How to Steal a Dog

When Georgina and her family have to sleep outside the Brushy Creek Lutheran Church, she remembers a happier time when she went to that church with her friend Racene Wickham and made May baskets. Afterwards, she came home to find her parents fighting. Racene eventually moved away to Florida. At school, Georgina contemplates that she could keep the stolen dog by the boarded-up old house, which is not too far from Whitmore Road.

When Georgina asks if she and Toby can go to Luanne’s house after school, Luanne makes an excuse. Georgina feels increasingly isolated from her schoolmates. After school, she and Toby go by the dumpsters to find some string for their dog-kidnapping mission. They go to meet their mother at the Y, who announces she has a new job in a café. Toby and Georgina are to come to the café and wait for her in the car after school. Georgina goes over her dog-stealing plan, and despite her conscience “hollering at me, telling me I was doing the wrong thing” she decides that she really will steal a dog (69).

Georgina and Toby go over to Whitmore Road and steal Willy. Georgina is so nervous she cannot allow herself to think too much about what she is doing. As they are escaping with Willy, Toby keeps voicing doubts about what will happen if Willy does not like the porch house or if his owner does not put up a reward sign. Georgina experiences “a funny little feeling […] tapping at my insides […] like maybe I had done a real bad thing” (72). When they take Willy to the porch of the old house and proceed to lock him up, Toby says that Georgina is mean. He asks Georgina what they will do if the dog gets hungry or thirsty. Georgina had not thought about this but pretends she has a plan. Her conscience keeps warning her that she has done wrong.

Georgina’s mother’s café job ensures that the family has more food. Georgina collects some of it for Willy. At night when it rains, Georgina wonders whether Willy is scared and uncomfortable.

The next morning, she and Toby search the streets of Darby for reward signs, but there are none. At school, Mr. White asks her if she has given the letters to her parents. She lies, saying that they have been busy with work and that her father is going to call any day now. On reflection, Georgina considers that Mr. White has been kind to her; for example, he did not say anything about her not having a costume for a play on the Boston Tea Party. The other kids including Luanne barely talk to Georgina, but Georgina finds that she does not care about them that much anymore. In full view of everyone, she takes a half-eaten granola bar out of the trash for Willy.

When she and Toby return to Willy, he is pleased to see them. They give him food and let him run in the street to expend some energy. Georgina feels guilty and promises Willy that he will be home soon. When they leave and she hears Willy barking, Georgina reckons with her conscience, hoping that if she tells herself things like “everything is going to turn out fine” enough it will be okay (88).

There is still no evidence of lost dog signs. However, Toby and Georgina walk to Whitmore Road and run into Carmella Whitmore, who is looking for Willy. They make conversation with her about the lost dog and see that she is devastated. Georgina suggests that she and Toby help find Willy. Carmella goes into her house to find Willy’s picture, and when Georgina peers inside she is shocked to find that the house is messy and full of junk. It is nothing like the palace she expected. Carmella is not as rich as they anticipated and is named after the road because her great grandfather owned all the land on the street at one time. However, her grandfather was not so good at farming and lost most of it.

The kids suggest making lost dog signs and offering a reward to the finder. When Toby suggests the amount of $500, Carmella is shocked, as she does not have that kind of money. Carmella figures that she might be able to borrow the money from her wealthier sister Gertie.

The kids leave Carmella to find Willy at the old house. He is glad to see them but a little sad this time. Georgina is overwhelmed and starts crying. She is upset about her failed science test, her father leaving, and her best friend going to ballet school while she is stuck in a car. She is also upset over depriving Carmella of her beloved dog. Georgina reflects that “right in the middle of this sorry mess was me, the sorriest person there ever was” (102).

Later that night, when Georgina annotates her dog-stealing notes, she tells herself that she has no choice but to wait and see what happens next.

Georgina cuts school to visit Willy. When she gets to the house, a homeless man called Mookie is with Willy and feeding him sardines. Mookie asks Georgina why she keeps a dog tied up at the porch house. She lies that her current landlord does not allow pets and that she is keeping Willy here until her mother finds them a new apartment. While Georgina has an uneasy feeling, she tries to be optimistic, telling herself that all she merely has to wait for Carmella to obtain the reward money. She consoles herself by imagining the nice apartment her family will be able to move into once they have the money.

Toby and Georgina help Carmella put up the lost dog signs. Carmella confesses that Gertie will not lend her the money. Carmella’s solution to this will be to put up the reward signs anyway and be like Scarlett O’Hara, the heroine of Margaret Mitchell’s famous Southern novel Gone with the Wind (1936), who “worried about things tomorrow instead of today” (114).

Later, in the Pizza Hut parking lot, Georgina’s mother seems excited about the amount of money she is making and says that it will not be long until they find an apartment. Georgina sarcastically implies that she does not believe her. They drive to a Motel 6 and park outside. Spotting one of the missing dog signs, Georgina feels terrible. She has not told Toby about Mookie, but she tells herself that he is probably gone by now and Toby never has to know that he was there.