Oscar's Lonely Christmas (4 page)

Chapter Five

Oscar sat on the back of the sofa and stared out of the window, watching for Hannah in the gathering dark. He missed her. It seemed so long since she’d left the house for school that morning. She had taken him out in the garden and they’d played with his jingly ball, which had been fun. But then Hannah’s mum had called her in.
Since then he’d only had a quick walk round the park at lunchtime, with Zak trying to hold his lead, and pulling him backwards and forwards.

“Ossa!”

It was Zak again, running into the living room. Oscar whipped his head round and overbalanced. He slid down between the sofa and the window, yelping with fright, although he wasn’t really hurt, only surprised.

Zak clambered on to the sofa and hung perilously over the back, looking for Oscar.

Oscar whimpered miserably. He wanted to be left alone until Hannah came back. He started to creep along behind the sofa, meaning to nip out of the living-room door. Hannah’s mum
was preparing dinner in the kitchen, so she could let him out into the garden, and then he’d be safely away from Zak fussing him and pulling at his ears.

But Zak could move surprisingly fast. He wriggled down from the back of the sofa, and trotted round to meet Oscar as he emerged from behind it.

“Ossa!” The little boy flung his arms around the puppy’s neck, squeezing him lovingly.

Oscar moaned. Zak was cuddling him far too tightly, and it hurt. He tried to pull back out of Zak’s arms, but that only made Zak hold him tighter. Oscar wriggled and struggled, and Zak giggled, thinking it was all just a funny game.

Oscar was starting to feel desperate. He wanted to snap, but he knew he shouldn’t. Instead, he growled. A low
Rrrrrrrrrrrr!
deep in his chest, his lips drawing back from his teeth in a snarl.

Zak let go of Oscar, stumbling away, his eyes wide with fright.

Oscar shot out into the hallway, looking for a place to hide in case Zak followed him. There was a little alcove under the stairs where everyone kept their coats and bags, and Oscar scurried into it, hiding behind Hannah’s ballet bag. His heart was racing and he felt grumpy and scared at the same time. He hadn’t wanted to upset the little boy, but why wouldn’t Zak just leave him alone?

His ears pricked up as he heard Hannah coming up the front path, followed by her dad, who’d gone to pick her up from the rehearsal. He longed to leap out and run to her – but Zak might grab him again. Better to stay hidden. He crouched down behind the bag, still shivering.

“Oscar?” Hannah sounded surprised. Usually he was there, dancing around her as soon as she came in the door, but today he was nowhere to be seen.

“I wonder if he’s got shut in somewhere,” Dad suggested, as Hannah went to put her school bag away under the stairs.

As soon as he saw her, Oscar wriggled out on his tummy, making a little whining noise.

“Oh! He’s here! Oscar, what’s the matter? Dad, he’s shaking.” Hannah knelt down to cuddle him, and Oscar snuggled against her gratefully.

“Ossa growled,” a small voice said behind Hannah, and she turned round to find Zak standing in the
living-room
doorway, looking half-guilty, half-scared.

Dad frowned. “What happened, Zak?” he asked.

Mum rushed out into the hall. “Oh no! What’s the matter? I was just putting the pasta on and I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the kettle.”

“Zak’s been bothering Oscar again, I bet!” Hannah burst out. She had felt Oscar tense up as soon as Zak appeared.

“Don’t always blame Zak, Hannah. He’s only little,” Mum said gently.

Hannah sighed.

“Zak, were you chasing Oscar?” Dad asked, looking into Zak’s eyes.

Zak wriggled away from him. “No. Jus’ stroking.”

“You have to be gentle, Zak,” Dad explained. “He’s only a puppy.”

Hannah glared at Zak. He’d got away with it, again! It just wasn’t fair! As she cuddled Oscar closer she could feel how upset he was. She only wished she could have been there to protect him.

“I have to make some wings as part of my costume,” Hannah told everyone at
the dinner table later on. “Mr Byford’s going to give me some tissue paper to bring home.” She smiled to herself, but it wasn’t because of her excitement about her beautiful angel costume. Under the table, a small, warm muzzle was resting lovingly on her foot. Hannah lifted a piece of meat on her fork, and “accidentally” dropped it down the side of her chair. Oscar deserved a treat. A little black and white blur raced to snap it up.

“What else are you wearing, do you know?” Mum asked.

“A gold tunic thing and a halo,” Hannah told her. “Mrs Garner’s making the halo, she’s the lady who comes in to help with art. She’s brilliant at making things.”

“Sounds good.” Dad smiled. “I’m really looking forward to seeing this show next week. We’ve heard so much about it, I feel like I could join in!”

Hannah grinned. She had gone on about the play a bit, she supposed.

She brought home all the bits for the wings that Friday. They were quite complicated to make, and Dad had to help her over the weekend. Hannah cut out all the tissue paper feathers, and Dad made her a wire frame to stick them on, and helped her tie ribbons on to fasten the wings around her shoulders. They worked on them for two whole evenings, dabbing on gold paint here and there, and making them look really special.

So it was a total disaster when
Hannah came home from school on Monday, the day before the dress rehearsal, and found her wings lying on the living-room floor, with half the feathers ripped off.

“Mum!” Hannah called out, horrified. Mum rushed in from the hallway, where she’d been taking off Zak’s coat.

“What is it?”

“Why weren’t you watching him?” Hannah wailed. “How could you let him tear them up like that? I hate you, Zak!” she added angrily, as she saw Zak peeping round the door.

“Oh, Hannah, I don’t think this was Zak,” Mum said, shaking her head. “And don’t say that, please. It’s mean.”

Hannah blinked. “Who was it then?”

“Oscar! Look, they’re all chewed. I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have left them to dry on that low shelf, but I just didn’t think about it.” She sighed. “We need to be a bit more careful.” She looked down at Oscar, who’d just emerged from behind the sofa. “No, Oscar! Look at this mess!”

“It wasn’t Oscar,” Hannah said stubbornly, sweeping him up in her arms. But she could see the white tissue paper sticking out of the corner of his mouth, and she knew that Mum was right. Cuddling Oscar tight, she marched out of the living room. There was no way she was saying sorry to Zak.

Dad had helped Hannah remake her wings in time for the dress rehearsal, but they weren’t quite as good as they’d been before. Hannah wriggled her shoulders nervously, fussing with the ribbons that held the wings on. She couldn’t believe it was the night of the performance at last.

“Can you see them?” Lucy asked, as Hannah peeped round the side of the curtain.

Hannah shook her head. “No. Oh, but your mum and dad are over there!” She frowned as she stared around the hall again. “They’re going to have to sit at the back,” she murmured. “It’s really filling up.”

Mum had promised Hannah that she and Dad would be there in good time – they were going to leave Zak with Gran.
So where were they?