“He’s so sweet,” Bella told Megan as they put their coats away. She’d been waiting for her friend by the gate, but Megan hadn’t arrived until just before the bell. Bella should have known – it was the same every morning – but she’d been desperate to tell Megan about Sid.
“The lady from the shelter’s coming over after school to see the house—”
“What for?” Megan asked, sounding surprised.
“Oh, to make sure it’s a proper home for a dog. That we’ve got a bit of garden, and no young children, things like that.”
“I’d have thought they couldn’t be that picky.” Megan shrugged. “If they’re just stray dogs.”
“Well, they’ve got to find them nice homes,” Bella pointed out, feeling a bit hurt. “Or they’ll only end up back at the shelter again, won’t they.”
“Mmm, suppose so. Did you do that maths homework?”
“Yes.” Bella was about to start telling Megan how beautiful Sid’s ears were, but her friend was already hurrying out of the cloakroom. Bella sighed. Maybe she was going on about Sid a bit too much. But how could she stop talking about him when he was so gorgeous?
The home visit went well, even though Bella was really nervous. She’d been certain that Jo would find something awful about their house, and say that they couldn’t bring Sid home after all. But Jo seemed to think they’d be brilliant dog owners, especially as Mum worked from home. Bella had shown her a leaflet about dog-training classes, which she’d picked up at the hall where she went for dancing, and Jo had beamed at her.
“Great! You sound as though you’re taking it all really seriously. I think Sid shouldn’t be too hard to train. He’s very good-natured, and he already knows how to sit and walk to heel.”
Jo had also told them a little bit of Sid’s story. He’d been found abandoned as a puppy, stuffed into a cardboard box at a rubbish dump. Mum had cried when Jo told them that, and Bella had felt like crying, too. How could anyone be so cruel? It had made all of them – Mum, Dad, Bella and Tom – determined to make sure that Sid had the best home ever after such an awful start.
Jo had arranged that they could come and pick Sid up at the weekend – just a week after they’d first seen him. It wasn’t really all that long to wait, but for Bella, it seemed as though the week lasted forever. She dashed out of school on Friday afternoon with just the speediest, “Bye! Have a nice weekend!” to Megan. She and her mum were meeting Tom up the road at his school. Then they were all going to the pet shop to choose a basket, and the other things that Sid would need once they brought him home.
By the time they got to the shelter at nine o’clock on Saturday morning, Bella had already been up for hours, and she was buzzing with excitement. Today was the day! They were really going to be bringing Sid home.
“I’ve been making a big fuss of him,” Jo said, smiling. “He was a bit down when you left last weekend – he’ll be so pleased to see you again.”
Bella nodded. She’d been worrying that Sid wouldn’t understand they were coming back to get him.
“Dad and I will look through the paperwork,” Mum suggested to Bella and Tom. “Why don’t you two go and see Sid?”
“Ah, is that a new collar and lead for him?” Jo smiled. “Let’s go and get him and put them on. Then we can bring him out here to your mum and dad.”
Bella gulped excitedly.
Tom fumbled at the fastening on the collar, undoing it so they were ready to give it to Sid. “This is so cool,” he muttered, nudging Bella. “Our own dog!”
“I can’t believe it’s really happening,” Bella whispered back, as they followed Jo down to the pens.
But it was. Sid was there, sitting hopefully by his door, as if he’d heard their voices. When he saw them his tail beat slowly back and forth, and he glanced from Bella to Tom and back to Bella again, as though he wasn’t quite sure it was really happening either.
“He’s so lovely,” Bella murmured, choking up a little bit.
“Don’t start crying!” Tom rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as Mum! This is a good thing, Bella! Hey, Sid,” he added in a gentle voice. “Look what we brought for you.” He held out the lead, and Sid’s slowly wagging tail suddenly went about ten times faster.
Jo laughed. “He loves his walks. Or his runs, I should say.” She opened the pen door and let Tom slip inside to fuss over Sid, and then put the collar on.
“It looks so nice,” Bella said proudly. The collar was a smart blue one that she’d chosen, with a matching lead. Mum had even had their phone number put on the little bone-shaped tag already.
Tom grinned at her, and passed over the lead. “You can take him, Bella. You chose him, after all.”
Bella’s fingers were shaking as she took the lead, and Sid stared up at her hopefully. His tail was still wagging at top speed. “Are you coming with us, Sid?” she murmured. “Shall we go home?”
Sid sat in his comfy, padded basket, watching solemnly as Bella showed him all the toys they’d bought.
“And look, this is a squeaky bone!” She squeaked it for him and laid it down to join the line with all the others.
“Bella went a bit mad in the pet shop,” her mum said, leaning down to stroke his ears. “This is enough for about three dogs, isn’t it, Sid!”
Sid recognized his name, and wagged his tail a bit, even though he didn’t know what they were talking about.
“I hope he’s OK,” Bella murmured worriedly. “He’s so quiet.”
“A new home is a lot to get used to, I should think,” Mum pointed out. “Give him some time.”
Sid looked at Bella, her straight blonde hair falling over her face as she crouched down to arrange the toys for him again. He liked her. He liked her a lot. As she came close, he leaned out of the basket and gave her cheek a sweeping, wet lick.
Bella collapsed backwards, giggling, and Sid followed her, planting his hairy white paws on her tummy so he could lick her again.
“Uuuugggh, Sid!” But Bella put her arms round his neck and hugged him. “You silly dog,” she told him lovingly, and Sid licked her one more time.
Chapter Three
“Hi! Megan, is that you?” Bella said excitedly into the phone. “We’ve got him! Sid’s at home with us – we brought him home yesterday! Do you want to come round and meet him? Mum says you can.” Bella waited expectantly for a voice at the other end, sure that Megan would jump at the chance.
“Actually, sorry, Bella, I can’t.”
“Oh…” Bella didn’t know what to say – she was really disappointed. Megan sounded excited about something, though. There was a bubbly sort of sound to her voice, as if she had a secret.
“Have you got some news?” Bella asked curiously.
“Yes – we’ve got a dog, too! We got her yesterday. She’s a spaniel and we’re calling her Coco.” Megan’s words spilled over each other, she was so eager to tell Bella her news.
For just a moment, Bella felt cross – getting a dog was her special thing. She had been desperate for one for ages. And now Megan had a dog, too, just like that. She knew that Megan’s mum and dad gave her loads of things – whatever she wanted really, because she was an only child and they worried that she was lonely. But why a dog? Bella hadn’t even thought Megan liked dogs all that much.