by Holly Webb
Mum pulled the lead a bit harder, and Fred lurched to his feet, padding unwillingly after her.
Anna started to cry, and Gran hugged her. Even Sunny came over to her and pressed comfortingly against her leg. She turned her face into Gran’s chest so she didn’t have to watch.
Fred could hear Anna crying as Mum pulled him across the field and he hated it. He knew that was a bad noise – that it meant something was wrong. He didn’t want Anna to sound like that, and he stopped suddenly, yanking at his lead so hard that he slipped his collar. He pulled even harder, dragging it over his ears, and then he was free.
Anna’s mum had been holding the lead tightly, but when Fred got free she lost her balance and half fell over. “Fred, no! Come back! Bad dog!”
Fred flattened his ears and looked at her worriedly. He’d done something wrong, he knew he had. But it couldn’t really be wrong, because he needed to go and help Anna. He laid his ears back apologetically, and then he turned and raced back across the field to get to her.
“Fred, get back here!” Anna’s dad yelled, dropping the bags and starting to chase after him. “No! Here!”
Fred flinched as he heard the shouting. He hated it when people shouted at him, and it seemed to have been happening all the time recently. Anna’s grandad kept being cross with him, and now Dad was as well. He darted through the gate and saw Anna, still standing on the boat, watching sadly.
“Fred!” She leaned towards him, but Grandad was there, too, looking annoyed – and Sunny.
Sunny barked at him and Fred stopped, looking uncertainly at Anna. Then he heard Dad pounding up behind him and he skittered sideways along the path, not sure what to do. As Dad reached out to grab at him, he shot away up the towpath, and darted under the fence and into the shadows of the wood.
“What happened?” Anna gasped. “Fred was off his lead, Dad!”
Her dad nodded grimly. “He slipped his collar.”
Mum hurried up to the gate. “You were right, Anna. He was upset about going without you.”
Dad sighed. “I’ll go and get him. Naughty thing!”
“Shall I come, too?” Anna suggested, putting her foot up on the side of the boat, ready to jump over to the bank.
Dad shook his head. “Better not. He’s in a bit of a tizzy, isn’t he? I don’t want him getting any more excited.”
Anna watched anxiously as Dad headed into the woods. Poor Fred. He really wouldn’t understand what was happening. He was probably hiding under a bush somewhere, feeling even more miserable than she was.
Anna wriggled free of Gran’s arms, and jumped out on to the bank. “I know Dad said to wait here, but I can’t!” she told Mum. “I won’t go into to the wood. I just want to see if Dad’s found him yet.” She was pretty sure that he hadn’t.
She could hear him calling for Fred, and he was sounding more and more worried every time. Anna shivered as she came into the shadows of the trees hanging over the fence. It was getting late, after nine now, and the sun had set. It was almost dark.
A sudden, horrible thought made her stop, just as she was about to lean over the fence and peer in to look for Dad and Fred.
What if they didn’t find him?
It was even darker in the wood, and Fred’s red coat would blend into the shadows. If he was upset and hiding, Dad just wouldn’t see him.
Anna gasped and climbed up on to the fence, trying to see through the dark trees.
“Anna!” Mum called. “Don’t climb over there.”
Anna twisted round to look at her. “Can’t I go and help look? Please? Fred will come if I call him, Mum. He’s scared, but he isn’t scared of me.”
“No, wait there.” Mum dropped the bags and came over to her. “Dad will find him. He’ll be back in a minute with Fred, I’m sure he will.”
But just then, Dad came hurrying back up the thin thread of a path, a worried expression on his face. “I can’t find him,” he said anxiously. “The silly dog’s gone racing off somewhere. I’m sorry, but I think we should all go and look and call for him. Have you got a torch?” he shouted across to Gran and Grandad.
Grandad nodded and went back into the boat. He returned with two big torches and handed one to Dad.
“My phone works as a torch as well,” Mum said. “We’d better split up, then we can look everywhere. Anna, come with me, OK?”
