“Come on, Scout,” Zoe called sadly, trailing back into the house. He could tell that she wasn’t happy, she thought, watching him follow her, ears down. “We have to give you back,” she explained as she clipped on the lead, and waited for Dad to find his keys, and Mum to grab a cardigan. “I wish we could have kept you for longer…”
The walk back to Scout’s real home seemed to take no time at all, even though Zoe was trying to go as slowly as she could, and she thought Mum and Dad were, too. They stood outside Scout’s house, looking doubtfully at the door, and Scout pressed himself against Zoe’s legs and whined.
“I don’t think he wants to go back home,” Zoe said with a sniff. He didn’t want to go, and she wanted to keep him. It was so unfair.
“He’s probably just confused,” Dad said gently and he reached out to ring the bell.
Zoe could hear footsteps and an excited voice – Jack. He must be so glad that his dog was back, Zoe told herself, trying to block out her own feelings.
“You found him for us, Zoe!” Jack squeaked, hugging her round the waist. “He ran out of the door. He was so naughty.”
“It’s so lucky you found him,” Lauren said. “Come in – have a cup of tea. It’s the least I can do to say thank you.”
“Oh, that’s OK…” Zoe’s mum started to say, but Jack was already pulling Zoe inside and into the kitchen.
Lauren hurried around, making drinks, and Zoe watched as Scout sniffed thoughtfully at his basket and his food bowls.
“As soon as he ran off, I thought about his collar tag,” Lauren explained, putting down cups of tea. “And then I realized we hadn’t updated the microchip, either – I had such a long list of things to sort out after the move.”
“It’s a tricky time,” Zoe’s mum agreed. “So much to do.”
Lauren sighed and looked over at Ben, who was getting biscuits out of a cupboard. “In a way this has been a good thing, though. Losing Scout and realizing that we hadn’t even remembered to buy him a new tag – it’s made us see that we haven’t been taking care of him properly.”
She looked a little worriedly at Jack, who’d run back into the garden where he was playing with his cars. Scout was standing by the door, and watching him, but he didn’t try to join in. “This morning we were talking about ringing up his breeder and getting her to take him back. We’ve realized we just can’t cope with him and it’s only going to get worse as he gets bigger. We did try to talk to Jack about it, but I’m not sure he really understands.”
Zoe’s mum and dad both nodded, and Zoe could hear her dad saying something about that being a sensible decision, but it was as though she was hearing him from a long way away. There was a strange sort of rushing noise in her ears, like she could hear her own heart beating. They were sending Scout back? She wouldn’t even be able to see him in the park?
She wouldn’t see him at all.
Her parents and Lauren and Ben went on chatting, but Zoe sat silently, not even sipping the juice that Ben had poured for her. She was almost sure that if she moved at all, she would burst into tears. She couldn’t look at Scout.
It seemed hours until Mum said that they ought to make a move. Zoe stood up carefully, the way she did if she had a headache and sudden movements would hurt. It was all so wrong! When were they going to get rid of Scout? She hadn’t even asked. She wasn’t sure she could bear to know – but what if this was the last time she ever saw him?
Scout followed them down the hallway and Ben held on tightly to his collar as Lauren opened the front door, so he couldn’t slip out again. Zoe shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, in case she tried to push Ben’s hand away and grab Scout’s collar herself. The puppy was staring at her. His tail was tucked down and his eyes looked so sad. He was unhappy, and he was going to be really confused when Lauren and Ben sent him back. Zoe’s own eyes filled with tears and she turned away.
No one said very much as they walked along the street. Zoe was concentrating on not letting her mum and dad see that she was crying. They’d think she was so stupid – it wasn’t as if Scout had ever been her dog. She knew that. He was just a friend, that’s all.
“Zoe, which would you like?” her mum said and Zoe realized that she must have been asked a question.
“Wh-what?” she asked in a wavery sort of voice.
“Would you like mashed potatoes or— Zoe, what’s the matter?” Her mum stopped and looked properly into her eyes. “Sweetheart, what is it?”
Her dad put his arm round her shoulders. “Oh, Zoe, don’t cry!”
“They’re giving Scout back!” Zoe wailed. She just couldn’t hold it in any longer. “We won’t even see him now.”
“We did say we’d think about getting our own dog soon,” Mum said gently. “Maybe even a Bernese mountain dog like Scout.”
“I don’t want another dog!” Zoe looked up at her. “It won’t be the same, don’t you see?”
There was a moment of strange, waiting silence, and Zoe looked up to see her mum and dad exchanging a thoughtful glance.
“You know,” her dad murmured, “when they said they were going to give up Scout, I did wonder…”
Zoe’s mum shook her head. “So did I! But it just seemed a bit odd to suggest we could take him!”
“You mean it?” Zoe whispered.
Her mum laughed and looked at her dad. “Yes!”
Zoe stared at them for a second more, and then she turned and raced back down the road.
Zoe held up the treat – it was a bit of cheese. She’d discovered this was Scout’s favourite after he’d eaten her packed-lunch sandwiches. Scout was sitting, just about – he kept half getting up and then sitting down again because he wanted the cheese – at the end of the line of wellies Zoe had made.
“In and out! In and out, Scout!” Zoe said hopefully, crossing her fingers. Scout eyed the cheese, and then the wellies, and then marched straight down the side of the line instead of zigzagging through them like he was supposed to. Then he sat down in front of Zoe, sitting beautifully, like the best-behaved dog ever. He stared up at her with huge, dark, hungry eyes and she gave him the cheese anyway. She couldn’t resist those eyes and, after all, he was sitting.
“How’s he doing?” her mum called from the kitchen. “Have you run out of cheese yet?”
“He almost did it,” Zoe called back. “And, um, yes. Can we have some more cheese, please?”
Scout turned to look hopefully towards the kitchen, too. He might not get this in and out thing, but he knew exactly what cheese was. He loved it almost as much as he loved Zoe.
Collect them all
Biography
COPYRIGHT
STRIPES PUBLISHING
An imprint of the Little Tiger Group
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2018
Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2018