The Forgotten Puppy

Chapter Six

Rina knew the way to the station quite well by now – she had been there several times to drop off and pick up Ben and Emi. So she hurried down the road, her lead trailing over the snow. She could hear Mum behind her, calling her name. She did stop and look back a couple of times. But she knew it was more important to find Emi.

The station seemed different, now that she was here on her own. Had it been this big before, and this busy? There were cars parked all around the entrance, and people talking and hurrying past. Rina tucked herself under a clump of bushes at the edge of the car park and peered out at all the feet as they went past. Now that she was actually here, she remembered the thundering growl of the trains and she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to go any further. She had been scared before, even with Emi and Ben and Mum, and now she was all on her own.

But Emi could be so close! What if Rina missed her because she was huddled up and hiding under a bush? Rina waited for the next pair of feet to go thumping past her and then she stuck her nose out, checking to see if anyone else was coming. The car park was quiet. She darted out and followed the man through the gate and past the little ticket office on to the platform.

She couldn’t see Emi – but then both times before when Rina and Mum had come to get her, they’d had to wait for a train to pull up and for Emi and Ben to get off. Perhaps she needed to wait for a train now. Rina backed carefully underneath one of the benches on the platform and settled down to wait.

After a few minutes, the bench above her began to vibrate, just a little, and Rina realized that a train was coming. She stood up under the bench and stepped forward a little, watching. There were only a few people on the platform and she could see quite clearly. Her ears pricked up – she would see Emi soon! And Emi would be so happy, Rina was sure.

The noise grew louder and louder, and then the speaker above Rina’s head burst into chattering life as well, making her jump. Rina wriggled back under the bench, shivering, and pressed herself against the wall. It was too loud and too frightening! And then the express train blew into the little local station and whooshed past, without even stopping. The people at the edge of the platform just stood there as their coats flapped and the train sped by. Rina watched them, horrified. How could they stand there, so close to that roaring monster?

The noise seemed to hang in the air, even after the train had gone and Rina had dared to pull herself away from the wall. How could Emi and Ben have dared to climb on to that great roaring thing? Rina was tempted to go home. She knew the way.

But she had come to get Emi. Emi was on one of those horrible loud things and Rina was going to get her back.

Luckily, the next train was a local one, much slower and quieter as it rumbled into the platform. It was so much less scary than the roaring express that Rina managed to come all the way out from under the bench as it pulled in. She flinched a little at the beeping of the doors, but she was sure she remembered that noise from when Emi and Ben had got off the train before.

But there were so many doors… Rina stood next to a man with a pile of suitcases and watched anxiously as people got off the train. Quite a few of them smiled at her, thinking that she belonged to the suitcase man, or the girl with the headphones standing next to him and not realizing that no one had hold of the little dog’s lead.

None of these people were Ben or Emi. Rina whined anxiously. Now the people were all walking away down the platform. The man with the suitcases was picking them up and getting on to the train and so was the girl.

Where was Emi? Rina barked, trying to tell Emi she was here, waiting, but all that happened was a man in a dark uniform at the end of the platform turned round and shouted something. He started to walk towards her, looking angry, and then the beeping noise sounded again.

Rina whimpered, feeling frightened. Emi must still be on the train – perhaps Emi just hadn’t seen her?

Panicking, Rina jumped on to the train, just as the doors began to slide closed. She jumped so fast that she skidded across the floor, sliding into the corner on the other side of the train and landing winded against the opposite doors. She sat there, gasping with fear, as the train pulled away.

After a couple of minutes, Rina sat up straighter. Being in a train didn’t feel all that different to the car. And she could move around as she wasn’t in her little travel cage. She would go and look for Emi. She had to be here somewhere.

The shouting man had scared her, so Rina didn’t want to walk down the gangway between the seats, in case anybody else shouted at her like that. She would go quietly, she decided, and try not to let anyone see her. She whisked round the little wall by the doors and quickly edged under the first set of seats. The train was mostly empty and she could dart from hiding space to hiding space, occasionally hurrying across the gangway to avoid a set of feet. Every time she stopped she would look hopefully for Emi and Ben, but they were never there.

She was almost at the end of the carriage when she stopped under an empty table. There was a delicious smell of food and Rina was hungry. She sat and looked out at the seats opposite. A mother was sitting there with a baby and a little boy. The boy was eating a sandwich.

It smelled like ham and Rina watched him enviously. She was dribbling, it smelled so good.

The mother was pointing out of the window, showing the baby the view. She wasn’t looking at Rina at all. But the little boy seemed to feel Rina’s hungry eyes fixed on his food. He leaned over, peering under the table opposite and then he smiled.

Rina gave him a hopeful Shiba smile back – open mouth, tongue hanging out a little. With her dark mouth against the golden fur of her muzzle, it really did look as though she was smiling. The little boy giggled and tore off a piece of his sandwich, holding it out to her.

“Hello!” he whispered.

Rina squirmed closer, crossing the gangway, and gratefully nibbled the sandwich out of his hand. He patted her delightedly, and Rina rubbed her head against his hand. It was so nice to have someone fuss over her.

“Alex, what are you doing?”

Rina scuttled back under the seats behind the table. The little boy’s mum sounded cross.

“There was a dog! I gave him some of my sandwich, he was hungry.”

“Alex, there isn’t a dog, don’t be silly. Eat that sandwich yourself, please.”

“There is, look! Look, Mummy! He’s under the table!”

Rina wriggled back further, as the mother leaned over to look as well.

“Alex, there really isn’t! Just eat your lunch!”

The little boy said nothing, but a minute or so later Rina saw a stealthy hand come down past the seat opposite, with the other half of the sandwich and a sausage roll. He dropped them carefully under his seat and then he waved at Rina, obviously trying to show the puppy they were there.

Rina sneaked carefully across the gangway and tucked herself away under the boy’s seat, wolfing down the food. Then she gently pushed her cold nose against the boy’s ankle to say thank you.

“Dad…”

“Mmmm?”

“Can I ring Mum? Just to check if Rina’s OK? She’s not used to us being away longer than a weekend.”

“Course you can. I was just going to make some bacon rolls for lunch. Then maybe this afternoon we could go and look at the shops down the high street.”

Emi nodded. Dad was trying really hard to keep them both happy. It was tricky sometimes, especially with her and Ben liking different things.

“Thanks, Dad.” She gave him a hug as she went to pick up the phone. She would ring Mum’s mobile, just in case she was out.

The phone rang for ages and Emi grinned, imagining Mum searching through her pockets for it. It was always in the last pocket she checked, or buried at the bottom of her handbag. Mum said she was sure it moved by itself.

“Hello?”

“It’s me. Hi, Mum!”

“Oh, Emi! Is everything all right?”

“Yes, it’s fine. I just wanted to check that Rina was OK. Not missing us too much. Are you OK, Mum, you sound a bit stressed?”

There was a breath of silence on the other end of the line and Emi’s eyes widened. There was something wrong, she could tell.

“Mum, what is it?”

She heard Mum sigh and saw Dad coming towards her across the living room, looking worried.

“Emi, it’s Rina. I fell over on the ice and I let go of her lead. She ran off and now I can’t find her. I’ve been everywhere for the last hour. Home, the park, back again. I’ve asked all the people I’ve been past, but no one’s seen her. I just don’t know where she’s gone!”