Anna nodded. She was too upset to say anything. Her beautiful Fred was lost, hiding somewhere in this horrible wood, all alone.
Fred huddled in a hole under the roots of a tree, watching the trees get darker and darker in front of him. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was, but he thought he could find his way back to the boat. He’d gone quite far, racing as fast as he could away from Sunny and all the angry people shouting at him. But he could always follow his own scent back the way he’d run.
He just wasn’t sure that he wanted to go back. Not yet, anyway. Dad had been trying to take him away from Anna, and he didn’t understand why.
Fred snuffled at the dusty leaf litter in the bottom of his hiding place. What else could he do? He didn’t want to stay here. It was getting dark and even though he could see quite well in the dim light, he didn’t like it much. He wanted to be sitting on his comfortable cushion, with Anna stroking his ears.
Fred’s ears twitched. There were footsteps coming down the path. He wriggled uncertainly and poked his nose out of the hole. Someone was calling for him! Fred was about to jump out and see who it was when he recognized the voice. It was Grandad, sounding worried and calling, “Here, Fred! Fred! Come on, boy!”
Fred listened and then he scrunched back up into his hiding place, making himself small. Grandad had been cross with him back on the boat, and Fred could hear the strain in his voice now, too.
He wouldn’t go back just yet. Not while people were still cross. He’d stay hidden a little while longer.
“But we can’t stop looking!” Anna stared up at them all in horror.
“It’s too dark,” Dad explained. “We can hardly see, even with the torches, sweetheart.”
“Someone could trip over. If you put your foot in a rabbit hole you could break an ankle,” Mum added, putting her hands on Anna’s shoulders.
“I know you want to find Fred, and I’m really sorry. But we just aren’t going to find him like this,” said Gran.
Anna shook her head, looking back out at the dark trees. “We can’t leave him out there all night. He’ll be scared!” She took the torch out of Dad’s hand, and started to flash it around the path again, calling for Fred. Her voice sounded hoarse and her throat hurt, she’d been shouting for so long. “There’s a noise!” she gasped, starting forward excitedly. “A rustling, can’t you hear it? It has to be Fred!”
But when the creature came out from between the trees, it stopped in surprise, instead of running to greet them. Anna’s torch flashed on to a pair of frightened, glowing eyes. She rushed to hug it, but the fox whisked away, its red bushy tail nothing like Fred’s beautiful feathers.
“It wasn’t him,” Anna whispered miserably.
“It was only a fox,” Gran nodded, as Anna sagged with disappointment, her shoulders drooping. “Anna, it’s so late, you’re exhausted. We’ve been searching for two hours now. You need to go to bed. We all do. Your mum and dad have still got to drive back.”
“But Fred…”
“I think he’s upset and he’s hiding,” Dad explained, hugging her. “We can start looking again tomorrow. We’ll get up really early and come straight here. I’ll just have to go into work late. Fred’s not used to the dark, is he? When it’s light he’ll feel better and come out. He’ll want to come back to us then.”
“I want him back now!” Anna sobbed. She hated the thought of Fred being too scared to come and find her.
“We all do,” Dad said, but Anna couldn’t help thinking he was only saying that. If he really wanted Fred back, they’d keep looking all night.
“Just one more look,” she begged, pulling away
. Then her feet seemed to wobble underneath her and everything went blurry. Someone grabbed her and she heard Mum’s voice. It seemed to be coming from a long way away.
“Anna, you’re asleep on your feet! Come on.”
Anna lay in her little bed, worrying. Even though she’d been almost asleep out in the wood, now she felt horribly awake. She kept putting her hand out to stroke Fred to make her feel better, and then she’d realize all over again that he wasn’t there.
The boat rocked a little, and she sat up, looking hopefully at the door. “Did you find him?” she gasped, as Gran and Grandad came in. She had been so upset when they took her back to the boat that Grandad had promised to go and have one last look if she would be sensible and get into bed.
