Charlie

Special thanks toThe Happy Dog Grooming Parlour, Farnham

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Introducing

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Acknowledgments

Copyright

About the Publisher

Introducing

Name: Charlie

Breed: Labradoodle

Age: 6

Colour: Creamy-white and brown (normally)

Likes: Being the centre of attention

Dislikes: Being left alone

Most likely to be mistaken for: A blueberry

Least likely to be mistaken for: A clipped standard poodle

One

Fire!

Outside the classroom window, Bella could see the sea glinting behind the playground. She rested her chin on her hand and stared dreamily at the view. There were just two weeks of term until the summer holidays. Soon, she and her mum, Suzi, her little brother, Louie, and their dog, Pepper, would all be on Sandmouth beach, having picnics and ice creams and staying out late every evening. Bella hoped it would be a hot summer. It would be typical if the sun stopped shining in exactly two weeks’ time.

“Bella?” said Mrs Frost.

Bella looked around in surprise. “Me?” she said.

Mrs Frost, the head teacher at Cliffside Primary, made a tutting noise. Mrs Frost had white hair and an icy gaze. The children called her Frosty.

“Yes, Bella,” Mrs Frost said, raising her white eyebrows. “You. What ideas have you brought to the Summer Fair Committee?”

Bella tried to concentrate. She stared at the piece of paper in front of her. She’d drawn a picture of her dog, Pepper. It was a lovely picture. She was pleased at how she’d drawn Pepper’s rough brown head and big dark eyes. But it wasn’t very helpful right now. What had her class asked Bella to say?

“Well,” Bella said nervously. “It’s Cliffside Primary’s fiftieth anniversary this year, and…um…”

The other children at the meeting giggled.

Mrs Frost sighed. “Yes,” she said. “We know that. We have lots of things in place for the anniversary. But what ideas have your class had?”

It was no good. Bella couldn’t remember. She was going to have to make it up.

“A dog show,” she blurted out. “With…prizes for the waggiest tail, and…um…the smiliest face and…the wettest tongue…”

Bella knew she was rambling. But to her amazement, Mrs Frost started nodding.

“A lovely idea,” said Mrs Frost. “We could charge a pound for people to enter. I shall bring my dog along.”

Bella blinked. Mrs Frost had a dog? She’d never seen Mrs Frost out walking a dog. It was a weird thought.

“What kind of dog have you got, miss?” asked Bella’s best friend, Amber.

“A Labradoodle called Charlie,” said Mrs Frost.

Bella frowned. She assumed Mrs Frost must have said ‘Labrador’ and she’d just misheard her. She was about to put her hand up to ask, but someone called out, “A labrabooble! What’s that?”

Before Mrs Frost could answer, Amber cried, “No, silly, she said ‘dabydoodle’!” and the whole class started laughing.

“OK, children, settle down,” Mrs Frost said, raising her hand to get the class to be quiet. “Charlie is a Labradoodle, which is a cross between a Labrador and a poodle. It’s quite a rare breed so it’s no wonder that you haven’t heard of it before.”

Bella’s mouth opened with surprise – she had never heard of such a funny-sounding name for a dog!

“You should bring Charlie to Dream Dogs one day, miss!” Bella said impulsively.

Mrs Frost looked puzzled.

“Dream Dogs is my mum’s dog parlour,” Bella explained. “We do washing and trimming and nail clipping and things like that. I’m sure Mum would—”

“Thank you, Bella,” Mrs Frost interrupted, looking up at the clock above the board. “Can we get back to this meeting, please? The end of lunch bell is about to ring and I don’t want you late for your classes. Any more ideas for the Summer Fair?”

Bella scribbled Dog Show on her piece of paper, underneath her drawing of Pepper. She felt excited. Imagine the school playing field covered in dogs, including Charlie the Labradoodle! They could use a loudspeaker to announce the results and have rosettes for the winners. Maybe Charlie would get one for being the most unusual breed! Bella couldn’t wait to go on the computer at home and look up all about Labradoodles on the Internet.

