Rascal's Seaside Adventure

by Holly Webb

  Rascal loved it too, and he pottered around investigating the earthy garden smells. Then all at once he noticed a new smell – a cat smell! His tail started to wag excitedly. He hadn’t met that many cats, but there was something about them that simply made him want to give chase. There it was! A huge ginger tom cat was sitting on the stone bench on the other side of the little lawn, washing its paws.

  Rascal sprang across the grass, barking so loudly that Ellie put her hands over her ears. Then she spotted the cat too. “Oh, Rascal, no!” she gasped.

  “It’s that dratted cat from two doors down,” Grandpa said. “Nasty fat thing, it’s always pouncing on the birds on our feeders.”

  But Ellie wasn’t listening. She was chasing Rascal, who was chasing the cat – down off the bench, round behind the rose bushes, across the patio, and up on to the little wall that ran along the edge of the paving.

  At least, the cat went up on to the wall… Rascal scrabbled desperately with his front paws, and barked and barked, but it was no good, he couldn’t follow it up there. The cat gave him an insolent stare and jumped from the wall to the fence, and down into next-door’s garden.

  “Whatever is going on?” Gran came out of the kitchen door. “I could hear the barking all the way upstairs!”

  Just then, there was a big crash. Rascal had knocked over a pretty pot of flowers! Gran gasped, and Ellie put her hands over her mouth in horror. Grandpa’s beautiful flowers! Now he would be furious with Rascal too!

  “Oh, you bad dog!” Gran scolded.

  “No, no, it wasn’t the little pup’s fault,” Grandpa said, patting Rascal, who was standing with his tail between his legs. “It was that dratted ginger cat. Rascal was just doing what dogs do…”

  “Hmph,” Gran muttered. And Ellie was almost sure that as she turned away to go back into the house, she added, “I just wish he wasn’t doing it here!”

  “Never mind, Ellie.” Grandpa gave her a hug. “I was getting bored with those petunias anyway. I’ll nip down to the garden centre later and buy some new flowers.”

  Ellie managed a small smile, but inside she felt miserable. Gran was never going to like Rascal now!

  Ellie and Lila were sharing the little bedroom in the attic of Gran and Grandpa’s house, and the next morning Ellie was woken early by the bright sun shining in through the tiny window above her head.

  “Lila!” she whispered. Ellie was always careful with Lila in the mornings. If she growled, it would be best to leave her alone. But Lila just made a sleepy sort of sighing noise.

  “Lila, wake up, it’s really sunny. Do you want to take Rascal down to the beach?”

  “What time is it?” Lila groaned.

  “Um, seven.”

  “Elli-eeee! It’s the holidays!”

  “But it’s so sunny and lovely out! Look!” Ellie pulled open the curtains and peered out of the little window. “Oh, Lila, the sea’s all sparkly!” She went over and perched on the end of Lila’s bed. “Please, Lila! I want to take Rascal to the beach and make him run around for ages to wear him out. I’ve got to get him to behave better. What if Gran says she just can’t have him in the house for a whole week?We might have to go home!”

  Lila sat up. “She wouldn’t!”

  Ellie shook her head. “You didn’t see her after Rascal messed up the garden yesterday. He’s been nothing but trouble since we got here.”

  “OK. Just give me a minute to work out what I’m going to wear.”

  Ellie sighed. That meant at least twenty minutes. But Mum and Dad wouldn’t be too happy about her and Rascal going to the beach on their own. She needed someone – and Max was even worse to get out of bed in the morning.

  Lila was obviously worried about Gran and Rascal too, because she was ready fifteen minutes later, in her favourite pink denim shorts.

  The girls crept downstairs, and Ellie fed Rascal while Lila wrote a note for Mum and Dad. Then they set off down the road to the sea.

  A couple of old ladies stopped to admire Rascal, and he sat beautifully and let them stroke him. Ellie sighed as they walked away, talking about how lovely he was. If only he’d behave that nicely for Gran!

  “There’s people in the sea already!” Ellie said, as they reached the top of the steps.

  “It’ll be cold this early in the morning.” Lila shivered. “I might go in later though.”

