Read Online Special Delivery! by Sue Stauffacher - Free Book Online Page A

He took the box and started tearing away the piece Razi had begun to cut.
    “No, Zack! That was the front door!” Tears spilled down Razi’s cheeks. “His friends had to knock and then he would say ‘come in’ and then they would bring presents and then he would have a party! But now it’s all wrong.”
    Grandma opened the back door and hollered out: “Attention, Animal Rescue Team! We have a skunk! Fayola just called. They’re on their way.”
    Keisha kneeled down by Razi. She hugged him so he could wipe his tears on her T-shirt. She could see whatRazi was trying to do. He was trying to make a door, like a cat door, with two cuts so that the skunk would have to push his way in. But now Zack had torn a big hole for the opening. Razi took the piece of cardboard Zack had ripped out and put it under his bottom as if to make believe it had never happened.

    “I have an idea,” Keisha said, tugging the piece of cardboard back out. “Let’s make that the back of the house. We can tape this back on. I don’t think the skunk will care. Then we’ll cut two bigger slits and bend the top of the front door backward and forward so it’s easy to push.”
    “It could be a window,” Razi said, rubbing his eyes. “But just a little one. So he can peek out.”
    “Okay, I’ll tear off a little piece and then we’ll tape it back on.” Zack was happy to have something to do to make Razi feel better. Keisha called inside to Grandma for the duct tape.
    “What else do we need?” Grandma asked after she came outside and handed the roll to Keisha. She still had her apron on. Aprons were OL, but necessary when you were cooking up a pot of skunk smell remover.
    “Let’s go see.” Grandma led the way out of the garage into the part of the backyard where the pens were kept.
    “Dirt!” Razi said. “Skunks like to dig.”
    All eyes traveled from the skunk enclosure to the side of the house. “Do they dig or do they fling?” Grandma asked.
    “They fling!” Razi threw his hands up in the air. Skunks were a Razi kind of animal. “I’ll get him some sand from my sandbox.”
    An “and then” story popped into Keisha’s head. It wasn’t just little brothers who could tell them. “If this skunk decides to burrow under his den box and then sand gets on the side of the house and the clean laundry on the line and then Mama sees what the skunk has done and then she says something like, ‘One must rowin the boat in which one finds oneself,’ we’re going to end up doing a lot of cleaning up.”
    Grandma had the last word. “No need to explain your mama’s clean habits, dear. We’ll keep the sand in the sandbox and see if this skunk can make a dent in our clay soil. What else do we need to make the skunk happy? He’ll only be here a few days, until we make sure he’s healthy and find a good place to release him.”
    “Do skunks like toys?” Zeke asked.
    “Maybe my dump truck!” Razi said. “If he can’t dig, he can excavate.”
    Razi had recently discovered the joys of earth-moving.
    Grandma looked thoughtful. “Sounds good, though I don’t know if his paws can handle the levers.”
    “He’ll need a bowl of water,” Keisha reminded her.
    “Well, let’s set it up, because as soon as Fred gets back, we have to go see our feathered friend. I’ve got a feeling today is his big day.”
    “You mean the crow? Can we go, too?” Zeke asked.
    Ever since the word “murder” had come up, the Z-Team wanted to be in on the crow action.
    Razi tugged on Grandma’s apron. “I’m hungry, Grandma. When is lunch?”
    “You already had lunch, Razi, and we promised Wenand Aaliyah they could come,” Grandma told the Z-Team. “There’s not enough room in the truck.”
    “We could ride in the truck bed,” Zeke offered.
    “Like Mr. Cannon’s hunting dogs,” Zack said.
    “They fall down a lot,” Zeke said, remembering. “Maybe we could just double-buckle.”
    “Dunch, then. When’s dunch?” Razi was still