by Holly Webb
“Beagles are really good at escaping.” Sam nodded, and Lauren looked at him in surprise. “I really like dogs,” he explained. “We can’t have one, because Dad’s allergic, but I’ve got loads of dog books. And I once saw a video on a website of a beagle climbing out of a massive pen.”
“Oh.” Lauren suddenly felt really ashamed. She’d been going to school with Sam every day, and she hadn’t asked him anything about himself, or said a single friendly thing. “It’s brilliant that you found her. What if she’d gone on to the road?”
Sam nodded. “I can’t imagine losing a dog like that,” he agreed. “It would be awful.”
Lauren’s eyes suddenly welled up.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Sam said, looking horrified.
“It’s OK,” Lauren gulped. “It’s just – you don’t understand…” She wiped her hand across her eyes, while Lucy licked at her cheek anxiously.
“Lucy isn’t mine. Not for ever. She’s going to have a new home, just like the other puppies. And I can’t bear the thought of not having her any more.”
“Oh wow,” Sam muttered. “I thought you were keeping her, when she stayed and all the others went. And she’s with you all the time.”
“I’ve always known she’d have to go, like her brothers and sisters,” Lauren whispered. “I still have Bella, and of course I love her, but I’ve spent so much time with Lucy, because we hand-reared her. It’s going to be awful when she leaves. It was bad enough when people came for the others, but Lucy’s special.” She opened the orchard gate, and gently shooed Lucy in. “Want to come and play with her?” she said.
Sam nodded and followed her. “Has anyone come to see Lucy?” he asked.
Lauren shook her head. “Someone rang earlier, and I sort of mentioned how Lucy was the runt of the litter and made this lady think she wasn’t very well…”
She glanced at Sam, not sure what he’d think, but Sam looked impressed.
“I felt really guilty afterwards,” Lauren admitted. “And I can’t keep putting people off.”
Sam looked thoughtful. “There must be something you can do. I’ll help you.” He looked at Lucy, who was destroying a windfall apple. “You can’t lose her,” he said firmly.
Lauren smiled. He sounded so certain it made her feel a little bit better.
The next morning, Sam knocked at the kitchen door while Lauren was finishing her breakfast, and slipping cornflakes to Bella and Lucy, who were sitting on either side of her chair.
“Morning, Mrs Woods,” he said politely to Lauren’s mum. “Um, I was just wondering if Lauren wanted to come out and play.”
“I’m sure she does!” Lauren’s mum said, looking delighted, and Lauren rolled her eyes at Sam, who tried not to laugh.
“I’m popular then,” he said quietly, as they went across the yard with Lucy and Bella on their leads.
“Mum thinks it’s really nice for me to have a friend living close by.” Lauren swallowed nervously. “Sorry I haven’t been very friendly. I was a bit cross when Mum arranged the lifts and everything – like I didn’t have a choice.”
“Me too!” Sam agreed. “My mum kept going on about how lucky I was, and I was like, she’s a girl and I’ve never even met her! Sorry,” he added. “Anyway, I’ve got a plan!”
“You have?” Lauren asked eagerly. “Tell me.”
Sam sat down on the rusty old tractor that had been abandoned on the edge of the field and beamed. “I think we should buy Lucy ourselves! I’ve got thirty pounds of birthday money left. I’d give you that, no problem, if I could sort of share Lucy. Take her for walks sometimes and stuff. It’s the closest I’ll get to having a dog, after all.”
Lauren nodded slowly. “I’ve got the money my gran gave me at the beginning of the holidays, but I’ve been so busy with the puppies I never got round to spending it. That’s fifty pounds so far. Puppies can’t cost more than a hundred pounds, can they? But how are we going to find the rest of the money?”
Sam grinned. “I thought we could pick the apples from the orchard, and sell them. We could set up a stall on that big patch of grass where the lane down to the farm ends. It’s close enough to the road for people to see us and stop.”
Lauren jumped off the tractor wheel. “That’s a brilliant idea! Mum and Dad never have time to pick them, they won’t mind. I’ll go and get some buckets.”
