Read Online Dog Beach Unleashed by Lisa Greenwald - Free Book Online Page B

because they’re starving and waiting for their lunch.
    I have no idea how to balance the dog responsibilities with my friend responsibilities. But I’ll have to find a way.

It’s gray out, but Josh and the Improvimaniacs practice with the dogs on the beach. It’s so funny that it takes my mind off the gloomy weather and my gloomy mood.
    Right now they’re pretending Oreo is a professor and the four actors are in a class with the rest of the dogs. It’s cracking us up, because Oreo keeps falling asleep on the sand and Josh’s friend Liat has to wake him up over and over again.
    And then it starts pouring. Not raining. Pouring. Thick, clumpy raindrops that pelt the dogs’ fur and make it hard for us to see.
    â€œGuys, come on!” Josh yells to us.
    â€œWhat?” I yell. It’s hard to hear through the rain.
    He yells back, “Follow me. Grab the dogs! Quick!”
    So we gather up the dogs and all their stuff as fast as we can. Ritzy’s such a slow walker that Calvin picks her up andruns with her. We follow Josh and the Improvimaniacs until we’re standing in front of the old Seagate Hotel.
    â€œCome on in.”
    Josh really wants us to bring the dogs in there? Dripping, wet-dog-smelling dogs? I can’t believe it. But I’m too drenched to argue.
    Once the dogs are inside, they run around the lobby and check out the place. They sniff every corner. They’re as confused as we are.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” I ask. “We’re allowed to be in here?”
    â€œYeah, my family owns this place,” Josh tells us. “It’s empty this summer while my mom and her crazy sisters figure out what they want to do with it. It was my grandfather’s place, and since he passed away, they haven’t decided if they should sell it or not. Anyway, we’re staying here this summer, running the improv and theater activities for the kids and looking after the place.”
    â€œReally?” I ask. “Just you and your friends?”
    He nods. “Yup. You seem shocked.”
    I look around to
my
friends, but they’re with the dogs. I
am
shocked. I can’t imagine having an entire hotel to ourselves.
    â€œSo, you’ve spent a lot of summers on Seagate?” I ask him.
    â€œI visited a bunch, but I never spent the whole summer. My mom and her sisters are so distraught about my grandfather dying that they didn’t have the strength to come here or figure out what to do with the hotel. So I said I’d come andsort things out, if I was allowed to bring the Improvimaniacs with me.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œAnd it’s been so rainy, we’ve been indoors way more than I like to be,” he tells me. “So it’s good to have the extra space.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œIt was the first place I could think to take you guys when it started raining.” He cracks his neck. “Must be tough for you guys, too. What do you do with the dogs when it rains?”
    â€œNothing,” I say. “They just stay home for the most part, where they get bored. Plus, we make a lot less money.”
    â€œWow.” Josh laughs. “You’re quite the entrepreneur.”
    â€œNo, no, that’s not what I mean.” I crack up, picturing myself in some kind of fancy suit, working on Wall Street. “We’re trying to raise money, to save an animal shelter in Manhattan that’s in danger of closing.”
    â€œThat’s awesome,” Josh says.
    I shrug. “Thanks.”
    â€œWell, now you can bring the dogs here when it rains,” he says. “It’s just an empty space for the most part. As you can see.” He looks around. “Hope you don’t need to, though. I hope the weather takes a turn for the better.”
    I nod and look around the place. It’s gigantic. We’re standing in what used to be the lobby, but everything’s gone except for the old concierge