Ellie the Homesick Puppy (4 page)

Ellie reached the hedge to the next field and nosed along it, looking for a good place to scramble through. It was thick and prickly, but suddenly she found a small tunnel. Ellie wriggled into it – then stopped.

She was stuck! Her collar had caught on something. She pulled frantically, but the collar only tightened around her neck until it hurt. She tried again, and again, but she couldn’t break the collar, or the branch it had caught on.

At last, worn out from pulling, she sat still, whimpering a little. Something else must use this tunnel, and she didn’t want to be here when it came back. Pulling at the collar just wasn’t going to work – but when Megan had first put it on her, she had managed to get it off, hadn’t she? It had been a little big and it wasn’t now, but surely if she really tried? Instead of pulling forwards, Ellie wriggled backwards, twisting her neck so that she reversed out of her collar, wrenching it over her ears.

Ellie fell backwards, rolling over in the leaves. She had done it! Her ears felt like she had half pulled them off, but although her collar was still stuck in the hedge, she wasn’t. Ellie stepped out into
the next field, her legs shaky with relief.

The next hedge was easy; she edged through it on her tummy and hardly even caught her fur. But as she wriggled through she could smell something strange on the other side… The field she came out in was full of cows. Ellie had only ever seen cows at a distance, and she’d never walked through a field full of them. They were very large. She stood watching for a moment, but the cows didn’t seem to notice her. Most of them were grazing, though a few were lying down quietly.

She took a cautious step out into the field, then started to trot quickly across it, keeping herself low to the ground and hoping the cows wouldn’t notice her. The problem was that they were
scattered everywhere, so she had to go close to a few of them. Luckily, she scampered past so quickly that they hardly had time to turn their huge heads before she’d left them behind. But a few of them got nervously to their feet at the sight of the dog.

Ellie was nearly at the far hedge when she heard a heavy, lumbering tread behind her. She darted a look over her shoulder, her heart suddenly racing at double speed. An enormous
black-and-white
cow was thundering towards her, head lowered to show off short but business-like horns. It was staring angrily straight at Ellie, and it snorted at her in fury.

Ellie ran faster than she ever had before, racing at top speed for the hedge. She could feel the cow’s hot breath as it huffed and blew behind her. Its enormous hooves trampled the grass, inches away from her tail. Ellie let out a frightened bark. She had to go faster!  

Megan stood in her bedroom, surrounded by boxes. It felt so strange that she had been doing just the same thing a couple of hours ago, but in her old house. There her room had looked really sad, like the end of something, but here it was a new start. It was so exciting! She just wished she had Ellie here to see everything too. She peered
out of her window at the big garden, sloping down to a stream, and the woods on the other side. Tomorrow she could go and explore it all with Ellie!

Megan was suddenly desperate to talk to Gran and find out if Ellie was OK. She hurried downstairs.

“Dad, can I borrow your mobile?” Megan asked, bursting into the kitchen.

But Dad was already on the phone, looking anxious.

Megan made a “sorry!” face, but Dad only smiled at her distractedly.

“What’s the matter?” Megan asked. Even the air in the kitchen felt full of worry.

“It’s Gran on the phone,” Mum said quietly, putting her arm around Megan. “She called to say that she thinks Ellie slipped out of the door this morning. But she’s sure Ellie can’t have got far.”

“But, but – where can she have gone?” Megan asked, in a frightened whisper. “She hardly knows anywhere round there. She’ll get lost!”

Megan sat down at the table, feeling sick. She would never have let Ellie go if she’d thought this might happen. How could Gran have let her get out?

Dad ended the call, then sat down next to her and covered her hand with his. “Gran’s going to come round and pick you up so you can go and look for Ellie with her.”

Megan nodded, feeling a little bit better. But it was so hard to think of Ellie, lost and lonely and scared. She had to try very hard not to cry.

Gran hugged her when she arrived, and she looked so upset that Megan forgot to be cross and just hugged her back.

“We’ll find her, Megan,” she promised. “I’m so sorry. She must have slipped out when the postman came.
I just didn’t see. She’s probably gone off exploring in the woods. The moment she hears your voice, she’s sure to come running.”

