"Well, she's the biggest pet that'll be in the show," said David Michael. (Shannon is pretty big - she's a Bernese mountain dog, and she'll be the size of a Saint Bernard when she's fully grown.) "And she's got the best personality, right?" Kristy had to admit that Shannon was pretty sweet - not to mention clever and loyal.

    "And she's the best-looking!" finished David Michael triumphantly. "Mega-Dog!" Kristy raised her eyebrows. "Well, we'll see," she said vaguely. She was thinking that it might not look too good if a dog from her own family won first prize in a pet show that had been her idea to begin with.

    "I don't think Shannon's so great," Andrew said. He'd gotten bored with the ant and had started to listen to David Michael's boasting. "Midgie's cuter and smarter than her any day. Midgie's gonna win. I just know it." Midgie is this little mutt (he is cute and smart, but he is definitely a mutt) that belongs to Andrew's stepfather, ,Seth.

    "Did Seth say you could enter Midgie?" asked Kristy.

    "Yup!" said Andrew proudly. "And I'm gonna give him a bath, and put ribbons in his hair. He's gonna look great!" "If you put ribbons in his hair, he's going to look like even more of a wimp than he already is!" said Karen.

    "Wimp?" asked Andrew.

    "Yeah," said Karen. "Midgie's a wimp. He's afraid of his own shadow. He'll never win a prize - not unless you train him to do some tricks or something. And you don't have time for that." Andrew looked downcast, but Kristy put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. "Don't worry, Andrew," she said. "Midgie's a fun little dog, and you'll have a good time entering him in the pet show. And that's all that matters, right? Having a good time?" (Does that sound familiar? Kristy and I had come up with the same reasonable, grown-up-sounding line. I only wished that some of the kids would start to agree with it.) "Well, I'm going to have a good time," said Karen.