Crumble and Custard and Other Puppy Tales
Page 7
Jack’s mum thanked the lady and turned to comfort him. “We’ll just keep on looking,” she said. “Lily can’t be very far away!”
Lily wandered further and further in her search for food. She didn’t recognise this street at all. She passed a house with a delicious smell of cooking coming from it and pushed her nose through the gate.
“Rarrghhh! Rarrrghhh!”
Lily leapt backwards in fright as a huge pair of snarling jaws appeared from nowhere. They belonged to an enormous black dog who loomed above her in a very scary way.
“Scram, pup! This is my patch!” he snapped.
Lily didn’t hang about. She turned tail, running and running, until she came to an alleyway lined with dustbins and big black bags. Food!
She started nosing around the bags. When she found one that smelled promising, she tore it open with her sharp white teeth.
Inside, she found a stale crust of bread and the remains of a hamburger, which she gulped down hungrily.
“You can tell this one hasn’t been on the streets for long!”
Lily turned to see a pair of scruffy mongrels staring at her. They looked a bit rough, but they were wagging their tails in a friendly way.
“Oh, pardon me,” woofed Lily politely. “Is this your patch?”
The two mongrels wagged their tails harder. “We don’t believe in that sort of thing,” said one. “We strays range far and wide! We hunt in groups and share everything.”
“So what’s your story, little one?” asked the other stray. “Have you been away from home long?”
Lily poured out the whole sorry story. The two mongrels listened, cocking their heads sympathetically.
“Don’t worry,” said one of them, when she’d finished. “You’re not alone any more. My name’s Sam and this is Shep. We’ll look after you. Come with us and we’ll find you a delicious meal!”
Lily followed her two new friends through a maze of narrow side streets and alleyways until they came to a courtyard full of dustbins. They smelled strongly of all sorts of delicious food.
“Here we are!” announced Sam proudly. “The back of Marcello’s restaurant. Best nosh in town!”
In no time, Sam and Shep had raided the dustbins and brought out a variety of tasty leftovers. There was steak and chicken, with crunchy biscuits for afters. They all tucked in greedily.
“Well!” woofed Sam, when they’d all had their fill. “I think it’s time to visit the dump and see if we can find anything interesting to chew on. It’s a great way to round off a good meal! Coming, Lily?”
“Well, I’d like to,” replied Lily politely, “but I really must keep on looking for Jack.”
The other two dogs looked disappointed. “Aren’t you going to join our gang?” asked Shep.
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather not,” said Lily. “But I’m very grateful to you both. I’ll never forget your kindness.”
Sam cocked his head at her. “It’s a great life on the streets, you know. Freedom, independence, adventure . . .”
“But I want to be with Jack,” Lily explained. “He means more to me than anything in the world.”
Lily trotted on until she came to a neighbourhood on the edge of town with wide, tree-lined roads. The houses were bigger than the one she had lived in with Jack. They had bigger gardens too. Lily could see fields and woods in the distance. But she was exhausted and sat down to rest.
“Oh, look at that little puppy. She must be lost!”
Lily looked up and saw a girl about the same age as Jack, with her parents.
The girl came towards Lily and held her hand out. “Come here, puppy,” she coaxed.
Lily shrank away at first but she was too tired to run any more, and these people looked very kind and nice. They reminded Lily of her own family. She let her tail give a tiny wag.
“What shall we do with her?” said the girl’s mother. She picked Lily up and inspected her collar. “There’s no name tag or telephone number,” she said.
“Can we keep her?” asked the girl excitedly.
“No, Sally,” said her father. “She must belong to someone. We’d better take her to the Dogs’ Home. They’ll look after her till her owners come and get her.”
Lily found herself being carried into the driveway of a nearby house and placed on Sally’s lap in the back seat of a big yellow car.
Sally began to stroke Lily, slow soothing strokes along her furry head and back. Lily began to feel sleepy. She gave Sally’s hand a lick then curled up, ready to have a snooze.
The car engine started up. Then suddenly, as the car pulled out of the driveway, Lily heard a familiar sound. It was the crunching noise of Mrs Harper’s car engine, coming round the corner.
Lily’s ears pricked and she sat up, wide awake again. She jumped off Sally’s lap and stood up on her hind legs to peer out of the back window.
There were Jack and his mum in the red car! Jack’s face was streaming with tears. They were pulling into the driveway next door!
Lily started to bark, but Jack couldn’t hear her. The yellow car was gathering speed now, taking her further and further away. She whined, then started to howl at the top of her voice.
“It’s all right, puppy,” said Sally, stroking Lily again. “Calm down. You needn’t be frightened of the car.”
“I’m not!” Lily barked back. “You don’t understand! I’ve finally found Jack and now you’re taking me away from him!”
Chapter Five
The blanket in Lily’s cage at the Dogs’ Home smelled funny, like the stuff Jack’s mum used to clean the kitchen. Lily circled round on the blanket a few times, then settled down. She was in a large, bright room full of other cages.
