The Forgotten Puppy

by Holly Webb

  Emi sighed as she stuffed some more clothes into her bag. Rina would be fine. Mum would look after her – and it would be nice for Mum to have Rina, otherwise she’d be lonely while they were away. But still…

  “I wish you could come, too,” she told Rina, who was sitting next to the rucksack, staring at it suspiciously.

  Rina knew what the bag meant by now. Emi was going away. Again!

  As soon as Emi turned round to get the rest of her stuff out of the chest of drawers, Rina nudged the bag hard with her nose, so that it tipped over and the clothes spilled out all over the floor.

  “Rina!” Emi looked round at her. “Silly! What are you doing?” She crouched down next to the bag and started putting the clothes back inside. But Rina grabbed a pair of jeans in her teeth and pulled them across the room. Then she sat there in the corner with them, looking determined.

  “Oh, Rina…” Emi sighed. “Are you trying to stop me from going? I’ll miss you, too, I really will. But I have to go and see Dad. Let’s go downstairs and get a drink. I’ll finish packing later.”

  Rina followed her out of the room triumphantly, glancing back at the clothes all over the floor. But the bag was still there and the bright curl of her tail sagged a little as she hurried after Emi.

  “Are you all packed, Emi?” Mum was smiling, but she looked as though she was trying a bit too hard, Emi thought. She knew Mum missed them when they were away, even though she always said she loved how quiet the house was without Ben, and how she could cook for herself without worrying about Emi saying everything was too spicy.

  “I just need to zip up my bag,” Emi said, crossing her fingers behind her back. She was packed, or rather she had been. But she’d have to put back all the things that Rina had knocked on to the floor.

  Now where had Rina gone? Emi popped her head round the living-room door, to see if there was a fluffy ball snoozing on the sofa. Mum had given up even saying that Rina wasn’t allowed – she was too cosy. But the living room was empty. Emi headed up the stairs. Rina was probably with Ben.

  Emi hurried round her room, picking up all the things that Rina had pulled out of her bag. She was a bit worried about how it was all going to fit back in. It still looked really full. But her things had all gone in before…

  She knelt beside the bag and pulled it wider open, scooping up a pile of clothes ready to put in. Then she stopped, hugging the jumpers against her as her eyes filled up with tears. That was why the bag was so full. Rina was curled up inside, fast asleep! The puppy had decided that if Emi had to go away again, then this time she was going with her.

  Rina stood by the front door, her tail wriggling happily as Emi’s mum picked up the lead.

  “Not a long walk, though,” Mum murmured. “It’s still freezing cold out there. And really slippery. The snow melted a bit yesterday and now it’s frozen over again. Not so good for walking on, Rina. I haven’t got clever claws like you, have I?”

  Rina nuzzled against Mum’s legs. She wanted to go out so much – they hadn’t been on as many walks as usual over the last few days. Mum had a lot of work on, and with Ben and Emi away it was a good chance to get it done. Rina had spent lots of the time curled up on Mum’s feet in her little office. They had kept each other warm.

  Rina sniffed thoughtfully at a pair of Emi’s shoes as she waited for Mum to get her coat on. Where was Emi? Whenever Emi and Ben had gone away before, they’d come back sooner than this, Rina was sure. It felt as though Emi had been away for a very long time. Rina laid her ears back anxiously, almost forgetting the excitement of the walk. Perhaps Emi wasn’t coming back? Perhaps something had happened? What if Emi had forgotten her?

  She and Mum had taken Emi and Ben to the station, just like before, so why hadn’t they returned? Maybe they were still at the station, waiting? Rina gave a worried little whine. She wanted Emi back now. It must be time to go and fetch her, she was sure. That had to be where they were going now. Her tail started to wriggle again and her ears pricked forward. She would see Emi soon!

  “All right. Let’s go.” Mum picked up the keys and opened the door. “Just down the road to the park for a bit, mmm? Then back for a nice cup of tea. Maybe some dog treats for you.”

  They set off, with Rina sniffing hopefully along the snowy pavement, wondering if she would come across Emi’s scent, or Ben’s. At the end of the road, Mum turned left, making for the park. But Rina stopped, confused. The station was the other way. They were going to the station to meet Emi and Ben, weren’t they? She tugged on the lead, digging her claws into the snow.

  “It’s so icy. Don’t pull, sweetheart,” Mum said. “I don’t want to slip over. Come on.”

  Rina shook her ears frantically. Mum was taking them the wrong way. Emi and Ben would be waiting. She and Mum might miss them if they didn’t go soon.

  She pulled again and let out a questioning whine, but Mum didn’t turn back towards the station.

  “No, Rina,” she said firmly. “Come on, we’re going to the park. Good girl. That’s it.”

  Rina had been going to puppy classes with Mum and Emi, and the trainer had told them how important the tone of voice was for dog training. You have to sound as though you mean it, she’d said. And Kaii had explained to them when they’d first got Rina that Shiba Inus could be hard to train if they didn’t know that their owners were their pack leaders. Mum had to be top dog, he’d told them. Mum had practised the firm voice carefully.

  So even though Rina didn’t want to go down the road to the park, she still did as she was told. She laid her ears back and plodded along like a miserable snail.