  There was a sign attached to the railings. Ellie nudged Lila. “A sandcastle competition! That’s tomorrow, isn’t it?We should definitely do that. I’m sure Max will want to join in too – he loves competitions.”

  Lila nodded. ”It could be fun.”

  Rascal was pulling on his lead, wanting to get down on to the sand. “OK, OK!” Ellie laughed. “Come on then.” As soon as they got to the beach she let him off his lead, and he raced up and down, sniffing at all the interesting bits and pieces that the sea had left behind, and every so often digging a hole to bury the best things.

  Ellie looked at the water, trying to work out whether the tide was coming in or going out. “Be careful, Rascal,” she told him. “It’s coming in, I think.”

  Rascal wasn’t listening. He trotted along the tide line, his nose rooting among the clumps of seaweed, old bits of rope, and empty crab shells. Ellie followed him, looking for pretty shells – she was thinking of sticking them on to a photo frame, to give to Christy as part of her birthday present. Lila was a little way off down the beach, sitting on a big rock and enjoying the sun.

  Suddenly, Rascal gave a surprised sort of snuffle, and Ellie looked up. He was staring down at a pile of seaweed, his ears pricked up sharply, and his tail wagging.

  “What is it?” Ellie asked. “Oh, a crab! Is it still alive? You’d better leave it alone, Rascal.”

  Rascal leaned forward, nose to nose with the crab, his tail wagging faster and faster. It wriggled! And scuttled! He followed it along excitedly, and gave it a good sniff. Then he leaped back with a yelp as the crab nipped at his nose.

  “Rascal, are you all right?”

  Rascal was whimpering, and trying to paw at his sore nose. He kept edging backwards away from the crab, into the wetter sand just at the edge of the water.

  Ellie ran after him, but then she gasped as Rascal backed straight into the path of a wave. “Oh, watch out! Rascal, come here!”

  It was only a little wave, but Rascal was only a little dog, and it broke right over his head. He ran out of the water, squeaking with shock and shaking it out of his ears.

  “Oh, Rascal!” Ellie swept him up and hugged him, and Rascal shook himself in her arms, getting her all wet too. “I did try to warn you. Poor boy.”

  From the safety of Ellie’s arms, Rascal glared down at the water. He was now sure he didn’t like that stuff at all.

  Just as Ellie had thought, Max was keen to take part in the sandcastle competition, and they headed down to the beach the next morning armed with their buckets and spades.

  “What shall we make?” Max asked. “I know – a pirate ship! That would be great, I bet we’ll win if we do a pirate ship.”

  Lila shrugged. “Oh, fine then! I still think we ought to do a proper big castle. I’m off for a swim, anyway.” She stalked away.

  Ellie frowned. She had wondered about making a mermaid, but she knew what Max would have to say about that. She was pretty sure that the two red-haired boys with the little white Westie puppy that Rascal had barked at earlier were making a pirate ship. But Max was already drawing an outline in the sand with his spade, and it was too hot to argue. She started to dig, and Rascal scampered over to join in.

  “Don’t let Rascal do that, Ellie!” Max told her. “He’ll ruin it!”

  “He just likes digging,” Ellie explained. “I’ll try, though. Rascal! Come and dig here, look!” She started a hole for him with her spade, close to Mum and Dad’s rug. That way Mum could keep half an eye on him while she was reading her book. Rascal dug eagerly, scraping away at the sand with his paws, and Ellie went back to helping Max.

&
nbsp; Max had just sent Ellie off to look for sticks to be the masts, when Lila came dripping out of the sea, calling for her towel. “Ellie, can you pass it to me, I’m freezing!”

  “But it isn’t here…” Ellie looked around. “Did you take it down to the sea?”

  “No, I left it here.” Lila was standing by the rug now, dripping seawater on Mum. “Where’s it gone?” She frowned, suddenly staring at Rascal, who was sitting on the sand by the rug and looking like an angel dog. It always meant he’d done something wrong, and Ellie eyed him anxiously.

  “Oh no!” Lila wailed. “Look! He’s buried my towel, I can see the end sticking out!”

  Trying not to laugh, Ellie shooed Rascal out of the way and pulled up the sandy towel, trying to brush it off before she gave it to Lila.

