Saving Maya

by Janetta Harvey

  Saving

  Maya

  Janetta Harvey

  Illustrated by Annabel Wilson

  Copyright © 2016 Janetta Harvey

  Illustrations Copyright © 2016 Annabel Wilson

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, eventsand incidents are either the products of the author’s imaginationor used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons,living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Matador®

  9 Priory Business Park,

  Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp,

  Leicestershire. LE8 0RX

  Tel: 0116 279 2299

  Email: books@troubador.co.uk

  Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador

  Twitter: @matadorbooks

  ISBN 9781785897153

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

  For Susie-Belle, Juno and Harley.

  And dad, who told me to go and get that book written, so I did.

  About the Author

  Janetta Harvey has written two books for adults on living with her dogs rescued from horrible backgrounds. She’s a campaigner against puppy farming and the international puppy trade and promotes the adoption of animals.

  Annabel Wilson is a primary school teacher and artist. She uses art to promote awareness of the issues involved in puppy farming and pet rescue.

  Also by Janetta Harvey

  FOR ADULTS

  Saving Susie-Belle

  Saving One More

  Contents

  About the Author

  Also by Janetta Harvey

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  Acknowledgements

  1

  Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will.

  E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

  It was the morning of Willow’s first birthday. She woke up, lifted her nose and knew it was going to be a good day. Stepping out of bed, she gave herself a long, slow stretch as she moved across the carpet, and with her wet, black nose high in the air, took in a deep sniff and smelled food. Special party food. The air in the bedroom was rich with the scrumptious smell of freshly cooked biscuits and goodies from yesterday’s baking. It had wafted all the way up through the house overnight, deliciously settling into all corners of each room.

  As Willow remembered Patsy, busy all yesterday afternoon, mixing and baking, making all kinds of tasty things for today’s party, her tummy turned over with happiness, or perhaps it was hunger? Either way, yesterday had been a happy day: the radio had played Patsy’s favourite songs and more than once she’d done a little dance and jiggle, smiling over at Willow who’d sat on her soft red cushion, watching from the corner of the sunny kitchen. Willow was happy when Patsy was happy, and both were always happy on baking days. As the afternoon had gone on, Willow knew that if she waited patiently in her bed, Patsy would soon call her over for a taste of the best, her absolute favourite, sardine paste cake topping. She always did.

  Willow trusted Patsy not to forget, but just to make sure, as she’d watched Patsy clearing the bowls, she’d given a quiet, soft, woofetty-woof and gentle twitch of her fluffy tail. Patsy stopped what she’d been doing, pushed a long, curly strand of her red hair back from her face and smiling at Willow, had picked up a sticky spoon and called her over. Bouncing across the kitchen floor, tail wagging, skidding to a halt at Patsy’s feet, Willow had tipped her grey head back, her bushy white eyebrows twitching with excitement as she’d waited for the bowl. Patsy bent down to Willow’s level, she was only a small dog, and held the bowl close to Willow’s face. Happily licking the bowl, pink tongue flicking up and down the inside of the bowl, and getting plenty in her thick white beard with her eager slurping, as soon as the bowl was clean she’d looked longingly at the cake which sat cooling on the rack.

  “No, you cheeky girl, you’ll have to wait for a taste of that,” Patsy had smiled, tickling Willow’s chin, trying to avoid the sticky blobs in her mucky, now brown-tinged, fishy-smelling beard.

  As her mind worked its way back through yesterday’s luscious baking marathon, Willow felt peckish and as if to remind her of its emptiness, her tummy grumbled, awaiting its first delight of the day. There was plenty ahead, as Patsy had arranged a birthday celebration with Willow’s doggy friends in Kettlecroft Park later, where the cake and other goodies would be shared. Charlie, Alfie, Kai, Ollie, sisters Sookie and Sara, Daisy-Mae and Darcie were all going to be there. These were Willow’s best friends, not counting Patsy, who was her very best friend, but as she wasn’t a dog she fell into a different friend category.

  Of all her friends, Charlie was the eldest of the Kettlecroft Park gang, an old, slow dog who liked nothing better than snoozing on his bed once the park had been visited each morning. Apart from Charlie, and Sara who was also getting on a bit in age, most of Willow’s friends loved chasing, which was her favourite game. Ollie was the fastest and no-one could catch him but they all liked to try. He was also obsessed with crows. Willow heard it said by the humans who knew him, that it was the terrier in Ollie that fuelled his crow-obsession.

  Then there was Alfie, a bigger, lumbering dog usually found with his pal, Kai, busy rough and tumbling together. Sara’s younger sister Sookie, was almost as fast as Ollie. She was a short-legged but quick-running black and white terrier cross, a bit smaller than Willow, who loved nothing better than a wild game of chase.

