Rainbow Street Pets

by Orr, Wendy

  His own dog was old, and obedient. He’d unclipped her leash because she could be trusted to trot along beside him and not run away. But her ears pricked now and she veered off the path towards the sound.

  The man called her back, but when the other dog bayed again, closer, and he saw the white tip of a waving tail, he changed his mind. ‘Okay,’ he told his dog, ‘let’s see what’s happening.’

  A second later, Bella raced across the path in front of them. She was filthy, stinky and skinny after her day and night of running. She was very obviously lost.

  ‘Come here, girl,’ the man called.

  Bella kept on running.

  He called again. She didn’t seem to hear.

  ‘SIT!’ the man shouted, and Bella was so surprised that she sat. So did his dog.

  ‘Stay,’ the man ordered, more quietly. ‘Good dog.’

  Offering her a dog biscuit from his pocket, he clipped his dog’s lead onto Bella’s collar.

  With the panting beagle on the leash, and his own bull terrier trotting obediently behind, they walked back to his car. He loaded the two dogs in and drove to the Rainbow Street Shelter.

  CHAPTER 5

  he man left his own dog in the car and led Bella into the waiting room.

  ‘Can I help you?’ asked a cockatoo on a perch above the desk.

  ‘Wow!’ said Mona. ‘That is one filthy beagle!’

  ‘I found her running in the bush by the beach,’ the man explained. ‘I think she was hunting.’

  ‘She smells like she caught a dead fish,’ said Mona, crinkling her nose. ‘You’re going to need a bath, little girl! But first let’s check if you’ve been microchipped!’

  The man waited while Mona ran a wand over Bella’s shoulder. It beeped, and Mona cheered.

  ‘What happens now?’ the man asked.

  ‘I’ll call the pet registry. They’ll be able to look up who the owner is, and tell them their dog is here.’

  ‘So she’ll be okay?’

  ‘I’m sure it’ll all work out,’ said Mona. ‘She’s a beautiful little dog under all that muck. I imagine her owner will be overjoyed to have her back.’

  But when Justin and Kate turned up at Rainbow Street that afternoon, they weren’t so sure that they did want their beautiful little beagle back.

  ‘We’ve been so worried!’ said Kate, as Bella bounced around them. ‘But she’s not even sorry!’

  ‘Dogs don’t feel sorry for something that happened yesterday,’ Mona explained. ‘She’s just happy to see you now.’

  In fact, Bella was very excited because she’d smelled the guinea pigs in the SMALL ANIMAL ROOM and the rabbits in their enclosure. The shelter was a paradise of smells, and she was sniffing all of them.

  ‘We never knew a dog would be this much trouble,’ said Justin. ‘We’ve tried to look after her, but she goes on destroying things and running away.’

  ‘The problem is that beagles get bored easily,’ Mona said. ‘They find it very hard to be left alone inside all day.’

  ‘I wish we’d known that when we bought her!’ said Kate. ‘But I can’t bear to think of giving her away.’

  ‘We might have to move if we don’t,’ said Justin. ‘The neighbours are sick of her howling and barking.’

  Mona was listening carefully. She felt sorry for them, but her job here was to think about the animals first.

  ‘Bella needs a home where she’s busy all day, with other dogs or people around. She needs lots of exercise and play, and some discipline – she has to know that she’s not the boss and that she can’t destroy your things.’

  ‘I don’t think we can give her that,’ Kate said softly. Justin shook his head in agreement.

  ‘If you decide to leave her with us,’ Mona said, ‘I’ll make very sure that the new owners understand what she needs before I let them take her.’

  Kate and Justin looked at each other, their eyes filling with tears. They hugged their dog, and went home without her.

  Bella’s tail drooped as she watched them go. Mona sighed. She was sure it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t stop her from feeling sad.

  She led Bella out to the dog yard, picking up a tennis ball on the way. The beagle started dancing around her, leaping for the ball.

  ‘Down!’ Mona said sternly, but she was smiling as she shut the gate.

  Bella didn’t seem to notice the other dogs in their kennels. All she could focus on was the ball.

  ‘You’re going to be okay,’ Mona told her, making her sit and wait till she threw the ball. ‘You just need something to do.’

