Lucy the Poorly Puppy (3 page)

“I hope Lucy will be all right,” Lauren muttered. “It said in that leaflet that sometimes the mum tries to lick the human smell away and accidentally hurts the puppy.”

Dad put an arm round her shoulders. “We’ll watch really carefully,” he promised. “And it’s not as if Bella’s a dog at a big breeder’s, who lives outside 
and doesn’t really know people that well. She’s part of our family. Hopefully our smell won’t upset her too much.”

“Look!” Lauren whispered.

Bella was sniffing thoughtfully at Lucy, and Lauren held her breath as Bella started to lick the little puppy. But Bella didn’t look at all upset, just a little surprised.

Lauren giggled. “I think Bella’s so worn out I bet she’d hardly noticed Lucy was gone!”

Over the next few days, Lauren was sure that Lucy had started to recognize her. If Lucy started squeaking in her 
box, she would calm down as soon as Lauren picked her up, but not if it was Mum or Dad. Lauren knew it was probably just that Lucy recognized her by smell as the person who usually fed her, but it still made her feel special. She couldn’t wait for Lucy to open her eyes, so that the puppy could see her as well as smell her.

Mum and Dad were supposed to be taking it in turns to do the night feeds, but Lauren couldn’t help waking up when she heard the alarm go off in their bedroom. And once she was awake, she just couldn’t stay in bed. Mum even stopped telling her off about it by the end of their second night of puppy-rearing.

Lucy was putting on weight now, 
although not as fast as the other puppies, who were fat and
glossy-furred
. She adored her feeds, but Lauren suspected she might always be a bit smaller than her brothers and sisters.

Lucy squeaked and sucked at Lauren’s fingers as Lauren scooped her up. She knew Lauren’s scent, and she was sure it was time for Lauren to feed her, and she was so, so hungry. 

Lauren giggled as Lucy’s little pink paws flailed around. “I’m just waiting for it to cool down. You don’t want to burn your mouth!”

Lucy squeaked even louder. Where was the milk?

“OK, OK, here you go.”

Lucy sighed happily, and settled down to sucking. That was much better.

After the first week, Lauren and her parents could leave Lucy for six hours in the middle of the night without a feed. Dad said he’d do the midnight feed on his own – he was used to staying up late working anyway. Lauren had to admit it was really nice to get a proper night’s sleep again, even though she still had to get up super-early for Lucy’s morning feed. 

Millie came to visit the puppies when they were about two weeks old.

“Can I feed Lucy?” she asked hopefully. “That photo you sent me of you feeding her was so cute. She’s even more gorgeous now her eyes are open, though.”

“She is, isn’t she?” Lauren agreed, handing Millie the bottle. 

Lucy watched Lauren the whole time she was feeding, and Lauren could tell she was a bit confused why somebody else was holding her bottle.

“You have to burp her now, like your mum burps Amy!” Lauren told Millie, when Lucy had finished.

Now that the puppies were two weeks old, their eyes were open, although they still hadn’t really started to move around much. The really exciting thing was that their markings were starting to come through. Lucy had more brown on her face now, not just her pretty eyebrows, and all the puppies were changing every day.

Even though the puppies were still too tiny to really play with, Millie didn’t want to leave when her mum 
came to pick her up.

Lauren waved goodbye from the door, and sighed as Millie’s car disappeared down the lane. She really missed seeing her best friend every day.

“Lauren, I’ve got some really exciting news,” her mum started, as she came back into the kitchen. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“I just wish I could see Millie more often in the holidays, that’s all. Email and phoning aren’t the same as having a friend close by.”

Her mum gave her a hug. “This is going to be extra-good news for you, then.” She beamed at Lauren. “We’ve rented out the cottage. To a family with a boy the same age as you!”

Lauren blinked. The cottage was on 
the other side of the orchard, just beyond the farmyard. The old tenant had left ages ago, and Lauren had forgotten they were trying to find someone new.

“He’s called Sam Martin, and he’s got a little sister called Molly. Isn’t that wonderful? You’ll have a friend really close by!”

Lauren nodded slowly, but she wasn’t sure it was all that wonderful. What if she didn’t like this boy? And even if she did, he wouldn’t be as good a friend as Millie.

