How to Steal a Dog

Georgina goes to the house and finds Mookie, who continues to feed and care for Willy. Mookie reveals that although he did not attend school beyond sixth grade, he has worked every day of his life. To Georgina’s astonishment, Mookie has not always been paid for his manual labor “cause sometimes people need stuff done more than I need money” (132). He shares with Georgina that he saw a sign with a dog that looked just like Willy and that they even shared the same name. Georgina is deeply ashamed when Mookie shares another piece of life wisdom with her, saying “the more you stir it, the worse it stinks” (134). It is a phrase she adds to her notes about how to steal a dog. As she waits in the backseat of the car for her mother and Toby to return, Georgina feels defeated.

Georgina has a terrible day. A kid named Kirby Price calls her “a dirt bag” in gym and everyone laughs, including Luanne (136). Then, her mother’s car refuses to start, meaning that they have to spend the night in a shopping complex parking lot.

As Georgina’s mother’s friend Patsy takes Georgina and Toby to school, they see Mookie pedaling his rusted bike. While Georgina urges her and Toby to hide, Patsy comments that Mookie looks happy.

On the way back from school, Toby insists on asking Georgina when they will take Willy back to Carmella. Georgina shushes him, as she already feels guilty about Willy and does not need Toby making it worse. Toby points out the cruelty they are inflicting on Willy. He adds that there is the chance Carmella might call the police and land them in jail. Georgina insists that they wait, as the whole reason why they kidnapped Willy in the first place was to make some money. Still, Georgina has a bad feeling that she has gotten herself into more trouble than she can handle.

Georgina’s mother confesses that the faulty car will set her back financially. Georgina does not trust that her mother will ever get enough money to secure housing for them. Still, when the car mysteriously starts up long enough for them to park close to Whitmore Road, Georgina is plagued by guilt. She thinks about Carmella, Willy, and even Mookie, wondering about the advice he gave her. Georgina reflects on a time when she and Luanne camped in Luanne’s backyard and confessed the worst things they had ever done. Back then, the worst thing Georgina had ever done was to write a curse word on the desk at school and blame it on another girl, who subsequently cried herself into having an asthma attack. Now her biggest crime is far worse.

The next day, Georgina visits Carmella. Still lonesome for Willy, Carmella has the idea to ask her Uncle Haywood to lend her the reward money since Gertie rejected her request. The uncle agrees. Afterwards, Carmella asks Georgina if she and Toby ever looked for Willy in the woods. Although Georgina has not, as this is near Willy’s real hiding place, she answers Carmella vaguely. Georgina’s conscience screams at her to tell the truth. However, she cannot bring herself to do it, even though she knows she is doing wrong.

After returning from Carmella’s, Georgina goes back to her notebook and adds a new step to her how-to guide: she could take the dog back to its owner, contributing to the happiness of both. However, she still aims to collect the reward money that Carmella said she will procure from her Uncle Haywood.

At school, Georgina goes to the nurse’s office with a stomachache. Afterwards, she and Toby go to the house where Willy is locked up, but he is nowhere to be found. Georgina assumes that Mookie took him. Then she hears Mookie’s bike and sees him with Willy. She snatches Willy up and accuses Mookie of taking him. Mookie tells her that while he was going over to the shopping center, the dog came running up behind him. She ekes out an apology to Mookie. When Mookie announces that he is leaving, Georgina knows in an instant that she has been wrong about him—that he is in fact nice and smart “and someone who leaves a good trail behind him” (156). She also knows that he is the one who fixed their car when it would not start.

When Mookie is gone, Toby looks at Georgina and asks what they will do next. She tells him they will take Willy home. Toby pumps his fist in the air, assuming that they will get the prize money, but Georgina stays silent.

Georgina feels compelled to cut school and go to Carmella’s house alone to return Willy, even though she knows she will be in trouble with her teacher. Doing so will also deprive Toby of this special moment. She feels guilty about leaving Toby out because he turned out to be a reliable accomplice to her crime.

When she gets to the old house, she finds Willy and the green flea collar with Carmella’s name and address. She realizes that Mookie found the collar and that he knew about her secret. She wonders why he was so nice to her when she did not deserve it.

When Georgina tells Willy they are going home, he is so eager to get there that he almost snaps the leash. On approaching Carmella’s house, she lets Willy go to find Carmella and starts to head off. As much as she wants to disappear, Georgina’s conscience guides her back to Carmella’s. She tells Carmella the truth, beginning from the time when her father abandoned them. Carmella understandings, saying, “I guess bad times can make a person do bad things” (164). However, Carmella makes it clear that Georgina was in the wrong and acts cold to her, until changing her mind at the last minute and offering that she and Toby can still come and walk Willy. Georgina cannot wait to tell Toby and hopes for his forgiveness. As she leaves, Georgina sees her footprints in the dirt and thinks about Mookie’s motto of leaving a good trail behind you. She already feels like a better person.

Georgina and her family only live in the car for two more days before her mother announces that she has found them a house. While Georgina fantasizes about a place that will be big enough for her to have her own room and be fancy enough to invite Luanne for a sleepover, in reality “it was a tiny white house with a rusty swing set in the red-dirt yard” (168). They will share the house with a woman named Louise and her baby Drew. Still, Georgina is happy to have her own bed, even if she has to share a room with Toby. The first night in the house, she opens her notebook and adds a final coda to her dog-stealing adventure, stating emphatically that “it is NOT a good idea” (170). As she is about to sleep, she thinks about Mookie, Willy, and Carmella, hoping they are content.