  CHAPTER 6

  im was hoping his mum would be on her own when she met him at the airport. For just that little while, he wanted to pretend she was his mum and nobody else’s, just the way she used to be.

  They were all there though, waiting at the gate for him. He saw his mum hand the baby to her new husband, and then she was rushing towards him with her arms open wide, and hugging him tight, tight, tight.

  ‘Look how tall you are!’ she exclaimed when she finally let him go. ‘You’ve grown so much!’

  She took his hand, and led him across to her husband and baby. ‘Do you want to hold your brother?’

  NO! Tim shouted inside.

  He didn’t say it. The baby was very little. His name was Bentley, but he seemed too little to have a grown-up name – he was only ten days old. Tim didn’t think he’d ever seen such a brand-new baby. He was afraid he’d drop him, and his mum would be angry – but he knew it would hurt her feelings if he didn’t try.

  The baby was wrapped up like a parcel in a soft blue blanket, with only his silvery-fuzzed head sticking out. Gently and carefully, Tim’s stepdad put the bundle into Tim’s arms. His mum hovered at his side. ‘Hold him like this,’ she said, placing Tim’s hand behind the baby’s head.

  Tim looked down into his sleeping brother’s round pink face. He smelled of baby powder and milk; his wet lips opened and shut, blowing bubbles like a goldfish. It was hard to believe that he was going to be a real person one day.

  But it was hard to be angry with him too; hard to be jealous of something so small and helpless. Holding him made Tim feel a bit the way he did when Sherlock looked at him with his big brown eyes.

  He was very relieved when his mum lifted the bundle out of his arms again, and tucked the baby against her own shoulder.

  Bella would have been happy for Kate and Justin to come and take her home, but she was happy at Rainbow Street too. From her run she could see and hear ten other dogs in their own runs, and the birds in an aviary. Her nose twitched with all the different scents of the other animals, whether she could see them or not: dogs, goats, cats, rabbits and birds. And she could watch Bert and Mona as they went in and out the back door.

  Of course, she liked it best when they came into the dog yard, and best of all when they came to spend time with her.

  The first job was to have her checked by a veterinarian to make sure she was healthy.

  ‘Very healthy!’ said the vet.

  Next Bert and Mona needed to play with her and find out if she knew how to come, sit and stay.

  Bella did know how, but she only did those things when she felt like it, because Kate and Justin had felt so guilty about her being left alone during the day that they just played with her when they got home. They’d thought she would be bored if she had to practise sitting, staying or coming when she was called.

  But Bella loved treats. She loved any food.

  And so when Bert took her out to the dog lawn, Bella loved the games of getting a tiny treat every time she sat, or when Bert let her go at one side of the lawn and Mona called her at the other. Sometimes she got a bit of dog biscuit for that, and sometimes she got to play with the ball.

  She learned very, very fast.

  ‘You’re a smart little girl,’ Mona told her. ‘You just don’t have enough to do.’

  ‘She’ll need a family that can keep her really busy,’ said Bert.
/>   ‘People with kids,’ Mona suggested.

  So the next job was to find out for sure if she was gentle with people and other dogs. They watched how she behaved when people came to the shelter to look at the dogs who were ready to be adopted and see if there was one who’d be right for them.

  Bella always came to the front of her run, wagging her tail. Even a little boy who banged on her gate with his toy truck didn’t frighten her.

  Even though she had her own dog now, Hannah still came to Rainbow Street after school on Tuesdays to help clean out the runs and cages, feed the animals and pat them – and play with the dogs. That was her favourite part.

  ‘This one loves playing ball,’ said Bert. ‘I reckon you could train her to do anything for a ball game!’

  Hannah threw the ball as hard as she could, up and down the yard. Bella caught it every time. Back and forth she ran, dropping the ball at Hannah’s feet and leaping with impatience for the girl to throw it again.

  Bert was sitting outside one of the other dog runs with a fluffy little black dog with a grey muzzle. She was too old to care about ball games, and Bert rubbed her head soothingly as he watched Hannah and Bella.

  ‘Now you’ve got some of that beagle bounce out of her,’ he said to Hannah, ‘do you want to try some training?’

