words.
‘Danger?’ he said. ‘What danger?’
‘ I do not know yet ,’ Jenny said.
Flo closed her eyes, but Checkers ran round the croft again, barking madly. ‘Danger!’ he shouted. ‘Hooray!’
Now the colours of the sky were deepening and the first pale stars appeared. Jenny looked up at them and sighed, and wondered briefly if she would ever see her own, very different stars again.
‘When will you know?’ asked Gentleman Jim, but Jenny only said that she would know when the time came.
‘Come along, you lot,’ called Aunty Dot. ‘Checkers, Boris, Flo – time to go home.’
And slowly, reluctantly, the dogs returned. Their mood had changed, and they were all serious and quiet, wondering what their new friend might possibly mean.
7
The Doggie Post
Over the next few days, Jenny adjusted to life in her new home. There was a lot to adjust to. Electric lights that went on and off unpredictably, so that the rooms did not go dark when night came, and music blaring out from a small box. There was a bigger box, full of moving pictures, that Sam and Jenny watched, entranced, every evening, until Sam’s mum told him off for not doing his homework, or sent him upstairs to bed, at which point she sat in front of it, entranced. Then there was the washing machine. Jenny got in trouble for attempting to rescue the clothes as Sam’s mum loaded them in, then she guarded them fiercely, her head going round and round, until the machine reached the spin cycle, when she ran off backwards, with her tail between her legs.
‘It’s almost as if she’s not used to electricity,’ Sam’s mum said, as Jenny stared out of the window, fascinated by the street lights. ‘I wonder where she lived before.’
Then, at the end of that week, Sam’s mum got the vacuum cleaner out. Jenny cowered to the ground, appalled, as she plugged it in and switched it on. She watched in horror as Sam’s mum kept pushing it away from her, and it came back, roaring horribly. Jenny was terrified, but herduty was clear. She flattened herself to the floor, emitting a volley of barks, then advanced on it in a growling rush, gripping the base of it with her teeth and hanging on for grim death while it pulled her back and forth across the carpet. But Sam’s mum did not appear to be grateful for Jenny’s heroic struggle.
‘Sam!’ she thundered. ‘Take the dog away!’
And Sam had to haul Jenny into the kitchen on her lead. Even there she wouldn’t give up the battle. She kept on barking and sounding the alarm until Sam’s mum had finally won the fight and tied the beast up with its own tail.
There was so much that was strange and new that Jenny was often exhausted at the end of the day. She had come to a very noisy world. The bin men arrived with their huge truck that made a grinding noise as they lifted the bins. Police sirens sounded regularly, and once a fire engine thundered past, almost deafening Jenny with its alarm. Many enemies attacked the house in that first week. There was a strange man in uniform who came every morning and a boy with a big bag of papers. Both of them seemed to be trying to get in through a slot in the front door, but each time they tried, Jenny barked furiously until she had seen them off When a man with a ladder came, she nearly had a fit. He attacked all the windows with a soapy solution so that he thought he was hidden, but Jenny wasn’t fooled, and she barked so loudly and for so long that everyone on the street came out to see what was going on.
Gradually, Jenny adjusted to the clamour of her new world, though she was still very nervous and didn’t much like being taken out on a lead. No one turned up to claimher, much to the bemusement of Sam’s mum and Aunty Dot. But Sam kept his word about taking her out every day, before and after school. She wagged her tail furiously at him when he got up in the morning and looked very sad when he left for school, then overjoyed to see him again in the afternoon. He
‘Danger?’ he said. ‘What danger?’
‘ I do not know yet ,’ Jenny said.
Flo closed her eyes, but Checkers ran round the croft again, barking madly. ‘Danger!’ he shouted. ‘Hooray!’
Now the colours of the sky were deepening and the first pale stars appeared. Jenny looked up at them and sighed, and wondered briefly if she would ever see her own, very different stars again.
‘When will you know?’ asked Gentleman Jim, but Jenny only said that she would know when the time came.
‘Come along, you lot,’ called Aunty Dot. ‘Checkers, Boris, Flo – time to go home.’
And slowly, reluctantly, the dogs returned. Their mood had changed, and they were all serious and quiet, wondering what their new friend might possibly mean.
7
The Doggie Post
Over the next few days, Jenny adjusted to life in her new home. There was a lot to adjust to. Electric lights that went on and off unpredictably, so that the rooms did not go dark when night came, and music blaring out from a small box. There was a bigger box, full of moving pictures, that Sam and Jenny watched, entranced, every evening, until Sam’s mum told him off for not doing his homework, or sent him upstairs to bed, at which point she sat in front of it, entranced. Then there was the washing machine. Jenny got in trouble for attempting to rescue the clothes as Sam’s mum loaded them in, then she guarded them fiercely, her head going round and round, until the machine reached the spin cycle, when she ran off backwards, with her tail between her legs.
‘It’s almost as if she’s not used to electricity,’ Sam’s mum said, as Jenny stared out of the window, fascinated by the street lights. ‘I wonder where she lived before.’
Then, at the end of that week, Sam’s mum got the vacuum cleaner out. Jenny cowered to the ground, appalled, as she plugged it in and switched it on. She watched in horror as Sam’s mum kept pushing it away from her, and it came back, roaring horribly. Jenny was terrified, but herduty was clear. She flattened herself to the floor, emitting a volley of barks, then advanced on it in a growling rush, gripping the base of it with her teeth and hanging on for grim death while it pulled her back and forth across the carpet. But Sam’s mum did not appear to be grateful for Jenny’s heroic struggle.
‘Sam!’ she thundered. ‘Take the dog away!’
And Sam had to haul Jenny into the kitchen on her lead. Even there she wouldn’t give up the battle. She kept on barking and sounding the alarm until Sam’s mum had finally won the fight and tied the beast up with its own tail.
There was so much that was strange and new that Jenny was often exhausted at the end of the day. She had come to a very noisy world. The bin men arrived with their huge truck that made a grinding noise as they lifted the bins. Police sirens sounded regularly, and once a fire engine thundered past, almost deafening Jenny with its alarm. Many enemies attacked the house in that first week. There was a strange man in uniform who came every morning and a boy with a big bag of papers. Both of them seemed to be trying to get in through a slot in the front door, but each time they tried, Jenny barked furiously until she had seen them off When a man with a ladder came, she nearly had a fit. He attacked all the windows with a soapy solution so that he thought he was hidden, but Jenny wasn’t fooled, and she barked so loudly and for so long that everyone on the street came out to see what was going on.
Gradually, Jenny adjusted to the clamour of her new world, though she was still very nervous and didn’t much like being taken out on a lead. No one turned up to claimher, much to the bemusement of Sam’s mum and Aunty Dot. But Sam kept his word about taking her out every day, before and after school. She wagged her tail furiously at him when he got up in the morning and looked very sad when he left for school, then overjoyed to see him again in the afternoon. He
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