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.
“Oh, Grace! I didn’t know you were here yet.” Sally looked at her worriedly. “Grace, I’m sorry, I really wanted to tell you before you saw he was gone.”
Grace nodded.
“A really nice lady’s taken him,” Sally promised. “She has a lovely big garden for him to run in.”
“Oh,” Grace whispered. Then she turned and ran back down the corridor.
Danny was putting a lead on one of the other dogs, a big greyhound that he really liked. He straightened up when Grace brushed past him. “Hey, what’s the matter? Grace? Where are you going?” He stared after her, then followed. He had a horrible feeling he already knew what had happened.
Harry lay in his basket, staring sadly round the kitchen. He’d been at his new home for two days now, and his new owners had both had to go to work today. He was all alone. He hadn’t liked the noise and bustle of the shelter, but it felt very strange for things to be so quiet.
And where was Grace? He had been sure that this was her house and he was going to live with her, but it had been ages and she still hadn’t come. He was beginning to have a horrible feeling that the wrong person had brought him home, and he didn’t know what to do about it.
At least it wasn’t dark now. The kitchen was very frightening at night, and he howled for someone to come and keep him company. At Beth’s house he had been allowed to sleep on her bed, never shut up on his own all night.
Mrs Jameson had come downstairs and comforted him the first night, but she wasn’t the person he really wanted. Mr Jameson patted him occasionally, but he kept sniffing, and he sneezed whenever Harry came close to him. His sneezes were very loud, and quite scary. Harry was spending an awful lot of time shut up on his own in the kitchen, because he and Mr Jameson didn’t seem to be able to be in the same room together.
Harry sighed. Maybe someone would come and play with him soon. Maybe even Grace. He really hoped so. But Beth had gone, and not come back. Had Grace left him now, too?
Chapter Five
Danny went to the shelter on his own on Thursday. He tried to get Grace to come with him, but she wouldn’t. When he got back, he went to her room and tried to cheer her up with funny stories about Finn, his current favourite at the shelter. Finn was half Labrador, half no-one-knew-what, except that it was very big and very hungry. Danny had had to own up to Sally that Finn had found half a packet of mints in his pocket, and wolfed them down before Danny could stop him. But luckily, Sally had come to look at Finn, and said she thought it would probably take about six packets of mints to do anything to him; he had an iron stomach.