How to Steal a Dog

Prior to visiting Willie, Georgina warns Toby about Mookie. Toby is fairly nonchalant about Mookie to his face, especially when he sees that Mookie has been feeding and attending to Willy. Afterwards, Toby asks whether Mookie is homeless, adding that he does not like the way he smells. Georgina retorts that Toby smells too.

The next day, their mother forces Toby to do his homework in the café. Meanwhile, Georgina visits Carmella. Although she wishes she could travel back in time to before she stole the dog, Georgina ultimately feels compelled to follow through with her plan. Gertie continues to withhold the $500 reward, and a miserable Carmella wonders aloud whether “maybe whoever finds Willy won’t care about money” (127). Then, Carmella asks Georgina and Toby to look for Willy over by the woods, where she could have sworn that she heard him barking.

Georgina lets slip that if they do find Willy, there is the chance that “Gertie’ll change her mind and give us five hundred dollars” (128). Carmella is taken aback by this statement, expressing her disappointment that Georgina and Toby are not helping her out of the goodness of their hearts. She then vaguely suggests that she will try to find some sort of pecuniary reward for them if they find Willy.