  But just as they got halfway down the road, Mum slipped over on the ice and let go of Rina’s lead. Rina sniffed at her carefully and made sure that she was all right. When Mum started to get up, Rina gave her cheek a quick, apologetic, loving lick. And then she darted away, back down the road, before Mum had a chance to catch her breath and call after her.

  Rina knew the way to the station quite well by now – she had been there several times to drop off and pick up Ben and Emi. So she hurried down the road, her lead trailing over the snow. She could hear Mum behind her, calling her name. She did stop and look back a couple of times. But she knew it was more important to find Emi.

  The station seemed different, now that she was here on her own. Had it been this big before, and this busy? There were cars parked all around the entrance, and people talking and hurrying past. Rina tucked herself under a clump of bushes at the edge of the car park and peered out at all the feet as they went past. Now that she was actually here, she remembered the thundering growl of the trains and she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to go any further. She had been scared before, even with Emi and Ben and Mum, and now she was all on her own.

  But Emi could be so close! What if Rina missed her because she was huddled up and hiding under a bush? Rina waited for the next pair of feet to go thumping past her and then she stuck her nose out, checking to see if anyone else was coming. The car park was quiet. She darted out and followed the man through the gate and past the little ticket office on to the platform.

  She couldn’t see Emi – but then both times before when Rina and Mum had come to get her, they’d had to wait for a train to pull up and for Emi and Ben to get off. Perhaps she needed to wait for a train now. Rina backed carefully underneath one of the benches on the platform and settled down to wait.

  After a few minutes, the bench above her began to vibrate, just a little, and Rina realized that a train was coming. She stood up under the bench and stepped forward a little, watching. There were only a few people on the platform and she could see quite clearly. Her ears pricked up – she would see Emi soon! And Emi would be so happy, Rina was sure.

  The noise grew louder and louder, and then the speaker above Rina’s head burst into chattering life as well, making her jump. Rina wriggled back under the bench, shivering, and pressed herself against the wall. It was too loud and too frightening! And then the express train blew
into the little local station and whooshed past, without even stopping. The people at the edge of the platform just stood there as their coats flapped and the train sped by. Rina watched them, horrified. How could they stand there, so close to that roaring monster?

  The noise seemed to hang in the air, even after the train had gone and Rina had dared to pull herself away from the wall. How could Emi and Ben have dared to climb on to that great roaring thing? Rina was tempted to go home. She knew the way.

  But she had come to get Emi. Emi was on one of those horrible loud things and Rina was going to get her back.

  Luckily, the next train was a local one, much slower and quieter as it rumbled into the platform. It was so much less scary than the roaring express that Rina managed to come all the way out from under the bench as it pulled in. She flinched a little at the beeping of the doors, but she was sure she remembered that noise from when Emi and Ben had got off the train before.

  But there were so many doors… Rina stood next to a man with a pile of suitcases and watched anxiously as people got off the train. Quite a few of them smiled at her, thinking that she belonged to the suitcase man, or the girl with the headphones standing next to him and not realizing that no one had hold of the little dog’s lead.

  None of these people were Ben or Emi. Rina whined anxiously. Now the people were all walking away down the platform. The man with the suitcases was picking them up and getting on to the train and so was the girl.

  Where was Emi? Rina barked, trying to tell Emi she was here, waiting, but all that happened was a man in a dark uniform at the end of the platform turned round and shouted something. He started to walk towards her, looking angry, and then the beeping noise sounded again.

  Rina whimpered, feeling frightened. Emi must still be on the train – perhaps Emi just hadn’t seen her?

  Panicking, Rina jumped on to the train, just as the doors began to slide closed. She jumped so fast that she skidded across the floor, sliding into the corner on the other side of the train and landing winded against the opposite doors. She sat there, gasping with fear, as the train pulled away.

  After a couple of minutes, Rina sat up straighter. Being in a train didn’t feel all that different to the car. And she could move around as she wasn’t in her little travel cage. She would go and look for Emi. She had to be here somewhere.

  The shouting man had scared her, so Rina didn’t want to walk down the gangway between the seats, in case anybody else shouted at her like that. She would go quietly, she decided, and try not to let anyone see her. She whisked round the little wall by the doors and quickly edged under the first set of seats. The train was mostly empty and she could dart from hiding space to hiding space, occasionally hurrying across the gangway to avoid a set of feet. Every time she stopped she would look hopefully for Emi and Ben, but they were never there.

  She was almost at the end of the carriage when she stopped under an empty table. There was a delicious smell of food and Rina was hungry. She sat and looked out at the seats opposite. A mother was sitting there with a baby and a little boy. The boy was eating a sandwich.

  It smelled like ham and Rina watched him enviously. She was dribbling, it smelled so good.

  The mother was pointing out of the window, showing the baby the view. She wasn’t looking at Rina at all. But the little boy seemed to feel Rina’s hungry eyes fixed on his food. He leaned over, peering under the table opposite and then he smiled.

  Rina gave him a hopeful Shiba smile back – open mouth, tongue hanging out a little. With her dark mouth against the golden fur of her muzzle, it really did look as though she was smiling. The little boy giggled and tore off a piece of his sandwich, holding it out to her.