“No, Anna, I’m sorry,” said Grandad. “But I was thinking – Irish Setters are good trackers, they were bred for hunting. I’m pretty sure Fred will find his own way back. We’ll probably see him sitting in the front of the boat, watching the ducks in the morning!”
“Or he’ll wake us up at four o’clock scratching at the door,” Gran put in, perching on the end of Anna’s bed.
“You really think so?” Anna sniffed.
Gran hesitated, just for a second, but Anna had felt it.
“What I think is that you need to get to sleep,” Gran said quickly. “If we do have to go looking for Fred tomorrow morning, you’ll want to be up early. We’re going to bed now, too.”
Anna listened to them fussing around getting ready for bed, and gradually everything grew quiet. But she still couldn’t sleep. If only Sunny and Fred had got on better, this would never have happened. But now poor Fred had been driven away.
Everyone had tried to tell her that it would be fine – that Fred would be back soon, or that they’d at least find him tomorrow morning. Anna wanted so much to believe that they were right, but she couldn’t help thinking about what might happen if they weren’t.
Where was Fred? What if he’d run all the way through the wood to the road? Mum and Anna had been through the wood and seen the cars roaring past…
Anna shivered. Surely Fred wouldn’t have gone out into the road, would he? He was used to walking in town, and they’d been careful to train him to stop and sit at the edge of the pavement. But what if he didn’t see what it was in the dark? It was a country road, with a grassy verge and no kerb. He might not realize it was a road at all.
Anna rolled over and buried her face in the pillow to try to stop herself crying. But she couldn’t hold back the tears seeping out of the corners of her eyes.
Fred could get run over. What would she do if she never saw him again?
Fred stuck his muzzle out of the gap under the tree roots and sniffed cautiously. He’d never been out this late before. He wriggled out of his hiding place and shook himself. His legs felt strange, cramped up and wobbly. He walked slowly around in a little circle, sniffing for the scent trail back to the boat. He was jittery and upset, and it seemed harder to find a scent than it usually was. But at last he found it and began to trot back through the wood.
He wriggled under the fence and came back out on to the canal bank. He could see the boat, looming up out of the canal like a darker patch of shadow. Fred slunk across the grass towards it, not sure what to do. The boat was quiet and all the lights were out. Everyone was asleep, perhaps. They might shout at him again if he woke them up. He went up closer, standing on the edge of the bank, his ears twitching as he tried to listen for Anna.
Quietly, carefully, he jumped into the deck well at the bow of the boat. He could stay here till the morning, he thought. And Anna would see him when she woke up. But then he heard a shifting, creaking noise from inside, and paws padded over towards the door.
He had forgotten about Sunny.
There was a low, uncertain growl from the other side of the door and Fred backed away miserably, bumping up against the side of the boat.
He jumped back on to the bank, his paws scrabbling a little against the damp, slippery grass, and padded away. He needed Anna, but he couldn’t get to her without going past Sunny first. He would have to wait until morning, he decided wearily. All of him ached after the hours curled up in that uncomfortable hole. And he was so tired.
Fred wandered along the bank, sniffing at the other two boats on the mooring. He couldn’t smell any dogs on either of them. Cautiously, he put his paws up on the side of the hull of the last boat and looked in at the stern well. There was a canvas awning folded up, and he jumped lightly down into the boat, wriggling under it and curling up, fidgeting to settle his aching paws.
Then, at last, he fell asleep.
Anna had strange, horrible dreams all night. She and Sunny and Fred went round and round in circles, chasing each other, and however hard Anna ran, she seemed to be standing still. In the worst dream, which seemed to keep coming back, she and Fred both had wings, and Anna was flapping and flapping and trying to catch up with him, but he was always too fast.
She woke up with a jolt, gasping for breath. The dream seemed so real that she expected her arms to ache. She stretched them out gingerly, but they felt just like they usually did.
