Ellie the Homesick Puppy

Chapter Three

Ellie rested her chin on Megan’s shoulder, as she lovingly stroked her head over and over.

“Megan!” Mum was calling from inside. Megan stood up slowly, carrying Ellie. She was growing so fast! She had been so small when they got her, it had been easy to hold her like this. But now she was getting to be a real weight.

“Oof, Ellie, my arms are going to fall off,” Megan teased her lovingly, as she carried her up the garden. She felt Ellie tense up a little as they went into the kitchen to join Mum and Dad. Obviously she remembered Dad shouting at her. “Hey, ssshhh, it’s OK,” she whispered. But Ellie buried her nose in Megan’s neck and whimpered.

“Is Ellie all right?” Mum asked. “She didn’t get hurt too, did she?”

Megan shook her head. “No, I think she’s just a bit upset. She didn’t know what was going on. I’m really sorry she tripped you up, Dad. How’s your ankle?”

Dad had it propped up on the chair in front of him, covered by a bag of frozen peas. “I’ll live. But this has made us think, Megan. Mum and I have talked it over, and we’re sure it’s the right thing to do now…”

“What is?” Megan asked cautiously. From the way Mum and Dad were looking, she had a feeling it was going to be something she wouldn’t like.

“Ellie’s really been getting in the way while we’ve been packing, Megan,” Mum explained. “It’s going to be the same when the removal men are loading up, and when we’re unpacking at the new house, too. It’s just not practical having a puppy around. Dad could have been hurt really badly.”

“She didn’t mean to,” Megan pleaded. “She’s only little. She wasn’t trying to be naughty.”

“We know that, but we’re so busy, and no one has the time to exercise Ellie properly right now. So she’s even bouncier and sillier than usual! Aren’t you, hey?” Dad reached out very gently to stroke the puppy. “Oh dear, I really did frighten her,” he said sadly, as he saw Ellie’s eyes widen nervously as he came close. “It isn’t fair on her.”

Megan gulped. She could see that they were right – she could hardly argue that Ellie wasn’t getting in the way, when Dad was sitting there with a hurt ankle. “But, what are you going to do?” she whispered. “You’re not going to make us give her back to Mrs Johnston, are you?” Mrs Johnston was the breeder who had sold Ellie to them. She felt tears starting to well up in her eyes. “Please don’t say we have to give her back!” she choked out. “It wasn’t her fault, I’ll be more careful, I promise!”

“Megan, Megan, calm down! Of course we’re not sending Ellie back.” Mum laughed, hugging her and Ellie. “This is only for a few days while we move. We don’t want to get rid of Ellie, but when we first started planning the move, your gran said she could help out and have Ellie for a bit if we needed her to. So I rang Gran just now, and she said she’d love to have her. She’ll drive up and get Ellie, and take her back to Woodlands Cottage until we’ve settled in a bit, just for a couple of days. We’ll pick her up on Tuesday.”

“We’re all going to be so busy, you’ll hardly notice she’s gone,” Dad said encouragingly.

Megan held Ellie tightly, feeling the warm weight in her arms. She didn’t want to send Ellie away. Not when she was already upset. She was sure Ellie would hate it.

“She won’t understand,” she said sadly. “I know she loves Gran, but she’s never stayed with her. She’s never stayed anywhere without me! She’ll think I’ve abandoned her… She’s really confused with all the packing already, and she doesn’t understand what’s going on. Couldn’t I just be really, really careful and keep her in the garden and not let her get in the way?” Megan begged. “I know Gran will look after her, but Ellie’s used to having me. She’ll be miserable somewhere else. And Gran’s got a cat – that’s not going to work! Sid will hate having Ellie in the house!”

Megan looked down at the puppy. Ellie quite liked chasing cats…

“I’m sure your gran will sort them out,” Dad said, smiling. “Sid and Ellie will probably be curled up on the sofa together by the time we go and pick Ellie up.”

Megan shook her head disbelievingly. “Please…?” she whispered.

Mum sighed. “I’m sorry, Megan. We’ve already had one accident. And I nearly squashed Ellie with that box this morning. This just isn’t the right place for a puppy right now. And the new house, too. We don’t really know what it’s like – there might be all sorts of places where she could get herself into trouble. We need to check everything out first to make sure she’s safe.”

Ellie gave an anxious little whine. She could feel that Megan wasn’t happy, and she didn’t like it. She licked Megan’s cheek lovingly and looked at her with big, worried eyes.

Megan pressed her cheek gently against Ellie’s soft ears. It wasn’t just Ellie who was going to hate this. Megan had been counting on having Ellie to cheer her up over the next couple of days. It was going to be so hard to leave her old home and her best friend. And now it looked like she was going to have to do it all on her own.

Gran drove up from Westbury later that afternoon to pick Ellie up. Ellie had a special dog cage for travelling, and it just about fitted on the back seat of Gran’s car. Megan carefully packed up Ellie’s basket and blanket, and her bowls and food – including her favourite bone-shaped biscuits. Then there was a bagful of toys, her lead, her blanket – the list went on and on.

“Goodness,” Gran murmured. “How many dogs am I looking after?”

“Thanks so much for doing this,” said Megan’s mum. “It’s a huge help.”

Ellie was trotting backwards and forwards after Megan as she carried all her things to make a pile in the hall. She was very confused about what was going on, but she’d seen Megan’s dad moving her travel cage into Gran’s car, so she thought she and Megan must be going somewhere with Gran. They had driven out for special walks in the woods with her before. It must be that. Though Ellie didn’t see why she would need her basket and everything else just to go out for the day.

“Right.” Gran finished her cup of tea. “We’d better be off then, if we don’t want to get back too late. We’ll see you all on Tuesday.” She hugged Megan. “Oh, I’m so excited about having you all living so close. It’s going to be lovely.”

