by Holly Webb
He’d been a bit worried there would be lots of visitors looking at the dogs because it was a weekend – he didn’t want a load of strangers hearing him reading. But when he asked, Mattie explained that they tried to encourage people to look at the dogs online first.
“It’s upsetting for the dogs sometimes, having lots of people walking up and down and pointing at them,” she told him as they hung up their coats in the little staffroom.
“If they look at the dogs online, we can bring the ones they want to meet to the visitors’ room, so they can get to know them.”
Lucy and Adrian and Mattie were busy showing dogs and cats to people hoping to adopt, and whenever they had a spare minute they were working out a plan for a fundraising event at the shopping centre close to Jack’s school. So no one noticed that when Jack had finished washing up the dogs’ water bowls, he hurried round to Daisy’s pen. Her tail was sticking out again, but he was sure the lump under the dog bed looked bigger. She was growing.
“I’ve got a new book,” he explained, waving it at the wire front of the pen. “You probably don’t know what sharks are, but they’re interesting. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years – I never knew that till I got this book.”
He settled down next to the pen and opened up the page about great whites. He started to read, glancing sideways hopefully every so often to see if Daisy was listening.
It took a little while, but by the time Jack was reading about shark attacks – there were only between five and ten attacks on humans every year, which he was surprised about – Daisy had poked her head out from under the bed to listen. When he had read the last of the photo captions on that page, Jack risked looking over at her.
“Hey…” he whispered. The puppy was peering at him, with her nose resting on her paws. When he spoke to her, he was sure he saw the dog bed bounce a little. Was she actually wagging her tail? He didn’t want to put her off, so he quickly went back to reading out loud.
When Jack got to the end of the page, Daisy was sitting by the wire, watching him.
“Are you sure?” Amarah asked, looking up at Jack as he leaned over the fence between their gardens.
“Ummm. I think I’m sure. She didn’t come out for Mattie or any of the staff at the shelter. I think she likes being read to. We’re going over to the shelter in a minute, so you could come and see if she’ll do it for you too? Mattie won’t mind and Lucy will be OK if we take a note from your mum. We can help Mattie wash up bowls or do something else useful first.”
Amarah nodded. “I’ll go and see if it’s OK.” She raced off, but was back in a couple of minutes. “She said yes! Shall I climb over the fence?” Both gardens had benches in just the right place to make it easy to do. “Mum! I’m going now!” She hopped up on to the back of the bench and swung one leg over.
“I’ll tell Mattie.” Jack dashed into the house.
“Amarah wants to come too?” Mattie stared at him in surprise when he explained. “Why?”
“Because I told her all about Daisy and she wants to see her. We’ll both help.”
“Um, OK. But you have to be careful,” Mattie said, smiling at Amarah as she came in through the back door. “Daisy’s so shy, Amarah. We can’t scare her. Though actually I noticed she was a bit braver yesterday when I took her dinner in. She looked at me! I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it is.”
Jack exchanged a hopeful glance with Amarah. It really sounded as if his reading was making Daisy feel better.
At the shelter, Lucy let them help groom two long-haired cats, and play with the black and white kittens that Jack had seen before. After that, though, they managed to hurry round to Daisy’s pen before someone could give them another job to do.
The puppy was curled up on her side, but only half tucked under her bed this time – as though she wanted to be close enough to roll back underneath, just in case. She watched cautiously as Jack and Amarah approached her. Then instead of hiding away, she wriggled up on to her paws and came to stand by the wire.
“She never did that before!” Jack whispered.
“You’d better read to her,” Amarah breathed. “She almost looks like she’s waiting for you to start.”
Jack sat on the floor and started to read the page in his book about sawfish. A couple of sentences in, Daisy sat down by the wire front of the pen and yawned.