“You’re awake, Anna!” Gran bustled over to her. “I was about to get you up.”
Anna blinked and then looked around, her fingers clenching on her bedcover. “He’s not back, is he?” she asked, her voice very small. She knew he wasn’t. He’d have been all over her by now, barking and licking.
Gran sighed. “No. No, he isn’t yet.”
“What time is it?” Anna asked, jumping out of bed and starting to pull on her clothes. It didn’t look like early morning – the sun was bright already, and Gran was dressed and making breakfast.
“It’s eight o’clock. Oh, I know you wanted to wake up early, Anna, but you were so tired, and you were up so late last night.”
Anna stared at her in horror. How could they have let her sleep for so long? “I have to go out and look for Fred!” she gasped, hopping her way into her jeans.
“Grandad’s been out for a while, searching the wood again,” her gran explained. “And your mum and dad will be here soon to help as well. They said they’d just go and walk along the road that runs by the back of the wood first.”
Anna nodded miserably. So it wasn’t just her worrying that Fred had gone further than the wood.
“We’ll have to move the boat this morning as well,” her gran said gently.
Anna yanked her sweater over her head and turned to look at Gran in horror. She’d forgotten that they couldn’t stay on the mooring. “We’ve still got to go?” she whispered. “We have to leave Fred behind?”
“We won’t go far, I promise. Just a little further up the canal. Grandad says he’s sure there’s somewhere we can stop and moor up, about a mile further on from here. Then we’ll hurry back.”
Anna nodded, but she felt like howling. Somehow it seemed like giving up on Fred, even though she knew they were coming back.
The boat shook a little as Grandad stepped back on board, and he came in through the saloon door.
Anna opened her mouth to ask, but Grandad shook his head. “No sign at the moment, Anna, sorry. But your mum called, saying they’ve parked over where they were last night. They’re going to walk along to the village and go into the shops to ask if anyone’s seen him.” He eyed Anna anxiously and added, “They printed out a few posters, too.”
“But Fred’s only been gone one night…” Anna said, shaking her head. “He’s not really lost, is he? We don’t need posters up!” Putting up posters made it feel all the more real.
Grandad shook his head. “I know what you mean, but if someone sees Fred and doesn’t realize he’s lost – if they just think he’s off the lead and they can’t see his owner, they won’t do anything, will they? People will know to be looking out for him if they see a poster.”
“I suppose so,” Anna murmured. She was glad Mum and Dad hadn’t come to the boat before they set off with the posters. She was pretty sure that a
LOST poster with Fred’s photo on it would have turned her into a wobbly, crying mess. And she’d be no use to Fred like that. She shook herself briskly and sniffed.
“If I take a piece of toast with me, can I go and look for him now? Just one more quick look before we have to move the boat? Please? I’ll be back soon.”
Gran and Grandad exchanged glances, but then Gran said, “If you’re careful. Stay on the path, Anna, though, won’t you?”
Anna nodded eagerly, snatching up the toast and heading for the door. Sunny thumped his tail against his basket as she went past, and Anna stopped to pat him quickly. She’d felt furious with him last night, while she was lying there worrying about Fred. But it wasn’t really his fault. He just liked things his own way, nice and quiet, without a big, bouncy puppy jumping all over him.
She leaped from the boat to the towpath, and headed back into the wood. It looked so different this morning, with sunlight pouring in through the gaps in the trees. It wasn’t the eerie, almost frightening place it had been the night before. There were birds singing, and as Anna hurried down the path, a tiny rabbit suddenly turned tail and disappeared into the bracken.
Anna’s mouth twitched into half a smile. Even though she felt awful, the rabbit’s surprised expression had been so funny. Then she stopped and looked around thoughtfully. Fred would have chased that rabbit, if he’d seen it. He would have jumped after it, barking so loudly that the rabbit and all of its friends and relations would be hiding in their burrows in seconds. That rabbit hopping calmly around on the path made Anna think that Fred wasn’t anywhere near.
