Henry and Ribsy (Henry Huggins #3)(4)

“I saw you put your hand on your gun and I thought…” Henry began.

“I was just trying to keep it from flopping against me when I ran,” explained the officer.

Just the same, Henry could not help feeling Ribsy had had a narrow escape. “I’m afraid there isn’t much left of your lunch, sir,” said Henry politely.

Then, to Henry’s relief, Mr. Huggins returned. “What’s the trouble?” he wanted to know, when he saw the policeman talking to Henry.

“I just stepped into the market to buy a pint of milk to drink with my lunch,” began the officer, and went on to explain what had happened.

A pint of milk! There hadn’t been a holdup at all. Henry was disappointed to learn that the policeman had been on such an uninteresting errand—an old pint of milk. Well, he supposed policemen had to drink milk like anyone else.

Mr. Huggins snapped his fingers at Ribsy, who came out from under the grease rack. Looking guilty, he dropped the tattered bag at Mr. Huggins’s feet. Part of a cupcake rolled out onto the cement.

“Not much left, is there?” said Mr. Huggins. Then he looked at Ribsy. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

Ribsy’s tail and ears drooped. Henry could see his dog really was ashamed. He hoped the policeman noticed how sorry he looked. “What happens to dogs that rob police cars?” Henry asked. “Do they get arrested or get a ticket or something?”

The policeman laughed. “No, nothing like that. But he’ll probably get a stomachache from eating too much.”

Henry was so relieved to know nothing serious would happen to Ribsy that he was able to grin at the officer. “And it’ll serve him right if he does get a stomachache,” he said.

After Mr. Huggins had insisted on paying for the lunch, the officer drove away and Al lowered the car. “You old dog,” said Henry crossly as Ribsy jumped into the front seat. “Look at the trouble you got me into. And now you’ve got grease on your tail. Mom isn’t going to like that.” But when Ribsy looked up at Henry and wagged his tail as if he wanted to be forgiven, Henry could not help patting him.

Mr. Huggins looked thoughtful. “It seems to me that dog has been getting into a lot of trouble lately,” he remarked.

“I know he has, but he’s still a pretty good dog,” said Henry.

On the way home the sight of the Rose City Sporting Goods Shop reminded Henry of salmon fishing once more. “Say, Dad,” he said, “I was talking to Scooter McCarthy. He went fishing last year and caught a silverside. I bet I land a chinook. I bet—”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Mr. Huggins. “I didn’t say for sure I’d take you fishing. I said, ‘We’ll see.’”

“Aw, Dad,” protested Henry, “that’s just the same as yes.”

Mr. Huggins was silent a minute before he went on. “You know, Henry, I’ve been thinking it over and I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll make a bargain with you about the fishing trip.”

“What kind of a bargain?” Henry asked, wondering what his father had in mind. He hoped it wasn’t anything too hard, because he wanted very much to go on that fishing trip.

“If you keep Ribsy out of trouble between now and the time I go salmon fishing around the middle of September, I’ll take you along,” said Mr. Huggins. “And that means no complaints from the neighbors about him.”

“Sure!” exclaimed Henry. “It’s a bargain!” So that was all his father wanted! Why, it would be easy as pie. He didn’t have a thing to worry about. All he had to do was keep his eye on his dog from now until the middle of September, less than two months. He patted Ribsy, who was leaning out the front window of the car. “You’re going to be a good dog from now on, aren’t you?”



Ribsy wagged his greasy tail in Henry’s face. “Wuf!” he said.

“That’s a good dog,” said Henry. He was sure he wouldn’t have any trouble keeping his bargain. If he watched Ribsy every minute, he couldn’t get into trouble, could he? Or could he? There was the time Ribsy ran off with the roast the neighbors were going to barbecue in the backyard. And the time he stole the seventeen newspapers Scooter McCarthy had delivered on Klickitat Street. Maybe keeping Ribsy out of trouble until the middle of September wasn’t going to be so easy after all, now that he stopped to think about it. And the more Henry thought about it, the more he wished he hadn’t been in such a hurry to tell Scooter he was going fishing.





2


Henry and The Garbage




Two weeks before school started, Henry Huggins was in the kitchen one evening feeding Ribsy, while Mr. Huggins washed the dinner dishes and Mrs. Huggins wiped them. Henry took some horse meat and half a can of Woofies Dog Food out of the refrigerator. Thump, thump, thump went Ribsy’s tail on the floor as he watched Henry.

Henry cut up the horse meat and put it on Ribsy’s dish. “Why don’t you chew it?” he asked, when Ribsy began to gulp down the pieces of meat.

Henry spooned the last of the can of Woofies into the plastic dish with D O G printed on it. Ribsy sniffed at the food. Then he wagged his tail and looked hopefully at Henry, who knew this meant that Ribsy would eat the dog food only when he was sure he was not going to get any more horse meat.