“She definitely likes it,” Amarah whispered and Jack nodded to her. It was almost relaxing, reading with Daisy listening. He’d been a bit worried that Amarah being there would make him feel awkward, but Amarah was more interested in the dogs than she was in him. When he got to the end of the page, she waved a hand at him. “The others are listening too. Did you know?”
Jack glanced around at the rest of the pens. The dogs were all very quiet. Even Pug, who had the pen two down from Daisy, wasn’t barking and whining the way he usually did. Jack held the book out to Amarah. “Here,” he murmured. “You try. Read some of it to Pug – usually he’s yapping all the time.”
“OK…” Amarah took the book and sat down in front of Pug’s pen. Jack could hear him panting as he came to the wire front to see what was going on. Then he started to bark. Amarah looked anxiously at Jack.
“Am I making him upset?”
“No, he barks a lot, honestly. Read to him. Let’s see.” Amarah started reading, gabbling nervously over Pug’s barks at first, but then slowing down as she began to relax. Pug seemed to relax too. He stopped yapping and then he slumped down to the floor of the pen and started to chew on a rubber bone as he listened.
“It really does work,” Jack said, looking around. Pug was chewing. Daisy had gone to lie down, but on top of her bed this time. Bertie, the big ginger Staffie mix, was slumped bonelessly on the floor of his pen, looking half asleep.
Amarah nodded. “They love it.”
“She’s got so much better.”
Jack nodded, looking down proudly at Daisy. The little white puppy was standing on her hind legs, sniffing Lucy’s fingers. It had been two weeks since Jack had first seen her, and Daisy hardly ever hid under her basket now – only when there was a lot of barking from the other dogs.
Lucy had let him go into the pen with Daisy a few times – after they’d checked with Mum – and it was a real treat, getting to stroke her and fuss over her. Her white fur looked as if it would be wiry, but she was incredibly soft, and her peachy ears were like warm velvet. Jack couldn’t help imagining sitting on the sofa at home with her, stroking those ears while they watched TV.
“You wouldn’t think she was the same dog,” Mattie said, crouching down to let Daisy sniff her hands too, and Daisy wagged her tail wildly.
“She’s still got a way to go, but she’s getting really friendly.” Lucy smiled at Jack. “Who knew reading to a dog could make such a difference!”
Jack beamed back at her. Since he’d discovered the secret – it still felt like a secret, an amazing discovery – he had been going back to the shelter with Mattie as often as he could. He could visit for a short while after school most weekdays and he got to be there for longer at the weekends. Since it was a Sunday, he’d been helping Lucy all afternoon, and she’d let him take some of the dogs into the little yard so he could throw toys for them to chase. It seemed like a lot of fun to Jack, but Lucy promised it was really useful.
Jack did most of his reading with Daisy, but sometimes he read to the other dogs too. Pug was definitely less yappy after Jack had sat with him for a while – and it was helping Jack’s reading too. Mr Gardner had told Mum that there had been a definite improvement.
Jack had even been doing extra reading online, trying to find out more ways to help Daisy. He and Amarah had found a shelter website that showed how to make a special treat mat, to keep bored dogs busy. Mattie had let him have the scruffy old fleece with holes in that she used to wear at the shelter. Mum had given her a new one for her birthday and Mattie had only been going to throw the old one away. He and Amarah had spent ages
cutting up strips of fabric – Amarah’s mum had given them one of Anika’s polo shirts that was covered in whiteboard pen as well.
They’d tied the strips through the holes in the square of fleece, so it looked like a sort of fluffy doormat. Jack had finished it the night before and brought it with him to try out with Daisy when it was time for her dinner. If she liked it, he was thinking he could make some more, maybe one for every dog at the shelter.
“I’m going to help get your dinner ready now,” he told Daisy after Lucy and Mattie had gone. He was kneeling on the floor outside her pen, so her nose was on a level with his if she stood on her back legs. He giggled as she swiped her tongue through the wire and licked him, and he had to wipe dog slobber off his cheek. “Uuurgh. I love you too. Back in a bit, OK?”
