Oscar's Lonely Christmas

Chapter Four

Oscar soon settled into Hannah’s house. He loved Hannah and they spent ages playing, Oscar frisking about as she rolled his ball or threw his squeaky bone. After the first couple of days, once Oscar was allowed out of the kitchen, Hannah discovered that he loved to curl up on the sofa with her while she read or watched TV.

Mum wasn’t sure about this at first. “When he gets to his full size, he’ll take up half the sofa just by himself,” she complained. But she gave in eventually, when Oscar sat on her feet while she was watching her favourite TV programme after she’d put Zak to bed. He sat there staring up at her lovingly, and Mum couldn’t resist. She sighed and patted the sofa, and Oscar scrambled and wriggled his way up. Then he lay there next to Mum with his head in her lap, slowly thumping his tail on the cushions.

Oscar’s only problem was Zak. It wasn’t that Zak didn’t like him – the little boy adored him and wanted to be with him all the time. He just wouldn’t leave the puppy alone. Zak wanted to cuddle Oscar on his cushion. He wanted to snuggle up with him on the sofa. He even wanted to eat his food out of a bowl like Oscar’s.

A week after Oscar came home with them, Hannah was up in her room learning her lines for the play when she heard a strange noise on the stairs. A whimpering noise, mixed with bumps, and panting. That was Oscar whimpering – and it sounded like Zak was with him! She flung down her script and dashed out of her bedroom. As she’d suspected, Zak was halfway up the stairs, with Oscar dangling from his arms, looking panicked.

“Want Ossa in my bed!” Zak wailed, when he saw Hannah coming down the stairs looking cross.

“You know we aren’t allowed!” Hannah told him furiously. Why did Zak always think he could get away with everything? It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t like Oscar in her bed! Oscar wriggled and whimpered again, and Hannah stretched out her arms to him.

But Zak wouldn’t let go. “My dog!” he whined.

“Zak! You’re making him sad, stop it. Give him to me!” Hannah was trying not to shout and upset Oscar, but it was hard when she really wanted to yell at Zak.

“Don’t want to!”

“Now!” Hannah hissed.

“No!” Zak burst into tears as Oscar finally wriggled out of his grip and scrambled into Hannah’s arms.

“Hannah! What are you doing with Oscar – you know he’s not allowed upstairs!” Mum had come out into the hallway, and she was glaring at Hannah.

“But I wasn’t…!” Hannah gasped.

“And what did you do to upset Zak?” Mum gave her an accusing look as she picked Zak up. He was really howling.

Hannah shook her head in amazement. It was so unfair. Sometimes she just didn’t know how Zak managed it. He never got into trouble.

After she’d caught Zak taking Oscar upstairs, Hannah made a real effort to keep an eye on her little brother and make sure he wasn’t bothering Oscar too much. She was glad when he had had all his vaccinations, and she and Dad could take him out for long walks. Oscar loved it, especially when they took him to the woods. He even loved splashing in the stream, despite the December cold.

One Sunday, Hannah finally persuaded Mum and Dad to let her and Lucy take Oscar for a walk on their own, now that Oscar was used to being on the lead. They agreed the girls could go as long as they borrowed Hannah’s mum’s mobile, and promised to be back in half an hour.

“We haven’t really got time to go all the way to the woods. Shall we go to the park?” Lucy suggested.

Hannah looked thoughtful. “Oh, I know, let’s go and show Oscar the horses in the field down past school! Dalmatians used to be carriage dogs, who ran alongside coaches hundreds of years ago. They’re supposed to love horses, and I don’t think Oscar’s ever seen any. Shall I nip back and tell Mum that’s where we’re going?”

Lucy nodded eagerly, and smiled with pride when Hannah passed her Oscar’s lead.

Oscar gazed up at the new girl with interest. She wasn’t like Hannah, but she was nice. He then looked hopefully towards the house, waiting for Hannah to come back. When she came running down the path, he yapped happily and danced round her feet.

“He really loves you,” Lucy sighed. “You’re so lucky!”

“I know.” Hannah nodded. “I love you, too, Oscar,” she told him, rubbing his ears.

Lucy looked back at the house. “Oh, Zak’s waving to us. He looks a bit sad; I bet he wishes he could come too.”

Hannah groaned. “He’s being such a nightmare at the moment! He won’t leave Oscar alone, and Mum keeps making excuses for him. Yesterday he decided he wanted to feed Oscar, and he poured a whole bag of the special dog treats into his bowl, so of course Oscar ate them!” She sighed. “And you know what Mum said? That I should have made sure I put the treats away in the cupboard.”

Lucy giggled. “Sometimes I’m glad I’m the youngest!”

The horses the girls were going to see belonged to a riding school, and there were usually a few of them out in one of the fields. At the moment they were wrapped up in rugs and not out for the whole day, but Hannah was pretty sure there would be something for Oscar to see.

Oscar trotted along happily, enjoying the interesting smells and listening to the girls chatting.

“Oh, look, they are out!” Hannah said, quickening her pace. “Come on, Oscar.” They hurried up to the field to look at the horses, and Hannah picked Oscar up, resting his front paws on the top of the fence. She could feel his tail wagging against her arms, and it made her giggle.

Oscar gazed across the field at the horses, enchanted by the huge creatures. He’d seen other dogs, but never anything as tall and graceful as these.

At last Hannah sighed. “We should get back, or Mum’ll be worried. I promise I’ll bring you to see them again, Oscar.”

Hannah wished she could take Oscar out for a long walk every day, but now that it was getting closer to Christmas, the school play was taking up lots more time. Mr Byford insisted that everyone had to be word-perfect, and he’d planned some extra rehearsals for the main parts after school. Hannah had to go to all of them, because her big part meant she was in every scene.

Hannah loved being in the play, and so far she was dealing with her nerves really well. But the extra rehearsals made it hard to fit in Oscar’s walks. By the time she got home from school it was totally dark – and there was no way Mum would let her out to walk Oscar in the woods. They had to make do with a quick jog round the park with Dad when he got home. Other than that, it was down to Mum to take Oscar for a walk in the morning. But that meant Mum had to have Oscar and Zak’s pushchair, which wasn’t very easy. Hannah had also been hoping they could start dog-training classes soon, too, but Mum said that with all the rehearsals, there was no way Hannah could fit in anything else. They would have to wait until after Christmas.

Oscar really missed his walks. It seemed ages since he’d had a proper one, and Hannah hardly seemed to be at home at all. He was sick of watching the door, waiting for Hannah to come home. Why wasn’t she back?

He thoughtfully sniffed the shoe rack in the hallway and tugged at a trailing pink shoelace. One of Mum’s trainers fell down, and he nudged it with his nose. This was fun! He growled at it, pretending it was something to chase, and then held it down with his front paws and started to gnaw at the laces.

Just then, Mum came down the stairs. “Oscar, no! No chewing! Bad dog!” She snatched the trainer back and shooed him into the kitchen.

Oscar slumped down on his cushion and licked his nose sadly. He didn’t really understand what he’d done wrong. He wanted to go out and have a lovely long run with Hannah. She was still Oscar’s favourite person, but she was never there. Why didn’t she want to spend time with him any more? He felt bored and grumpy, and that made him want to chew things. He didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to chew shoes…

He was still looking miserable when Hannah got home at last. She sat down by his cushion to stroke him. “Mum told me about her shoe. I’m sorry she was cross with you, Oscar. You were just bored, weren’t you, poor baby.” Hannah sighed. “It isn’t long till the play now. After that we’ll go on lots more walks, I promise.”