to you!’ he chomped, cramming another pie into his mouth.
We hid behind some boxes and soon the driver came along, and it was the same one — the one with the dark glasses — and he shut the door and off we went.
We hadn’t gone very far before Hoolie said he didn’t feel well. Cat said it was because he’d been looking at himself in the mirror for too long. Hoolie made a grab for Cat’s tail but wasn’t nearly quick enough.
‘Stop it, the pair of you,’ I snapped. ‘We’re almost home.’ Amazingly, they both shut up and Hoolie wasn’t sick either.
‘When the van stops, wait for my order,’ I said. I could smell home. I was sure we were heading in the right direction. I could almost hear my puppies calling to me. Hey, Mum! We’re here! Come on, hurry up! We’ve missed you so much!
The van slowed and stopped. The driver got out. He began to open the doors.
‘Run for it! Ba-ba-ba-boom!’ I yelled.
We bounded out of the back of the van, knocking the man flying, with Hoolie still clutching a haul of stolen pies. He was a pie thief! My puppies were practically shouting to me now. All I had to do was find out exactly whereI was. And guess where we were? Right in the middle of Trevor-Town, in the market place.
‘I know where I am!’ I told the others happily. ‘We’ll be home in zippity-zip.’
Cat and Hoolie were standing back to back — the defensive position — looking round the market. ‘Why is it so quiet? Where are all the two-legs?’ asked Cat suspiciously.
It was true. There was nobody to be seen. Strange. Eerie. Sinister. A cold feeling began to creep right over me, making my fur stand on end.
AND THEN WE SAW THE BEAST!
In broad daylight! It was a cheetah — the fastest land animal known to Man, and it was stalking towards us. Cat went yowling up a telephone pole, closely followed by Hoolie. That just left me, on my own. And I can’t climb telephone poles.
I was transfixed. The cheetah’s glowing eyes were fixed on me. I WAS THE TARGET! Mytail went between my back legs. My ears went right back, my lip curled and I felt so scared and fierce at the same time and I thought I was going to die.
Cat sat right on top of the telephone pole, hissing and spitting. Hoolie sat just below Cat hurling pies down at the cheetah and screaming at me. ‘Go get him, Streaker! Biff his nose! Stamp on his toes! Pull his tail! Poke him in the eye!’
I wished he would shut up.
There was no escape. What would Dazzy Donut Dog do? This was a mega-emergency. It was going to need at least six extra-special-super-dooper-nuclear-power-plus-iced Dazzy Donuts with multi-coloured sprinkly bits AND jam, but Dazzy Donut Dog was TOO SCARED TO EAT THEM!
The only thing that could save me now was — ME!
15 Who’s the Fastest? Guess Who!
The cheetah paused. It crouched. Its body arched like a coiled spring. It waggled its bottom briefly and then WHOOOOOOOSH! It came at me like a rocket with teeth.
My brain jangled into activity. I thought: I am not Red Bottom Dog and I am not Dazzy Donut Dog — I am Streaker, the fastest dog in the world and now I am going to run even faster than a cheetah or I am going to die! And guess what? I did!
I ran like an even bigger rocket than the cheetah and he was right on my heels and we twisted and turned and he almost got me and he almost didn’t and sometimes I fell over my own feet and sometimes he fell over his feet and I could hear him going pant pant pant right on mytail and my ears were streaming out behind me like twin jet trails.
All the time the cheetah was snapping at me with his teeth going snip! snap! but he kept missing and I ran ran ran ran ran until I thought my legs would fly off my body or they’d get worn rightdown to teeny-tiny stumps or just maybe they’d turn into wings and I would take off into the sky and fly to safety!
I went racing round a corner and suddenly I was RUNNING DOWN TREVOR’S ROAD STRAIGHT TOWARDS THE HOUSE AND —
NO, NO! THE ROAD
We hid behind some boxes and soon the driver came along, and it was the same one — the one with the dark glasses — and he shut the door and off we went.
We hadn’t gone very far before Hoolie said he didn’t feel well. Cat said it was because he’d been looking at himself in the mirror for too long. Hoolie made a grab for Cat’s tail but wasn’t nearly quick enough.
‘Stop it, the pair of you,’ I snapped. ‘We’re almost home.’ Amazingly, they both shut up and Hoolie wasn’t sick either.
‘When the van stops, wait for my order,’ I said. I could smell home. I was sure we were heading in the right direction. I could almost hear my puppies calling to me. Hey, Mum! We’re here! Come on, hurry up! We’ve missed you so much!
The van slowed and stopped. The driver got out. He began to open the doors.
‘Run for it! Ba-ba-ba-boom!’ I yelled.
We bounded out of the back of the van, knocking the man flying, with Hoolie still clutching a haul of stolen pies. He was a pie thief! My puppies were practically shouting to me now. All I had to do was find out exactly whereI was. And guess where we were? Right in the middle of Trevor-Town, in the market place.
‘I know where I am!’ I told the others happily. ‘We’ll be home in zippity-zip.’
Cat and Hoolie were standing back to back — the defensive position — looking round the market. ‘Why is it so quiet? Where are all the two-legs?’ asked Cat suspiciously.
It was true. There was nobody to be seen. Strange. Eerie. Sinister. A cold feeling began to creep right over me, making my fur stand on end.
AND THEN WE SAW THE BEAST!
In broad daylight! It was a cheetah — the fastest land animal known to Man, and it was stalking towards us. Cat went yowling up a telephone pole, closely followed by Hoolie. That just left me, on my own. And I can’t climb telephone poles.
I was transfixed. The cheetah’s glowing eyes were fixed on me. I WAS THE TARGET! Mytail went between my back legs. My ears went right back, my lip curled and I felt so scared and fierce at the same time and I thought I was going to die.
Cat sat right on top of the telephone pole, hissing and spitting. Hoolie sat just below Cat hurling pies down at the cheetah and screaming at me. ‘Go get him, Streaker! Biff his nose! Stamp on his toes! Pull his tail! Poke him in the eye!’
I wished he would shut up.
There was no escape. What would Dazzy Donut Dog do? This was a mega-emergency. It was going to need at least six extra-special-super-dooper-nuclear-power-plus-iced Dazzy Donuts with multi-coloured sprinkly bits AND jam, but Dazzy Donut Dog was TOO SCARED TO EAT THEM!
The only thing that could save me now was — ME!
15 Who’s the Fastest? Guess Who!
The cheetah paused. It crouched. Its body arched like a coiled spring. It waggled its bottom briefly and then WHOOOOOOOSH! It came at me like a rocket with teeth.
My brain jangled into activity. I thought: I am not Red Bottom Dog and I am not Dazzy Donut Dog — I am Streaker, the fastest dog in the world and now I am going to run even faster than a cheetah or I am going to die! And guess what? I did!
I ran like an even bigger rocket than the cheetah and he was right on my heels and we twisted and turned and he almost got me and he almost didn’t and sometimes I fell over my own feet and sometimes he fell over his feet and I could hear him going pant pant pant right on mytail and my ears were streaming out behind me like twin jet trails.
All the time the cheetah was snapping at me with his teeth going snip! snap! but he kept missing and I ran ran ran ran ran until I thought my legs would fly off my body or they’d get worn rightdown to teeny-tiny stumps or just maybe they’d turn into wings and I would take off into the sky and fly to safety!
I went racing round a corner and suddenly I was RUNNING DOWN TREVOR’S ROAD STRAIGHT TOWARDS THE HOUSE AND —
NO, NO! THE ROAD