Megan hugged her back. She was excited too, but she couldn’t help worrying about Ellie. “Gran, you will make sure she’s not lonely tonight, won’t you? She usually sleeps on my bed,” she reminded her anxiously.

“I’ll do my best,” Gran promised. “I think Sid would leave home if a dog came and tried to sleep on my bed with him, but how about I give Ellie a hot water bottle?”

Megan nodded sadly, as she pictured Ellie spending the night on her own.

“It’s only for two days, Megan,” Dad said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Ellie will be fine.”

Ellie hopped into her cage happily enough, expecting Megan to come and sit next to her on the back seat. She would probably waggle her fingers through the door and tickle her ears.

But Gran was getting into the car without Megan. Ellie looked around anxiously, and barked to tell her she’d made a mistake. Gran looked back over her shoulder, and smiled. “It’s all right, Ellie. Shh-shh. Don’t worry, we’ll see Megan again soon.”

Ellie stared back at her. Yes, Megan. Gran must know what was wrong. Why were they going without Megan? She felt the vibrations as Gran started the car and howled in despair. Megan was being left behind! Ellie stood up on her hind legs in the cage, trying to look out of the window, but she could only see the side of the car and Gran’s seat in front.

Megan was clinging to her mum’s arm, trying to stop herself racing after Ellie and yelling at Gran to stop the car. “Oh, Mum, listen to her howling,” she said miserably. “She’s so upset. Does she really have to go to Gran’s?”

Her mum just hugged her.

Ellie couldn’t see Megan, but she could hear her, and she sounded unhappy. She scrabbled frantically at the bars of her cage with her paws, desperate to get back to Megan.

As the car pulled away down the road, Ellie barked and barked.

At last, when it hurt to bark any more, she stopped. She pressed her nose against the door of the travel cage.

Gran had taken her away from Megan, and Megan hadn’t wanted her to go. Of course she hadn’t! Ellie was Megan’s dog. Ellie didn’t understand what was going on, but she was absolutely certain about one thing.

She had to get back to Megan.

At Gran’s house, everything smelled different. Ellie had been there before, but only with Megan, when it had been fun. Gran was doing her best – she’d taken Ellie for a walk when they first arrived, to stretch her legs after being shut up in the car. But Ellie had trailed along behind her with her ears drooping, and in the end Gran had turned back.

But it was worse in the house. Ellie didn’t want to be here, and she hated cats. Sid was huge and black and old, and very grumpy. He didn’t like dogs at all, and he really didn’t like dogs who barked and jumped around all over the place. He stood on the back of an armchair and hissed angrily when he first saw Ellie. With all his fur standing up like that and his tail fluffed up like a brush, Sid was nearly as big as she was.

Gran carefully made sure they were kept apart after that, shutting Ellie in the kitchen. But then the phone rang, and she forgot to close the kitchen door when she came out to the hall to answer it. Ellie trotted out after her – she might not want to be here, but Gran was her one link with Megan.

Sid was sitting in the middle of the hallway like a furry black rock.

Ellie bounced at him bravely and barked, but Sid shot forwards and scraped his claws across her nose. Ellie yelped. She’d chased cats before, or tried to anyway – Megan didn’t like her chasing things. But the cats had never fought back before. She stared at Sid worriedly, and he hissed again. It was a clear warning.

Ellie crept behind the sofa and stayed there, sulking, until Gran tempted her out with a handful of bone-shaped biscuits, the ones that Megan always gave her. Even those just made her miss Megan more. Gran took her back into the kitchen away from Sid and tried to make a big fuss of her, but Ellie didn’t really want to play. She was too confused.

Perhaps Megan would come and get her soon? She had been here with Megan before, after all. And she definitely remembered Sid, and the way this house smelled so strongly of cat. Megan must be coming later, Ellie decided hopefully. Every time footsteps went past on the pavement outside she pricked up her ears and wagged her tail. But as the afternoon wore on, she stopped bothering. It never was Megan, and now it was getting dark.

She padded over to her basket and stared at it miserably. If Megan was coming to get her, she wouldn’t need her basket. Her food bowls were here too, and her toys. Why would they be here if Megan was coming to take her home?

“Can I talk to Ellie, Gran?” Megan asked, gripping the phone tightly.

“I’m not sure that’s a very good idea, Megan,” Gran said gently. “It might upset her. She’ll be fine. I’m going to put a hot water bottle in her basket, and she’s got her blanket and all her usual things. I expect she’ll have settled down by the morning.”

Which means she hasn’t settled down now, Megan thought unhappily as she said goodbye. Ellie was hating being at Gran’s, just as Megan had thought she would.

They were having fish and chips for tea, as a treat, so they didn’t have to cook, but Megan hardly ate anything. It wasn’t the same without Ellie lurking hopefully under the table in case anyone dropped a chip.

She was feeling so miserable she went to bed early, but it took her ages to get to sleep – her room was full of boxes, and they all looked strange and gloomy in the dark. Only till Tuesday, Megan told herself. Today’s Sunday. Tuesday afternoon, I’ll have Ellie back.

That night, Ellie was left alone in Gran’s kitchen. She had her own familiar basket and her blanket, which was wrapped round a cosy hot water bottle, but she was still desperately homesick.

She whined unhappily for a long while, but Gran didn’t come down. Ellie was tired, but her basket felt wrong with the hot water bottle in it. It had cooled down now, and it sloshed and wobbled when she moved. Ellie tried to scrabble it out, but it was heavy, so she picked it up in her teeth and dragged it instead. Still it wouldn’t budge. She tugged again and the water started to leak out over her blanket.

Ellie howled. Why had Megan abandoned her?