  “Uuurgh,” Lila moaned, and Rascal yapped crossly. He’d just spent ages burying that! “Bad dog!” Lila snapped, leaning down and staring at him. “Naughty Rascal!”

  “Come on, Rascal! Let’s go and help Max,” Ellie said hurriedly, as Lila stomped off to get dressed.

  “What do you think, Ellie? It’s nearly finished.” Max looked down at their creation proudly. “I just want to add a few shells and things for the finishing touches. It isn’t long till the judging.”

  “It looks great.” Ellie crouched down to admire the piles of stones that Max had arranged to look like cannonballs next to his stick cannons.

  Rascal sniffed thoughtfully at the strips of seaweed that Max had laid around the edges of the ship like waves.

  Max looked up, and was just starting to say, “Don’t…” when the little Westie puppy wandered past, and sniffed the seaweed too.

  Rascal looked up, his ears bristling, and barked sharply.

  The Westie barked back, then decided that Rascal was bigger than he was, and ran back to his owners. But Rascal gave chase, hurtling after the little white puppy – straight through the middle of the almost-finished pirate ship.

  “I don’t believe it…” Max growled. “Just wait till I catch him!”

  “We can fix it,” Ellie said hopefully.

  “No we can’t, Ellie. Look at it! I’ll go and tell the lady in charge we aren’t entering any more.”

  “We could make something else quickly,” Lila suggested, coming to look.

  Max muttered something, and went to sulk on the rug.

  “We should still enter,” Lila said firmly. “Hey, what if we make a sand Rascal?”

  Ellie and Lila started to pile up the sand so it looked like Rascal lying down. They added stones for eyes and a nose, a flat strip of seaweed for a collar and a pink shell for his tongue.

  “That looks really good!” Dad said, coming over to see.

  “It just needs another something,” Lila said thoughtfully. “Where’s Rascal? I need to see the real thing!”

  Rascal scampered over to her and yapped happily, dropping one of Max’s stick masts at her feet.

  “That’s it!” Ellie yelped. “Rascal, can we have it? Good boy! Look, Lila.” She placed the stick carefully in front of the sand paws, as if Rascal was just lying down to chew at it.

  “Perfect!” A lady with a clipboard was standing by them, laughing. “You finished just in time, didn’t you? I like it, yes…” She made a scribble on her clipboard, and walked on to the sandy pyramid that some children had built nearby.

  Max came over and stood next to Ellie and Lila, looking gloomy. “I suppose it’s all right. It’ll never win though.”

  “Shhh!” Lila hushed him. “Look, she’s going to announce the winners.”

  “Third prize, the Larkin family.”

  “That’s those boys with the other pirate ship,” Max groaned. “I wonder what they won?”

  The second prize went to the pyramid, and then the lady with the clipboard announced, “And the first prize goes to the Thomas family, for their lovely sand dog!”

  “We won!” Ellie cried excitedly, and she and Lila went up to collect their prize.

  “It’s vouchers for the fish and chip shop,” the lady explained, handing Ellie the prize. “Enjoy them!”

  Lila and Ellie ran back to Mum and Dad. “Can we have fish and chips for lunch?” Ellie asked Mum. “It might cheer Max up,” she added in a whisper.

  “Fish and chips?” Max asked, breaking out of his sulk.

  The fish and chip shop was further along the beach, just at the top of the cliff. It had picnic tables outside, and it was already getting full. Mum went to order, and soon came back with huge plates, piled with delicious-looking fish and chips. “Well done, Ellie and Lila,” she said, smiling and lifting up a chip. “Mmmm!”

  “And Rascal,” Ellie pointed out. “We wouldn’t have won without our model. Can he have a chip, Mum?” Rascal was sitting up on his hind legs, waving his front paws in the air. People at the other tables were pointing him out and smiling. He did look so cute when he begged like that.

  “I suppose, just one…”

  Rascal gobbled it down, and sat there in the sun, while Ellie sneaked him a couple more. Chips were definitely his new favourite food…

  “Oh, look, it’s that horrible cat again!” Gran waved the dishcloth crossly, as she looked through the kitchen window, and Ellie, who was helping her wash up after breakfast, stood on tiptoe to look out too.