Lily had never seen so many dogs in her life. There were all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes, barking and whining in different voices. They had all looked up when she’d been brought in, then carried on making their din.
Lily’s heart felt sad and heavy. What if Jack didn’t come to find her? She’d never see him again! She sighed and settled down into a fretful sleep.
“Oh, Mrs Boyd, why did you have to leave me on my own!” whined a voice very close by.
Lily opened one eye and peered into the cage next to her. The spaniel sitting there looked very sad. “Hello, I’m Lily,” she woofed.
“I’m Charlie,” the spaniel replied.
“Who’s Mrs Boyd?” Lily asked.
“She was my owner,” whimpered Charlie. “We were very happy. But then she was taken to hospital and never came back. Her neighbour brought me here.”
Lily’s heart went out to Charlie. He was even worse off than her! At least Lily could hope that Jack would come and get her. “Perhaps someone will come along to give you a new home,” said Lily kindly.
“No they won’t,” replied Charlie sadly. “People only want puppies. I’m two years old!”
Lily decided to try and cheer Charlie up. She started telling him all about her big adventure on the streets, and all the dogs she had met, until his sad, brown eyes began to close in sleep . . .
By morning, the two dogs were firm friends, snuggled up on each side of the cage wall that separated them, fast asleep.
“Here she is! Lily, did you say her name was?”
At the sound of her name, Lily woke with a start and looked up. She blinked and looked again. She couldn’t believe her eyes! There, in front of her cage, was Jack! With Mrs Harper, and Sally, the girl who’d brought her here yesterday!
“Lily!” cried Jack. “I’m here! I’ve come to get you!”
Lily yelped with delight and sat up, wagging her tail so hard it became a blur.
A girl in a green uniform opened the cage and Lily leapt into Jack’s arms, licking his face all over. She wriggled so much he nearly dropped her.
Jack was crying and laughing all at the same time, and Mrs Harper looked a bit tearful too.
“There, Jack! I told you we’d find her!” she said in a rather wobbly voice, dabbing at her eyes
with a tissue.
“What an amazing coincidence, Lil!” said Jack. “Somehow you found our new street yesterday. And when Sally and her family came round to welcome us, they told us they’d just taken a lost puppy to the Dogs’ Home. It was you!”
Lily licked one of Jack’s ears happily. “Yes,” she woofed. “Amazing.”
“Come on then, Lil! Let’s go and show you our new home,” said Jack, putting her lead on.
Lily suddenly remembered Charlie. She looked over Jack’s shoulder to say goodbye to him.
“Bye, Charlie!” she barked. “Don’t give up hope!”
But Charlie was busy wagging his tail and snuffling away at Sally, who had crouched down beside his cage and was talking to him in a soppy voice.
Once Lily had seen her basket in the kitchen of the new house, the idea of living there didn’t seem so strange after all. Jack loved his new bedroom, and Sally had come round to play in their big new garden. She and her family lived next door.
Early one morning, a few days later, Lily was stopped in her tracks as she raced around the garden. She’d heard yapping in Sally’s garden. It sounded familiar.
She ran up to a hole in the fence and peered through. Her small black nose touched another, bigger, black nose. Lily recognised it instantly.
“Charlie!” Lily yelped in surprise. “What are you doing in Sally’s garden?”
“It’s my garden too, now,” Charlie woofed happily. “Thanks to you, I’ve found a new home!”
Charlie explained that when Sally had arrived back from visiting the Dogs’ Home, she’d told her mum all about the spaniel she’d made friends with. She’d persuaded her parents to go and see Charlie. They’d liked him too and had brought him home with them.
“That’s great!” yipped Lily happily. “Now I’ve got a friend next door, too!”
“Charlie, come on, let’s ask Mum if we can go next door and play with Jack and Lily,” said Sally’s voice from the other side of the fence.
“See you in a minute,” barked Charlie. He turned and ran over to his new owner, his long silky ears flapping.
Lily gave a little leap of joy then trotted off to find Jack. She was bursting with happiness.
Jack came running out to meet her. “Come on, Lil, race you to the rockery!”
“Wait a minute!” barked Lily, her tail wagging hard. “Our friends are coming round. We can all race together!”
‘Gus the Greedy Puppy’, ‘Spot the Sporty Puppy’ and ‘Lily the Lost Puppy’
first published 1999, and ‘Crumble and Custard’ first published 2001,
in four separate volumes by Macmillan Children’s Books
This bind-up edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
Created by Working Partners Limited
London WC2B 6XF
ISBN 978-1-5098-8942-6
Copyright © Working Partners Limited 1999, 2001
Illustrations for ‘Gus the Greedy Puppy’, ‘Spot the Sporty Puppy’ and ‘Lily the Lost Puppy’ copyright © Frank Rodgers 1999
Illustrations for ‘Crumble and Custard’ copyright © Susan Hellard 2001
Cover illustration by Simon Mendez
Jenny Dale’s Puppy Tales is a registered trademark owned by Working Partners Limited
The right of Frank Rodgers and Susan Hellard to be identified as the illustrators of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Typeset by Nigel Hazle
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