“I know. Maybe it was because we found them – and feeding Cookie with the bottle has made her special to me, Mum.” Zoe smiled proudly. “I got her to take some puppy mix and milk in a bowl this morning. Auntie Jo was really pleased, she said that she’d thought Cookie was going to have to be on bottles for ever!”
“Your Auntie Jo ought to be paying you wages!” Mum sighed. “I know you love it at the shelter, but maybe you should have a couple of days off from helping out? Do something else? I bet Kyra could take enough time away from her revision to take you shopping. Or the cinema?”
Zoe looked horrified. “Oh no, Mum! I’ve got to keep going. I’ve got to help Cookie get on with the solid food. It’s really important.”
Her mum gave her a worried look. “Well, I suppose so…”
Chapter Five
It sounds like the best Easter holidays ever!” Becca sighed enviously.
Zoe smiled at her as they walked into their classroom. “It was fab. I really missed going to the shelter this morning. I was looking forward to seeing you, but apart from that I could have done without school!”
“Me too, but I can’t see my mum letting me have the day off because I needed to go and visit the world’s cutest puppies…” Becca flopped down into her chair, and glanced over at the board. “Numeracy problems! Great start to the new term…” She got out her maths book, but went on talking in a whisper. “So is Cookie properly weaned now? She’s eating real puppy food?”
Zoe nodded. “Yup, they all still have a bit of milk, but they’ve started drinking water too. And Cookie’s really catching up with Biscuit and Choc. I don’t think she’ll ever be quite as big as they are, but she’s doing OK. I brought the photos Mum printed out – I’ll show you at break— Ssh! – Mrs Allan’s watching us right now.” She stopped talking and tried to look like she was concentrating on the problems that Mrs Allan had put on the board for them. Their teacher was usually lovely, but she always got extra strict when they came back after the holidays – as though she thought they needed to remember what school was like!
Zoe showed the photos to Becca and some of the other girls in her class at break time, and everyone said how gorgeous the puppies were. Lots of the girls said they were going to ask their mums and dads if they could come to the shelter and see the puppies, and maybe even adopt one of them. Zoe knew that most of her friends wouldn’t be allowed to – Lucy already had two dogs at home, for a start! But the more people who came to see the puppies the better. However much Zoe hated the thought of them leaving the shelter, she wanted them to have the very best of homes.
That afternoon, Auntie Jo had arranged to nip out from the shelter and pick Zoe up from school. Mum was going to fetch her after she finished work. Zoe got changed quickly in the staff loos – Mum hated her getting her school uniform messy – and then ran to see Cookie and the others.
Cookie was curled up in their basket, watching her brothers playing tug-of-war with a bit of old rope that someone had given them. They’d had it since the morning, and it was their new favourite toy. Bits of it were scattered all over the pen. She sighed a little, and rested her nose on her paws, wondering where Zoe was. Zoe had played with her every day since they’d come here from their old home. Actually, the little puppy couldn’t remember much of where they’d lived before they’d been at the shelter. The only thing she was sure of was that their mother had been at the old place. She still wondered what had happened, and why they had been taken away, but she didn’t mind, because now she had Zoe.
Except that today she didn’t, and she didn’t understand why. Zoe always fed her and her brothers. Zoe made a special fuss of them, even though she wasn’t feeding milk from her lap any more. Zoe still brought the food bowls, and watched to make sure that she was eating properly. Zoe even stopped Choc and Biscuit from trying to take her food if they finished theirs first.
Today the other lady had brought their food - Jo, the one who was always with Zoe. Jo had said nice things, and she’d stroked her, and said how good she was. But it wasn’t the same.
Cookie’s little ears pricked up sharply. Someone was running along the passage between the pens - someone with small, light footsteps. She jumped up in the basket and barked excitedly as Zoe appeared at the front of the pen, beaming at her.
“Oh! Did you miss me? I really missed you,” Zoe told her, opening the latch. “You too, yes, I missed you as well, you great big monsters,” she told Biscuit and Choc, patting them lovingly as they waltzed round her feet. But it was Cookie that she sat down next to, and Cookie she cuddled as soon as the puppy clambered happily into her lap.
“I missed you more,” Zoe whispered into her ears, as she stroked her. “I know I shouldn’t really say it, but I did.” She sighed. “There’s some people come to look round, Cookie. Try and look like a perfect pet, won’t you? You aren’t old enough to go for a couple more weeks, but if they like you, they might wait.”
She could hear them coming along the line of pens, now. A couple, who’d just bought a house together, and were thinking of getting a dog. They’d said they didn’t mind whether it was a puppy or an older dog, but when Auntie Jo had mentioned the three gorgeous little puppies they had got excited.
“They’ll be looking out for you.” Zoe sighed again. “They looked nice, I suppose. Nice-ish…” She couldn’t imagine anyone being a good enough owner for her lovely Cookie. No one except her, she realized, with a miserable little gulp.
“So they decided on Jasper?” Zoe asked as she helped her aunt to clean out the food bowls, feeling a bit surprised, but very relieved. Jasper was about five years old and was a mixed-breed, mostly Labrador. He wasn’t nearly as nice-looking as Cookie and her brothers, Zoe thought.
“Yes, they decided that they wanted a bigger dog after all,” Auntie Jo explained. “Don’t worry, Zoe. It won’t be hard to find homes for those three at all. They’re gorgeous. It’s the older dogs that it can be hard to place.”
Zoe nodded. “My friend Becca is going to get a dog soon. Becca said she’d love to come and see the puppies. She’s going to ask her mum and dad if they could come this weekend. That would be OK, wouldn’t it?” Her voice wobbled a little bit. “It’ll only be one more week till the puppies are old enough to go to new homes then…”
Auntie Jo looked closely at her. “Yes, they’ll be about seven weeks this weekend, as far as we can tell. It won’t hurt them to be split up from their litter after eight weeks. It would be lovely for one of your friends to come. Zoe, are you OK, sweetheart?”
“I’ll miss them, that’s all,” Zoe muttered.
“I know you will. Especially Cookie. You’ve looked after her so well. But she can’t stay here, Zo, you know that. It isn’t a good life for a dog, in a little pen like this, however much we love them.”
“I know. But it’s hard to think of someone else taking her home. I wish we could have a dog! I’d look after her so well!” Zoe burst out. Then she added quietly, “Don’t worry, I know we can’t…”
Auntie Jo hugged her, accidentally clanging two stainless steel dishes together behind her back, and making Zoe laugh.