ralphie jumped on top of the brown dog. After the girls laughed,

      he leaped on Noelle. “Down, Ralphie!” Noelle said. “Sit.”

      Ralphie sat. And so did the brown dog.

      “See?” Noelle said. “Trained.”

      “Let me try something.” Marie held out her hand to the brown dog

      and said firmly, “Shake.”

      The brown dog held out its paw. Ralphie held out his paw, too.

      Marie stood up. “Roll over. Play dead. Speak.” Both dogs obeyed

      each command.

      “Madeleine has trained this dog,” said Marie. “We could ask her

      where it lives, but we don’t know where she lives.”

      “If Madeleine’s trained this dog, then it knows her commands,”

      said Noelle.

      “And?”

      “And we’ll find out where it lives,” Noelle said.

      “How?”

      “You’ll see,” said Noelle.

       How did Noelle find out where the brown dog lived? Tap here for the answer.

      An Elephant for

      President?

      Someone’s trying to ruin Marie and Noelle’s

      campaign. Could it be . . . the boys?

      The campaign poster showed an elephant with a girl’s head on it.

      A long trunk stretched out from the girl’s head. The caption read, “Vote

      for Marie Cantu—she nose what to do.”

      Marie admitted it was a clever idea, but she really was planning

      to run for student body president, and this silly poster could hurt her

      chances.

      “Cute,” said Noelle. “I’ve never seen a brown-haired elephant.”

      “Let me show you something really bad.” Noelle dragged Marie

      down the hall to another taped-up poster. This one had a hippopotamus

      with Noelle’s head on it. Noelle’s curly brown hair hung to the ground.

      This campaign slogan said, “Hippo, Hippo, Hurray! Noelle Dee for

      Lincoln Middle School Vice President!”

      “That is bad,” Marie said. “They’re all over the school. Everyone’s

      seen them!”

      “Who do you think did it?” asked Noelle.

      “I have no idea, but it’s someone who doesn’t want us—”

      “—elected.” Noelle broke in, finishing Marie’s sentence as she often

      did. The girls dropped their notebooks to take the posters down, but just

      then the bell rang. School was starting. The posters would have to wait.

      At morning recess, Marie and Noelle grabbed three of their

      friends—Rose James, Sage Matthews, and Faith Peterson—to help take

      down posters. But as they walked up and down the halls, they found that

      the posters were already gone.

      “Did you see them?” asked Marie.

      “Everybody saw them,” said Faith.

      “Thank goodness the custodian took them down.”

      “Too bad,” said Faith. “I wanted one as a souvenir. They were

      funny.”

      The girls talked as they walked out to the playground.

      “They were funny,” said Noelle, “but they might cost Marie and me

      the election. We want to find out who put them up.”

      “Probably one of the boys,” said Sage.

      “Possibly,” added Marie. “But it looks like the poster maker knew

      we were planning to run, and we’ve told only a few friends.”

      “Couldn’t have been me,” said Sage. “I’m not a good enough artist

      to have made those posters. Rose, you’re a great artist. You could have

      made the posters.”

      Rose flipped her dark brown hair defiantly. “I’ve been staying with

      my grandma all week, and all my art supplies are at home, so I couldn’t

      have made the posters.”

      “What posters?” Hope Harrison asked as she walked up to the

      group.

      “Where’ve you been?” asked Sage. “The posters. They were

      plastered all over the school. Of Marie and Noelle running for

      president and vice president.”

      “I