In the kitchen, Jack helped Mattie measure out the food, and then he took a handful of biscuits from Daisy’s bowl and hid them one by one inside the fluffy mat. It was supposed to make eating more fun as the dogs snuffled out the food. It looked good, he thought, eyeing it proudly.
“You didn’t say you’d finished it!” Mattie said, coming back in to grab more food bowls. “Are you going to try it out?”
“Yeah! Want to come and see?”
They headed back to Daisy’s pen and Jack put her usual food bowl down first. He had a feeling that if she was really hungry, the treat mat might not be as much fun. If he was starving, having to search for his dinner would definitely make him grumpy. Then he left the mat in the corner of the pen and he and Mattie stood outside to watch.
Daisy wolfed down her food in about a minute, like she usually did, but she could clearly smell that there was more around somewhere. She sniffed her way over to the mat and started to root around in it eagerly, nosing out each biscuit and crunching it up. Jack could tell she really liked it – her tail was wagging excitedly and her ears were pricked right up.
“That’s a hit,” Mattie whispered. “Wow, I thought it would take her longer. She must have found nearly all the food.”
Daisy was slowing down now. She nibbled one more treat out of the mat and then slumped down next to it. It looked as if she was trying to hold the mat in her paws and cuddle it and Mattie put her hand over her mouth to stop herself laughing.
“She’s going underneath it! Look!” Jack nudged his sister and they watched as Daisy snuffled her way under the treat mat, so that she was a little white dog with a fluffy blue head. “I think she’s falling asleep. She still likes sleeping with something over her head, doesn’t she?”
“Maybe she always will,” Mattie said a little sadly. “I suppose dogs remember things they learn when they’re little. It’s a habit for her now.” Then she put her arm round Jack and hugged him. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to bring you down. She’s always going to remember you reading to her as well, you know.” Then she looked at her watch and made a face. “I’d better get on with feeding everyone now.”
Jack crouched down, watching Daisy breathing gently as she slept. She was still so small, the mat could have covered her completely.
“Hey…” someone whispered next to him.
“Mum!” Jack jumped up. “I didn’t even see you.”
“I know! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Time to head back home.”
“Do we have to?” Jack sighed.
“Yes, it’s nearly your dinner time as well!” Mum smiled at him. “I’m really impressed, you know. You’ve been spending so much time helping out here.”
“I like it. I love dogs – I didn’t know how much till I started coming here with Mattie.”
Mum nodded. “I can see that.” She took a deep breath. “Look, Jack, I’ve been thinking – would you like us to get a dog of our own?”
Jack stopped watching Daisy’s soft, sleepy breathing and turned to stare at his mum. Did she mean it? They could have a dog? They could have Daisy?
He’d never even let himself hope that he could take her home. Earlier on, when Lucy had said how much better she was, he’d been so pleased. And then a little voice in his head had pointed out, That means somebody could adopt her soon. Someone’s going to take Daisy away. They might even change her name, and she wouldn’t be your Daisy any more. He’d squashed the voice down, and then Lucy had said she still had a way to go and the relief had just surged through him. Not yet!
“Yes!” he yelped and Daisy twitched under the treat mat. She wriggled and then her whiskery muzzle appeared and her dark eyes shone up at him from under the fluffy fabric. “I mean, yes, that would be amazing,” he added in a quieter voice, grinning at Daisy. “She’s—”
“I always thought it would be too difficult to cope with, but helping with the dogs here seems to have been so good for you. Of course, we’d have to make sure it was the right dog,” Mum went on and Jack nodded. That made sense. Daisy was absolutely the right dog.
“Probably an older dog that’s really calm? I expect Lucy could help us choose one.”
Jack went on nodding for a second or two until he actually heard what Mum had said. An older dog. Calm.
“It wouldn’t be good to have a puppy. We haven’t got time to do a lot of training, when we’re all so busy. But I could pop home from work at lunchtime to do a quick walk, and maybe Mattie could too sometimes.”