They drove back to Gran’s, and then set off into the woods that ran behind the cottages, calling and calling.

But Ellie didn’t come running, as Megan had so hoped she would. The daffodils were flowering and it was so beautiful – Megan had been looking forward to walking here with her dog so much. But all she could think about now was how scared Ellie would be out here on her own. She was still so little, and most of their walks were in the park. Ellie could get trapped in a rabbit hole, or fall in a stream! Megan sniffed hard, and rubbed her sleeve across her eyes.

“Let’s go and try down the lane,” Gran suggested, looking around one last time. “I just don’t think she can be here, she would have heard us calling.”

They found no sign of Ellie in the lane either. They went all the way down to the road, and Megan watched the cars speeding by. What if Ellie had been run over? She had tried so hard to teach her to be careful, but she was only a puppy, and she might easily have run into the road.

“I don’t think she’d come along here,” Gran said, hugging her. “Don’t worry, Megan. Look, Ellie would be frightened of those cars if she was on her own. She wouldn’t try to cross. Come on, we’ll go back home. I’ve already asked my neighbours, but we’ll go and ask round the village if anyone’s seen her. Someone’s sure to have done.”

But Gran looked worried. It was as though Ellie had simply disappeared.

Ellie made a big leap and shot into the hedge, the cow snorting angrily behind her. It lowered its horns, as Ellie fought and scrambled her way through the twigs. She gave a yelp of relief as she
struggled out into tufts of long grass on the other side of the hedge.

The cow snorted grumpily and lumbered away, and Ellie collapsed panting on the soft grass. She’d left her collar in the last hedge, but it felt like she’d left half her fur in this one.

Now that she was safely away from the cows, Ellie realized how hungry she was, and thirsty too. She hadn’t had lunch, and it felt a long way past lunchtime now. But although the sun was sinking, it was still warm. The air felt sticky, and black clouds were gathering behind the trees.

The quiet lane was leading to houses, just a few, but there might be some food around, Ellie thought hopefully. And somewhere to rest. She didn’t
want to stay out in the open all night. She didn’t like that strange close feeling in the air. It made her fur feel prickly.

“Mum rang the police just now and reported her missing.” Megan gulped. “She’s been gone all day, Bella! The policeman said it’s good that she’s microchipped, because if someone brings her in, they can check. Mum gave them the new address. Gran and I searched and searched, and then we made posters on her computer. We’ve stuck them up everywhere, but no one’s called. I wish you were here to help us look.” Megan was sitting in her new bedroom, borrowing Dad’s mobile to
call Bella. She hated having to tell her that Ellie was missing. It made it seem even more real.

“Oh, Megan!” Bella sounded almost as upset as she was. “Have you been all through those woods you told me about?”

“We’ve searched the woods twice, and Mum says I can’t go again now, it’s getting dark,” Megan said sadly. “I just want her back. She’ll be so scared, Bella. I hate thinking of her all on her own.”

The first house Ellie came to kept its bins tightly closed. She headed on past. There was a good smell coming from somewhere close. Bread, she thought,
sneaking carefully down the side of a house and squirming under an iron gate. Yes! Bread crusts, scattered all over a patio around a bird table. Ellie gobbled them greedily. She was so glad to find some food that she didn’t notice she was being watched. The slam of a door made her jump back in fright. An elderly lady came out, looking cross and waving a broom. She poked it at Ellie, who skittered back in horror.

“Shoo! Out of here, bad dog! Don’t you scare away my birds! Shoo! Go home!” And she banged the brush on the paving stones, making Ellie squeak with fright. The puppy shot across the garden towards the gap under the gate, wriggling out and away as quickly as she could.

Once she was safely a few houses away, she hid under a car, shivering. She hadn’t known the bread was special; she was only hungry. Ellie whimpered. She wanted Megan back. Then she shook her ears determinedly. She was on her way to Megan. She had a feeling that she had walked along this lane before, with Megan and Gran when they were out together. It was definitely on the way home. She poked out her nose from
under the car, checking for the old lady, but there was no one around.