The Rescued Puppy (2 page)

Chapter Two

They only made it just inside the park gates on that first walk, before Lucky started to drag on his lead and look up hopefully for a lift. Georgia and Adam took it in turns to carry the weary puppy home.

But over the next few weeks, a short walk every day soon stretched to two short walks, and then a quick run round
the houses before breakfast and a proper walk after school, in the park or the woods. By the time Georgia and Adam broke up for the summer holidays, walks were his absolute favourite thing.

They celebrated the beginning of the holidays by taking a picnic tea with them to the woods. It was a gorgeous hot day, perfect for a long expedition. Mum took a folding chair, so she could sit down with a book while Georgia, Adam and Lucky raced around the woods, shouting and calling and playing hide and seek among the tree roots.

Lucky adored the woods. They were full of amazing smells, good places to dig, and sticks that Georgia and Adam could throw for him to chase. He had an extending lead now, as no one was
sure about letting him run free just yet. But the absolute best thing about the woods was that they were full of squirrels. Lucky adored squirrels. They were fast, and they smelled interesting, and they bounced up and down when they scampered along. He was desperate to catch one. He’d never got anywhere near, but he wasn’t giving up hope. And there was a squirrel now…

Adam raced behind Lucky, laughing as the puppy pulled the lead out to its full length and galloped down the path, ears flapping as if he was about to take off. The squirrel was a plump,
bushy-tailed
one, and it wasn’t scared. It seemed to keep looking back to see how close the puppy was getting.

“Adam!” Georgia yelled worriedly.
“Don’t let him catch it! He’ll hurt it! Or it might scratch him!”

But Adam was too far away to hear – or he just wasn’t listening, Georgia thought crossly as she dashed after them. She really didn’t want Lucky to hurt the squirrel.

But when she caught up with Adam and Lucky, she saw she needn’t have worried. Adam was leaning against a tree, panting, and Lucky was jumping up and down and scrabbling at the trunk, whimpering.

The squirrel was sitting on a branch halfway up, squeaking and chittering as though it was telling Lucky off.

“Didn’t you hear me yelling?” Georgia demanded. “What do you think he’d do if he caught it?”

Adam shook his head and shrugged. “No idea! I don’t think he knows either. Calm down, Georgie! He’s never going to get one.”

Lucky ignored them, staring hopefully up at the squirrel, as it danced up and down on its branch. Unfortunately, it didn’t look as though it was going to fall off.

By the time they trailed back to the clearing where Mum was sitting, they were all really hungry. They had brought Lucky’s dog biscuits with them, and a bottle of water and his bowl, so he could have a picnic too. He wolfed down the biscuits in about two seconds, and then stood staring at Adam’s tuna sandwiches as if he were starved.

Georgia giggled. “You should learn to like Marmite, Adam. He never wants
my
sandwiches.”

Adam shuddered. “Yuck.”

Mum slipped her cardigan off her shoulders, enjoying the sun. “Just think, this time next week we’ll be on holiday in Suffolk!”

Georgia opened her crisps and sneakily fed a very small one to Lucky. He wasn’t really supposed to have them, but she couldn’t resist those big, hopeful dark eyes.

“We’ve never been on holiday with a dog before,” Adam said happily, stretching himself out on the rug.

“It is right by the sea, isn’t it?” Georgia asked again. She already knew it was – she’d seen the photos in the
holiday cottage brochure – but she liked to hear her mum say it.

Mum smiled over at her. “Absolutely next to it, Georgie. A little cottage just at the top of a cliff.”

“And we’ll be allowed to take Lucky for walks, all by ourselves?” Adam pushed himself up on his elbows.

“As long as you’re very, very careful and sensible.” Mum and Dad had discussed this with them when they’d first booked the cottage. It was in a conservation area, where there were no roads – just a little track that led up to the cottage.

Adam and Georgia nodded. They would be super-careful. They lived in a busy town, close to a main road that they had to cross in order to get
anywhere, so Mum and Dad weren’t happy about letting them take Lucky out on their own at home. That was why they had looked for a holiday home situated in a quiet place. Cliff Cottage wasn’t far from a pretty seaside town called Woolbridge, but it was all on its own on a cliff, surrounded by footpaths. It was going to be brilliant.

“I’m going to start packing when we get home,” Georgia said dreamily. “We’ll have to remember to pack all of Lucky’s things, too. I wonder if there’s a pet shop in Woolbridge.”

