The Puppy who was Left Behind

Chapter Seven

Anna had strange, horrible dreams all night. She and Sunny and Fred went round and round in circles, chasing each other, and however hard Anna ran, she seemed to be standing still. In the worst dream, which seemed to keep coming back, she and Fred both had wings, and Anna was flapping and flapping and trying to catch up with him, but he was always too fast.

She woke up with a jolt, gasping for breath. The dream seemed so real that she expected her arms to ache. She stretched them out gingerly, but they felt just like they usually did.

“You’re awake, Anna!” Gran bustled over to her. “I was about to get you up.”

Anna blinked and then looked around, her fingers clenching on her bedcover. “He’s not back, is he?” she asked, her voice very small. She knew he wasn’t. He’d have been all over her by now, barking and licking.

Gran sighed. “No. No, he isn’t yet.”

“What time is it?” Anna asked, jumping out of bed and starting to pull on her clothes. It didn’t look like early morning – the sun was bright already, and Gran was dressed and making breakfast.

“It’s eight o’clock. Oh, I know you wanted to wake up early, Anna, but you were so tired, and you were up so late last night.”

Anna stared at her in horror. How could they have let her sleep for so long? “I have to go out and look for Fred!” she gasped, hopping her way into her jeans.

“Grandad’s been out for a while, searching the wood again,” her gran explained. “And your mum and dad will be here soon to help as well. They said they’d just go and walk along the road that runs by the back of the wood first.”

Anna nodded miserably. So it wasn’t just her worrying that Fred had gone further than the wood.

“We’ll have to move the boat this morning as well,” her gran said gently.

Anna yanked her sweater over her head and turned to look at Gran in horror. She’d forgotten that they couldn’t stay on the mooring. “We’ve still got to go?” she whispered. “We have to leave Fred behind?”

“We won’t go far, I promise. Just a little further up the canal. Grandad says he’s sure there’s somewhere we can stop and moor up, about a mile further on from here. Then we’ll hurry back.”

Anna nodded, but she felt like howling. Somehow it seemed like giving up on Fred, even though she knew they were coming back.

The boat shook a little as Grandad stepped back on board, and he came in through the saloon door.

Anna opened her mouth to ask, but Grandad shook his head. “No sign at the moment, Anna, sorry. But your mum called, saying they’ve parked over where they were last night. They’re going to walk along to the village and go into the shops to ask if anyone’s seen him.” He eyed Anna anxiously and added, “They printed out a few posters, too.”

“But Fred’s only been gone one night…” Anna said, shaking her head. “He’s not really lost, is he? We don’t need posters up!” Putting up posters made it feel all the more real.

Grandad shook his head. “I know what you mean, but if someone sees Fred and doesn’t realize he’s lost – if they just think he’s off the lead and they can’t see his owner, they won’t do anything, will they? People will know to be looking out for him if they see a poster.”

“I suppose so,” Anna murmured. She was glad Mum and Dad hadn’t come to the boat before they set off with the posters. She was pretty sure that a LOST poster with Fred’s photo on it would have turned her into a wobbly, crying mess. And she’d be no use to Fred like that. She shook herself briskly and sniffed.

“If I take a piece of toast with me, can I go and look for him now? Just one more quick look before we have to move the boat? Please? I’ll be back soon.”

Gran and Grandad exchanged glances, but then Gran said, “If you’re careful. Stay on the path, Anna, though, won’t you?”

Anna nodded eagerly, snatching up the toast and heading for the door. Sunny thumped his tail against his basket as she went past, and Anna stopped to pat him quickly. She’d felt furious with him last night, while she was lying there worrying about Fred. But it wasn’t really his fault. He just liked things his own way, nice and quiet, without a big, bouncy puppy jumping all over him.

She leaped from the boat to the towpath, and headed back into the wood. It looked so different this morning, with sunlight pouring in through the gaps in the trees. It wasn’t the eerie, almost frightening place it had been the night before. There were birds singing, and as Anna hurried down the path, a tiny rabbit suddenly turned tail and disappeared into the bracken.

Anna’s mouth twitched into half a smile. Even though she felt awful, the rabbit’s surprised expression had been so funny. Then she stopped and looked around thoughtfully. Fred would have chased that rabbit, if he’d seen it. He would have jumped after it, barking so loudly that the rabbit and all of its friends and relations would be hiding in their burrows in seconds. That rabbit hopping calmly around on the path made Anna think that Fred wasn’t anywhere near.

She gulped and swallowed. Maybe he was long gone, then. Maybe he had gone out on to the road, and Mum and Dad had the right idea to go there first.

Anna turned and headed back to the boat. Maybe if Mum and Dad weren’t too far away, she could go and find them and help them look while Gran and Grandad moved the Hummingbird. She couldn’t bear the thought of going further away and wasting all that time.

“Hello!” Grandad waved to her from the towpath as she came out of the trees. “I’m just going to walk up and ask the people on the other boats to watch out for Fred. Do you want to come?”

Anna nodded. She didn’t want to, actually. She hated the thought of telling people that Fred was lost. Like the posters, it made it seem as though he really was. But she’d do anything to get him back, she told herself.

The people on the next boat were sitting on their bow deck, drinking tea, so it was easy to talk to them.

Anna liked that about being out on the canal – everyone seemed very friendly. Even when someone had made a mistake and messed up going into a lock, people would always come and help instead of getting annoyed.

“What, your lovely Irish Setter?” the lady asked, as Grandad explained.

“Yes,” said Grandad. “We’re especially worried as we’ve got to move on from the mooring this morning. We’re going to stop a little bit further on and walk back, but just in case we miss him, it would be great if you could keep an eye out. Here’s our mobile number.”

“Of course we’ll look out for him,” said the lady, taking the piece of paper. “Oh dear, how awful for you.”

The man frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think the people on the next boat are up yet,” he said, glancing over. The boat at the end still had its curtains drawn and there was no noise from it at all. “Want us to tell them for you?”

“Please.” Grandad nodded. “Thanks, you’ve been really helpful.”

Anna tried to smile at the friendly couple, but she just couldn’t make her face do it. “Are we going now?” she asked Grandad, as she climbed back on to the Hummingbird.

Grandad nodded and headed for the stern to start the engine. “Yes, I think it’s best. We can come back and spend the whole day here looking if we need to. But I’m sure we won’t,” he added quickly.

Anna could tell he didn’t believe that at all, but she was just grateful to him for saying it.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a call from your mum and dad really soon,” Gran said comfortingly. “I’m sure they’ll have news.”

“The engine’s warmed up enough now,” Grandad called from the stern, and Anna took one last, hopeful look along the bank, but no feathery, darkred dog came running out to her.

“Let’s go,” she said. Then she coughed to clear her throat and said it again, loud enough to be heard over the engine this time. “The sooner we go, the sooner we can come back and start looking for Fred again.”

Grandad nodded, and Anna hopped over on to the towpath to cast off the mooring ropes. Then she climbed back on to the bow deck. Gran had gone into the cabin, but Anna decided to stay out on deck. She felt like being on her own for a bit.

“We’ll be back really soon, Fred,” she whispered. “I’m not leaving you behind. We’re coming back to find you.”