The Three Basketeers: The Legend Begins

By Anne David

Ollie and Mollie, chubby dachshund siblings, are perfectly happy living a comfortable, routine life until the day a large Siamese cat moves into their house along with his most unusual wicker basket bed. It is not long before Ollie and Mollie soon discover Mandoo is no ordinary cat. He has traveled the world as a magicians assistant, is computer literate, and even knows how to fly.

Ollie and Mollie are used to chasing cats, not living with them. As the three animals attempt to get along, Ollie and Mollie soon make an amazing discovery: they can fly too, thanks to the magic of the wicker bed. With the help of Mandoo who teaches them the ins and outs of how to soar above the earth, they spend carefree days flitting among the trees and enjoying the exhilarating gift of flight. But one day when the three encounter a stray dog down on his luck, they band together to help him. And so begins the legend of The Three Basketeers!

In this lighthearted rollicking tale, three unlikely friends find, through the pleas of a stray animal, that they make a pretty good team of superheroes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jul 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480808331

Anne David

Anne David lives in Pasadena, California with her husband, John. She is an active member in Sisters in Crime Los Angeles, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Pasadena Author's Guild, and The Shakespeare Club of Pasadena. She holds a BA in English Literature, an MA in Reading Instruction, and a PhD in Literacy and Language Arts.

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For My Lovely Grandchildren

Julia, Jack, Hugh, Grace, and Catherine

Copyright © 2014 . Anne David.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-0831-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0833-1 (e)

Archway Publishing rev. date: 07/08/2014

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Contents

1   The Worst Day Ever

2   The Nightmare

3   The New Bed

4   Mandoo

5   A Surprise for Ollie and Mollie

6   Mandoo Amazes Ollie and Mollie

7   Mandoo Explains

8   Mandoo Leaves a Message

9   Flight School

10   The Joy of Flight

11   RED

12   Mollie Has a Plan

13   The Outfit

14   Mr. Grumpus

15   Mandoo Writes a Letter

16   The Three Basketeers Visit Mr. Grumpus

17   Mollie Gets Her Hat

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Ollie’s Word List

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1   The Worst Day Ever

This was turning out to be the worst day of their doggie lives. Ollie and Mollie couldn’t believe it! A cat was moving in! The two dachshunds stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the large Siamese cat that had just been plopped down in the middle of the kitchen floor by their family. The cat took one look at them and split out of the room to the back of the house.

Well, said Mr. Cornhopper to his wife. I hope it wasn’t a mistake to take the cat when we bought the dogs’ bed.

They’ll get used to each other, answered Mrs. Cornhopper, and that basket certainly looks better than that tattered old blanket they were using.

I hope you’re right, said her husband, but he didn’t sound hopeful.

Don’t worry, I’m sure the cat will hide under a bed all day and these two will crawl back into bed for a nap. But they’ll be friends in no time. Mrs. Cornhopper did sound hopeful. We better get going or we’ll be late to work and the children will be late for school. She stooped to give Ollie and Mollie a pat. Now be good, she said and then the family left for the day.

This is a mistake, alright! exclaimed Ollie. We’ve got a cat in the house and we’re supposed to be good?

Now, Ollie, cautioned his sister. It won’t help to get so worked up. Ollie was so excitable. But she could sympathize with him. They had just lived through an awful week and now this! A cat. It was the worst day ever.

2   The Nightmare

This whole mess had started a week ago.

Get up, sleepyheads! said Mrs. Cornhopper. We’ve got a big day ahead of us. She was talking to her two sleeping dachshunds snuggled in their raggedy old blanket under the kitchen table.

Two sleepy heads poked out from under the blanket. This was much earlier than Ollie and Mollie were used to getting up. They crawled slowly out of their warm bed yawning and stretching and then they gave themselves a good shake.

What’s up? Ollie