Max the Missing Puppy (6 page)

Jasmine gulped. “Go?” She faltered. “Um, go where?” Without really thinking about it, she snuggled Lucky 
close into her arms, and he licked her nose happily.

“To the animal shelter. It doesn’t look like we’re going to have any luck finding his real owner, so poor old Lucky’s going to have to find someone new. I’d love to keep him here, but we’re so busy. He needs more space and proper looking after, now he’s strong enough to move around again.”

A shelter! It sounded awful. Jasmine knew that animal shelters did a fantastic job looking after strays and unwanted pets, but she still couldn’t help thinking of them as grim, scary places. She didn’t want Lucky to have to go to one of those!

“Anyway, it’s been fantastic having you here to help look after him,” Mike 
said gratefully. “I don’t know what we’d have done without you.” He grinned. “I tell you what. It’s your last day on Friday, isn’t it?”

Jasmine nodded sadly. She didn’t want to think about it. She was going to miss seeing Lucky so much!

“Well, to say thank you, how would you like to take Lucky out for his first walk? I reckon his leg will be strong enough by then. You can let him have a walk on the beach. I gave him his puppy booster jabs when you first brought him in, so he’d have less chance of picking up anything nasty from any other dogs here. He’ll be fine to take out now. We can lend you a lead for him.”

“Oh, I’d love to!” Jasmine hugged 
Lucky tightly, and looked round at her mum, her eyes shining with excitement. She imagined them wandering along the beach together, Lucky nosing into all the
good-smelling
holes between the rocks, as she held on to his lead.

It would be just like having her own dog…

Chapter Six

“Look, Lucky! The sea!” Jasmine crouched down beside the puppy, and pointed out over what seemed like miles of perfect sand to the water glinting blue in the sun. “I guess you’ve
probably
seen it before,” she said doubtfully. “Anyway, Mum says that because the tide is right out, we can walk along the shore to the next village.
And there’s a café there that does brilliant milkshakes. Don’t worry,” she added, stroking his ears, “I’ll carry you if you get tired.”

Lucky wasn’t really listening. He was taking deep, excited sniffs of the salty sea air. It had an unmistakeable tang. And the last time he’d smelled it had been the day he lost Molly. Maybe he was close to her again! Wagging his tail briskly, he set off down the cliff path, with Jasmine trotting behind him, and her parents sauntering gently after them.

It was a gorgeous day for a walk, blue sky reflected in blue sea, and the low tide leaving the sand firm and golden and biscuity, and dotted with exciting things for a small dog to investigate. 

“Uuurgh, Lucky, no…” Jasmine gently pushed him away from the dead crab he’d found. “It’ll make you sick.”

Lucky looked up at her reproachfully. But it smelled wonderful!

Jasmine ran after him laughing as he darted about, but every so often a small, cold thought would surface.
This is the last time
. They were going home tomorrow, early, and when they took Lucky back to the vet’s later this morning, she would have to say goodbye. Unless, of course… Jasmine just couldn’t help feeling that Mum and Dad loved Lucky too. She glanced round, and saw them smiling at Lucky, who was squeaking as a wave came just a bit closer than he’d thought it would. Maybe in just a few more minutes it 
would be time to ask… 

Molly tramped slowly along the beach, a little way behind her mum and dad. Every so often she called for Max, but there was no hope in her voice any more. She was only doing it because if she didn’t, it meant she’d given up, and that meant she was never going to see him again. At least if she was still looking she could tell herself there was a chance.

Her dad had stayed off work today so they could have a long weekend together, and he and Molly’s mum had been trying to cheer her up by suggesting a walk along the beach to Stambridge. Usually it was something she loved to do – it was exciting 
knowing that you were racing the tide, even though there were so many paths up the cliff that it wasn’t really dangerous. But today, all Molly could think about was that she’d wanted to do this walk with Max.

Molly sighed miserably. Max would have loved the beach so much. She could imagine him so easily, scuffling through the sand, bouncing at the edge of the water, barking at the seagulls. Just like the little dog she could see way up the beach with another family, dragging a girl her own age along as he chased the waves. A sick, miserable tide of jealousy swept over Molly as she watched them. She blinked tears back from her eyes. The dog even
looked
like her Max. 