  Each morning, if Willow had arrived first, when she spotted Sookie across the park coming in, she lay flat on her belly, keeping her head low with eyes fixed as Sookie lifted her nose, catching the smells wafting on the fresh morning air. Then, the second she caught Willow’s sweet odour, her eyes began searching, her tail wag getting faster as she started moving towards the spot where she thought Willow was. As soon as she was spotted by Sookie, Willow stood up, tail wagging hard and they both rushed across the grass. Racing headlong towards one another, just when they looked like they might collide…

  … WHOOOSH!

  Sookie took a swerve to the left and Willow to the right, and they ran in a circle back to face each other, tails wagging hard and happy… and off they would chase again, hurtling around the park. Every morning was the same. They loved their simple, energetic game.

  All this awaited Willow later on, and she was eager to get to Kettlecroft Park to share her cake and Patsy’s baking with her friends, as well as a romp and chase. But, first she needed to wake up Patsy so her birthday could start. Standing on her back legs, her front paws
gripping the crisp, white duvet she peered over the edge of the big bed. Just within her reach, if she stretched a little white paw forward, was Patsy’s sleeping face, hidden underneath the blanket of her curly red hair. Willow shifted her feet to bring herself closer to the bed, stretched her left paw as far forward as she could, and smacked Patsy’s nose.

  “Ouch!” Patsy was startled awake. “Morning cheeky,” she yawned, rubbing her nose and moving back from the edge of the bed. “I guess it’s time to wake up?” she said, on the end of a big yawn, running one hand through her messy mop of hair.

  “Come on then, up you come,” she patted the bed inviting Willow up for their morning cuddle.

  This was one of Willow’s favourite things in the world, squeezing into Patsy’s arms for long, cosy snuggles. It reminded Willow of being with her mum, before she came to live with Patsy. With her mum, when she wasn’t playing with her brothers and sisters, they’d all nestle together in their bed, pushing in close and snuggly. She had three grey and white sisters and two black brothers, and for the first eight weeks after they were born, they’d all lived with a kind human family, of mum, dad and two sisters.

  Willow remembered Abbey and Emily each morning, the sisters taking turns to pick her up, stroking her and whispering into her floppy grey ears how much they loved her. It had made her feel all soft and squishy inside. But on some days, Emily would add, “We love you but we can’t keep you forever.” This had always worried Willow: if they weren’t keeping her, where was she going?

  But she needn’t have worried, for the day came when Patsy turned up at the house for the first time. With Abbey and Emily holding in their small, caring hands Willow’s sisters, softly stroking the tops of the puppies’ heads and down along their backs, their mum handed Willow to Patsy. Willow remembered the first thing she noticed was Patsy’s new, interesting smell, and Willow wanted to check it out more, to fill her tiny black nose with the strange aroma. She’d nuzzled into the green softness of Patsy’s scarf to reach the bare skin of her neck to get a deeper sniff. It was such a delicious smell, it reached deep down into Willow’s body and a feeling of warm sweetness filled her. She was so happy, she wriggled herself away from Patsy’s neck to give her face a big, drippy, wet lick with her pink tongue.

  “Oh, you little darling,” Patsy had giggled as she’d given Willow’s chin a gentle rub and tickle.

  After a few more minutes cuddling Willow, Patsy put her carefully back with her mum and brothers. Willow playfully tugged on her brother’s ears while their mum kept careful watch over her babies playing. Patsy then gave each of Willow’s sisters a cuddle before sitting down with Willow’s human mum to talk. They had talked and talked, it seemed to go on forever, questions flying between the two women, back and forth, so many questions, a lot of details needed talking about. It seemed to Willow that whatever was happening was important to everyone. One question was followed by another. After all the questions had been asked and answered on both sides, Patsy had one last cuddle of Willow, who loved all the attention, before leaving and saying she’d be back to see her.

  After Patsy’s first visit, she came again to see Willow, and then, on the third time, she brought with her a small soft, comfy crate. Abbey had put Willow’s pink blanket in the crate and Emily slotted in one of the soft toys that Willow liked playing with. This had puzzled Willow, but she was pleased to see Patsy again, who had smiled and chatted a lot to the girls, who were not their usual bubbly selves, but quiet and subdued.

  Then, as if she needed to do it before she had time to think more about her actions, Abbey had suddenly picked Willow up, given her a big cuddle, and squashing her face into Willow’s neck had said, “Now you be a good girl Willow, Patsy’s going to love you very much. She’s promised us she’s going to take great care of you.”

  Emily took Willow in her arms, a big fat tear running down one cheek, “Willow we love you loads, but Patsy’s going to be your family now, and she’s going to make sure you have everything you need,” Emily sniffed onto the top of Willow’s head as she handed her to Patsy.

  Taking Willow into her arms, Patsy had given everyone a rueful smile, popped Willow into her soft crate and off they headed to start their new life together.

  All that had been almost a year ago, and yet it seemed like yesterday to Willow.

  “We’ve had a great first year together haven’t we?” Patsy seemed to read her mind as her long fingers stroked Willow’s ears. “Here’s to many more,” she said as she brushed her lips across the top of her furry friend’s head.

