by Holly Webb
Grace only nodded. She couldn’t trust herself to say anything. She didn’t want Harry to be rehomed yet – then she’d never see him again.
Grace frowned at the knitting pattern. She was trying to make a little teddy for Harry to have in his basket, but knitting was a lot trickier than it looked when her nan did it. She sighed. She had a feeling that it wasn’t going to look like the picture, but then Harry would probably chew it to pieces anyway. She just really wanted him to have something to remember her by. Visitors to the shelter kept saying how cute he was, and she was sure he was going to be rehomed soon. Grace sniffed, and a tear smudged the crumpled pattern.
“Grace,” Danny called round the door. “We’ve got to go and look at this flat with Mum and Dad.”
Grace frowned. Her room at the moment was more like a cupboard, but she liked it, even if there wasn’t enough space for a desk and she had to do her homework on her bed. It was comfy like that, anyway.
The new flat was really nice, with a much bigger room for Grace. She could imagine all her dog posters up at last, with all that space, and loads of shelves for her tiny china animals and her books. But it was a second-floor flat – with no garden.
“So what did you think?” Dad asked, as they were walking back home. “I really liked it.”
Mum nodded. “Me too. Lovely kitchen. And your room was great, wasn’t it, Grace?”
Grace shrugged.
“What is it?” Dad asked. “Didn’t you like it?”
“I’d much rather have a tiny bedroom, and a garden, so that we could have a dog. I really would. I don’t need a big room, honestly.”
“She’s right,” Danny put in. “A garden would be brilliant.”
Mum sighed. “I know how much you two want a dog, and I’ve been really impressed with the way you’ve worked so hard at the shelter. But I still wouldn’t feel happy leaving a dog alone all day. We’ll have to think about it.”
But she gave Dad a thoughtful look, and flicked through the list of flats that the estate agent had given them. Maybe they could find something…
Chapter Three
Harry had started to look forward to Grace’s visits. She usually came after school, so at about half-past three he would find himself standing by the door of his run, sometimes with his paws up on the wire, watching out for her. That Friday afternoon, almost two weeks after he’d first met Grace, Harry woke up from a nice snooze in his basket, and stretched out his paws. Now, why had he woken up? Was it food-time? No… Ah. It was Grace time. She should be coming to play with him soon.
“Oh, he’s lovely! What a gorgeous little dog!”
A voice floated over to him, but it didn’t sound like Grace. Harry blinked, still a little sleepy, and peered across the run. A young woman was looking at him, and Sally was with her.
Sally opened the run to let the woman hold Harry. He allowed her to pick him up, but he kept peering over her shoulder, looking out for Grace.
“He’s been with us a couple of weeks now. He’s a lovely puppy, but he’s been missing his old owner. She had to go overseas. He’s cheering up a bit now, but any new owners would have to take it slowly with him. Really take the time to build a relationship. And you know that Jack Russells are very energetic? They really need a lot of exercise.”
The woman nodded. “I’ll definitely go home and talk it over with my husband. I’ll let you know very soon.”
She waved goodbye to Harry as she walked down the corridor back to the reception area, and Harry wagged his tail delightedly and woofed. The woman smiled, thinking this was all for her – she didn’t realize that Grace was just walking through the door behind her. She went home thinking what a sweet, affectionate little dog Harry was. He’d obviously taken to her.
Grace gave the woman a worried look as the door swung shut. Not another person admiring Harry! Everyone who came to the shelter seemed to think he was really cute. Grace had a horrible feeling that Harry would be going to a new home soon.
“Hey, Grace! I’m making some coffee; do you want some juice? And there’s a packet of chocolate biscuits, look, I splashed out. Fancy one?” Sally waved the packet at Grace as she walked past the kitchen on the way to see Harry the next day. On Saturdays Grace usually played with Harry, and then tried to spend some time with any other dogs that the staff thought needed fussing over. Sally had asked her to help with a couple of other dogs who were quite shy and needed someone patient.
