End of the Race
Authors: Laurie Halse Anderson
Hello!
I was a swimmer when I was a kid. Backstroke was my specialty. (I liked it because it’s easy to breathe when you’re swimming on your back!) But swimming is an individual sport. I had a lot to learn about teamwork.
When you’re playing on a team, you want to make sure that everyone is doing his or her best. When one teammate stumbles, the others help her up, just like in a family. Sometimes friends or teammates can seem like enemies. You might feel jealous of them or want to beat them. We all have feelings like that occasionally. The trick is to learn how to get past them.
Maggie is feeling threatened by two people in this book: a new volunteer at the clinic and a new girl on the basketball team. She has to find it in her heart to work with them both, instead of trying to drive them away.
If you ever find yourself in the same situation, I hope you’ll remember how Maggie worked things out.
Laurie Halse Anderson
Collect All the Vet Volunteers Books
Fight for Life
Homeless
Trickster
Manatee Blues
Say Good-bye
Storm Rescue
Teacher’s Pet
Trapped
Fear of Falling
Time to Fly
Masks
End of the Race
New Beginnings
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Norris, Jack, and Nate Chumley;
Kate A.W. Roby, D.V.M.; Joseph Nebzydoski, D.V.M.;
and Kim Michels, D.V.M.
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by Pleasant Company Publications, 2003
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2012
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Copyright © Laurie Halse Anderson 2003, 2012
Title page photo © 2011, Bob Krasner
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Anderson, Laurie Halse.
End of the Race / Laurie Halse Anderson.
p. cm.
Summary: After treating an injured greyhound at her grandmother’s veterinary
clinic, thirteen-year-old Maggie learns about the abuse of greyhounds in the
dog-racing industry and vows to put a stop to it.
ISBN: 978-1-101-57508-6
[ 1. Veterinarians—Fiction. 2. Greyhounds—Fiction. 3. Greyhound racing—Fiction.
4. Veterinary medicine—Fiction. 5. Dogs—Fiction. 6. Grandmothers—Fiction.]
I. Title
PZ7.A54385 En 2009
[Fic]—dc22 2009010304
Printed in the United States of America
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any
responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
To Catherine Stine, with thanks
H
i, Maggie! Are you working at the clinic this afternoon? I’ll walk with you.” Sunita taps my shoulder as the school bus pushes us through the first heavy snowstorm of the new year.
I turn to her in the seat behind me. She’s wearing a purple parka, her favorite color. “Sure,” I say.
When the bus grinds to a halt, we jump off and tromp through the sparkly drifts to Dr. Mac’s Place, my grandmother’s veterinary clinic, where Sunita and I volunteer along with some of our friends. I live with Gran—or Dr. Mac, as everyone else calls her—in the house attached to the
clinic. It’s great getting to care for animals every day.
“How come you’re taking the late bus?” asks Sunita. “Were you studying at the library? I didn’t see you there.”
“Me, at the library? You must be kidding.” Even though I’m doing better in school since my science teacher, Mr. Carlson, helped me map out a study plan last year, the library is still the last place you’ll find me. “I just finished basketball practice. Sunita, you should have seen it—Darla almost breathed fire when Coach Williams put me in as center. She even elbowed me when the coach wasn’t looking and said I was too short to play that position. Can you believe that? I’ve always played center.” I form a snowball, leap up, and hurl it over a branch. “Jump shot!”
“Center was Darla’s regular position at her old school, right?” Sunita is more into books than basketball, but even she’s heard that Darla Stone, a new girl at Ambler Middle School, considers herself the star player. I nod yes. “Proceed with caution,” Sunita warns.
“Guess so,” I agree. Sunita wouldn’t steer me wrong. She always has the right answer.
“Who are the new patients at the clinic?” Sunita
asks. “I missed two whole weeks because of winter break.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me that Christmas vacation’s already over.” I make a face. “Let’s see, there are some dogs and kittens still boarding. Gran dewormed the kittens today. They’re sooo cute.”
“Kitties! How many?” Sunita’s a cat person. Cal-ico, Siamese, domestic shorthair, bring them on!
“Four,” I reply. “There’s also a guinea pig named Podge. He has slobbers.”
“Sounds awful. What’s that?” asks Sunita. She tears open a bag of pretzels and offers me one.
I grab one in my gloved hand and toss it in the air. “Basket!” I catch it in my mouth, along with a bunch of snowflakes. “Slobbers is a condition where the guinea pig can’t close his mouth because his teeth have grown too long. I hate to think of Podge not being able to eat properly, or even to shut his mouth.”
“Can Dr. Mac trim his teeth?” Sunita asks.
“Yeah. She’s scheduled to do surgery on Podge this Saturday.” Only two more school days until I get to spend the day helping Gran with surgery, playing with kittens, and walking the boarder dogs. Hooray!
Sunita wraps her scarf tighter. “It sounds like a full house. Are David and Brenna around?” Our friends David Hutchinson and Brenna Lake have been volunteering at Dr. Mac’s Place ever since we needed extra help shutting down an illegal puppy mill last year.
“David’s around, but Brenna’s family is taking an extra week in Costa Rica. They’re learning about sea turtle nesting habits.” Brenna’s parents are wildlife rehabilitators. It’s so awesome how her whole family’s involved in saving endangered species.
“It would be nice to be in the tropics right about now,” Sunita sighs as the snow swirls faster. We reach my front door and tap snow off our boots. Even though I’m still sweaty from practice, I shiver as a blast of wind whistles under my hood. We hurry in and close the door quickly.
“Whew, it’s almost as chilly in here as it is outside.” Sunita takes her coat off but pulls a sweater from her backpack.
“Gran doesn’t like to heat the house when she’s in the clinic all day.” I flop onto the living room couch and pry off my boots, then hook my ski jacket on a peg in the closet and shiver again. It IS cold in here. My tummy’s rumbling. After
basketball practice I could eat a…well, not a horse! I open the fridge. Some yogurt, leftover salad, a bunch of apples. Much too healthy. “Sunita, want some cereal?”
“No thanks, those pretzels filled me up.” She opens one of Gran’s veterinary magazines to an article on cat grooming.
I pour a bowl of Froot Loops and milk and gulp it down, then rinse my bowl and leave it in the sink. “Let’s see if Gran needs help.”
Sunita closes the magazine and follows me through the hallway door to the clinic. Friendly barks from the boarding kennels greet us.
“Gran?” I call as we step into the waiting room.
“Hello,” replies an unfamiliar, high-pitched voice.