Alfie All Alone

Chapter Seven

As Evie trailed up the front path, she heard someone calling her, and excited woofs. She spun round immediately, thinking that somehow it was Alfie.

“Hello, Evie! Ben and Tigger and I are just out for our walk. We thought we’d see if you and Alfie wanted to come with us. I know you haven’t had a lot of time to walk him recently.”

Gran was beaming at Evie, but then she noticed Evie’s dad, who was shaking his head and holding his finger to lips.

“Jack, are you all right?” Gran asked worriedly, as Tigger and Ben towed her through the gate.

Evie’s dad sighed. “Not really.”

Evie crouched down to pat Ben and Tigger. “We just took Alfie to Riverside,” she told them quietly. Somehow it was easier to tell the dogs than Gran. Suddenly she remembered. “You were right, Gran, you said we wouldn’t be able to manage.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m really sorry.” Gran’s face crumpled. “I hadn’t realized it was that bad. Why didn’t you say?” she asked Evie’s dad.

He shrugged. “It was one of those difficult decisions…” he said sadly. “I’m sure someone really nice will take Alfie home. You know that, Evie, don’t you?”

Evie was fighting back tears. She didn’t want anybody else taking Alfie anywhere, even if they fed him out of a solid gold bowl! He was her dog – only he wasn’t. Not any more. In fact, she suddenly realized, she was never going to see him again. She gasped, and then she scrambled up and dashed into the house, tears stinging her eyes.

“That little Westie’s still not eating.”

“Really? He’s only been here three days. He’ll change his mind soon.”

The two girls in the green Riverside uniform leaned against the wall, sipping their tea, and staring thoughtfully into Alfie’s run. He was curled up at the back, a miserable little ball, not even looking at his overflowing food bowl.

“He’s really taking it hard, poor little thing.”

“Yeah, I was here when they brought him in – the little girl he belonged to was really upset too.”

Alfie snuggled his paws further round his ears to shut out their voices. If he kept his eyes shut tight, he could almost pretend that he was back home.

“Alfie! Alfie!”

Alfie twitched, but it wasn’t Evie. It was another of the Riverside staff, with some people looking for a dog. Quite a few people had been to see Alfie already, and everyone said how cute he was. They seemed surprised, as though such a sweet puppy shouldn’t really be at a dogs’ home. But when they tried to talk to Alfie, and he refused to budge from the back of his run, they gave up, moving on to friendlier dogs.

“Mum, look at this great dog!” A boy about Evie’s age was peering through the fence. “Can we meet him? Please?”

“Sure.” The Riverside girl got out her keys. “This is Alfie. He’s a gorgeous Westie puppy who is being rehomed because his owners had a new baby and couldn’t keep him. He’s a lovely boy, but he’s not too happy right now. Hey, Alfie…” She cooed gently to him. “Come and meet Ethan, he’s looking for a nice dog just like you.”

Alfie hunched himself up tighter. The staff at Riverside were right. He hadn’t accepted what was going on. How could he? He didn’t understand. He couldn’t let anyone take him home, because Evie was coming back for him. He was sure of it. But he was becoming just a little less sure every time he woke up and he was still in a grey concrete run, waiting for her.

The girl picked him up, and Alfie lay limply and sadly in her arms as she carried him out. The little boy stroked him gently. “He’s great.”

Ethan’s eyes were shining, just like Evie’s used to. Alfie let Ethan scratch him behind the ears. That was nice.

“Can we take him home?” Ethan begged.

Home! Alfie suddenly twisted in the Riverside girl’s arms, and growled angrily. What was he thinking? His home was with Evie.

Ethan’s parents pulled him away quickly to look at another dog, and the girl with the keys sighed. “Oh, Alfie. That would have been a wonderful home. When are you going to give up and let someone else love you?”

Alfie slunk back into his run, and curled up facing the wall. He only wanted Evie to love him.

Evie thought it was strange that her house could feel so different, just because Alfie wasn’t there. She didn’t have a warm body curled on her toes at night. No cold nose was resting on her knee at mealtimes, hoping for scraps. Only Mum and Sam met her from school, and she and Dad didn’t go for walks any more. Alfie going had changed everything.

She tried to explain to Gran when she went round after school on Wednesday.

“I never really thought how nice it was having Alfie to play with when Mum was busy. She’s got so much to do with feeding Sam, and everything. But I had Alfie, and it was OK. I really miss him, Gran.” She stared into her juice, and Tigger pushed his head into her lap, sensing that she was unhappy. “Yeah, you miss him too, don’t you, Tigger?”

“I should think your parents miss Alfie as well, you know,” Gran said.

Evie nodded miserably. “I think Dad does. I caught him in the hall yesterday with Alfie’s lead. He looked really confused, and he muttered something about having forgotten. We sometimes used to take Alfie for walks after tea.”

