Oscar's Lonely Christmas

Chapter Three

“We’re bringing the puppy home the weekend after next!” Hannah whispered to her best friend Lucy at school on Monday.

“You’re so lucky! I wish we could have a dog, but my mum just says we don’t have time to look after one properly.”

“You can come on walks with us,” Hannah offered.

“Oh, I think it’s nearly our turn!” Lucy looked over at their teacher, Mr Byford, who was standing behind them at the back of the hall. “There’s only Izzy and Ben before us.”

Their class were auditioning for the school Christmas play. Hannah was hoping for a big part this year. She loved being in plays, but she always felt really nervous when they had to try out, and she’d never been given much to say before. She and Lucy had to read a scene from the play from up on the stage, so Mr Byford could hear how loudly and clearly they could speak.

“Are you nervous?” Lucy muttered. “I am!”

Hannah smiled. Lucy was a brilliant dancer and had done loads of ballet exams. She was bound to be given a part with some dancing. “You know, I’m so excited about our puppy, I actually don’t feel nervous at all!” she said. Usually nerves made her tummy feel funny.

“Right, Lucy and Hannah!” Mr Byford called, looking at his list.

“Break a leg!” Hannah told Lucy, and they both crossed their fingers for luck.

Two days later, Hannah dashed out of school to tell her mum the good news.

Mum was waiting in the playground with Zak in his pushchair. “Did you get a good part?” she asked, seeing Hannah’s beaming face. The girls had had to wait for Mr Byford to make up his mind. It was lucky that Hannah had been so excited about the puppy, or it would have been torture.

“I’m going to be the angel!” Hannah told Mum. “It’s the main part, I do all the storytelling! And Lucy’s the innkeeper’s daughter. She gets to dance.”

“Well done, Hannah!” Her mum gave her a hug. “You’ll have to tell Gran when she comes round for tea tonight.”

“Dog?” Zak asked, seeing that everyone was happy and hoping it meant more puppies.

“Oh, sweetie, not yet. Soon,” Mum promised, as they headed out of the gate. Zak was just as desperate as Hannah for their puppy to come home, and he’d even taking to curling up on the lovely blue dog cushion they had bought. They’d had to do a huge shopping trip at the pet store to get everything the puppy would need.

“Only another ten days!” Hannah beamed. “And the puppy’s bringing me luck already. Maybe I’m going to be an Oscar-winning actress!” She stopped dead in the middle of the pavement. “Oscar! Mum, can we call the puppy Oscar? That’s such a cute name.”

Mum looked at her thoughtfully. “Mmm. I like it. Definitely better than Freckles, and all those other spotty names we were thinking of.”

“He looks like an Oscar,” Hannah said. Oscar. Her puppy. It was only a little while longer until he came home!

Hannah carried the puppy carefully into the kitchen. “Look, this is your bed.” She gently set Oscar down next to the big blue cushion. The puppy looked at it thoughtfully. It was huge, but it looked comfy. He hopped his front paws up on to the edge of the cushion, and then scrabbled to get his back paws on too. He sniffed round the cushion, interested in the smell of newness. Then he looked hopefully at Hannah. The cushion was too big for him all by himself. Would she come and snuggle up with him?

“Dog bed!” Zak squawked, pushing past Hannah and flinging himself on to the cushion with Oscar.

Oscar cowered back, horrified by this noisy thing that had nearly landed on him. Whimpering, he wriggled off the cushion, and slunk over to Hannah.

“I want do-og!” wailed Zak, and Mum picked him up.

Hannah gently scooped the puppy into her arms. “He really frightened Oscar!” she whispered crossly to Mum. She was trying hard not to sound angry, after what Lisa had told them about Dalmatians being nervous.

“Zak doesn’t really understand about being gentle,” Dad explained. “He’ll get there.”

Hannah sniffed. Mum and Dad never told Zak off – whenever he was naughty, they always said he was just little. Well, Oscar was littler! Hannah just hoped that Mum wouldn’t let Zak upset Oscar while she was at school.

The first day with Oscar was so special. Hannah hardly left the kitchen. Oscar was going to stay in there for the first few days – with trips out into the garden for wees, of course. She had bought him a special squeaky bone with her own money, and he loved it. He kept jumping on it and shaking it in his teeth, and then the bone would squeak, and he would look really surprised and drop it on the floor. Then he’d start all over again, until he wore himself out. Hannah spent ages curled up next to his cushion just watching him sleep. He was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen.

Oscar didn’t spend that much of his sleep time actually on his cushion. As soon as he’d finished exploring, he would wander back to wherever Hannah was and collapse on her – he particularly liked her feet, draping himself over them like a spotty, saggy little beanbag and falling fast asleep.

Hannah was worried that the first night was going to be really difficult. How could they leave Oscar all on his own downstairs? But Mum had been really firm from the beginning that Oscar was not allowed in her room. Mum said he would soon be far too big to sleep on her bed, even though he was tiny now. And there were lots of things upstairs that she didn’t want chewed.

Lisa had told them about a special technique to get Oscar used to being left alone in the kitchen, and Hannah practised it with him that afternoon. Mum took Zak out for a walk to get him out of the way, and Dad and Hannah pottered about in the kitchen, with Oscar watching them. Then they went out, shutting the door.

“Can we go back in yet?” Hannah asked. “Dad, come on, Lisa said to go back before he gets upset! Remember, you’re going to read the paper and pretend you aren’t watching him.”

Dad nodded and opened the kitchen door. Hannah glanced over at Oscar. He was looking puzzled and a little worried. She looked away again and went to tidy up some cups from the draining board. Then she nudged Dad. “Time to go again!”

They kept popping in and out, making sure that they always got back before Oscar cried. Eventually, he got bored watching and went to sleep.

“Lisa was right,” Hannah whispered. “I hope it works tonight.”

At bedtime, she took Oscar out for one last wee in the garden, and made sure there was some newspaper down in the corner of the kitchen for the night. Then she closed the door behind her, and looked hopefully at Mum and Dad.

“Lisa said he’d be sure that we’re just on the other side of the door,” Hannah said. “And he must be worn out from all the playing we’ve done.” But as she pressed her ear to the door, she couldn’t help feeling a little doubtful. There was no whining. Just a little tappity-tap of claws on tiles and a snuffling noise. Hannah held her breath.

On the other side of the door, Oscar sniffed thoughtfully, wondering if Hannah would come back in soon. Maybe with some more of those good meaty biscuits? He yawned and padded back to his cushion. He clambered up and flumped on top of his toy bone. It squeaked, and he gave it a half-hearted chew. Perhaps if he went to sleep, it would be food time when he woke up…

Oscar curled up and closed his eyes – and out in the hall, Hannah grinned at her mum and dad. There was a little growly snore coming from behind the kitchen door. It had worked!