Chapter Three
Meanwhile, Max was trotting along the pavement, sniffing enthusiastically. He knew he could find Molly. He’d know her smell anywhere! He had wriggled out of the window quite easily, and fallen into the flower bed, but it didn’t matter. Molly was going to be so pleased to see him! Only – he had been expecting to find her by now.
Molly’s house was on the edge of the village, and though Max didn’t know it, he was going completely the wrong way, heading out of Tilford village and away from the school where Molly had been. He had taken a few turns that looked interesting, passing some more houses like Molly’s. Instinctively he’d avoided crossing any roads. The village was very quiet, but a few cars did come past, and he’d been scared. He shrank back against the fences and hedges as he heard them coming, great rushing roaring things that he sensed were dangerous. He kept well tucked in against the hedges, and no one saw him. Now he was heading along the road that led to Stambridge, a small town several miles away. It was so nice to be outside, and he trotted along happily for a while, covering a big distance for such a small dog. He would see Molly soon, he was sure.
Eventually he came across an interesting-looking sloping path leading off the tarred pavement. It was rough and stony, with sweet-smelling plants on either side. Max plunged down, eager to explore. The path led gently down to a beach, not the main beach where all the holidaymakers came, but a small rocky cove without much sand that was cut off at high tide. Max stopped short as he got his first sight of the sea. He had no idea what it was. The waves made a swooshing sound as they rushed in and out on the pebbles. He had a feeling that this wasn’t where he’d find Molly, but it looked so exciting he had to go and investigate.
He skittered down the rest of the path, scrabbling over the stones, and stood on the beach, sniffing the sharp, salty smell of the sea. He still didn’t understand it. It moved, and made a noise – was it alive? He went closer, ears pricked, ready to run if he needed to. With a sudden rush, a wave swept in and soaked his paws. Max yelped and jumped backwards. It was cold!
Max stood a little way back from the water and barked crossly at the sea. It didn’t seem to be listening, just sweeping in again and hissing at his feet. Max looked at it with his head on one side. Maybe it was playing a game. Perhaps it wanted him to chase it? He tried, dashing forward as the waves rolled back, then yapping excitedly as it chased him in turn. It was a brilliant game! And the sea didn’t get tired and say it needed to sit down for a bit, like Molly and her mum. Max played for ages.
Then a chilly wind blew up, ruffling the surface of the sea, and Max shivered. Suddenly he realized how hungry he was. In fact, he was starving. Molly would be home by now, and wondering where he was. Max whisked round and scrambled back up the path as quickly as he could. But when he got to the top, he looked around. Which way was home from here? He couldn’t remember which way he’d come – he hadn’t been thinking about having to go back.
Anxiously, Max sniffed the air, hoping to pick up a familiar smell to tell him which way to go. Nothing. No smell of home, or Molly. Max sat down at the top of the path, huddling close to the signpost that said To the Sea. No one was in sight, just empty road stretching out in both directions. Seagulls were crying, but that was the only sound. Max whined miserably. He was lost.
Suddenly a low buzzing sound rose in the distance, quickly getting louder and louder. Max looked around, and cowered back against the signpost as a car shot by, engine roaring, and vanished down the road. He had to move. He needed to find Molly, and get away from noisy monsters like that. Determinedly, he trotted a few steps down the road. He wasn’t sure if it was the right way, but he had to go somewhere.
The road seemed to go on an awfully long way. Max was starving – he was used to several small meals of his special puppy food a day, and it felt like he’d missed at least three of them.
As he plodded on, his paws started to hurt too, because he’d never walked so far before. And it was getting harder to see, the daylight slowly disappearing, leaving a strange half-dusk that made shapes loom up at him. All the trees seemed to be waving big, scary branches at him, and the seagulls’ cries suddenly sounded eerie.
Max stopped for a rest, hiding in between some clumps of grass at the side of the road. He’d gone a long way out of the village by now, and the road didn’t have pavements any more, just grassy banks on either side. Things were scurrying in the hedge behind him, and more and more Max wished he’d never left his warm, comfortable, safe house behind.
He stood up and pushed on, determined to find his way home. It suddenly seemed to have got a lot darker, and Max was so tired and confused that he started to wander along in the middle of the road, his legs shaking with weariness. But he refused to give up.
Another low buzzing noise started; this time he felt it in his paws before he heard it. A car! Max looked round, frightened and confused by the bright lights that were racing up behind him. He tried to get out of the way, but he didn’t know which way to go, and he wavered disastrously in its path. The driver didn’t even see him.
The car caught him with the edge of its front bumper, and Max was thrown clear, landing in the hedge. He lay unconscious in the long grass, his leg bleeding.
When Molly’s dad got home from work, the house was empty, but he could hear Molly’s voice calling from the garden.
“Max! Max, where are you?” Molly sounded upset and her dad dropped his bag in the hall and hurried out to see what was going on.
“Has Max got out?” he asked anxiously. “He didn’t wriggle under the fence, did he? I thought that gap was too small.”
Molly shook her head. Her eyes were full of tears, and she gave her dad a hug, burying her face in his coat. She didn’t want to be the one to tell him.
Molly’s mum came down the side path round the house. “Oh, James, you’re back!” She was feeling terribly guilty about accidentally letting Max out, and she kept telling Molly how sorry she was. “I left the front window open, and Max got out. We’ve been all down the street, but we can’t find him anywhere.”
Molly was trying hard to forgive her mum, because she knew she hadn’t meant to leave the window open, but it was difficult.
“There’s just no sign of him,” Mum said, sounding close to tears. “I’ve spoken to all the neighbours, and no one’s seen him. But they’ve promised to keep a lookout for him.”
“If only he’d had his collar on,” Molly said miserably. They’d bought Max a collar, but he hadn’t been wearing it. He hadn’t needed it on when he was only in the house and garden. They’d also been planning to take Max to the vet’s to get his next lot of booster vaccinations, and the vet was going to put a microchip in his neck. It would have meant that if he got lost, any vet could check the chip and would know who he belonged to. They’d even made an appointment for it to be done in a few weeks’ time. They were taking him to the vet’s close to where Mrs Hughes lived, the one she used for her dogs. It was half an hour’s drive away, but Mrs Hughes said they were really good. The thought made Molly’s eyes fill with tears. Who knew where Max would be by then?