by Holly Webb
Evie thought it was strange that her house could feel so different, just because Alfie wasn’t there. She didn’t have a warm body curled on her toes at night. No cold nose was resting on her knee at mealtimes, hoping for scraps. Only Mum and Sam met her from school, and she and Dad didn’t go for walks any more. Alfie going had changed everything.
She tried to explain to Gran when she went round after school on Wednesday.
“I never really thought how nice it was having Alfie to play with when Mum was busy. She’s got so much to do with feeding Sam, and everything. But I had Alfie, and it was OK. I really miss him, Gran.” She stared into her juice, and Tigger pushed his head into her lap, sensing that she was unhappy. “Yeah, you miss him too, don’t you, Tigger?”
“I should think your parents miss Alfie as well, you know,” Gran said.
Evie nodded miserably. “I think Dad does. I caught him in the hall yesterday with Alfie’s lead. He looked really confused, and he muttered something about having forgotten. We sometimes used to take Alfie for walks after tea.”
“Why don’t you talk to them about it? You might have made the wrong decision.” Gran looked thoughtfully at Evie, wondering what she’d say.
Evie stroked Tigger. Then she looked up, and her face was so sad that Gran caught her breath. “I shouldn’t ever have let him go, Gran!” She got up to put on her coat. “I miss Alfie so much.”
Gran nodded firmly. “I definitely think you should talk to them.” She watched Evie walking slowly down the path, and then looked down at Ben and Tigger. They stared back at her encouragingly. “Mmm. Yes, I think you’re right,” Gran muttered to herself.
A couple of times during the week, Evie thought about what Gran had said, but there didn’t seem any point in talking to Mum and Dad about Alfie. It would just make everything worse when they said no, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to change their minds. Then on Saturday morning she wandered into the kitchen, and found her mum staring at something on the table, with a funny look on her face.
“What’s the matter?” Evie leaned over to see what she was looking at, and saw that her mum was holding a photo of Alfie.
“Oh! Evie, I didn’t hear you come in.” Mum quickly put the photo back on the window sill, but Evie was staring at her.
“You miss him too, don’t you?” she asked, her voice suddenly full of hope. “Gran said you did, but I didn’t believe her.” Then her shoulders slumped. “But I suppose it doesn’t make any difference.” She looked over at Sam, who was sitting in his bouncy chair staring in wonder at his toes. She still adored her baby brother, but she couldn’t help thinking that it was his fault.
Mum looked too. “Maybe.” Then her voice changed. “Maybe not, Evie. Perhaps we were being too hard on him.”
“Who?” Dad walked in with the newspaper. “Got you some chocolate, Evie,” he added, throwing her a bar.
Evie caught it automatically, but didn’t even look to see what sort it was. “Dad, Mum thinks maybe we shouldn’t have taken Alfie to Riverside!”
Her dad sat down at the table slowly, looking back and forth between them. “Really?” he said thoughtfully.
Mum sat down too. “Come on. Tell me you haven’t missed him.”
“But that’s not the point!We weren’t able to look after him properly. And what about Sam? Think back to this time last week!”
“I think we overreacted. We panicked – we were all tired, and we made a snap decision. I don’t think it was a good one.” Mum reached out for his hand. “Alfie was such fun to have around. Do you really think he would have harmed Sam?”
Evie watched hopefully, holding her breath as Dad shook his head. “To be honest, I think watching Alfie cheered the little guy up sometimes,” he said.
They looked over at Sam, who stared back seriously, and said, “Ooooo,” in a meaningful way, waving his foot.
“And I really missed taking him to the paper shop this morning,” Dad added. “You know, I never came out of the shop and found Alfie on his own – he was always being fussed over by someone. Everyone loved him.”
Evie took a deep breath. “So can we go and get him back?” she asked, twisting her fingers together anxiously.
Dad looked serious. “It wasn’t just about Sam though, Evie. We’d need to look after Alfie better.” He exchanged a glance with Mum. “We need to think this through.”
Mum nodded. “Evie, could you do me a big favour and change Sam’s nappy?”
“Now?” Evie sounded disbelieving.
“Yes, now.” Mum smiled at her. “Your dad and I need to talk. And Sam could do with a nappy change.”
Evie picked Sam up, making a face, and carried him upstairs.
When Evie got back, Mum and Dad were looking at the photo of Alfie again. “Have you decided?” Evie asked hopefully, cuddling Sam close.
“Do you think we can all be better owners for Alfie this time round?” Dad asked.
“Yes! And Gran would help!” Evie reminded him. “She said she would. I could take him out for walks with her and Ben and Tigger.”
“No getting grumpy with Alfie just because Sam’s made us tired.”
“No! I promise. Pleeeaaase! Can we have him back?”
Dad grinned at her. “OK. Let’s go and get Alfie!”
Evie and her parents were talking excitedly in the car about how great it would be to have Alfie back, when Dad suddenly stopped in the middle of his favourite story about Alfie trying to catch a pigeon.
“I’ve just thought,” he said quietly. “It’s possible someone else has already given Alfie a new home. He’s been at Riverside a week – and he’s such a beautiful dog. Evie, I don’t want to upset you, but it’s possible Alfie’s gone.”
Evie gulped. “Can you drive faster?”
Evie and her dad jumped out of the car as soon as they got to the dogs’ home, while Mum wrestled with Sam and the pushchair. “You go!” she said, waving them on.