  With the fluffy dog following faithfully at his heels, he scooped up a handful of dry dog food for treats. ‘Come on, Miss Muppet,’ he said, ‘you show Bella how to sit.’

  The old dog sat obediently for her treat.

  ‘Your turn,’ Bert said to Hannah.

  ‘Sit, Bella!’ Hannah said. She’d trained Peanut to sit, stay and come when he was still a puppy, but she knew it would take longer for Bella, since she was already grown-up.

  Bella sat, her eyes fixed on Bert’s hand. Bert gave Hannah her own supply of treats, and she gave one to Bella. ‘Good dog!’

  ‘We’ve been working on that one,’ Bert said proudly.

  They practised that twice more. Bella’s eyes were shining. She loved getting treats, but she loved being told she was a good dog even more.

  ‘Too easy!’ said Bert. ‘Watch this, Bella!’ He told the old dog to stay, walked halfway across the yard, and returned. Miss Muppet watched him all the way, but stayed sitting till he got back and gave her a treat and a cuddle.

  ‘Sit, Bella!’ Hannah said again. ‘Now, stay!’ She took two steps away from the dog, then stepped back and gave her the treat. Bella waggled all over with joy at being patted and praised.

  Hannah tried taking three steps, but this time Bella was so excited that she leapt after the girl. ‘No,’ said Hannah, and started again. After six more tries, Bella could sit and stay while Hannah walked ten steps away.

  ‘I think she’s earned another game!’ said Bert. ‘We want to stop the training before she’s bored, so she always thinks it’s fun.’ He handed the ball back to Hannah.

  Hannah tossed the ball from hand to hand, thinking about how to make the game more challenging.

  Bella watched, her eyes bright.

  ‘Sometimes I play hide-and-seek with Peanut,’ said Hannah. ‘Mum makes him stay with her till I call him – but there’s not anywhere to hide here.’

  ‘Great idea!’ said Bert. He disappeared to the storeroom, with Miss Muppet trotting at his heels, and came back with a stack of cardboard boxes waiting to be recycled. ‘How about a game of hide-the-ball?’

  He scattered the boxes around the yard and then made Bella sit while Hannah hid the ball. Hannah raced back. ‘Find the ball!’

  Bella raced straight to the box, nosed it over, and bounded back to Hannah with the ball in her mouth. ‘Clever girl!’ said Hannah. ‘Now fetch!’ She threw the ball across the yard as hard as she could.

  ‘Good thinking!’ said Bert. ‘She’d much rather have a ball game than a food reward.’

  Bella wagged her tail yes, begging for another turn. This was her new favourite game. She trembled with excitement each time Bert made her sit while Hannah hid the ball, then shot across the yard to the boxes. Often she got the ball the first time, but if Hannah had hidden it under a pile, she just nosed each box off until she got to the right one.

  ‘This is one smart little dog,’ said Bert, and Bella wagged her tail as if she’d understood that too.

  ‘Can I talk about Bella at the assembly on Monday?’ Hannah asked Mona, when the game was over and Bella was back in her run. ‘She’s so adorable!’

  ‘I thought you were going to choose another animal than a dog this time,’ Mona said.

  ‘I guess Bella’s so pretty someone’s going to want her soon,’ Hannah admitted.

  ‘And she needs a home that can manage her,’ said Mona. ‘I don’t want someone to adopt her again just because she’s cute.’

  Hannah walked slowly through the SMALL ANIMAL ROOM, and the rabbit and cat enclosures. A lop-eared bunny watched her as she went past. ‘Hi there, Willow!’ she said, sitting down at the end of his run. The rabbit was shy with strangers, but he’d been at the shelter for a month now and had decided Hannah was a friend. He hopped slowly over till his head was nearly against her leg.

  ‘Do you want a head massage?’ Hannah asked, stroking his long floppy ears and head. Willow had let her pat him before, but it was the first time he’d come right to her. Hannah moved very quietly and carefully; the rabbit’s dark-blue eyes had closed, and she didn’t want anything to disturb him now.

  But when Mona came to the door, Willow woke up from his trance. He hopped around Hannah until she stood up too.

  ‘He wants you to dance with him,’ Mona called.