Chapter Five

“Oh, that sounds like the Martins at the door!” Mum fussed around the kitchen, putting the kettle on. “Would you open it, Lauren?”

It was two weeks after Mum had broken the news about the new neighbours moving in, and they’d said they were going to pop round that afternoon. Lauren still couldn’t help 
wishing it was a girl her age rather than a boy. And she didn’t want some strange boy and his little sister messing around with Lucy and upsetting her. Instead of opening the door, she quickly dashed upstairs with Lucy, and stashed her in the box she’d slept in on the first night. Mum still let her take Lucy upstairs occasionally, and Lucy couldn’t get out of the box yet, although she really liked trying.

Lucy whined in surprise as Lauren put her down. What was happening? She had been having a nice cuddle, and now she was being left all on her own! She stood up with her paws against the edge of the box, scrabbling hard. Where was Lauren? She whimpered miserably. 

Lauren ran back downstairs, and tried to look friendly as Mum introduced her to Nicky Martin and Sam, a blond-haired boy who looked just as embarrassed as she felt. Sam’s dad was still sorting things out at the house, and his little sister was asleep, Nicky said.

Sam cuddled one of the puppies, the big boy that they had named Buster, and didn’t really say much. Lauren was just hoping that they might go soon – surely they must have loads of unpacking to do? But then her mum nudged her, and said meaningfully, “Why don’t you show Sam round the farm?”

Lauren frowned. It was nearly time to feed Lucy, and she didn’t want to anyway! 

Her mum glared at her, and she gave a tiny sigh and turned to Sam. “Come on, then. You can bring Buster, if you like.”

Sam nodded, and followed her out into the yard. “He’s really nice. Is he your favourite?”

Lauren shook her head.

“Don’t you have a favourite? He’d be mine, he’s great.” Sam snuggled Buster up under his chin. 

Lauren didn’t know what to say. It would sound stupid to admit she’d hidden Lucy away. “I like them all,” she said, a bit vaguely.

Lauren trailed around the farm, showing Sam the orchard, and the old barn on the other side of the yard. There were a few bales of hay in it still, and she liked to hide out in there sometimes.

“This is cool. I bet the puppies would love it in here,” said Sam.

Lauren nodded. “They haven’t been outside much yet, but Dad’s making a wire run so they can play in the orchard.”

Sam looked up. “Oh, that’s my mum calling. I suppose we have to go and unpack.”

He handed Buster to Lauren, and they headed back to the farmhouse. Lauren supposed Sam was OK really – at least he liked the puppies – but she didn’t think they were going to be best friends or anything, which was obviously what Mum was hoping.

“He was nice, wasn’t he?” Mum asked, as they waved goodbye to Sam and his mum. “Gosh, look at Buster!” She tickled the puppy under the chin. “He’s huge. I must see about putting an 
ad in the local paper about new homes for the puppies. And there are a couple of good puppy websites too.”

Lauren swallowed. Her heart seemed to have suddenly jumped into her throat. New homes! She had almost forgotten about that – she had wanted to forget.

“But they’re only a month old, Mum!” she cried.

“I know. But puppies go to their new owners at about eight weeks, and people don’t just turn up and take a puppy home. We’ll have to let them come and see the puppies – and we need to meet them to make sure we like them.” She hugged Lauren. “We’re not going to give Bella’s lovely pups to just anyone, sweetheart, don’t worry.” 

Lauren nodded. “But – but not Lucy?” she asked quickly. “She isn’t big enough yet, Mum.”

Mum nodded thoughtfully. “You’re probably right. Lucy will have to be a bit older than the others when she goes. Not much though, I shouldn’t think. You’ve done so well feeding her, she’s catching them up.” She looked at Lauren. “I know you really love Lucy, and it’ll be hard for you to say goodbye, but you’ll still have Bella, remember.”

Lauren buried her nose in Buster’s soft fur. She loved Bella, of course she did. But Lucy would have died if Lauren hadn’t woken up that first night. It felt like she and Lucy belonged together. But Lauren just didn’t think she could explain that to Mum. 

