Emily's Dream (3 page)

“She’s so pretty,” she whispered to Lucy. “But so tiny and thin!”

“Oh, be careful…” Lucy hurried down the passage to her. “Twinkle’s pretty nervous, and she does sometimes snap…” But she stopped as she came up behind Emily, and saw Twinkle tiptoe towards her, and let Emily rub her beautiful satiny ears.

“Her nose tickles.” Emily giggled as Twinkle gently nosed at her hands, and licked her.

“Well…” Lucy said quietly. “Wow. She doesn’t even do that for me. She’s the shyest little thing. We decided someone must have scared her quite badly.”

Emily looked up at Lucy worriedly. “Oh! I hope it was OK to stroke her.” She started to pull her hand back through the wire door of the pen, but Twinkle was still sniffing and licking at her.

“Don’t stop! She really likes you.” Lucy eyed her, frowning. “Look, I’d love for you to come and help out at the weekends, but you do realise we can’t pay you, don’t you? I’d like to be able to, but we’re desperately short of money, and the roof in here’s leaking.” She nodded towards a bucket in the corner.
“It really needs mending before this winter comes. I just couldn’t afford to pay you.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be paid,” Emily said in a surprised voice. Then she laughed. “I’d pay
you
if it meant I got to hang around with the dogs. And I meant to say, I brought a letter from my mum, with her phone number and everything, saying it’s OK for me to help.”

Lucy nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’ll call her, just to say hello. So she knows who I am.” She smiled at Emily, and at Maya who’d come up behind them. “Well, if you’re going to help, you’d better come and meet everybody else.”

“There’s more?” Maya said, surprised.

Lucy laughed. “Oh yes. Another whole big area for cats – that’s the old stables. And we’ve got quite a lot of guinea pigs, a couple of rabbits, and even a pony. Oh, and the chickens.”

“Chickens? At an animal shelter?” Emily stared at her in surprise as they started to cross the yard.

“Mmm-hmm. They’re rescued battery hens.”

“Wow,” Emily muttered. “I thought just dogs and cats. I never knew you had all these other animals.”

Lucy shrugged. “Well, I never meant to have the chickens. Someone just rang up and said could we
take the first lot, and I couldn’t say no… They’re over there, you see?” She pointed across to a path that ran along the side of the farmhouse to a little garden, with a fenced chicken run. The girls could see a few black and red hens strutting about. Then Emily blinked.

“Um… What sort of chicken’s that?”

Lucy glanced round. “I’m not really sure. The battery hens tend to be a mixture.”

“But she’s stripy! I didn’t know hens could look like that.” Emily pointed out the rainbow-striped chicken to Maya, and Lucy suddenly laughed.

“Sorry! I’m so used to seeing them like that I forgot you wouldn’t know. She’s got a jumper on. Battery hens get their feathers pecked out sometimes, or they just lose them from being squashed up in the cages. The jumpers are to keep them warm until their feathers grow again. There’s a lady in the village who knits them for us.”

Emily giggled. “You see, Maya, you should come and volunteer too. You could give the hens fashion advice.”

Maya chuckled, but she was looking thoughtful.

“These are the cat pens.” Lucy held the door open for the girls to look in, and Maya gasped.

“Oh, he looks just like Henry!”

Emily nodded. The large black and white cat in the pen nearest the door could have been Henry’s brother. He was lounging on a shelf attached to the side of the pen, with a fat, rather tatty-looking cushion on it. There were cat toys scattered around the floor, but the Henry lookalike didn’t seem very interested in them. He stared at Emily and Maya, and yawned hugely, showing needle-sharp teeth.

“Definitely like Henry,” Maya giggled.

“Only nine cats at the moment,” Lucy said. “Not too many. Most of them are in this big pen together over here, but Whiskers – the big black and white chap – isn’t the most sociable.” She sighed. “He beats the others up. So he has his own pen.”

“Do they ever get to go out of the pens?” Maya asked. She couldn’t imagine Henry staying shut up in a small pen – he’d hate it.

