Harry the Homeless Puppy (4 page)

Chapter Four

Harry had loved his walk to the park. The only bad thing about it was returning to the shelter. He wished that Grace hadn’t brought him back here. He wasn’t sure where she went in-between her visits, but it would be so much nicer if she could take him there with her. She seemed to be sad when they said goodbye as well, so
why did she have to leave him behind?

He huddled sadly into the corner of his basket, and sighed, wishing that great big dog across the corridor would just be quiet. He wanted to go to sleep.

Still, Harry was a lot more cheerful than he’d been before he met Grace. His eyes were brighter, and he played in his run, instead of being curled up in his basket all day. Everyone admired him now, and Sally was always showing him off to possible owners.

By the next weekend, Grace was starting to get quite worried. The other volunteers kept telling her how much people admired him, and she
could see that when she was there, too.

“It’s lucky that Jack Russells need so much exercise,” Grace whispered to Harry, as an elderly lady regretfully went on to look for a less energetic dog. “She really liked you. She’d have taken you if Sally hadn’t pointed that out. Oh, I don’t believe it, Harry, look. More people!”

A family with a boy a little younger than her and a baby girl was looking excitedly at Harry.

“I like this one, Dad!” the boy was saying. “He’s a great dog.”

The dad looked at Harry frisking round Grace, and smiled. “He does look nice. Do you work here?” he asked Grace.

Grace nodded. “I volunteer after
school and at the weekends.”

“We’re looking for a family dog,” the mum put in. “Do you think that” – she looked at his name card – “Harry would be suitable?”

Grace gulped. She looked round quickly to check that none of the staff were close enough to hear, then said quietly, “Um, I’m not sure. Jack Russells aren’t great with very young children. They can be a bit snappy if children bother them too much…”

It was actually true, Jack Russells could be snappy. But Harry had never shown signs of anything like that, and Grace knew she was being mean by trying to put them off. She just couldn’t bear to see him go to someone else.

“You might want a gentler dog, with your baby,” she added. “Have you seen Maggie? She’s a cross-breed, but she’s really sweet, and so friendly and well-behaved.”

Luckily, the family thought Maggie
was lovely, and when Grace left the shelter they were talking with Sally about adopting her. But Grace felt terrible all the way home.

“What’s up?” Danny asked her. He’d been exercising Bella and Frisky, a retriever, in the outdoor yard. “You haven’t told me anything about all the cute stuff Harry did today. Have you managed to get him to shake hands yet? You reckoned he’d nearly got it.”

Grace gave a sad little shrug. “He can almost do it. Danny, one of the families who came today really liked him. I sort of put them off, because they had a baby and Jack Russells aren’t good with little kids, but it was mostly because I didn’t want them to take him… I don’t want him to go,” she explained.

“Oh, Gracie,” Danny said, putting an arm round her shoulders. “Sally and Mandy warned us when we started. You promised you wouldn’t fall in love with any of them.”  

“I know!” Grace wailed. “But Harry’s so gorgeous, Danny, I don’t want anyone else to have him except for me!”  

Danny sighed. “Well, you managed to put those people off today, but Gracie, you can’t be there every time someone likes him. It’s going to happen, you know, sooner or later.”  

“Some help you are,” Grace sniffled, but she knew it was true.

It was about to happen even sooner than Grace had thought. Mrs Jameson, the young woman who’d asked Sally about Harry, came back that Sunday. She was a perfect owner. No small children, a big garden for him to play in, and she worked from home some of the time so he wouldn’t be too lonely. The shelter staff were delighted.

So was Harry. He’d seen Grace come in just after the lady once before and he assumed they belonged together. So when he saw Sally loading all his toys into his basket, and bringing out his lead for this lady, he was certain that she must be taking him to see Grace. He didn’t understand why Grace wasn’t
fetching him, but he was quite sure that that was where they were going.

“What do you think of your new home, Harry?” As Mrs Jameson put his basket down in the kitchen, Harry looked round with interest. It was nice. Lots of space, and loads of things to sniff and explore. He wondered where Grace was. He sniffed behind all the cupboards, then checked under the table, in case she was hiding. Hopefully she would come soon.

Grace hadn’t been able to go to the shelter for a few days – they’d been busy flat-hunting and today was Tuesday, so she had to go to ballet after school.
She crept into the changing room. Luckily, Mum had dropped her off a bit late, so Maya would probably be already changed and in the ballet studio, and Grace wouldn’t have to talk to her before the class started. She just knew that Maya was going to ask about Harry, and she still hadn’t worked out what to say.

Speedily, Grace changed into her leotard, and put her hair up, then she sneaked into the studio, just in time. She looked round for Maya as they did their warm-up routine, but she couldn’t see her. All the way through the class, Grace watched for Maya, but she never arrived.

Grace had got away with it – for one week, anyway.

Grace ran into the shelter on Wednesday afternoon, dashing ahead of Danny. She’d really missed Harry over the last few days; it felt like ages since she’d seen him. And she’d finally finished Harry’s toy last night – she couldn’t wait to give it to him.

She raced along to Harry’s run, and gasped. He’d gone! There was a friendly-looking black spaniel there instead, who woofed an excited hello, and came to greet her. Grace stood by the run, her heart racing, hardly feeling the spaniel licking her fingers.
Maybe he’d been moved? Yes, that was it. Harry must be in one of the other pens, that was all. She said goodbye to the spaniel, who stared after her sadly, and searched the rest of the kennel area. Every pen was full, but none of the dogs was Harry. Sally met her coming in from the outdoor area, her head hanging.