  2

  If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

  J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

  “Morning birthday girl,” Patsy’s friend Tom called, as he came through the back door into the sunny kitchen. “Go on then, take your pick,” he grinned, his blue eyes twinkling as he put a large box full of presents on the floor in front of Willow, who was excited to see him any day of the week, but on her birthday was super ditsy. She bounced about under his feet, dashing between the box and him as he bent down and gave her face and ears a vigorous rub, making her snuffle and snort with excitement. She loved Tom, he was always fun, and keen to play a game with her.

  As Tom straightened himself up, Willow’s interest turned to the box: it smelled good enough to eat, and she tore into it, shredding it away from the treasure trove of presents it contained. This was a lot of fun. One by one, Willow picked out a package, getting more excited as she worked her way through them all. She tore off layers of red and white polka dot wrapping paper, revealing soft toys, including an octopus, a squirrel, a squeaky ball and a big squashy rubber duck and there, at the bottom, a huge delicious smelling bag of tasty, chewy treats.

  “Oh no you don’t, you can have those later,” Patsy smiled, swiftly taking the bag from Willow’s mouth, placing it high up on a shelf beside a pile of plates, out of Willow’s reach. Willow was mighty confused. Why couldn’t she eat the lot right now? It was her birthday, it was her present, and she was a pretty peckish. But, no point pondering the oddities of humans, not when there was a pile of new things to enjoy and she turned back to her heap of gifts. The fun was only just starting as she dug into the mound of toys that had been covered in thick sheets of crinkly, crackly paper. In fact, shredding the paper and racing around the kitchen with scraps in her mouth was almost as much fun as reaching the toys hidden inside.

  “I think she likes that one,” Tom laughed, as Willow grabbed the fluffy, soft squirrel, chomping on it to make it squeal and squeak. She flipped it over her head, getting more and more excited as she spun around, grabbing it up again in her mouth before flipping it over her back once more, and this time it landed in the centre of the huge pile of torn wrapping paper. The excitement continued as she couldn’t decide whether to play with the squirrel, or the paper, and she dug her furry face deeper into the slippery paper trying to get hold of the disappearing squirrel. It was all a lot of fun.

  As she bounced between Patsy and Tom sitting at the table, and back to her bed with the squirrel clamped firmly in her mouth, she realised it gave out a louder squeak if she got the squeeze in her teeth just in the right position. Just to be certain that it was more fun than the paper, Willow grabbed a mouthful of shredded paper and jumped up onto the window seat and back down onto the kitchen mat, trailing red and white paper shreds behind her before settling on her bed with the squirrel.

  “You funny little thing,” Patsy laughed, handing Tom a cup of tea and slice of buttered toast.

  “Reckon I could’ve just wrapped up a ball of newspaper and she’d have been perfectly happy,” Tom smiled at Willow who right then, was burying the squirrel under the piles of torn wrapping paper she had dragged into her bed.

  “She’s a happy dog, she really is,” Patsy replied.

  “Any more thoughts on getting her a sister?” Tom asked a
nd Willow’s ears pricked up, her head tilted first to the left, then over to the right so she could better hear this interesting chat. A sister? For her? This sounded good. Her friends Sara and Sookie were sisters and they had so much fun together. Imagine waking up and having a friend to hang out with straight away each day, no need to wait to meet up in Kettlecroft Park. Yes, a sister sounded a jolly good idea.

  “Well I’ve been looking,” Patsy said, her smile fading. “I’ve decided not to buy another puppy, there are just so many dogs who need homes, who people don’t want any more and it breaks my heart.”

  Willow’s eyes opened wider as her head tilted back the other way, she never liked to see Patsy not happy and right then, Patsy seemed a little sad.

  “It’s really horrible how many dogs get given away every year, I honestly can’t think of buying another puppy when I know there must be a perfect dog just waiting for me to find her and bring her here to live with us,” Patsy said, looking down at Willow who sat listening hard.

  “Really? You sure about this?” Tom frowned. “Wouldn’t a puppy be a lot easier than getting a rescue dog you know nothing about?” he asked.

  “Well, not really, a puppy takes a lot of work, and a dog that’s been rehomed can be perfectly easy to live with. They often just need a second chance, there’s not always a problem with them,” Patsy replied, pushing her long curly hair back from her face. “Yep, my mind’s made up. I’ve spent hours looking into it and there’s no need at all for me to buy a puppy. There are loads of good dogs in rescue centres… puppies even, if I want one, but I don’t think I do.”

  Patsy patted her knees and Willow crossed the tiled floor to sit in front of her, tail wagging, happier as Patsy seemed happy once again. She tipped her chin forward just a little so it rested on Patsy’s lap, her dark brown, almost black eyes looking up adoringly at Patsy who smiled and gave the furry grey top of her head a soft kiss. This all sounded excellent to Willow. If she understood Patsy and Tom right, and she was pretty sure she did, a new friend, a sister was going to come and live with her and Patsy. This was the best birthday surprise yet.