She put Buster back in the puppy pen, and ran upstairs to fetch Lucy. When she opened her bedroom door, Lucy scrabbled at the side of the box with her claws, squeaking frantically.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I went off and left you, didn’t I?” Lauren scooped up the puppy, her eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t mean to.” She sighed, feeling Lucy wriggle and squirm against her neck. “I don’t ever want to leave you. But I’m not going to, am I? You’re going to leave me. Oh, Lucy, I don’t want you to go!” 

The summer holidays seemed to have gone by so quickly, Lauren thought. She could hardly believe there was less than a week to go until school started! She supposed it was because she’d been busy all the time looking after Lucy and Bella, and the other puppies.

Lucy’s brothers and sisters loved the little outdoor run that Lauren’s dad had made for them, and spent lots of time out there now. Lauren’s mum had put a photo of them all romping about on the grass on the pet website where she was advertising them to new owners.

Lauren wasn’t sure about letting Lucy go out in the run yet – she was still so much littler than the other 
puppies, and Lauren was worried that they might hurt her with their rough and tumble games.

“Mum, can I take Lucy out to play in the orchard, if I’m really careful not to let her run off?”

Her mum put down the phone. “Yes, that’s fine. Although I’m sure she’d be all right in the run with the others, you know. She’s a lot bigger now.”

Lauren sighed. She supposed Lucy was catching up. But she still wouldn’t feed from Bella like they did. Dad said she liked her special bottles too much. They wouldn’t have to do the bottle feeds for too much longer, though. Now that the puppies were five weeks old, they were all having solid food too. Lauren loved to watch them all eating. 
The first few meals had gone everywhere but into the puppies’ mouths, and Bella had ended up having most of it as she’d licked it off the puppies. They had the same dry food as Bella, but mixed with the puppy milk Lucy had, and they always ended up with mush caked all over their ears.

“Who was on the phone?” Lauren asked, as she finished her toast. “It wasn’t someone about the puppies, was it?”

“No, it was just Nicky, Sam’s mum. We’d talked about sharing the school run next week, and she wanted to know if we’d rather do morning or afternoon. I said we’d pick you up in the afternoon, is that OK? I like hearing about your day.” 

Lauren gaped at her. “Sam’s going to my school?” she asked.

“Well, of course he is. Yours is the only school close by.”

“He’s not in my class, is he?”

“No, he’s in the other class in your year.” Her mum frowned. “His mum and I talked about it when they came round, didn’t you hear us?”

Lauren shook her head. She supposed she’d been too busy being grumpy about having to entertain Sam. And now she had to share lifts to school with him! She knew it would make less work for Mum and Dad, but she didn’t want to share her car journeys; she liked having the time to chat to them.

Crossly, she picked up Lucy and 
a ball from the puppy pen and stomped out into the yard.

Lucy squirmed excitedly in Lauren’s arms, sniffing all the interesting new smells. She’d been everywhere in the house with Lauren, but this was different. A butterfly fluttered past, and she yapped at it in delight. When they got to the orchard, which had a brick wall all round it, Lauren gently put her down on the grass.

Lucy looked up at her, not sure what she was supposed to do. She gave an enquiring little whine.

“Go play!” Lauren rolled the ball, and Lucy chased after it, yapping. She tried to sink her teeth into it, but it was just too big, and she ended up rolling over on top of the ball with a squeak of dismay. 

Lucy bounced up and went off sniffing around in the grass, until she came to a dock plant, with big
shield-shaped
leaves. She licked a leaf thoughtfully, and then seized it in her teeth, pulling hard. It sprang back, and she jumped around yapping fiercely, until Lauren nearly choked with laughter.

All of a sudden there was a heavy thud, and a big football bounced over the orchard wall and thumped on to the grass right next to Lucy, who whimpered in fright. She scampered over to Lauren.

Lauren snatched Lucy up in one arm, grabbed the ball with the other and ran across to the wall, to find Sam peering over it. 

“Hey! You almost hit Lucy with that! What are you doing?” Lauren snapped.

“Sorry! I was just kicking the ball around…” Sam looked guilty.

“You could have hurt her!” Lauren told him, as she shoved the ball into his hands.

“Sorry…” Sam muttered again, and he walked away with his shoulders hunched up.

Lauren almost felt sorry for telling him off, but then Lucy wriggled into her neck, whimpering, and Lauren felt cross all over again.