Finding Elmo Read Online Free

wasn’t ready to go back into the store, either. My heart was racing and I needed to catch my breath. Dad and I had never fought before.
    So I just stood there, staring at my reflection. I looked so much like him. Usually I thought that was a good thing.But not today. Today I didn’t want to be anything like my dad.
    I nearly jumped when the bathroom door opened. I spotted the black cloak first. “Rodney!” I shouted, and for a second I sounded as angry as my dad had a few minutes before. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you always following me around like some stray pup?”

chapter six
    Not exactly pet people, I thought as I made my way through the crowd, balancing a tray of samosas over my head with one hand.
    It was Saturday night and the store had been converted into a weird cross between a jungle and a ballroom. I’d never seen anything so tacky. I had helped Dad and Trout push the shelves of pet supplies over to one wall to make room for a giant dance floor. There was a cardboard cutout of a life-sized tiger at one end. The huge blackstrobe lights on either side of the tiger made it hard to see straight.
    The people were even worse than the decorations. Take this one lady who let out a shriek when Cottontail jumped out from under the log where she’d been hiding.
    â€œDon’t worry. He’s harmless,” I said, offering the woman a samosa.
    The woman took a handkerchief from her purse. She sighed as she dabbed her forehead.
    The air smelled like the ground floor at some department store where those perfume ladies attack you with spray bottles. What I’d give right now, I thought, for a whiff of hay and ammonia.
    Instead of renting out the big birds, my dad had come up with another plan to make money: He’d rented out the whole store. Maybe this was his idea of a compromise. We hadn’t talked about our argument. In fact, since that day in the bathroom, the two of us hadn’t really talked about anything, except basics like what had to be done at the store and what kind of take-out we were bringing home for dinner.
    All the party guests were connected to Realco. In exchange for letting the company use the store for this party, Mr. Morgan had agreed to let my dad pay only half of next month’s rent.
    Dad had gone along with Mr. Morgan’s plan like an old dog being dragged out for a walk. “What else can I do?” I heard him tell Mom during one of the late night conversations that I wasn’t supposed to be listening to. “Soon I’m going to owe Realco so much money that guy can get me to do just about anything.”
    Why couldn’t Dad stand up to Mr. Morgan? I’d put my pillow over my head so I wouldn’t have to hear anymore. Why couldn’t Dad put the animals first the way he used to?
    So there I was, dressed in a penguin suit—a black tuxedo Dad had insisted on renting for me. I didn’t even have a free hand to scratch my neck, which was itching something awful because of the starched collar.
    I felt like it wasn’t just Four Feet and Feathers that had been rented out for thenight. I felt like I’d been rented too. Like I didn’t belong to myself anymore.
    Mr. Singh, who’d been hired to cater the party, was racing back and forth between the food court and the store. “These fancy people can’t get enough of my samosas,” he said, handing me another tray of the crispy appetizers. “The ones on the left have meat, the rest are vegetarian.”
    After the first round of appetizers was served, Mr. Singh gestured that I should follow him to the food court. His forehead was dotted with sweat. “Tim,” he said, sounding more formal than usual, “there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
    I knew right away he meant Sapna. He’d told me she’d arrived earlier in the week, but that she’d spent her first two days in Montreal, getting over her jet lag.
    I