It took a while to pick the apples, as a lot of them had wasps in, and had to be thrown on the compost heap, but eventually they had three buckets of really nice-looking ones. Lauren grabbed a handful of freezer bags from the kitchen, when they went back home for lunch, and Sam found an old folding table in the big shed at the back of the cottage, and he borrowed one of the boxes from the move to make into cardboard signs.
Then Lauren had another brainwave. “You start selling the apples. I’ve just remembered, Mum’s always saying I ought to clear out my old soft toys. We can sell those, too. Here, you take Lucy, I’m going to sneak back home and get them.”
By the time she struggled down the lane with a bin bag full of bears and dogs, Sam was looking very pleased with himself. “I’ve sold three bags! That’s one pound fifty!” He’d made the signs as well, and tied a couple on to the hedges on both sides of the road.
“Brilliant! Help me put out the toys on the grass at the front of the table. They’re bound to make people look.”
“Lucy and Bella have been making people stop too, they’ve had loads of petting.”
It turned out the toys were almost more popular than the apples. Lauren even had to go back and find some more soft toys that she hadn’t been planning to get rid of, but she didn’t mind giving up her Beanie toy dogs if it meant she could keep her real one.
“How much have we made?” Sam asked, as they packed up at teatime.
“Twenty pounds!” Lauren beamed. “So that’s seventy altogether. And there’s loads more apples we can pick. But I don’t think I’ve got any more old toys.”
Lauren’s mum and dad were so pleased she was getting on with Sam that they didn’t ask what they’d been doing all afternoon. And they didn’t mind at all when she and Sam and the dogs disappeared off again the next morning.
It was the middle of the morning, and they were doing quite well, when a car pulled up by the stall.
“Would you like some apples?” Sam asked, sounding very professional, and the man smiled and dug around in his pockets for some change.
“Actually, I’m looking for Redhills Farm,” he explained, as Lauren handed the apples through the car window.
“It’s down there.” Lauren pointed down the lane.
“Thanks. I’ve come to look at a beagle puppy – is that the mum? She’s beautiful.” He nodded at Bella, who was sitting by Lauren’s side. He couldn’t see Lucy, as she was curled up asleep, half inside Sam’s hoodie top.
“Y-yes…” Lauren stammered, and the man waved and drove away.
Sam and Lauren stared at each other in horror. The man had come about Lucy! They were too late!
Chapter Eight
“What are we going to do?” Lauren whispered. “We can’t let him have her, we can’t! Mum didn’t say anyone was coming, he must have just turned up.”
Sam nodded. “We’ve nearly got enough money, as well. It’s just not fair.”
Lauren looked at him, frowning. “If Lucy’s not there, he can’t see if he likes her…” she suggested slowly.
“You mean we should just stay here?” Sam asked.
Lauren shook her head. “No. Because he’s seen us, and Mum knows we’ve got Lucy. We have to hide. Come on!”
“Where are we going?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know yet. Let’s just get away from here.”
“OK.” Sam zipped up his hoodie, and used it like a bag to carry Lucy, while Lauren grabbed Bella’s lead.
Lucy woke up as they ran back down the lane, as Sam was jiggling her around inside his top. She gave an indignant squeak, and tried to wriggle
out.
Lauren turned back. “I’ll take her, she’ll be quieter with me. Shhh, Lucy!” Lucy snuggled gratefully into Lauren’s arms, as Sam handed her over.
As they peered round the corner of the barn, they saw the man’s car parked in the yard. The top half of the back door was open and they could see him talking to Lauren’s mum in the kitchen.
“Let’s hide in the barn,” Lauren said quickly. “If we go behind the bales of straw, we’ll still be able to see if they come out.”
They sneaked through the open doors, and settled themselves at the back of the barn.
“Shhh! I can hear my mum,” Lauren whispered.
“Lauren! Lauren!” They could just see Lauren’s mum, looking a bit embarrassed. “She’s probably in the orchard, playing with Lucy,” she said.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve called first,” the man said. “I saw the ad and thought I’d just drop in, as I was coming this way. There were two children up at the top of the lane with a beagle.”