Molly sniffed determinedly and looked away. “Max! Max!” she called hoarsely. “Here, Max, come on!”

Nothing happened. Molly wiped her arm across her eyes, and marched on after her mum and dad, staring at the stones. Maybe it was time to stop searching. She was just making herself feel worse.

Further up the beach, Lucky stood listening intently, his black ears tensed. He leaned forward, pulling on his lead, gazing across the sand. There were people walking along the beach, and one of them looked like Molly.

Forgetting that he was on a lead, and 
that his leg was still a bit sore, Lucky raced down the beach, barking excitedly, and dragging Jasmine stumbling behind him.

“Jasmine! Are you all right?” her mum called, seeing her fighting to keep up. She and Jasmine’s dad hurried after them. 

Molly looked up when she heard the barking, and her stomach twisted miserably. The puppy sounded just like Max too. In fact…  Molly narrowed her eyes, and stared. It looked like Max because that was Max, hurling himself down the beach towards her, towing that girl.

Molly started to run, overtaking her mum and dad.

Max raced towards her even faster, desperate in case he lost her again. In a flurry of fur and sand, he flung himself at her, barking and wagging his tail and climbing into her lap as she knelt down to hug him.

“Max! You came back! Oh, where have you been? I can’t believe I’ve found you again!” Molly gasped into his fur.

Max gave an overjoyed woof and licked the tears off her face.

“His name’s Lucky,” a small voice said sadly. 

Molly suddenly remembered that Max was wearing a lead, and somebody else was on the other end of it. She looked up, to see a blonde, curly-haired girl staring down at Max.

“Or that’s what we called him, anyway,” the girl said, and sniffed. “I suppose he’s yours, isn’t he…?”

She looked like she was trying really hard not to cry, and Molly stood up slowly, cuddling Max close. “Um, yes. He climbed out of the window. Exactly a week ago. My mum left it open and he got out and we’ve been looking for him ever since.”

“Oh.” Jasmine nodded. That explained it then. “He got hit by a car,” she told Lucky’s real owner. “We found him. We’re here on holiday.”

Molly gasped in horror. “Hit by a car! Is he OK?”

Jasmine showed Molly the cut on Max’s leg. “He was really lucky. The car just caught his leg, but it’s healing up really well. I’ve been visiting him every day.” She sniffed, again, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m glad you’ve got him back, because he looks happy being back with you … but I really wish we’d walked along the beach the other way!” And she turned and started stumbling away, feeling as though she couldn’t bear to watch that other girl cuddling Lucky,
owning
him.

“Hey!” Molly called after her, but by this time both sets of parents had come hurrying up, and Jasmine’s mum had caught her and was holding her tight. 
Molly watched her hiding her face in her mum’s jacket, as everyone tried to explain what was going on all at once. Jasmine’s mum took her to sit on a rock a little way away from the others, and found some tissues, and her dad told Molly and her parents about how they’d found Max.

“We really can’t thank you enough,” Molly’s dad said, shaking his head. “Max could have died.”

“It was just so lucky Jasmine found him,” Molly’s mum said, stroking Max’s head gently. “I can’t believe we’ve got him back.”

Jasmine’s dad smiled. “He’s a great little dog. I have to tell you, we’d pretty much decided that we were going to keep him.” He looked over at Jasmine. “Jasmine doesn’t know that. She looked after him so well. I think we’ll have to give her a while to stop missing him, but then we’ll think about getting a puppy of our own.”

“Oh!” Molly gasped as a brilliant idea hit her. “Mum! Jasmine could have Max’s brother!”

“Oh, Molly, I’m not sure…” her mum said doubtfully.

“There’s another boy puppy in the litter Max came from,” Molly explained to Jasmine’s dad. “Couldn’t we take them to see him?” she begged her parents. “I bet Jasmine would love him. He really looks like Max.”

Jasmine’s dad looked thoughtfully over at her and her mum. “I don’t know. I suppose we could see.” He walked towards them. “Jasmine, listen, we’ve had an idea…”