Jack kept his eyes fixed on Daisy. He’d been so excited, so happy, for all of half a minute. How could only thirty seconds of hoping make everything seem so much worse now? It was as if he’d been given the most amazing present and then had it snatched away from him again. In fact, that was exactly what had happened.
From underneath the raggedy mat, Daisy watched Jack walk away, her ears drooping. He was going! He never went without saying goodbye to her. Even if he was on the other side of the wire, he always rubbed her ears and told her how beautiful she was. She scrambled up, whining, but he didn’t turn and run back. It was as if he couldn’t even hear her. She whined louder, scrabbling her claws against the wire door, and then she gave a sharp little bark – but Jack disappeared round the corner of the passage without even looking back.
She stared out for a moment or two, her nose jammed in the gap between the wires. Then she turned away and picked up the treat mat in her teeth. It smelled of Jack – Jack and biscuits. Daisy took the mat with her as she crawled underneath her bed.
“What’s the matter with you?” Amarah hissed as Mr Gardner turned away.
Jack just shrugged.
“You knew how to do that sum, easy! Why didn’t you do it?”
“Just leave me alone!” Jack stretched his legs out under the table and kicked Aaron’s chair leg. And again. And then again.
“Oi! Stop it!” Aaron muttered. “I can tell it’s you, Jack.”
“Mr Gardner’s watching you,” Lily said in a sing-song voice. “You’ll get into trouble!” She sounded quite excited about it.
Jack stopped kicking Aaron’s chair and wrapped his feet round the legs of his own chair instead. He felt like he needed to glue himself down. It had been the same ever since yesterday. Mum and Mattie kept talking about dogs at the shelter, and which ones would make good pets. They both seemed really excited about it. Mum was even thinking about adopting Pug.
All he wanted to do was yell, No! It has to be Daisy! I only want Daisy! How could they even think he’d ever be happy with a different dog?
He made a strange noise, a sort of choking, gasping noise, and Amarah looked at him sharply. “Are you going to be sick?”
Jack shook his head, but he wasn’t actually sure. He felt awful.
“Here.” Amarah handed him her water bottle and he gulped from it gratefully. He wasn’t going to be sick, it was just that he really, really wanted to cry, he realized. But he couldn’t, not here, not in front of everybody.
“Is something wrong with Daisy?” Amarah whispered and Jack stared at her.
“How did you know?”
Amarah shrugged. “Hunch. You’ve been so much better at school since you started helping at the shelter an
d spending all that time with her. Now you’ve gone back to being weird and moody again.”
“Who’s Daisy?” Lily leaned over to ask. “Oooooh! Has Jack got a girlfriend?”
Amarah scowled at her. “Grow up,” she snapped. “What are you, five?” and Lily went scarlet.
Jack put his hand over his mouth to stop himself laughing out loud. “Thanks,” he muttered to Amarah. “My mum said we could adopt a dog.”
Amarah shook her head. “I don’t get it! That’s fantastic! Why are you upset?” Then she stared down at her maths like it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. “Mr Gardner’s glaring at us,” she said out the side of her mouth. “Tell me at break, OK?”
At break time, Amarah dragged Jack over to one of the benches and handed him half her banana. “I don’t understand. I thought you really wanted a dog!”
Jack shook his head gloomily and squished the end of the banana between his fingers. He couldn’t face eating it. “Nope. I want Daisy.”
“So why can’t you adopt her? Is she still too little? You could wait a bit, though, couldn’t you?”
“It isn’t that. Mum says we need to get an older dog that’s calm. You know, well behaved. No puppies, because they’re too hyper.”
“What, so your mum doesn’t want a dog version of you?” Amarah gave a snort.
Jack sighed. “Yeah.”
“Sorry.” Amarah’s face fell. “That was meant to be a joke.”
“It’s true, though.”