Chapter 12 Summary

Opal and Winn-Dixie show up for their first day of work at Gertrude's Pets. She and Winn-Dixie walk in and see all the animals out of their cages and in the middle of the room. Otis plays the most beautiful guitar music she's ever heard. Even Winn-Dixie becomes dreamy, uttering a big sigh and lying down on the floor with the other animals.

Otis looks up, sees Opal and Winn-Dixie and stops playing his guitar. When this happens, all the animals awaken from their dream state and start running around the store. When they have trouble getting the animals back into their cages, Opal suggests that Otis start playing his guitar again. This calms the animals and allows Opal to return them to their rightful cages.

Otis tells Opal his secret: he feels sorry for the animals being locked into cages because he...