001Hey boys and girls. My name is Mrs. Atkins and today we are going to continue reading our book for the summer reading, Dog Town. We're going to be starting at chapter 96, which is Train Whistle. I could smell a hundred things at once. Biscuits, bananas, and burnt coffee. Fish that was dried and fish that was fried. We were in a strip mall that included the thrift store, a little grocery, a bakery, a fish market, and a furniture store. I heard the train whistle, a short toot, then a long one. The sound stretched as the train pulled away. The evening whistle wasn't as loud here as it had been at Dogtown, and I couldn't hear the clanking of the railroad crossing arm. I didn't know how far we'd travel with Jimmy's mom. Still, it was comforting
002to hear the familiar sound. What I needed was a map, but there was no time to think about that. Metal Head's charge was running out. Chapter 97. Fish Market. Metal Head was moving slowly. How long do you take to charge? I asked. 4 hours, he said in his low charge draw. 4 hours? I began to pant. You must be joking. You can say what you want about a real dog's needs, but at least we don't require an electrical umbilical cord. What if there was a power outage? Robot dogs would all stop. Once Metal Head's charge got to zero, his limbs would freeze up. he wouldn't be able to move and he was much too heavy for mouse and me to carry. Mouse scrambled on my back and we headed for the fish market. The smells
003were intoxicating. So that's a big word. So if you look at the picture for a clue, you can kind of see that they're smelling that fish that's around them. So if I look at the dog's face and the mouse's face, they're smiling. So, do you guys think that that's a good smell or a bad smell? I think it's a intoxicating means that it's a really pleasant or good smell. Salmon soul steelhead trout. I hadn't had fish since Sycamore Avenue. The professor liked grilled salmon. There was always a curl of fish skin, a chunk of fish flesh, a bit of fish fat in my bowl. Jesse had been fond of tuna melts. Sometimes I got to lick the can. If we could get a bite of dinner for mouse and me and a charge for metal
004head, what could be better than that? Chapter 98. A risky move. How would we hide Metal Head next to an outlet long enough for him to charge? An idea began to form. The fish market was closing, but a few customers lingered, which means they're still around. The fish market guys in the white aprons rolled the displays into the cramped inside space. Behind the displays were large refrigerators and tanks of live lobsters with lights and bubbling water, so there had to be outlets in there. What if the fish market was locked up with us inside? I licked my lips at the thought. Do you guys Do you want to make a prediction here? Are they going to get stuck? I was thinking how we might stage a distraction and scoot inside without being seen when Mouse
005slipped off my back and bolted across the sidewalk. Mouse. With all the people around, this was a risky move. Mouse didn't panic when they spotted him, either. He climbed up a table leg and retrieved a piece of shrimp, which hadn't yet been cleared away. "Rat! Rat!" a woman in purple tight shouted, waving her walking stick. By then, Mouse was running back across the sidewalk, the shrimp in his mouth, a guy with a broom chasing after him. So, is your prediction right or do we need to make a change? Chapter 99. The broom. I knew better than to run. And Metal Head, low as he was on charge, could barely walk. So the two of us sat outside pretending to be to be loyal canines waiting for our humans to come out of the market. Mouse
006disappeared under a parked car. The fish market guy, who had a ponytail and smelled like lemons, circled the car, broom in hand. He thumped the bristles on the cement. He peered underneath and ran the broom under the car. Still no mouse. The fish market guy stood up and smacked the broom handle on the pavement. It made a terrifying crack and mouse darted out. The fish market guy took off after him. Mouse headed for the bakery. He bypassed a car, barely missing a lady carrying a bakery box. But the fish market guy slammed into her, sink, sending the pink bakery box flying. Come on, I barked as the fish market guy apologized to the woman and helped her gather the bags of cookies that had spilled on the pavement. Mouse scampered onto my back and the
007three of us hightailed it out of there. Mouse, I growled when we were at a safe distance away. Are you nuts? You could have gotten us killed. Mouse made a sign for hungry, then hung his head, his glossy black eyes fixated on the sidewalk. I know, I said. I'm hungry, too. Mouse produced the small piece of shrimp he'd been holding in his mouth. He offered me half, but I didn't take it. One half of a shrimp scrap would only wake up my stomach, and that was the last thing I needed to do. All right, boys and girls, that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading those chapters.