“Why don’t you talk to them about it? You might have made the wrong decision.” Gran looked thoughtfully at Evie, wondering what she’d say.

Evie stroked Tigger. Then she looked up, and her face was so sad that Gran caught her breath. “I shouldn’t ever have let him go, Gran!” She got up to put on her coat. “I miss Alfie so much.”

Gran nodded firmly. “I definitely think you should talk to them.” She watched Evie walking slowly down the path, and then looked down at Ben and Tigger. They stared back at her encouragingly. “Mmm. Yes, I think you’re right,” Gran muttered to herself.

A couple of times during the week, Evie thought about what Gran had said, but there didn’t seem any point in talking to Mum and Dad about Alfie. It would just make everything worse when they said no, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to change their minds. Then on Saturday morning she wandered into the kitchen, and found her mum staring at something on the table, with a funny look on her face.

“What’s the matter?” Evie leaned over to see what she was looking at, and saw that her mum was holding a photo of Alfie.

“Oh! Evie, I didn’t hear you come in.” Mum quickly put the photo back on the window sill, but Evie was staring at her.

“You miss him too, don’t you?” she asked, her voice suddenly full of hope. “Gran said you did, but I didn’t believe her.” Then her shoulders slumped. “But I suppose it doesn’t make any difference.” She looked over at Sam, who was sitting in his bouncy chair staring in wonder at his toes. She still adored her baby brother, but she couldn’t help thinking that it was his fault.

Mum looked too. “Maybe.” Then her voice changed. “Maybe not, Evie. Perhaps we were being too hard on him.”

“Who?” Dad walked in with the newspaper. “Got you some chocolate, Evie,” he added, throwing her a bar.

Evie caught it automatically, but didn’t even look to see what sort it was. “Dad, Mum thinks maybe we shouldn’t have taken Alfie to Riverside!”

Her dad sat down at the table slowly, looking back and forth between them. “Really?” he said thoughtfully.

Mum sat down too. “Come on. Tell me you haven’t missed him.”

“But that’s not the point!We weren’t able to look after him properly. And what about Sam? Think back to this time last week!”

“I think we overreacted. We panicked – we were all tired, and we made a snap decision. I don’t think it was a good one.” Mum reached out for his hand. “Alfie was such fun to have around. Do you really think he would have harmed Sam?”

Evie watched hopefully, holding her breath as Dad shook his head. “To be honest, I think watching Alfie cheered the little guy up sometimes,” he said.

They looked over at Sam, who stared back seriously, and said, “Ooooo,” in a meaningful way, waving his foot.

“And I really missed taking him to the paper shop this morning,” Dad added. “You know, I never came out of the shop and found Alfie on his own – he was always being fussed over by someone. Everyone loved him.”

Evie took a deep breath. “So can we go and get him back?” she asked, twisting her fingers together anxiously.

Dad looked serious. “It wasn’t just about Sam though, Evie. We’d need to look after Alfie better.” He exchanged a glance with Mum. “We need to think this through.”

Mum nodded. “Evie, could you do me a big favour and change Sam’s nappy?”

“Now?” Evie sounded disbelieving.

“Yes, now.” Mum smiled at her. “Your dad and I need to talk. And Sam could do with a nappy change.”

Evie picked Sam up, making a face, and carried him upstairs.

When Evie got back, Mum and Dad were looking at the photo of Alfie again. “Have you decided?” Evie asked hopefully, cuddling Sam close.

“Do you think we can all be better owners for Alfie this time round?” Dad asked.

“Yes! And Gran would help!” Evie reminded him. “She said she would. I could take him out for walks with her and Ben and Tigger.”

“No getting grumpy with Alfie just because Sam’s made us tired.”

“No! I promise. Pleeeaaase! Can we have him back?”

Dad grinned at her. “OK. Let’s go and get Alfie!”

Evie and her parents were talking excitedly in the car about how great it would be to have Alfie back, when Dad suddenly stopped in the middle of his favourite story about Alfie trying to catch a pigeon.

“I’ve just thought,” he said quietly. “It’s possible someone else has already given Alfie a new home. He’s been at Riverside a week – and he’s such a beautiful dog. Evie, I don’t want to upset you, but it’s possible Alfie’s gone.”

Evie gulped. “Can you drive faster?”

Evie and her dad jumped out of the car as soon as they got to the dogs’ home, while Mum wrestled with Sam and the pushchair. “You go!” she said, waving them on.

They dashed into Reception, and Dad explained why they had come back, while Evie hopped up and down impatiently. The girl at the desk was taking so long to bring up Alfie’s file on the computer. At last Evie couldn’t stand it. She slipped through the big double door that led to the dogs’ runs. She had to tell Alfie he was coming home!

But Alfie wasn’t there.