She stood staring at the run. The fence was about thirty centimetres high – surely Lucy was far too little to climb out?
“Lucy! Lucy!” Lauren cried, as she ran all round the run.
But the little puppy was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter Seven
Lucy pattered across the yard, and set off exploring around the other side of the orchard wall. She’d abandoned the ball in favour of all the other interesting things she could smell. Perhaps she’d find Lauren if she went down here, too. She spotted a snail climbing up the wall and watched it round-eyed. She went closer and sniffed. It had an odd smell, and she decided it wasn’t for eating.
“Hey! Lucy!” Lucy jumped, and looked up. That wasn’t Lauren’s voice.
It was the boy, Sam, holding a big ball. She’d seen him before when he came to the house to fetch Lauren in the mornings. She sniffed his fingers in a friendly sort of way. Maybe he would play with her?
“Are you supposed to be out here on your own?” he asked. “I bet you’re not.”
“Lucy! Lucy!” There was a distant voice calling, sounding worried.
“You’re definitely not,” Sam told Lucy. “That sounds like Lauren looking for you.”
Lucy could hear Lauren too, but she wasn’t quite sure where she was. She whimpered anxiously.
“It’s OK. Let’s find Lauren, yes?” Sam looked down at her, and Lucy pawed his foot eagerly.
“Come on then. Good girl,” Sam put down the ball, and picked up Lucy. He walked quickly down to the yard. “Hey, Lauren, I’ve got her!”
Lauren came dashing out of the garden gate. She grabbed Lucy, hugging her tightly while Lucy whined with delight. “Oh, you star, Sam! I was really worried. She must have climbed out of her run. Thanks!”
“Beagles are really good at escaping.” Sam nodded, and Lauren looked at him in surprise. “I really like dogs,” he explained. “We can’t have one, because Dad’s allergic, but I’ve got loads of dog books. And I once saw a video on a website of a beagle climbing out of a massive pen.”
“Oh.” Lauren suddenly felt really ashamed. She’d been going to school with Sam every day, and she hadn’t asked him anything about himself, or said a single friendly thing. “It’s brilliant that you found her. What if she’d gone on to the road?”
Sam nodded. “I can’t imagine losing a dog like that,” he agreed. “It would be awful.”
Lauren’s eyes suddenly welled up.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Sam said, looking horrified.
“It’s OK,” Lauren gulped. “It’s just – you don’t understand…” She wiped her hand across her eyes, while Lucy licked at her cheek anxiously.
“Lucy isn’t mine. Not for ever. She’s going to have a new home, just like the other puppies. And I can’t bear the thought of not having her any more.”
“Oh wow,” Sam muttered. “I thought you were keeping her, when she stayed and all the others went. And she’s with you all the time.”
“I’ve always known she’d have to go, like her brothers and sisters,” Lauren whispered. “I still have Bella, and of course I love her, but I’ve spent so much time with Lucy, because we hand-reared her. It’s going to be awful when she leaves. It was bad enough when people came for the others, but Lucy’s special.” She opened the orchard gate, and gently shooed Lucy in. “Want to come and play with her?” she said.
Sam nodded and followed her. “Has anyone come to see Lucy?” he asked.
Lauren shook her head. “Someone rang earlier, and I sort of mentioned how Lucy was the runt of the litter and made this lady think she wasn’t very well…”
She glanced at Sam, not sure what he’d think, but Sam looked impressed.
“I felt really guilty afterwards,” Lauren admitted. “And I can’t keep putting people off.”
Sam looked thoughtful. “There must be something you can do. I’ll help you.” He looked at Lucy, who was destroying a windfall apple. “You can’t lose her,” he said firmly.
Lauren smiled. He sounded so certain it made her feel a little bit better.
The next morning, Sam knocked at the kitchen door while Lauren was finishing her breakfast, and slipping cornflakes to Bella and Lucy, who were sitting on either side of her chair.
“Morning, Mrs Woods,” he said politely to Lauren’s mum. “Um, I was just wondering if Lauren wanted to come out and play.”
“I’m sure she does!” Lauren’s mum said, looking delighted, and Lauren rolled her eyes at Sam, who tried not to laugh.
“I’m popular then,” he said quietly, as they went across the yard with Lucy and Bella on their leads.
“Mum thinks it’s really nice for me to have a friend living close by.” Lauren swallowed nervously. “Sorry I haven’t been very friendly. I was a bit cross when Mum arranged the lifts and everything – like I didn’t have a choice.”
“Me too!” Sam agreed. “My mum kept going on about how lucky I was, and I was like, she’s a girl and I’ve never even met her! Sorry,” he added. “Anyway, I’ve got a plan!”
“You have?” Lauren asked eagerly. “Tell me.”
Sam sat down on the rusty old tractor that had been abandoned on the edge of the field and beamed. “I think we should buy Lucy ourselves! I’ve got thirty pounds of birthday money left. I’d give you that, no problem, if I could sort of share Lucy. Take her for walks sometimes and stuff. It’s the closest I’ll get to having a dog, after all.”
Lauren nodded slowly. “I’ve got the money my gran gave me at the beginning of the holidays, but I’ve been so busy with the puppies I never got round to spending it. That’s fifty pounds so far. Puppies can’t cost more than a hundred pounds, can they? But how are we going to find the rest of the money?”
Sam grinned. “I thought we could pick the apples from the orchard, and sell them. We could set up a stall on that big patch of grass where the lane down to the farm ends. It’s close enough to the road for people to see us and stop.”
Lauren jumped off the tractor wheel. “That’s a brilliant idea! Mum and Dad never have time to pick them, they won’t mind. I’ll go and get some buckets.”
It took a while to pick the apples, as a lot of them had wasps in, and had to be thrown on the compost heap, but eventually they had three buckets of really nice-looking ones. Lauren grabbed a handful of freezer bags from the kitchen, when they went back home for lunch, and Sam found an old folding table in the big shed at the back of the cottage, and he borrowed one of the boxes from the move to make into cardboard signs.
Then Lauren had another brainwave. “You start selling the apples. I’ve just remembered, Mum’s always saying I ought to clear out my old soft toys. We can sell those, too. Here, you take Lucy, I’m going to sneak back home and get them.”
By the time she struggled down the lane with a bin bag full of bears and dogs, Sam was looking very pleased with himself. “I’ve sold three bags! That’s one pound fifty!” He’d made the signs as well, and tied a couple on to the hedges on both sides of the road.
“Brilliant! Help me put out the toys on the grass at the front of the table. They’re bound to make people look.”
“Lucy and Bella have been making people stop too, they’ve had loads of petting.”
It turned out the toys were almost more popular than the apples. Lauren even had to go back and find some more soft toys that she hadn’t been planning to get rid of, but she didn’t mind giving up her Beanie toy dogs if it meant she could keep her real one.