Lucy nodded. “We have an exercise area that backs on to the pens, with a sort of assault course for them to climb on. But they have to take turns. Someone’s coming to see Whiskers tomorrow though,” she added hopefully. “They saw him on the website. You never know. He’s lovely with people, he’s only a big bully to other cats. Anyway. Come and see the guinea
pigs, they’re just next door.”

The guinea-pig room was one big mass of hay and fur as the guinea pigs skittered about, squeaking and chirruping as they nosed for the bits of carrot that were hidden in their bedding. They made Emily laugh, they were so round and cute, and most of them were very tame. They let Emily and Maya pick them up, and one fluffy ginger one flaked out and went to sleep on Maya’s dad.

Lucy looked at Emily hopefully. “So. You still want to come and help? Would you like to come tomorrow?”

“Yes! Yes, please!” Emily said eagerly. “And I don’t mind what I do. I can clean runs, anything.”

“I’ll probably get you to exercise the dogs,” Lucy said thoughtfully. “We just don’t have enough time to walk them all properly. We’re lucky that we’ve got lots of space – we can take them out for lovely walks without even going off the shelter site, if we can only find the time.”

Emily nodded. “That sounds great. You’re lucky having such a beautiful place for the shelter – the animals are lucky to end up here too.”

Lucy sighed. “I know. It’s a great place. I’ve worked here for about five years, and I love it. I used to work
with Steve, he started the shelter and turned it into a charity. That was almost exactly ten years ago now. This was the farm his family had run for years and years, you see. And when he died he left the house and all the buildings to the charity in his will, with a little bit of money to pay the manager – that’s me. The problem is that the buildings are pretty old, and shabby, and we’ve not got a lot of spare money for fixing them up. I don’t know how we’re going to get that roof mended, but we really need to.” She shook her head anxiously. “Sometimes I worry that we’ll have to close.”

“But you couldn’t!” Emily gasped. “There isn’t anywhere else for all the animals to go!”

“I know. We always keep going somehow.” Lucy smiled at her. “Something always turns up.”

THREE

“Would you mind if I came too?” Maya asked Emily, as they walked back to her house.

Emily had been wandering along in a dream, smiling to herself, and thinking about the animals at the shelter. The spaniel puppies had been particularly gorgeous. They were still really tiny, so they were living with their mum in the farmhouse kitchen, where Lucy could make sure they stayed warm. They were white, with brown patches, and pink, squashed noses, and although they could walk, they weren’t very good at it. They kept blundering around and falling over each other.

“Mmmm?” Emily said vaguely. “Oh! That would be great! It would be really nice if we both did it.”

“You don’t want it to be just your thing?” Maya suggested, a little anxiously.

But Emily laughed. “I think Lucy needs all the
help she can get.”

“Would it be OK with you, Dad?” Maya asked hopefully, as they got home and he started to open the front door.

Her dad nodded. “Sounds great. It could be a lot of hard work though, girls.”

“We’d only be doing it on a Saturday morning,” Emily reminded him. “It’s not like being there all week.”

“True. You two have got about an hour before I said I’d take Emily back, by the way. I’ll ask Anna to get your tea on.”

The girls headed upstairs, and curled up on the little sofa in Maya’s room.

“I can’t wait to go back to the shelter tomorrow,” Emily said.

“I know!” But Maya was frowning. “But it’s a bit scary what Lucy was saying about the roof, and not having enough money to keep the shelter going, isn’t it? I hope something does come along like she said it would. Or all those poor dogs and cats might end up homeless.”

“And the chickens.” Emily shook her head. “I still can’t get over that chicken in a jumper. But if it closes down, who’s going to give a home to a bald
chicken?” She sank her chin in her hands. “Do you think there’s a way we could help raise money for the shelter? Like the fashion show we did to raise money for the Fairtrade clothes people?”

Maya nodded. “I was thinking that. Not a fashion show, of course. Although…” She rummaged in the pile of magazines balanced precariously on the arm of the sofa. “Look! I knew I remembered seeing this! I stuck a pencil in the page because it was so cute – but sort of scary at the same time.”

