Back in the lab, I put the hat on the bookcase. TJ read out the coordinates while I wrote up the little slips of paper and stuck them up—a green pin for the destination coordinates and a red pin for where the hat actually landed.
Professor Reese groaned as she studied the map. “There’s no pattern. The hat lands too far north. Too far west . . .”
“Too far southeast,” TJ added helpfully, but I glared at him to shut up.
“If there’s no pattern, we can’t predict where the hat will land.” She paced the lab. “We can’t draw any conclusions if every result is random.”
“Maybe Baxter finds the hat because he’s magical.” That was the conclusion I’d drawn, because he could find the hat when we couldn’t. Plus, he understood me perfectly. Plus, if there could be teleportation in the world, then why not a magical dog?
But Professor Reese just shook her head. “I’m a scientist, Jordie. I don’t believe in magic.” Then she plopped down in her chair and closed her eyes.
About this time, I thought that maybe Professor Reese might want “five minutes of peace and quiet,” which is what Mom calls it, only she usually wants more than five minutes’ worth. So I said, “Can me and TJ take Baxter to the park?”
Professor Reese nodded.
We ran upstairs. I used the phone in the kitchen to call Dad at work and tell him to meet us at the dog park.
“You want sandwiches?” he asked.
“Yeah!” I said. “See you there!”
I hung up the phone and grabbed the superbouncy ball from the kitchen counter. We followed Baxter as he trotted down the sidewalk, and for the first time, TJ held the leash. He was so happy, he made everyone else happy just by walking by (Baxter, certainly not TJ), which is the best kind of dog to have.
When we got to the park, we walked around letting Baxter sniff wherever he wanted, as long as he wanted. Pretty soon Dad was there with three sandwiches that were so big, they might as well have been four. But that was good because there were four of us. We all took turns taking a bite of a sandwich and then breaking off a piece to feed Baxter.
The whole time we ate, TJ told Dad about Spike. “When he crawls on your hand, you can feel his spikes on your skin!”
I shuddered.
“It’s awesome!” TJ said.
“A dog and a cockroach.” Dad laughed. “Professor Reese is going to be an interesting neighbor.”
“I know!” TJ said.
“Especially because of Baxter!” I said. I held up the superbouncy ball. “Watch this!” I threw the ball superhard and made it bounce superhigh. But even though the ball superbounced all the way across the park, Baxter was able to track every bounce.
“Wow!” Dad said.
Soon, he was trying it. And when the other dogs at the dog park joined in—two little barky black ones and one with the cutest freckles on his nose—Baxter followed the bounce way better than they did and always got the ball first. “Baxter has some serious ball-handling skills!” Dad said.
“Yep,” TJ agreed.
“He’s King of the Bounce!” I said.
It seemed pretty magical to me.
After a while, Dad checked his watch and said, “I need to get back to the store.” So he took off.
TJ said, “I have to go work on my short now. I only have ninety-two pictures. That’s only eleven point five seconds.” And he took off, too.
So I took Baxter back to Professor Reese’s by myself.
Professor Reese was by the kitchen door, watering the potted pink begonia. “How was the park?”
“Great!”
I unclipped Baxter’s leash. He flopped down in the cool grass.
I wanted to flop down next to him, but I’d been gone from home so long, I figured I’d better go find a great opportunity to help Mom with something. If TJ was home and I wasn’t, she’d notice.
I went in to the kitchen to put the ball and leash away and then came back out. “I have to go home now.”
“Thank you for your help, Jordie.”
“Sure!” I gave Baxter a big kiss on his nose, and his kiss back landed perfectly and only a little bit slobbery right on the tip of my chin. “Me and TJ will come over again tomorrow after school.”
“Good.” She smiled. “Because I’m counting on my lab assistants to help me.”
And that night, climbing into bed, I realized—by “lab assistants” she meant TJ and me.
12The Baxter Station
When I got to school on Monday, Megan ran up to me on the playground. “Guess what? My mom said I can come over after school today!”
“Yay!” I was so excited I almost hopped. “I can’t wait for you to meet Baxter—he’s so much fun to cuddle, and his fur is so swirly and soft! You’ll love him!” We started running to the bars. “Oh, and guess what? Professor Reese said I can be her lab assistant!”
“Cool!” Megan said.
When we got to the bars, Megan plopped down her backpack. “So I read an article about cutting kids’ hair.” She climbed up next to Aisha to balance on the bar. “I guess some kids are scared of the shampoo part, so the article said to just use a spray bottle with water to get their hair wet.”
“You cut kids’ hair?” Aisha asked.
“Not yet,” Megan said. “But one day.”
Me and Megan told her and Jasmine all about the vet/beauty parlor/day care, while Jasmine passed around a bag of oatmeal breakfast bars that she and her mom had baked the day before. When we were finished, Aisha said, “That sounds like so much fun! Can I work there?”
“Sure!” Megan said.
“I want to work there, too!” Jasmine said. “I can bake all the treats for the kids for snack time.”
“Deal!” I popped the last bite of my breakfast bar into my mouth. Then I asked Aisha, “Do you want to work in the vet part or the beauty parlor part or the day care part?”
“Um . . .” She hopped down from the bar. “Could I do art lessons for the