Adam smirked. “So you can buy him another fancy collar?” Then he rolled out of the way as Georgia aimed a smack at him.

Lucky gave a little warning bark. He didn’t like it when they squabbled. He didn’t understand that they were just messing about, even though Georgia had tried telling him it was just what twins did. It seemed to him that they were really cross with each other. He looked from Georgia to Adam and back again, his eyes worried, and whined sadly.

“Sorry, Lucky.” Georgia wriggled over to him, and rubbed his ears and scratched his silky domed spaniel forehead. “It’s OK. We didn’t mean it.”

Lucky flopped down, head on paws, with a small sigh of relief. His eyes were closing, and within seconds he was asleep in the sun.

Chapter Three

“I wish Lucky could come on the back seat with us,” said Georgia, as she gently placed the puppy in his travel crate in the boot. She caught Dad’s eye and sighed. “Oh, it’s all right, Dad. I know he can’t. But it’s just such a long journey! He’s going to be miserable stuck in that crate. And it would be so nice to have him to cuddle on the way.”

Dad shook his head. “Until he starts jumping around and being silly, and distracting me and Mum when we’re driving. Don’t worry. We’ll have a loo stop at the services, halfway there, and we’ll get Lucky out and you can take him to stretch his legs. He’ll probably go to sleep, now we’ve put his favourite blanket in the crate for him.”

“I hope so,” Georgia said, patting Lucky gently and rubbing his ears, before she closed the door of the crate. “See you soon, sweetheart.”

“You get in, Georgia. I’ll go and see what’s keeping your mum and Adam.”

But Adam was already stomping down the path, lugging his rucksack and looking grumpy. Mum followed along behind, shaking her head.
“He’d repacked everything!” she told Dad. “And taken out half the clothes! It’s a good thing I checked. He had a skateboard in there instead!”

Dad blinked. “But I’ve got his skateboard packed – down the side of Lucky’s travel crate, I’m sure I have.”

Mum rolled her eyes. “Apparently he needs two.”

“Wow. Oh, wow…” Georgia breathed. She was standing in front of the cottage, with Lucky in her arms, staring out at the sea. He hadn’t minded the car journey that much – he’d slept most of the time, like she had hoped. But he was definitely glad to be free of his crate.

They’d only just arrived, and Georgia and Adam had piled out of the car with Lucky to go and look around.

“It’s beautiful,” Georgia murmured.

The sun was shining, and it had turned the water to silver, as though a sparkling pathway was stretched across the sea, calling them down to the beach.

“It really is right next to the sea,” Adam said, grinning. He turned round to look at the cottage behind them, a small, white building, very low to the ground, as if it was trying to hide from the winds that swept across the clifftop. “And there’s the path down to the beach, look!” He pointed to a little path, half natural, but with steps carved into it here and there to make the steep climb to the sand easier.

“Can we go down…?” Georgia started to say, but Mum was waving to them.

“Come and help unpack. It won’t take long, and then we can all head to the beach.”

Georgia sighed and headed back to the car to get her rucksack. Lucky made a little whining noise, twisting in her arms to look at the glittering water. He wanted to go closer. He’d never seen anything like it before. Georgia hugged him tight. “I know, Lucky. I want to go and play down there too. Soon, I promise.”

She dashed inside, chasing after Adam, who was already stomping up the stairs. He flung open the bedroom door that Mum had pointed out, and yelled, “I’m having the top bunk!”

“Hey, not fair!” Georgia moaned from the doorway. Lucky wriggled out of her arms and went to explore. “Why do you get the top one? Can’t we swap halfway through the holiday?”

Adam climbed up the ladder to throw his bag on the bed and stared down at her smugly. “Nope. I bagged it. Get used to it, Georgie.”

Georgia stamped her foot crossly, and Lucky, who was sniffing around under the bunk bed, backed further underneath it, tucking his tail between his legs. They were fighting again. He hated it when they did that. Quietly, he sneaked along under the bed, making for the bedroom door. Then he bolted out as Georgia snapped at Adam, and stood shivering on the landing. He wanted to get away from the loud, scary voices.