Emily looked at the photo and made a face – it was a dog, probably a Border terrier, she guessed. And it was wearing a coat. She’d seen lots of dogs in coats out walking in the winter – usually sensible navy or black ones, but every so often she spotted a dog in a loud red tartan, or even a flowery print coat. But nothing like this. This dog coat was pink, with a fluffy feather trim all round the edge, and the dog’s name (Lulu) spelled out in diamanté sparkles. There was a matching feathery headband as well. The dog did not look happy.

“I bet it isn’t really called Lulu,” Maya said.

Emily giggled. “In fact, it’s probably a boy.”

“Anyway. We couldn’t do a fashion show again, but there must be something special we could organise.
Something that would raise loads of money…” Maya wrinkled her nose. “But I can’t think of it.”

“Mmmm…” Emily frowned, and flicked through the magazine. But it was full of photos of people at smart parties, and film premieres, and no use for thinking about an animal shelter. “Could we get sponsored to do something?” she asked vaguely.

Maya nodded thoughtfully. “Walking the dogs, maybe? Fifty pence a mile? But I’m not sure that would raise very much money, if it was just the two of us. Roofs are expensive to mend.”

“I know. It has to be something big,” Emily sighed. “And really fun. I know!” She sat up suddenly, dislodging Henry, who’d been sitting on the arm of the sofa looking grand. He hit the floor with a thump of paws, and shook himself furiously before he stalked out of the room.

“Sorry, Henry!” Emily called after him, and then she turned back to Maya. “What about a party? A birthday party for the shelter? Lucy said it was set up almost exactly ten years ago.”

“But how does a party raise money?” Maya asked. “They cost loads! Mum always starts complaining if she has a party. She says they’re astronomical.”

Emily sniffed. “That’s because your mum’s parties
mean huge guys in black suits doing security, and hiring a field from the farmer next door so people can land their helicopters. Most of us just buy a few crisps, Maya. Anyway, I meant the kind of party that you sell tickets for. And then you have competitions, games, that sort of thing. Sort of a cross between a party and a school fair.”

Maya was nodding excitedly. “Yes! And we could say it was a completely animal-friendly party! Use free-range eggs in the cake, and that sort of thing!”

“Does that mean all vegetarian? No ham sandwiches?” Emily asked suspiciously. She understood why Maya wanted to be a vegetarian, but she was sure she couldn’t be one herself. It would be way too hard.

“Only ham sandwiches made out of happy pigs,” Maya said firmly. “Ones with nice outdoor sheds, and lots of mud to roll around in.”

“Is there really such a thing as happy pigs?” Emily said in a disbelieving voice. “It sounds like you made that up.”

“I did not! There’s a farm not that far from here that’s actually famous for its happy pigs. So we can have happy ham sandwiches.”

“OK…” Emily agreed. “So now we just have to
tell Lucy tomorrow that we’re organising a party for her.”

“Mmmm, I know. And we haven’t even started helping out yet. Maybe we ought to wait till we’ve actually been there for the whole morning, or she’s going to think we’re really bossy…”

“Did you have a good time? Was Twinkle OK?” Lucy asked the girls anxiously, as they came back into the main yard.

“She was fine,” Emily told her. “She did stop and sniff absolutely everything, though. I don’t think we actually walked all that far.”

“And I’m not sure Barney really likes walking,” Maya said. “He walks for about three steps, and then he sits down.”

“But luckily that’s usually when Twinkle starts to sniff something, so they’re pretty good to walk together.” Emily crouched down to rub Twinkle’s ears. “Did you have a nice time, mmm? Did you smell lots of good smells?”

“Well done.” Lucy looked quite relieved. “Do you want to put them back in their pens, and then it’s almost time for you to go home.”

Emily stared at her disbelievingly. “It can’t be!
We’ve hardly done anything!”

Lucy laughed. “It’s nearly twelve, honestly, and you’ve been here since eight.”