They dashed into Reception, and Dad explained why they had come back, while Evie hopped up and down impatiently. The girl at the desk was taking so long to bring up Alfie’s file on the computer. At last Evie couldn’t stand it. She slipped through the big double door that led to the dogs’ runs. She had to tell Alfie he was coming home!
But Alfie wasn’t there.
Chapter Eight
“And they wouldn’t tell you who’d taken him?” Mum asked indignantly.
“Well, no. I can see why not. We gave Alfie up. It wouldn’t be fair on his new owners if we could just storm round and take him back,” Dad pointed out.
Mum sighed. “I suppose not. But it seems so unfair.”
“Can we not talk about it?” came a small voice from the backseat. Evie was sadly dangling a toy in front of Sam’s car seat, and he was giggling, the only member of the family feeling cheerful.
“Sorry, Evie. You’re right, it’s not going to change anything. At least we’re going to Gran’s for tea – that’ll make us feel better. I’ll bet she’s made a cake.”
Evie stared at the car ceiling, concentrating on not snapping at her parents. They were only trying to be nice – but honestly, a cake? That was supposed to make it all right that she’d just lost her gorgeous dog for ever? Evie sniffed hard. She didn’t want to start crying again, she’d only just managed to stop, and her eyes were hurting. She adored Gran, but she wished they weren’t going to her house today. Gran would never have let anything like this happen to Ben or Tigger, and seeing them was just going to make Evie miss Alfie more.
He’ll be with a lovely family, she told herself firmly. He’ll be having a great time. The Riverside people wouldn’t give him to anyone who wouldn’t look after him. Someone like us, she couldn’t help adding.
Evie had never noticed how many dogs lived in the few streets between her house and Gran’s, but that afternoon they seemed to be everywhere. As they turned the corner into Gran’s road, she could hear excited yapping, and something tugged in her stomach. It sounded just
like Alfie. But it was only Ben and Tigger, playing in the front garden. Gran let them out there sometimes for a change.
Dad put his arm round Evie’s shoulders. “You can still come and play with these two, you know,” he said sympathetically.
Evie nodded. But it wasn’t the same as having her own dog. Although she’d never noticed before how much Ben sounded like Alfie. It was weird that he had that same squeaky bark. Actually, he probably didn’t – she was just going to imagine Alfie everywhere for a while. I wonder how long that will last? Evie thought to herself miserably. Ages, I suppose. She leaned over the gate to undo the latch and the dogs bounded over to say hello.
All three of them.
“Alfie!” Evie gasped, finally realizing that the squeaky bark sounded like Alfie because it was Alfie. It was Alfie jumping twice his own height to try to get over the gate to greet her. “Alfie!” She fought with the latch, but she was crying so much that Dad had to open it for her. Alfie shot into her arms and tried to lick her all over, his woofs getting squeakier than ever with excitement.
You came back! You came back! he was saying delightedly, if Evie could have understood him.
“I don’t understand,” Evie said dazedly, as they sat round the tea-table. Mum had been right, there was a gorgeous-looking cake, although at the moment only Alfie seemed interested in it. He was perched on Evie’s knee, gradually easing himself closer and closer to one of the delicious chocolatey bits.
Gran smiled. “Well, after I talked to you, Evie, I changed my mind. I hadn’t thought you were ready to have a dog – it’s such a huge responsibility. But then with Alfie gone, you seemed so sad. And I love Alfie too. I decided that even if you didn’t feel you could have him back right now, with Sam so little, then I would keep him myself and you could visit him. Ben and Tigger like having a bouncy young dog to cheer them up.” She looked over at her dogs, who were slumped exhaustedly on their cushions. Tigger seemed to have his paws over his eyes. “Mmmm. Well, the extra exercise is good for them.”
“We can take him home, can’t we? He can live with us, like Gran said. And Gran can help us out if we’re having a problem?” Evie asked her parents anxiously.
“Definitely!” said her dad. “Alfie’s part of the family. Aren’t you, boy?” Then he laughed. “And Sam thinks so too.”
Sam was sitting on Mum’s lap, next to Evie and Alfie. He was leaning over towards Alfie, his fingers clumsily batting at Alfie’s shiny collar tag, so that it jingled and flashed in the sun. Sam gurgled happily, enjoying his game. Alfie shook his ears and snorted gently, edging slightly closer on Evie’s knee so Sam could reach.
Evie smiled down at him, hugging him tightly. Alfie knew that he was home for good.
Other titles by Holly Webb:
Lost in the Snow
Lost in the Storm
Alfie all Alone
Sam the Stolen Puppy
Max the Missing Puppy
Sky the Unwanted Kitten
Timmy in Trouble
Ginger the Stray Kitten
Harry the Homeless Puppy
Buttons the Runaway Puppy
Alone in the Night
Ellie the Homesick Puppy
Jess the Lonely Puppy
Misty the Abandoned Kitten
Oscar’s Lonely Christmas
Lucy the Poorly Puppy
Smudge the Stolen Kitten
The Rescued Puppy
The Kitten Nobody Wanted
The Lost Puppy
The Frightened Kitten
Copyright
STRIPES PUBLISHING
An imprint of Little Tiger Press
1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2007
Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2007
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2012.
eISBN: 978–1–84715–262–6
The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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