Georgia and Adam’s mum had been looking around, checking out the different rooms and starting to put things away. She’d opened the door of the large airing cupboard at the top of the stairs, thinking to herself how useful it would be for drying off
swimming towels. Then she’d closed it again, but she didn’t see that it had swung open a little as she walked away, and now Lucky nosed his way inside. It was warm and dark and safe next to the hot water tank, and no one was shouting in here. He curled up on an old towel that the last family must have left behind, and waited for his heart to stop thumping anxiously.

Back in the bedroom, Georgia suddenly stopped arguing, and smiled as a thought occurred to her. “All right. You can have the top bunk. I don’t mind.”

“What?” Adam glared at her suspiciously. “For the whole holiday?”

Georgia smiled even wider. “Yes. The whole holiday.”

Adam nodded slowly. “OK.”

Georgia sat down on the bottom bunk and patted it happily. “Lucky won’t be able to get up the ladder, you know. So I get him on my bed for the whole time.”

At home Lucky slept on either Georgia’s bed or Adam’s depending on how he felt. Sometimes he changed over in the middle of the night, but he was usually curled up on Georgia’s toes when she woke up in the morning.

Adam scowled. “Hey, that’s not fair…”

“You wanted the top bunk,” Georgia sang triumphantly. “Now you’ve got it!”

Adam slumped down next to her. “Huh. Cheat.”

“Nope, just cleverer than you. Hey, where
is
Lucky?” Georgia sat up,
looking around worriedly. “He was exploring a minute ago. Oh no – he hates us fighting.”

Adam jumped up off the bed. “What if he ran outside? He hasn’t a clue where he’s going round here.”

They raced out of the bedroom, calling worriedly. “Lucky! Here, Lucky! Where are you, boy?”

“Have you lost him?” Mum popped her head out of her bedroom, looking anxious. “Oh, you two! I heard you fighting, did you upset him?”

Dad came up the stairs. “I’ve been unloading the car and I haven’t seen him come out of the door. He must be in the cottage somewhere. You really need to behave better around him, both of you. It’s part of being proper dog
owners – you have to be careful not to frighten your puppy.”

“Sorry, Dad,” Adam and Georgia murmured, both looking guilty.

“He can’t have gone far,” said Dad. “Come on. I’ll check downstairs and you two have another look up here.”

“Maybe he’s under the bed!” Adam dashed back in to their room.

Georgia looked along the landing, wondering where she would hide if she were a frightened little puppy. Somewhere dark and cosy, probably. Under the bed was a good idea of Adam’s… Then she spotted the airing cupboard door, still slightly open, and padded quietly over to it. She swung the door open gently and crouched down to peer inside.

Lucky stared back at Georgia, his eyes round and watchful, and thumped his tail slowly on the towel.

“Hey, Lucky…” Georgia whispered sadly, looking at his worried little face. “We scared you, didn’t we? Come on out, sweetie, we won’t fight any more.”

Adam appeared behind her, and Georgia glanced up warningly, her finger to her lips. Adam nodded. “It’s OK, Lucky,” he whispered. “We’ll be nice.”

Lucky stood up and nosed at Georgia’s hands lovingly. She picked him up, and Adam stroked his ears gently.

“I’m really sorry, Lucky. Adam, we can’t fight while we’re here, OK?” Georgia looked at him seriously. “Or we have to try not to, anyway. We can’t risk upsetting Lucky and having him run off in a strange place.”

Adam nodded. “Holiday truce.” He grinned. “Mum and Dad will be pleased. Their quietest holiday ever!”

After the world’s speediest lunch – Adam and Georgia both claimed they weren’t hungry, but Mum refused to believe them – they finally got to go down to the beach for a first explore with Lucky. It was amazing. Because the beach wasn’t really close to the town,
there was hardly anybody there – just one family building a sandcastle, and a group of older boys swimming up at one end.

“There’s a bigger beach just a little further along the coast down at Woolbridge, with ice creams and a pier,” Mum explained. “But you aren’t allowed to take dogs on to Woolbridge Beach in the summer.”

“I don’t mind.” Georgia gazed at the brown sand, which was striped with pebbles and framed by the tall,
reddish-brown
cliffs. “It’s lovely here. Just us and the sea. Do you think we could let Lucky off the lead? He’d have to go all the way back up the path to get lost.”

Dad nodded. “As long as we keep an eye on him.”

Lucky barked excitedly as Georgia unclipped his lead. He wasn’t used to being allowed to run off wherever he liked, and at first he simply raced up and down the sand, barking and jumping and chasing his tail.