  “He’s going to pounce on that blackbird,” Ellie said, her voice squeaking with horror. She ran to the door. “Rascal, you stop him!”

  Rascal didn’t need asking twice. He shot out of the door as soon as Ellie opened it for him, and raced down the garden, barking. The blackbird fluttered away in surprise, never knowing the danger it had been in, and the cat hissed at Rascal, its tail fluffing up to three times its size.

  Ellie stared out of the door worriedly. The cat was bigger than Rascal and she hoped he wouldn’t get hurt. She winced as the cat lashed out with one paw – she could see the claws from here!

  But the scratch across his nose had Rascal jumping up and down and barking his head off, and the cat seemed to realize that now he meant business. It shot off up the fence, scrabbling and wobbling all the way to the top, then disappeared into next-door’s garden with a last angry hiss.

  Rascal barked at the fence for a little while, in case the cat was thinking of returning, and then trotted proudly back to the kitchen.

  Ellie watched him open-mouthed. “Rascal, you were so brave! Oh, Gran, look, that horrible cat scratched his nose.”

  “Nasty beast. Who’s a good boy then? Here, Rascal, you have this bit of leftover bacon.” Gran gently wiped Rascal’s scratch with a clean dishcloth, and Ellie beamed to herself.

  “I was thinking we might take a picnic lunch down to the cove,” Gran suggested. “I’ve got a special sponge cake tucked away in the cupboard and I’ll make up some sandwiches. It’s lovely for swimming there, and we’ve never taken you children. Just you and me and Max and Lila, so your mum and dad can have some time together. And your grandpa wants to get on with those new plants he’s bought. Shall we take this clever little dog with us, hmmm?” She patted Rascal on the head, and Ellie made a thumbs up sign at Rascal. He was finally winning Gran over!

  The cove was about a mile along the beach, but with the picnic and the rugs and all the swimming things to carry, it felt much further. Everyone was hot by the time they got there, and Gran pointed out that it would be best to swim while the tide was coming in, so they all ran into the sea, even Gran, leaving Rascal standing worriedly by the edge of the water.

  “Come on, come with us,” Ellie called, but he just ran up and down the shoreline, looking worried.

  “Some dogs just don’t like water, Ellie,” Gran told her.

  “He tried to drink it,” Ellie told Gran, as they swam a little further out. “And he got splashed by a wave the other day. I think he’s a bit scared of the sea now.”

  “Just don’t let him bury the towels again!” Lila called.

  “He won’t,” Ellie told her, looking back at Rascal. “He’s gone to s
it on the rug. He’s fine. Just sitting next to the picnic bag.”

  Gran looked round sharply. “Is he?”

  Ellie peered over at Rascal. “Yes. Um… I’d better go back and check on him…”

  There was something shiny hanging out of Rascal’s mouth. Something that looked awfully like the foil Gran had wrapped the sandwiches in.

  “Rascal! No!” Ellie half swam, half splashed her way out of the water, to find Rascal happily demolishing a whole packet of sandwiches. Ham … his favourite!

  And Gran was right behind her, looking furious.

  “Take him for a walk up the beach and get him out of Gran’s way,” Lila muttered. “You too, Max, go on.”

  Ellie slipped on her flip-flops and hustled Rascal away. Gran was checking the picnic bag to see if Rascal had eaten anything else.

  “Let’s go and look at those rocks over by the cliff.” Max pointed along the beach. “That’s far enough away to get Rascal out of Gran’s sight.”

  Ellie nodded. She clipped on Rascal’s lead and they hurried down the beach. The rocks were piled up against the cliff just at the edge of the bay.

  Even though they were only exploring to keep Rascal and Gran apart, Ellie soon found herself amazed at the little damp crevices between the rocks – full of shells, and different seaweeds, and tiny crabs that disappeared as soon as Rascal stuck his nose into their holes.

  “This is really cool,” Max said, clambering to the top of another big rock. “Oh, wow, look! There’s a cave!”

  They had been working their way towards the cliff face itself, and now Ellie saw that Max was right. It was a narrow little crevice, damp and dark, and she watched as Max climbed speedily over the rocks towards the entrance. “I’m not sure we should go in there,” she called nervously, but Max was already standing in the opening, not listening to her.