Buttons looked up at Sophie and barked hopefully. Walk? Please? she begged. She recognized Sophie, who often spoke to her when she went past. Buttons could sometimes hear her in the garden, too. Sophie had a sweet voice and always sounded friendly.
“Poor Buttons, she looks really sad,” Sophie said, wishing she could stroke her. She knew Buttons was friendly, but Mum had made her promise not to stroke dogs without asking the owner first.
“Thinking about it, I did see Mr Jenkins in the supermarket last week, and he was walking with a stick,” Mum said slowly. “I wonder if he hasn’t been able to take Buttons for walks, and that’s why she’s scratching like that. She wants to get out.”
“Sorry, Buttons, we’re going swimming, or else we’d love to take you for a walk. Oh, look, I’m sure she knows what we’re saying, her ears just drooped, and she isn’t wagging her tail any more,” Sophie said as she waved goodbye.
Buttons stared after them with big, sad brown eyes. She hadn’t been on a proper walk in a long time. Mr Jenkins was very good about letting her in and out of the house whenever she wanted, but he just didn’t seem to want to walk her right now. The garden was quite big – it went all round the house from front to back – but it wasn’t the same as walks. Buttons whined sadly, and scratched at the fence again. She thought she might be able to go for a walk by herself, if she could only get over this fence. Or under it, perhaps.
“Buttons! Buttons!” She could hear Mr Jenkins calling, and her ears pricked up immediately. Maybe he was feeling better, and he wanted to go for a walk after all. She shot round to the back door, which Mr Jenkins was holding open for her.
“There you are! You’ve been out a while, Buttons.” Mr Jenkins stooped down to pat her, holding tight to his stick.
Buttons looked up at him hopefully, and then looked over at her lead, which was hanging on a hook above Mr Jenkins’s wellies. She gave an excited little bark, and wagged her tail so fast it blurred.
“Oh, Buttons, I wish we could. I wish we could, poor little girl. Soon, I promise.”
Buttons’s tail sagged, and she trailed slowly into the living room to curl up on her cushion next to Mr Jenkins’s chair. He sat down beside her, and stroked her head lovingly. Buttons licked his hand. She adored Mr Jenkins, even though he couldn’t always take her for walks.
Chapter Two
“If you’re going along the canal path, you have to be really careful,” Mum warned them. “Especially you, Sophie. No going close to the edge, promise?”
“I’m not a baby, Mum! I’m sensible!” Sophie complained. “OK, I promise to be careful.”
“All right then. Tom and Michael, you’ll keep an eye on her, won’t you? Don’t leave her behind.”
Sophie’s older brothers nodded, eager to get out on their ride, even if it did mean taking Sophie, too.
It was a gorgeous, sunny Saturday afternoon, and Mum and Dad were repainting the kitchen, so it was definitely a good time to be out of the house. The canal path was the Martin family’s other favourite place to go on walks and bike rides. They were lucky that it wasn’t far from where they lived.
Despite what they’d said to Mum, Michael and Tom couldn’t resist speeding off ahead. Every so often one of them would double back to check Sophie was OK, and she was – she quite liked riding along on her own anyway. It meant she could stop and talk to the ginger cat sitting on the fence – he let her stroke him today – and admire the butterflies on a lilac tree that grew on the corner just as she came out on to the canal bank. She could do all these things without the boys telling her to hurry up all the time.
Sophie pedalled along, keeping away from the edge like Mum had told her to. The canal was beautiful, especially with the sun sparkling on it like it was today, but beneath the glitter the water was deep and dark. She rounded the bend, expecting to see Tom and Michael coming back to check on her, but instead she saw a familiar-looking dog.
Buttons!
The pretty little Labrador was sniffing about at the water’s edge. Sophie cycled closer, smiling at Buttons’s big chocolate paws, and her floppy puppy ears.
Sophie looked around for Mr Jenkins, but she couldn’t see him anywhere, and she had a horrible feeling that Buttons had run off. She wasn’t old enough or sensible enough to be off the lead – and she wasn’t, it was trailing in the mud. Buttons must’ve pulled it out of Mr Jenkins’s hand.
Buttons hadn’t noticed Sophie. She was watching a stick that was floating down the canal, and wondering whether she could reach it, if she just leaned over a little. It looked like such a good one – big and long and really muddy – and it was ever so close. She leaned out over the water. If she could just get the end of it in her teeth… But it was still a bit too far away. She tried again, reaching a little further out.
“Buttons! Don’t!” Sophie called. “You’ll fall!”
Surprised by Sophie’s shout, Buttons stepped back quickly. But the edge of the canal bank was muddy and slippery, and her paws skidded. Panicking, she tried to scramble back up the bank, but she was sliding further in, and she couldn’t stop herself.
Sophie flung down her bike, and raced to grab Buttons’s lead. She caught it just as both of the puppy’s front paws slid into the water. Sophie pulled hard on the lead, leaning right back – Buttons might only be little, but she was heavy. Just for a moment, Sophie wondered if Buttons might accidentally pull her into the water, too, but she finally hauled Buttons back on to the bank.
She hugged the shivering puppy tightly. “It’s all right, Buttons. Oh dear, your paws are all wet. It’s OK, don’t worry,” Sophie murmured soothingly, trying to calm her down. Buttons buried her nose in Sophie’s T-shirt, breathing in her comforting smell. Sophie had saved her!
“Buttons! Buttons!” Mr Jenkins was hurrying up, walking as fast as he could with his stick. “What happened, did she fall in?” he asked worriedly. “I saw you pulling her lead, are you all right? Is she all right?”
He leaned down slowly to stroke Buttons, and she pressed herself against his legs, making frightened little whimpering noises. “Oh, Buttons, you silly girl, what have you been doing?” He looked up and smiled apologetically at Sophie. “She pulled her lead out of my hand and raced off. It’s the first time we’ve been for a walk in a while. Buttons is a bit overexcited to be out again.”
Sophie smiled back at him, though her heart was still thumping. It had been a scary moment. “She didn’t go right in. She was just starting to slip, but I grabbed her lead before she did more than get her paws wet.”
“Sophie! Are you OK?” Tom and Michael had come riding up, and they looked worried. The little sister they were supposed to be looking after was sitting on the canal bank with a wet dog, her bike flung down on the grass.
“Were you messing about by the water? Mum told you to stay away from the edge!” Tom shouted.
“Of course I wasn’t!” Sophie said indignantly.
Mr Jenkins looked up at the boys. “Your sister stopped Buttons falling in. She’s a star. Ooof.” He slowly straightened up. “I think we were a bit ambitious with this walk, Buttons. Best leave it a couple of days more.”