The Forgotten Puppy

Chapter Four

“I’m sorry, Rina.” Emi sighed and looked down at the puppy, who was nosing at her big rucksack. “You can’t come, sweetheart.” She put the T-shirts she was carrying into the bag and crouched down to hug the little golden dog. “I really wish you could. I’m going to miss you so much.” It was the following weekend, and she and Ben were going to stay at their dad’s. She glanced around the room. “Have I forgotten anything? Oh! Toothbrush!”

She darted into the bathroom and Rina galloped after her. The puppy had only stayed in the kitchen for a couple of days – it was clear that she wasn’t at all worried about her new home, even if she did miss the other puppies, especially at night.

The big teddy bear helped, though. Rina had moaned and whimpered for a little while when they had left her in the kitchen that first evening. Emi and Mum and Ben had all sat on the stairs listening to her and worrying. She had sounded so sad that Emi had almost cried. Then Rina had stopped, all at once, and there was no more noise till half past five the next morning. Emi hadn’t minded that. She’d gone downstairs in her pyjamas as soon as Rina had woken her up – it just meant an even longer day of playing.

Emi thought they might have to buy Rina a new bear soon, though. She’d chewed most of one arm off already. She pulled him round the house with her too, which was very funny to watch, as the bear was at least twice as big as she was. Emi had filmed her and sent the video to Dad, who said it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. He was just sorry there was no room for a dog at his flat.

Rina hadn’t brought the bear up to Emi’s room, as she had enough trouble just getting herself up the stairs. They were quite steep for a dog with very small legs. She trotted after Emi to the bedroom and peered into the bag again.

She didn’t really understand what it was. It looked a bit like Emi’s school bag, which was worrying. When Emi had that bag it meant she was going away and she wouldn’t be back until just before dinner time. But it never seemed to need this much packing. And Emi was sad, Rina could tell. She kept hugging her, but too tightly, almost so hard Rina tried to wriggle away. Something was different.

“Emi, are you ready?” Mum called up. “We need to go – the train’s in twenty minutes.”

“Can we take Rina to the station with us?” Emi begged, as she hurried down the stairs to join Ben, with Rina jumping carefully from step to step behind her.

“I suppose so,” Mum agreed. “It’s not far. I can always carry her back.”

Emi reached up to get Rina’s lead down from the hook, and Rina twirled and danced and yapped in excitement. Emi’s mum had taken her for her last vaccinations on Monday, but she’d only had a couple of very short walks since then.

But why wasn’t Emi excited, too? When Emi crouched down to clip on her lead, Rina could tell she was still unhappy. She licked Emi’s nose, hoping to cheer her up and Emi giggled, but she didn’t sound quite right. She didn’t go skipping out into the front garden the way she usually did, either.

Rina stopped, pulling back on her lead as they reached the pavement and whimpering. What was wrong? She didn’t want to go out like this.

“Oh!” Emi squatted down next to her. “Do you think Rina can tell we’re worried about leaving her behind?”

“Maybe…” Her mum glanced worriedly at her watch. “Perhaps we should take her back inside. You’ll miss the train.”

“No.” Emi stood up and tried hard to smile. “It’ll be fine. I want her to see us off. Come on, Rina! Let’s go!” And she patted her leg encouragingly.

Rina sniffed cautiously at the fence post and then pattered out on to the pavement. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but Emi and Ben were both coaxing her along and there were such interesting outside smells…

Emi stared out of the window of Dad’s flat, watching an old lady walking along the street with her dog. The dog was quite elderly, too, Emi thought, and they were walking at a perfect pace for each other, slow and gentle. She heaved a huge sigh, so huge there was a big misty patch on the glass. She missed Rina so much. She couldn’t help thinking about her all the time.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted Rina to miss her or not. She didn’t want the puppy to be sad, but at the same time, it would be nice to know that Rina cared enough to notice if she wasn’t there. When they’d got on to the train, she had heard Rina howling on the platform next to Mum. She’d done the same thing the first few mornings when they’d left her to go to school. Mum called it her Shiba scream – she said that Shiba Inus were famous for it – it really did sound as though Rina was screaming.

“Are you OK, Emi?” Dad came and sat on the sofa next to her. “You look a bit down. Too much homework?”

“I’ve done it all. Sorry, Dad. I’m just missing Rina.”