  “Hello!” he whispered.

  Rina squirmed closer, crossing the gangway, and gratefully nibbled the sandwich out of his hand. He patted her delightedly, and Rina rubbed her head against his hand. It was so nice to have someone fuss over her.

  “Alex, what are you doing?”

  Rina scuttled back under the seats behind the table. The little boy’s mum sounded cross.

  “There was a dog! I gave him some of my sandwich, he was hungry.”

  “Alex, there isn’t a dog, don’t be silly. Eat that sandwich yourself, please.”

  “There is, look! Look, Mummy! He’s under the table!”

  Rina wriggled back further, as the mother leaned over to look as well.

  “Alex, there really isn’t! Just eat your lunch!”

  The little boy said nothing, but a minute or so later Rina saw a stealthy hand come down past the seat opposite, with the other half of the sandwich and a sausage roll. He dropped them carefully under his seat and then he waved at Rina, obviously trying to show the puppy they were there.

  Rina sneaked carefully across the gangway and tucked herself away under the boy’s seat, wolfing down the food. Then she gently pushed her cold nose against the boy’s ankle to say thank you.

  “Dad…”

  “Mmmm?”

  “Can I ring Mum? Just to check if Rina’s OK? She’s not used to us being away longer than a weekend.”

  “Course you can. I was just going to make some bacon rolls for lunch. Then maybe this afternoon we could go and look at the shops down the high street.”

  Emi nodded. Dad was trying really hard to keep them both happy. It was tricky sometimes, especially with her and Ben liking different things.

  “Thanks, Dad.” She gave him a hug as she went to pick up the phone. She would ring Mum’s mobile, just in case she was out.

  The phone rang for ages and Emi grinned, imagining Mum searching through her pockets for it. It was always in the last pocket she checked, or buried at the bottom of her handbag. Mum said she was sure it moved by itself.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me. Hi, Mum!”

  “Oh, Emi! Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, it’s fine. I just wanted to check that Rina was OK. Not missing us too much. Are you OK, Mum, you sound a bit stressed?”

  There was a breath of silence on the other end of the line and Emi’s eyes widened. There was something wrong, she could tell.

  “Mum, what is it?”

  She heard Mum sigh and saw Dad coming towards her across the living room, looking worried.

  “Emi, it’s Rina. I fell over on the ice and I let go of her lead. She ran off and now I can’t find her. I’ve been everywhere for the last hour. Home, the park, back again. I’ve asked all the people I’ve been past, but no one’s seen her. I just don’t know where she’s gone!”

  “Alex, come on, it’s time to get off.”

  “But Mummy, the dog… He’s still there.”

  “There isn’t a dog, Alex. I checked,” the woman said, as she fastened up the baby’s snowsuit. “Come on, everyone else is off the train already. If there was a dog, he’ll have gone with his owner, won’t he? This is the last stop. The dog’s going home, too.”

  Rina saw the little boy lean down, peering under the seats. She almost wriggled further out to see him, but then a man in a dark uniform came hurrying down the train and she stayed hidden. She remembered that other man on the station platform shouting at her.

  The little boy followed his mother off the train, still looking round every so often. “Bye, dog!” he whispered, as he stepped off.

  Rina poked her nose out from under the seats and looked up and down. No one else was left. The man had gone and the train was empty. Perhaps she should get off, like the little boy? The train had stopped a couple of times before, but then only for a minute or so and more people had got on. This seemed different.

  She crept out into the gangway and went to look out of the doors. It was cold out there and starting to get dark. The station looked as empty as the train and it didn’t seem familiar at all. For some reason, Rina had thought she would be back where she had started, but this was a completely different place. And where was Emi? This was all wrong! She had come to find her owner and instead she had just got he
rself lost.

  Rina whimpered and peered out at the station, the lights bright and yellowish in the grey of the winter afternoon. Perhaps she had better get out and look for Emi. After all, Emi definitely wasn’t in this train, so there was no point staying here.

  Just as she made the decision and stepped forward, the doors beeped suddenly and then slid shut with a thump.

  She was trapped.

  “Emi, don’t panic. It’ll be all right, we’ll find her,” said Dad.

  “But Mum said she’s asked everyone! She says she doesn’t know where Rina’s gone!” Emi gasped. She turned to her brother, who looked equally worried.

  “Well, we’ll go and help her look, then,” said Dad. “Come on. You were going back tomorrow morning anyway and you’re not going to have a good time here this afternoon when you’re worrying about Rina. I’ll come with you and we’ll all search for her. We’ll get the train back, it’s a lot quicker than going in the car. Pass me the phone, Emi. I’ll call your mum and explain. Go and pack up your stuff. And don’t forget to look in the bathroom!” Dad called after her, but Emi had already disappeared to find all her things.

  It was the fastest packing she and Ben had ever managed, and they were ready to go only ten minutes later. Dad had checked the timetable and he said there was a train very soon, but he wasn’t quite sure they’d make it, with the walk to the station, too. Emi was determined that they would, though. She didn’t care that there was another train not long after. She wanted to get back home at once.