“Chocolate biscuits! Yes, please!”
Grace leaned against the kitchen door, nibbling her biscuit. She couldn’t take it with her, the dogs would all want to share it, and chocolate was not good for dogs at all.
“You’re doing really well with Harry, you know, Grace. It’s made a big difference to him, you being here.” Sally stirred her coffee thoughtfully. “You’re going to miss him when he goes to a new home, aren’t you?”
Grace nodded, her mouth full of biscuit. “Mmmf.”
“Now that he’s so much friendlier, I don’t think it’s going to be all that long before he goes. He’s such a sweetie. Just keep it at the back of your mind, OK? I don’t want you to be upset, that’s all.”
Grace stared into her orange juice. “I know…” she said at last. “I won’t be upset. Really.” She told herself that it was true, she’d always known that Harry would be rehomed. But deep down, she knew that she’d been secretly pretending that he was hers.
“Anyway, I reckon you could take him for a real walk today, if you fancy it?” Sally grinned as Grace nearly hugged her. “Watch it with the juice! I think he’s ready. Danny’s here, isn’t he? Your mum’s happy for you to go out if he’s with you, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” Grace nodded excitedly. “I’ll tell him.”
Sally smiled. “It’s OK, I’ll find him. You go and put Harry’s lead on. I should think he’ll keel over with excitement. He just hasn’t been getting enough exercise. Jack Russells really like a couple of hour-long walks every day.”
Sally was almost right. As soon as Harry saw his lead, he started jumping up madly, leaping about and practically bouncing off the walls. He could jump easily as high as Grace’s waist. She had to pin him under one arm to keep him still enough to put the lead on. “Calm down, calm down, silly boy,” she murmured lovingly as he leaped up to try to lick her face.
Eventually she led him proudly out through the reception area, where Danny was waiting with Bella, the Labrador they’d first seen on the shelter website.
It felt so exciting, walking out of the shelter with Harry on his lead – it was a smart blue one that had been his when he belonged to Beth’s family, and he looked lovely.
“Remember how I showed you, get him to walk to heel!” Sally called after them.
Grace looked down at Harry and grinned. Heel was a good idea, but… He was just so excited. She had to keep gently pulling him back every time he lunged after a strange smell, or wanted to chase a fluttering leaf.
Harry was blissfully happy. He hadn’t been outside the shelter in so long – but as soon as he’d seen his lead, and heard Grace say walk, he knew exactly what it meant. He loved walks. He wanted to see everything! Every bee was a possible enemy that needed chasing, every leaf had to be checked out.
Grace was glad that Sally had reminded her to keep a really good hold on Harry when they passed other dogs. A huge Alsatian was walking beautifully to heel along the road towards them, and Harry spotted him even before she did. He barked mightily (just to show the Alsatian he wasn’t scared, even if he was a little…) and tried his best to show that he was the bravest, toughest dog in the world.
The Alsatian’s owner smiled at Grace. “You’ve got a real little character there!”
Grace nodded breathlessly. All her energy was going on keeping Harry under control. She hoped he wouldn’t be like this with every dog in the park!
Luckily, he started to calm down after that, and by the time they were passing the shops he was walking quite nicely to heel.
&n
bsp; “Hey, Grace, if I just tie Bella’s lead on this hook, is it OK if I nip in and see if they’ve got the new skateboarding magazine?” Danny asked.
Grace looked doubtfully at Harry. He didn’t look like he wanted to stop. “If you’re really quick!” she agreed.
“Brilliant. Back in a minute.” And Danny disappeared inside the newsagent’s. Bella sat down patiently and didn’t seem to mind waiting, so Grace bent down to pet Harry.
“Hi, Grace!” Someone was calling. Grace looked round to see her friend Maya from ballet coming down the road with her sister. “I didn’t know you had a dog! What’s his name? Can I stroke him?”