Emily and Maya had helped Lucy to feed everyone when they first arrived, and then they’d hosed down a couple of the dogs’ pens before they set off to walk Twinkle and Barney. The morning had just disappeared. Walking the dogs had definitely been the best bit, Emily thought. They’d stomped across a very muddy field (her wellies might never be the same again) to the little wood. She and Maya had chatted a bit, but not all the time, and it had been wonderful watching Twinkle skittering about. She was more like a butterfly than a dog, Emily reckoned. She definitely fluttered everywhere. And Barney plodded, but he was still a darling. She’d loved being with the dogs just as much as she’d hoped she would. She couldn’t wait for next week.

“Have you got a minute, before we have to go?” Emily asked, glancing at Maya.

Lucy looked worried. “Of course. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing! Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted me to come tomorrow as well,” Emily added hopefully. “But that wasn’t the main thing.
We had an idea…”

Maya nodded. “For fundraising, for mending the roof.”

“We were thinking maybe the shelter could have a birthday party,” Emily suggested shyly. “A tenth birthday
is
quite special. We could make it a big thing, and sell tickets.”

Lucy looked at them doubtfully. “I don’t know. It is a lovely idea, but I just don’t have time to organise that sort of thing. It would take a lot of work.”

“We know!” Emily nodded. “We meant we’d do it. Honestly, we could. We organised a fashion show before.”

“And we got people to clean up part of the canal in Millford. We’re very good at running things,” Maya said, trying to sound confident. “We were thinking an animal-friendly party. So all the food would be from cruelty-free farms. And we’d use Fairtrade stuff too.”

Lucy nodded. “I like the idea a lot, if you can actually get people to buy the tickets… And we’d have to hire a hall, I suppose? Maybe you could make the food local, as well – you know, saving on food miles.”

“Oh yes! Mr Finlay talked about that at school,” Emily agreed. “Not buying potatoes flown in from
South America when there’s a farm down the road that sells them. Good idea.” She beamed at Lucy. “So you think yes then? We can start planning the party? Maybe we could have it in the summer half-term, that’s about six weeks away.”

Lucy looked faintly worried, but she nodded. “Yes. I suppose that’s OK. If you’re really sure you can organise all this.”

Emily crossed her fingers behind her back. “Oh, we can…”

“You know, I’m sure we
can
sort out everything for a big party, it’s getting the people to buy tickets for it that’s going to be the problem,” Emily said thoughtfully to Maya, as they sat in the school bus on Monday morning.

Emily had gone to the shelter again on Sunday, but Maya’s dad had planned a trip to London to cheer her up while her mum was away, so they hadn’t had a chance to do any more party planning.

“Mmmm.” Maya stared out of the window. “People need to know that it’s happening. We need posters. Something really cute, with all the animals on…”

“We need Poppy,” Emily agreed. “She’d be able to
draw something brilliant. We could take photos of the real animals at the shelter for her to work from.”

“Awww, she could draw the chickens with the jumpers on!” Maya laughed. “Or maybe Honey and her gorgeous puppies. Poppy would help out, wouldn’t she? We’d only have to tell her about all those homeless dogs.”

“Perhaps we shouldn’t – she’d try and persuade the rest of her family to adopt them all,” Emily pointed out. “Her mum might never speak to us again. Maya, do you think Izzy might like to help as well? I know she’s not as much of an animal person, but she’s so brilliant at organising things and doing lists. She’d be fantastic for a party planner.”

Maya nodded. “Definitely. You know, I think if me and Izzy went into partnership, we could be the best party planners ever. She could do all the actual organisey planning bits, and I could have the mad ideas.”

“What about me?” Emily asked indignantly.

Maya elbowed her. “You could shout at the clients when they change their minds and say they’ve decided on a Venetian banquet theme instead of the cool New York look they wanted yesterday.”

Emily sighed. “I can’t help it. I get a lot of practice
shouting at Toby and James. I haven’t had a go at any of you for ages.”

“Actually, you’re right, you haven’t. I should think helping out at the shelter will make you feel less like arguing with people anyway,” Maya suggested. “Dogs are very … therapeutic. Which means they make you feel better. Like those dogs that go to hospitals just so people can stroke them.”