“Oh! Well, that would be Lauren and Sam. I hope they haven’t gone along the road, Lauren knows not to. I’d better go up there and find them. You stay here and drink your tea.”
Lauren sank back behind the straw bales. “She’s going to be upset when she finds we aren’t there,” she said slowly.
“Do you want to let your mum know where we are?” Sam asked.
Lauren chewed her lip uncertainly, but then Lucy woke up again inside Sam’s hoodie and wriggled out. She gave a little yap, and looked up at Lauren with her big brown eyes. She looked so gorgeous that Lauren knew she couldn’t bear to let her go. “No,” she said firmly. “He’ll give up waiting soon, hopefully.”
Lucy climbed off Lauren’s lap and went sniffing round the floor, and nudging up against Bella, who was sensibly curled up on a pile of straw. Bella yawned and licked Lucy half-heartedly. It looked like she just wanted to sleep.
Lucy could smell delicious smells all round the barn. She pattered off round the edge of the bale to investigate, and Lauren and Sam both dived to grab her, which made Bella bark.
“Ssshhh!” Lauren hissed, putting her finger to her lips, and Bella gave her a confused look. “Sorry, Bella, sweetie. But we have to be quiet, OK?”
Sam put Lucy in his lap, and started to wave a piece of straw for her to chase. “I don’t think we can keep this little one quiet, though,” he said, as Lucy squeaked delightedly and growled at the straw.
“They might not hear from out there. Oh, there’s Mum. She looks a bit worried,” Lauren said guiltily.
Lauren’s mum went into the house, and obviously told the man she couldn’t find Lauren and Lucy, because he came out and got into his car.
“I’m so sorry,” Lauren’s mum said.
Lauren thought the man looked disappointed, but she was more worried about the anxious look on her mum’s face.
The man handed Lauren’s mum a bit of paper. “Here’s my phone number, anyway. If you could give me a ring.” Then he drove off down the lane.
Lucy growled at the straw again. Sam had stopped waving it about, and she was getting bored. She whined loudly, and tugged the hem of Lauren’s jeans with her teeth. She wanted them to play properly.
“Should we come out, now he’s gone?” Sam asked.
Lauren wanted to, especially as she could hear her mum calling for her dad, who was working in the office at the back of the house. Now they’d both be searching for her. But she shook her head. “What if they just call the man to come back?” She nibbled her nails. “I think we have to give it a bit longer.”
They could hear Lauren’s mum and dad going round the house shouting her name. Finally, Bella started whining. “I know, Bella,” Lauren whispered. “I’m hungry too.”
“I’m starving,” Sam muttered, and then he gasped as he heard a different voice. “That’s my mum!”
Sam’s mum came running into the yard carrying Molly. Molly was crying and calling, “Sam?”
Sam and Lauren exchanged a guilty glance.
“I’m sorry, I’ll have to go out. Molly looks really upset…” Sam was getting to his feet. “You stay, I’ll say I wasn’t with you.”
“It’s OK, I’m coming too,” Lauren told him. “And I promise you won’t get into trouble. I’ll say it was all my idea.” They crept over to the barn door, and peered out anxiously. Bella looked round their legs, unsure what was going on. Only Lucy was happy, and squeaked excitedly to see everyone.
“Sam!”
“Lauren!”
“Didn’t you hear us calling you? We’ve been shouting for ages!” Lauren’s mum hugged her. “We had no idea where you were!”
Molly struggled down from her mum’s arms and ran to hug Sam.
“Were you in the barn the whole time?” Dad asked, looking from Lauren to Sam and back again.
“Um, yes…” Lauren admitted.
“So you were hiding on purpose,” Dad said.
Lauren glanced worriedly at Sam, and then said, very fast, “That man had come to buy Lucy, and I didn’t want him to.”
Mum blinked. “He was very nice. He already has one beagle, and wanted another. He was really disappointed when we couldn’t find you.”
“Sam, I can’t believe you frightened us all like that,” his mum said crossly.
