Monty the Sad Puppy

Chapter Six

Monty pottered about, catching the scents of other dogs. Then a flash of movement caught his eye – the little boy with the ball. He was kicking it about, giggling and stumbling over the long grass.

Monty trotted up to him, and crouched down hopefully, asking the little boy to play. But the boy didn’t understand. He just stared at the puppy, his eyes wide. Monty barked encouragingly, hoping that the boy would throw the ball but he didn’t. He backed away a couple of steps, looking nervous. In the distance, the boy’s mother heard the barking. She put his baby sister down in the pushchair and began to run towards them.

Monty barked again but the boy still didn’t throw the ball to him. Instead he turned and tried to run away but in his fright he tripped up and fell sprawling in the grass. He let out a wail and Monty eyed him worriedly. That wasn’t a good noise. Cautiously he padded closer and by the time the boy’s mother came running up, Monty was standing over him.

“Leave him alone! Go away!”

Monty stepped back, tucking his tail between his legs. Why was she shouting? He’d only wanted to play. He licked his muzzle anxiously and then flinched as the mum swiped at him with the baby’s teddy.

She didn’t actually hit Monty but he yelped in surprise. What was going on? Now somebody else was shouting at him. He backed away, whimpering, but the frightened mum kept shouting, “Leave him! Bad dog!” and the little boy was still crying and then the baby joined in, too…

Monty turned and ran. He hadn’t meant to hurt anyone and he didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. All he knew was that he had to get away.

“Can we take the dogs out when we get back?” Amelie asked Josh on her way home from school. Because Dad was away and Mum was still at work, her brother had picked her up.

Josh nodded. “Yeah. Good idea. I bet Monty’d love a proper run.”

Amelie was expecting Monty to come rushing up when they opened the front door – and maybe Daisy, too. But there was no patter of paws. The house was silent.

“Where are they?” she asked. Monty always came to see her as soon as she got back from school. Why wasn’t he waiting for her by the door?

Amelie sighed, feeling guilty.

Maybe what Ella had hinted at was true – Monty was upset that they had a new dog. She hadn’t been paying him as much attention as she usually did because she’d been worrying about Daisy. I need to show Monty I still love him… she thought to herself.

She hurried through the kitchen to the back door, her fingers slipping and fumbling as she tried to turn the key. As she stepped outside, she expected Monty to come running up to her – but the garden seemed to be completely empty. She ran down the path, calling, “Monty! Where are you? Daisy? Come on! Here!” She could hear Josh hurrying after her and calling, too.

Then at last Amelie saw a flash of colour down at the end of the garden – Daisy’s reddish-brown fur. The little dog came trotting up to them, wagging her tail.

Amelie patted Daisy’s head but she only had half an eye on the dachshund. She still couldn’t see Monty anywhere. He wasn’t the sort of dog you didn’t notice. She couldn’t just have missed him. He wasn’t there…

“Josh, I’ve found Daisy – look! But where’s Monty?”

“He has to be here somewhere,” Josh said, staring around the garden. “Maybe he’s asleep under a bush…”

“But he always wakes up and comes to see us when we get home!” Amelie pointed out, her voice squeaky with panic.

“Don’t stress, Amelie. I’ll go and check inside. Maybe he got shut in one of the bedrooms or something.” Josh ran back up the garden, and Amelie began to search up and down the lawn.

“Perhaps he went into one of the gardens next door,” Amelie suggested, as Josh came back out, shaking his head. “What if there’s a gap in the fence?” She stepped into the flower bed, peering between the plants. “I can’t see any holes,” she told Josh doubtfully.

“None on this side, either,” he agreed. “I think we’d better call Mum – maybe she left the front door open for a minute when she went to work?”

“She won’t be able to answer, though,” Amelie pointed out. “She can’t have her phone on her when she’s out in the shop, can she?”

“No, you’re right. I’ll just have to leave a message. Then I’ll go up and down the street, and ask if anyone’s seen him.”

“Josh, what if Monty’s been wandering the streets for hours?” Amelie whispered. “We don’t know when he got out, do we? If Mum let him out by accident, he could be miles away by now.”

“You stay here and check the fence again, just in case. I’ll go and ask the neighbours.” Josh sped back into the house and Amelie squeezed behind the plants to look at the fence properly. She got herself tangled in a rose bush and scratched her arm but she was too worried to notice it hurting.

“Where is he, Daisy?” Amelie said, as the dachshund came to stand next to her, peering at the fence, too. “Did you see him?” Then she blinked and looked down at Daisy, thinking hard. “Maybe you did see where he went? Daisy, where’s Monty?”

Daisy gazed up at her with dark, serious eyes.

Amelie sighed. “I’m being stupid, aren’t I? You’re not a police dog or anything… You were probably asleep in your basket, anyway.”

But then the little dachshund turned round and marched out of the flower bed, as though she actually was going to find him. Amelie gazed after her for a moment – and then she scrambled out between the bushes and raced down the garden.

Daisy was in the corner right at the end, between the sweet peas Mum was growing up the fence. Her nose was practically touching the wire.

Amelie looked at Daisy doubtfully. Perhaps she’d just got bored and wandered off – but it really had looked like she understood when Amelie said Monty’s name. “He’s not here, Daisy,” she said.

Daisy glanced up at her and then scrabbled at the fence with her neat little paws, so that the dusty earth went flying.

Amelie crouched down, pulling at the fence and then caught her breath in excitement. The wire mesh was loose! It was coming away from the post at the bottom and there was definitely a bit of a hole there, too. A hole that might have been dug out…

“Is that where he went?” Amelie asked Daisy. She was so desperate to know what had happened, she almost felt like the little dog might answer her.

But Daisy only sniffed at the hole again and then stared out at the field.