Dad hugged her. “You don’t have to be sorry. It’s hard to leave her behind when you’ve only had her a week. You can call your mum later to find out how she is.”

But all the same, Emi felt guilty for saying it. She didn’t want her dad to think she didn’t want to see him – she missed him loads, too. It was just so difficult. She felt like she couldn’t ever be in quite the right place…

“Ben, look, there’s Mum, I can see her. And Rina, too!” Emi bounced up out of her seat, hurrying to the train doors.

“Leaving your bag on the train, are you?” Ben sighed, picking it up and following her, but Emi was hardly listening. The train was pulling in slowly now and she could see that Mum had picked Rina up to stop her being scared. She was making Rina wave her paw to them.

Emi giggled and pressed the ‘Doors Open’ button impatiently.

“You have to wait for it to light up, Emi, honestly!” Ben rolled his eyes. The doors beeped and opened.

“Mum! You brought her!” Emi gasped, as she jumped out. “Hello, gorgeous Rina! And you, Mum,” she added quickly, kissing her mum on the cheek.

“Did you miss me at all?” Mum asked, but Emi knew she was only teasing.

“How was Rina after we spoke? Did she mind us being away? Did she notice?”

“She definitely did.” Mum put Rina down carefully, now that the train was pulling out, and passed Emi the lead. “She’s been really quiet the whole weekend. I’m sure she was waiting for you to come home.”

“Oh, poor Rina,” Emi murmured.

Ben crouched down to rub the little puppy’s ears gently. “We missed you, too,” he told her.

“I was glad she was there, though,” Mum said, putting an arm round Emi as they walked out of the station. “The house didn’t feel so empty. And I might have let her snuggle up with me on the sofa and watch TV last night…” she added, looking a bit guilty.

“You said we weren’t allowed!” Emi told her indignantly.

“I know – but we were both missing you two, and she was so cuddly and warm. It’s definitely got colder this weekend. I wouldn’t be surprised if it snows soon.”

Emi looked down at Rina. “You’ll love it if it does, Rina. You’ve got the perfect fur for snow, all thick and soft!”

Rina stood on the back doorstep, watching Emi worriedly. She was dancing about in the white stuff, her boots leaving great deep prints.

It had been cold for ages, but the snow just hadn’t come, even though everyone at school had been staring out of the classroom windows and hoping for it for weeks. Another fortnight had gone by, and Ben and Emi had been on another visit to Dad’s, and still there hadn’t been any snow. But now, at last, it had fallen overnight, just in time for the half-term holiday. Emi had woken Rina up with an excited yell from upstairs and then she’d come racing down in her pyjamas and jumped around the kitchen, practically falling over as she tried to get her wellies on.

Rina sniffed at the snow. It smelled odd – clean and cold and somehow sharp. She wasn’t sure she liked it, even though Emi obviously did. Rina let out a huffy little breath. Emi was hers and she had to look after her. She always went outside when Emi did. Cautiously, she put one paw in the snow and then drew it back again at once. Too cold. Too wet.

Emi floundered back across the garden, giggling and shivering. “Don’t you like it, Rina? Oh, you have to like it!”

Rina yapped at her crossly, telling her to come in right now. Emi’s cheeks were bright red against her black hair and she looked frozen.

“Look!” Emi scooped up a handful of the white stuff and showed it to Rina. It looked like a ball, a white ball. Rina’s ears pricked up at once. She loved to play fetch – she and Emi could chase a ball around for ages. Ben had tried to teach her to play football as well, but she wasn’t very good at that. The ball was too big and she usually got so excited chasing it that she’d try to fling herself on top of the ball and then she’d fall over.

“Fetch? Fetch the ball!” Emi hurled it across the garden and Rina forgot about the strange white stuff and leaped off the step. She’d bounded halfway across the snow-covered grass before she realized she couldn’t actually see the snowball any more.

Emi was doubled over laughing. “Oh, Rina, it’s up to your tummy,” she giggled.

Rina snorted crossly. But then she decided she didn’t mind that much. The white stuff was cold and wet, but the smell was good after all. And she could dig! She scuffled at the snow experimentally with her front paws and it flew everywhere. She sneezed and then she dug and then she chased her tail in the snow and then she dug some more. Yes, she liked this stuff very much…