“Are they big enough for new homes yet?” Millie asked, at break.
“Mum’s got people coming to see them already, and they can leave Bella after next week, she says. People have already chosen six of them. Not Lucy, though, she’s still too little.” Thank goodness, she added silently. At the weekend, a family had come to see the puppies, and the little girl had picked up Lucy, saying she wanted her. Lauren had felt sick watching. Luckily, Mum had seen her horrified face, and explained that Lucy was too little to go for a few more weeks. The family had chosen two girl puppies named Daisy and Danni instead. But afterwards Mum had sat down with Lauren and hugged her, and explained that she was going to have to let Lucy go sometime.
“You’ll really miss her, won’t you?” Millie said, putting her arm through Lauren’s, and Lauren nodded.
“Couldn’t you ask your mum and dad if you can keep her?” Millie suggested.
“I wish I could,” Lauren whispered. “They’ve always said we can’t, that we already have Bella. But I just can’t bear to think of Lucy belonging to someone else.
Chapter Six
Lucy watched the strange boy cuddling Buster and wondered who he was. There were lots of other people in her kitchen too, but they all seemed friendly. Everyone who had come to the house over the last two weeks had wanted to stroke her and her brothers and sisters, and play with them. It was fun, but it was confusing too. She had a feeling that this boy was going to take Buster away. He had been before, and this time he had picked Buster up straight away, and Buster had wagged his tail and yipped happily, the way Lucy did when Lauren cuddled her.
If Buster went away with this boy, then she would be the only puppy left. Daisy and Danni had gone with a little girl the day before. The girl’s mother had put them in a special box with a wire front, and Lauren had taken her out to see Daisy and Danni drive off in a car. Lauren had hugged her extra tight, and seemed really sad, although she’d cheered up and giggled when Lucy licked her ear.
Lucy missed rolling over and over with all the others, now that it was just her and Buster. She still had Lauren to play with, of course, and that was her favourite thing. But was she going to go somewhere too, like all her brothers and sisters? She didn’t want to. She wanted to stay here with Lauren.
The boy snuggled Buster under his chin, and then turned to put him into a carrier like the one Daisy and Danni went away in. Lucy watched them go out into the yard, and then she looked around the puppy run, with its rumpled blankets and scattered toys, and howled a big beagle howl.
“Oh! Did Buster go today?” Lauren asked in surprise when she got home – she had been to Millie’s house for tea.
“Yes, it’s only Lucy left,” her mum answered. “Did you have a good time?”
“Yes, it was great,” Lauren replied, only half listening. She was looking at Lucy curled up asleep on the fluffy bed at one side of the puppy run. She seemed so tiny and alone.
Lucy woke up and stared around her at the empty run, looking confused. She let out a tiny whimper, and staggered to her feet, sniffing around the pen. Bella leaned over and licked her gently, and Lucy stopped whimpering, but she still looked uncertain.
Mum put her arm around Lauren. “She’s got so much bigger, hasn’t she? And you can really see all the brown coming out on her now. She’s going to be so beautiful. You did really well with the hand-rearing, Lauren, it was such hard work. Dad and I are very proud of you, you know.”
“Thanks,” Lauren muttered. She was proud of what she’d managed with Lucy too, but she had a horrible feeling that she knew what was coming next.
“I know you’ll miss her, sweetheart, but she’s ready to go to a new home, isn’t she?” Mum said gently. “She’s hardly bothering with her bottles, and she’s having dry food now.”
Lauren nodded, and sniffed. It was all true, but that didn’t make it any easier. She pulled away from her mum with a muttered, “Sorry!”, picked up Lucy, who squeaked in surprise, and fled upstairs.
Lauren was really looking forward to Friday and the start of the weekend. She enjoyed being back at school, but she missed Lucy so much – and she wasn’t sure how much more time they had together.
Her dad had picked up her and Sam as usual, and they sat in the back seat while Dad tried to ask cheerful questions about how Sam was settling in, and Sam kept saying things like, “OK,” and, “Fine thanks.”
They dropped Sam off, and then Lauren ran inside to say hello to Lucy.
The phone was ringing as she went into the kitchen, and her mum yelled from upstairs, “Can you answer that, Lauren? I’m just making the beds!”
Lauren grabbed the phone, hoping it wasn’t an order for her parents’ camping supplies company, as she always worried she’d get them wrong.
“Hello?”
“Is that Mrs Woods? With the beagle puppies?”
“Oh! Yes – I mean, I’m her daughter,” Lauren explained.
“Oh good. Do you have any puppies left? I’ve only just seen the website.”
Lauren swallowed. This lady might end up being Lucy’s owner. All of a sudden her eyes filled with tears. “There is one puppy left,” she said, making her voice sound very doubtful.
“Right – is there something wrong with it?” the lady on the phone sounded worried.
“We-ell… She was the smallest of the litter, you see, much smaller than the others. We had to hand-rear her.”
“Oh dear. Well, if she’s not healthy I think I’ll try someone else. Thanks, anyway.”
Lauren pressed the button to end the call with a shaky hand, and put down the phone.
But she couldn’t answer the phone every time someone called…
Still feeling really guilty, Lauren took Lucy out into the garden to play. She threw a ball for Lucy to chase, and she raced up and down the garden with excited squeaks.
“Lauren!” Mum was calling from the little bit of garden round the side of the house, where the washing line was. “Can you help me hang the washing out, please?”
Lauren sighed. Hanging out the washing was one of the jobs she did to earn her allowance. “Sorry, Lucy,” she said, picking her up. “You go in the run, OK? Back soon.”
Lucy stared after her, whining. Lauren had left the ball on the grass, and there were no toys in the run. Lucy ran up and down, sniffing at the wire, then scratched at it, wondering if she could get out and fetch the ball. She stuck a small paw through the wire fence, but the ball was too far away to reach.
Yapping crossly, Lucy scratched at the wire again, standing up on her hind paws. Her claws caught in the wire. She looked at them thoughtfully, and unhooked them. Then she stretched up higher, clinging on tight. She was climbing! Wriggling and scrambling, she worked her way up the side of the run. She teetered on the top, not quite sure what to do next. All at once, she let go and scrambled down the other side, landing in a little heap.
She sprang up and shook herself excitedly. There it was – her ball! She chased after it, scrabbling it along with her front paws, and followed the ball as it rolled through the garden gate, and out into the yard.
Ten minutes later, Lauren dashed back, eager to go on playing with Lucy, only to find that Lucy wasn’t there.