Grace blinked. “He’s called Harry,” she said slowly. “Yes, of course you can stroke him, he’s very friendly.” She knew she ought to tell Maya that Harry wasn’t actually hers, but she just didn’t want to… It was so nice to pretend that he really belonged to her. Harry was being so good, sitting and letting Maya pat him. Grace was so proud of him! And his good behaviour was mostly down to all that time she’d spent with him – so why shouldn’t she let Maya think that he was hers?
“Come on, Maya, we’ve got to go,” Maya’s sister told her, and Maya stood up reluctantly.
“Grace, could I come over again one day, and play with you and Harry? He’s gorgeous, you’re so lucky!”
Maya had come over to tea a couple of times before, and they’d had a great time. But what was Grace supposed to say now? If Maya came round, she’d know that Grace didn’t really own Harry.
Grace looked down at the floor. “I’ll have to ask my mum,” she mumbled.
Luckily, Maya’s sister was in a hurry. “Come on, Maya, now,” she said, heading off down the road.
“Um, see you at ballet!” Grace called, as Maya hurried off after her sister.
Maya was calling something back to her, but Grace pretended not to hear. She just hoped Maya didn’t think she was being unfriendly. And what was she going to say to her at ballet if she asked again about coming over?
Maybe she should have told Maya the truth after all…
Chapter Four
Harry had loved his walk to the park. The only bad thing about it was returning to the shelter. He wished that Grace hadn’t brought him back here. He wasn’t sure where she went in-between her visits, but it would be so much nicer if she could take him there with her. She seemed to be sad when they said goodbye as well, so why did she have to leave him behind?
He huddled sadly into the corner of his basket, and sighed, wishing that great big dog across the corridor would just be quiet. He wanted to go to sleep.
Still, Harry was a lot more cheerful than he’d been before he met Grace. His eyes were brighter, and he played in his run, instead of being curled up in his basket all day. Everyone admired him now, and Sally was always showing him off to possible owners.
By the next weekend, Grace was starting to get quite worried. The other volunteers kept telling her how much people admired him, and she could see that when she was there, too.
“It’s lucky that Jack Russells need so much exercise,” Grace whispered to Harry, as an elderly lady regretfully went on to look for a less energetic dog. “She really liked you. She’d have taken you if Sally hadn’t pointed that out. Oh, I don’t believe it, Harry, look. More people!”
A family with a boy a little younger than her and a baby girl was looking excitedly at Harry.
“I like this one, Dad!” the boy was saying. “He’s a great dog.”
The dad looked at Harry frisking round Grace, and smiled. “He does look nice. Do you work here?” he asked Grace.
Grace nodded. “I volunteer after school and at the weekends.”
“We’re looking for a family dog,” the mum put in. “Do you think that” – she looked at his name card – “Harry would be suitable?”
Grace gulped. She looked round quickly to check that none of the staff were close enough to hear, then said quietly, “Um, I’m not sure. Jack Russells aren’t great with very young children. They can be a bit snappy if children bother them too much…”
It was actually true, Jack Russells could be snappy. But Harry had never shown signs of anything like that, and Grace knew she was being mean by trying to put them off. She just couldn’t bear to see him go to someone else.
“You might want a gentler dog, with your baby,” she added. “Have you seen Maggie? She’s a cross-breed, but she’s really sweet, and so friendly and well-behaved.”
Luckily, the family thought Maggie was lovely, and when Grace left the shelter they were talking with Sally about adopting her. But Grace felt terrible all the way home.
“What’s up?” Danny asked her. He’d been exercising Bella and Frisky, a retriever, in the outdoor yard. “You haven’t told me anything about all the cute stuff Harry did today. Have you managed to get him to shake hands yet? You reckoned he’d nearly got it.”
Grace gave a sad little shrug. “He can almost do it. Danny, one of the families who came today really liked him. I sort of put them off, because they had a baby and Jack Russells aren’t good with little kids, but it was mostly because I didn’t want them to take him… I don’t want him to go,” she explained.