“I think we’d all better go inside,” Dad said firmly. “I want to understand what’s going on here.” He shooed Sam and Lauren and the two dogs into the kitchen, where Bella and Lucy went eagerly to their food bowls. “Sit down, you two. Right. Explain. What was wrong with that man that made you decide to do something so silly? He seemed like he’d be a really good owner.”
“Nothing…” Lauren began haltingly.
“It wasn’t him,” Sam put in. “We didn’t want anyone to have Lucy. Look.” He dug in his hoodie pocket and brought out the old pencil case he’d been keeping the money in.
“Eighty-four pounds,” Lauren said proudly, as he emptied it on to the table.
Dad frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“We were going to buy Lucy ourselves!” Lauren explained. “I really, really don’t want to sell her to some stranger! We thought a puppy probably costs about a hundred pounds, and we were so close to having it, and then that man came! We had to hide Lucy away in case he got her first!”
“Is this something to do with the table full of apples at the top of the lane?” Mum asked.
Lauren nodded. “We sold the apples from the orchard, and my old toys, too.”
“And it’s my birthday money.”
“And my money from Grandma.”
“There’s more apples left,” Sam added. “We should get to a hundred, easily.”
Mum smiled sadly. “That man was going to pay four hundred pounds. That’s what a pedigree puppy costs.”
“Four hundred!” Lauren whispered in horror. “We couldn’t raise that much. Oh no…” And she started to cry. She was going to have to give Lucy up after all.
Lucy looked up from her bowl. What was the matter with Lauren? She dashed across the kitchen floor, and scrabbled frantically at Lauren’s legs.
Lauren reached down and picked Lucy up, cuddling her close, while Sam stroked her head.
Lucy howled loudly, joining in with Lauren’s sobbing.
“Lauren, shhh…” her dad said gently. “And please tell Lucy to hush too, I can’t hear myself think. That’s better,” he added, as Lauren stroked Lucy and shushed her. “We didn’t realize you were that desperate to keep Lucy. Why didn’t you say?”
“I tried!” Lauren burst out. “But you kept saying we had Bella, and ever since the puppies came you’d said we couldn’t keep them. I told Sam about it, didn’t I?”
Sam nodded. “But we thought if we had enough money we could keep her. Lauren said I could share her too.”
“Oh, Sam…” his mum said sadly. “He loves dogs,” she explained to Lauren’s parents. “But his dad is allergic.”
Lauren’s mum was watching Lucy, snuggling up
in Lauren’s arms, her eyes switching from person to person, as she tried to follow what was going on. “She is lovely,” Mum said slowly.
Lauren’s dad looked round at her. “It was you that said no more dogs, Annie!”
“Somehow I can’t imagine being back to just one, after all those puppies. It already seems very quiet, with only Bella and Lucy.” Mum smiled. “And she’s definitely the prettiest of the litter.”
“So can we keep her?” Lauren asked, not quite sure whether that was what her mum was saying. “Really? You mean it?”
Mum nodded, and laughed as Lauren hugged her, squidging Lucy in between them. “Don’t squash her!”
“But if Bella has puppies again, we’re not keeping any!” Dad said sternly.
Lauren shook her head. “Oh no, I promise I wouldn’t even ask!”
“You can have your birthday money back, Sam,” Lauren’s mum said, smiling.
Sam nodded, but he looked a bit sad.
“Do you still want to share Lucy, though?” Lauren asked, holding Lucy out to him.
Sam nodded eagerly, and Lucy wagged her tail so fast it almost blurred, and then licked his hand lovingly.
“We can use the apple money to buy her a really smart new collar and lead,” Lauren suggested. “Not Bella’s old ones any more. And we can put ‘This dog belongs to Lauren and Sam’ on her collar tag.”
Everyone laughed, and Lucy howled again, a real show-off howl with her ears thrown back and her tail wagging under Sam’s arm.
Sam grinned. “I think she likes that idea.
About the Author
Holly Webb started out as a children’s book editor, and wrote her first series for the publisher she worked for. She has been writing ever since, with over sixty books to her name. Holly lives in Berkshire, with her husband and three young sons. She has a pet cat called Marble, who is always nosying around when she’s trying to type on her laptop.