  So Willow hopped around Hannah, twisting and kicking his heels in the air, and Hannah did her best to copy him. She laughed till her stomach ached.

  ‘Okay, Willow!’ she said when she could catch her breath again. ‘It looks like I’m going to talk about you at the Monday assembly!’

  CHAPTER 7

  im missed Sherlock the whole week he was at his mum’s. He missed his dad too, but it was almost too hard to think about his dad while he was with his mum and stepdad. They talked on the phone nearly every night, and Tim could tell his dad was working hard to sound happy, but he wasn’t a good actor. ‘I picked up a pizza on the way home,’ Matt said on Friday night, ‘with triple anchovies! Mmm, yum!’

  ‘Ick, yuck!’ said Tim, like he always did when his dad wanted anchovies on pizza.

  And they both knew that they didn’t care about the anchovies nearly as much as they did about eating the pizza together, because that was what they did on Friday nights. Sherlock usually had a taste too, when they each thought the other one wasn’t looking.

  Missing Sherlock was different. It was a simple kind of missing. Tim just wished he could put his arms around the dog’s warm, solid body.

  His mother didn’t like dogs. She was always cleaning everything in case the baby got sick, and she said dogs weren’t hygienic.

  Tim thought she was right. Sherlock did all the unhygienic dog things she complained about: he licked his own bottom, sniffed telephone poles where other dogs had peed, and ate disgusting bits of squashed food on the footpath.

  His mum never mentioned that dogs made the most revolting smells in the world, so Tim didn’t tell her that Sherlock was a champion at them. He and his dad just groaned, ‘Gross, Sherlock!’ and opened the windows when that happened.

  In fact, his mum didn’t ask at all about Sherlock. They talked about school, and soccer, and his friends. And Bentley.

  ‘Bentley’s so lucky to have a big brother like you!’ she said. She showed Tim pictures of when he was a baby. ‘See how much you two look alike! You’ll be great friends when he’s older.’

  Tim couldn’t really tell if he’d looked like his brother when he was a baby. They both had round pink faces sticking out of a blue-wrapped bundle. And right now, Bentley was just a baby who threw up every time he was fed and needed his nappies changed. He wasn’t any more hygienic than Sherlock – and he was a lot les
s fun.

  On Saturday afternoon, his stepdad looked after Bentley, and Tim and his mum went to the City Aquarium. They went on a glass-bottomed boat, and were given fish-feed pellets to throw in. Looking through the glass beneath their feet made it feel as if they were floating in the water with the hungry, brightly coloured fish, instead of riding on top.

  At the next tank, the guide chose Tim to ring a bell. Four giant stingrays swam to the surface to be fed. Tim and his mum learned how to hold the fish, sticking out through their fists, so that the stingrays could take them before flapping away on their great white wings. One of them spurted water back at them: Tim laughed, and his mum didn’t even complain that it wasn’t hygienic.

  When they’d seen nearly everything there was to be seen at the aquarium, they went out to lunch. Tim chose tacos, and they sat at a table all by themselves and his mum didn’t say anything when the chilli sauce dripped onto his clean jeans.

  On Sunday morning, it was just as hard saying goodbye to his mum as it had been saying goodbye to his dad the week before. Tim even felt a little bit sad about saying goodbye to Bentley.

  Sherlock came with Matt to meet Tim at the airport. He must have felt confused, because he had to stay in the car instead of coming in to work. So, when Tim got to the car Sherlock sniffed him all over, and then sniffed his backpack all over, as if to prove he could still do it.

  But he licked Tim’s face too, and sniffer dogs never do that when they’re working. He was very, very happy to have his boy home.

  ‘Almost as happy as me!’ Tim’s dad laughed, and hugged him hard.

  Tim hadn’t seen his dad smiling this much for a long time. ‘Are you getting another dog to work with?’ he asked.

  ‘Still waiting!’ said his dad. ‘There just aren’t enough trained dogs to go around right now.’

  ‘It’s too bad Sherlock can’t go to work with you sometimes.’

  Matt rubbed the beagle’s floppy ears. ‘This boy’s earned his retirement. And it’s good having him at home, isn’t it?’