“Oh, Gracie,” Danny said, putting an arm round her shoulders. “Sally and Mandy warned us when we started. You promised you wouldn’t fall in love with any of them.”
“I know!” Grace wailed. “But Harry’s so gorgeous, Danny, I don’t want anyone else to have him except for me!”
Danny sighed. “Well, you managed to put those people off today, but Gracie, you can’t be there every time someone likes him. It’s going to happen, you know, sooner or later.”
“Some help you are,” Grace sniffled, but she knew it was true.
It was about to happen even sooner than Grace had thought. Mrs Jameson, the young woman who’d asked Sally about Harry, came back that Sunday. She was a perfect owner. No small children, a big garden for him to play in, and she worked from home some of the time so he wouldn’t be too lonely. The shelter staff were delighted.
So was Harry. He’d seen Grace come in just after the lady once before and he assumed they belonged together. So when he saw Sally loading all his toys into his basket, and bringing out his lead for this lady, he was certain that she must be taking him to see Grace. He didn’t understand why Grace wasn’t fetching him, but he was quite sure that that was where they were going.
“What do you think of your new home, Harry?” As Mrs Jameson put his basket down in the kitchen, Harry looked round with interest. It was nice. Lots of space, and loads of things to sniff and explore. He wondered where Grace was. He sniffed behind all the cupboards, then checked under the table, in case she was hiding. Hopefully she would come soon.
Grace hadn’t been able to go to the shelter for a few days – they’d been busy flat-hunting and today was Tuesday, so she had to go to ballet after school. She crept into the changing room. Luckily, Mum had dropped her off a bit late, so Maya would probably be already changed and in the ballet studio, and Grace wouldn’t have to talk to her before the class started. She just knew that Maya was going to ask about Harry, and she still hadn’t worked out what to say.
Speedily, Grace changed into her leotard, and put her hair up, then she sneaked into the studio, just in time. She looked round for Maya as they did their warm-up routine, but she couldn’t see her. All the way through the class, Grace watched for Maya, but she never arrived.
Grace had got away with it – for one week, anyway.
Grace ran into the shelter on Wednesday afternoon, dashing ahead of Danny. She’d really missed Harry over the last few days; it felt like ages since she’d seen him. And she’d finally finished Harry’s toy last night – she couldn’t wait to give it to him.
She raced along to Harry’s run, and gasped. He’d gone! There was a friendly-looking black spaniel there instead, who woofed an excited hello, and came to greet her. Grace stood by the run, her heart racing, hardly feeling the spaniel licking her
fingers. Maybe he’d been moved? Yes, that was it. Harry must be in one of the other pens, that was all. She said goodbye to the spaniel, who stared after her sadly, and searched the rest of the kennel area. Every pen was full, but none of the dogs was Harry. Sally met her coming in from the outdoor area, her head hanging.
“Oh, Grace! I didn’t know you were here yet.” Sally looked at her worriedly. “Grace, I’m sorry, I really wanted to tell you before you saw he was gone.”
Grace nodded.
“A really nice lady’s taken him,” Sally promised. “She has a lovely big garden for him to run in.”
“Oh,” Grace whispered. Then she turned and ran back down the corridor.
Danny was putting a lead on one of the other dogs, a big greyhound that he really liked. He straightened up when Grace brushed past him. “Hey, what’s the matter? Grace? Where are you going?” He stared after her, then followed. He had a horrible feeling he already knew what had happened.
Harry lay in his basket, staring sadly round the kitchen. He’d been at his new home for two days now, and his new owners had both had to go to work today. He was all alone. He hadn’t liked the noise and bustle of the shelter, but it felt very strange for things to be so quiet.
And where was Grace? He had been sure that this was her house and he was going to live with her, but it had been ages and she still hadn’t come. He was beginning to have a horrible feeling that the wrong person had brought him home, and he didn’t know what to do about it.