The school bell started ringing.

“Back to class, everyone,” said Mrs Frost.

Everyone headed for the classroom door, chattering about the Summer Fair. Bella glanced out of the window. She could see her friend Sophie, and her little brother, Louie, lining up to go back inside. It was a shame playtime was over. Apart from the grey cloud over the school hall, it was a perfect summer’s day. Now Bella wouldn’t be able to go outside until much later.

Bella looked at the grey cloud over the school hall again. And she realised it wasn’t a cloud at all.

“Fire!” Bella shouted. She pointed. “The school hall’s on fire!”

Everyone rushed to look. They could see flames shooting out of the hall roof. The smell of burning swept through the open window of the classroom. It made Bella cough.

“Oh, my goodness,” Mrs Frost gasped. “Quickly, everyone. Outside!”

The fire bell started ringing loudly. Children jostled and pushed. Teachers shouted. Smoke was starting to drift down the corridors.

“No need to panic!” called Mrs Frost in a loud, clear voice as Bella filed towards the outside doors with everyone else. “Straight to your meeting points on the playing field, please! Everyone out! As quickly as possible!”

Bella felt scared. She’d never seen a proper fire before. The flames were rushing over the hall roof now. The sky was changing colour as the smoke began to blot out the sunshine.

The school had had a fire drill only last week, so Bella knew where her meeting point was. For the first time, she realised how important fire drills were.

There was an explosion of sirens. Two fire engines screeched up outside the school.

Firemen scrambled for their hoses. Soon, fierce jets of water were dousing the hall roof. Bella stood helplessly with her class on the playing field. She could hear some of the children crying as they watched.

Bella couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Her school was burning down!

Two

Dream Dogs on Wheels

“Mum!” Bella said feebly. “I can’t breathe!”

“Did you breathe in too much smoke?” Bella’s mum Suzi moaned. “Oh, my goodness, do we have to go to the hospital?”

“No,” Bella gasped. “You’re just squeezing me…too tightly!”

Suzi let go. Bella took a deep breath of fresh sea air. All over the beach, she could see parents cuddling their children. Pepper was barking and running wildly round in circles.

From here, it looked like the fire at the school had finally gone out. A mixture of steam and smoke still billowed around the buildings. Crowds of people stood watching.

“Oh, my life!” said Suzi. She gathered Bella and Louie in for another crushing hug. “When the school called, I thought my heart was going to stop!”

“Mum!” Louie grumbled, pushing Suzi off. “I’m not a baby!”

Suzi wiped her eyes. “You’ll always be my babies,” she said in a trembly voice. “Both of you. I can’t believe this has happened! How did the fire start?”

“Don’t know,” Bella said. “The fireman are going to spend the rest of the week checking.”

“Whoopee!”

Louie whooped. “Three days off school!”

“You’ll miss football tomorrow,” Bella reminded her little brother.

Louie’s face fell. He was totally football-mad and he’d been playing in the school team since the start of term.

“They’ll still do football though, right?” he checked hopefully. “We’ve got a match next week that’s really important. It’s going to be my first game and I’m going to be man of the match, not Jamie even though he’s really good.”

“I expect football will be cancelled too,” Suzi said, and Louie groaned.

“Now,” Suzi went on, “since I’ve got you a little earlier than expected, you’ll have to come with me to my next job. I’ve got an appointment at the top of town.”

Bella was confused. Customers came to Dream Dogs. Not the other way round. “You mean, someone from the top of town is bringing their dog to the salon?” she checked.

Suzi suddenly smiled. It was the first time Bella had seen her smile since she’d come to collect them off the playing field.

“I mean exactly what I say,” Suzi said. “I’ve got a surprise for you both at home. I think we can all use a bit of good news today, don’t you?”

Suzi refused to say anything else. Bella badgered her mum for clues. Even Louie was curious enough to stop grumbling about football and try to guess their mum’s secret.

They came off the beach and walked towards Dream Dogs. And at last, Bella saw the secret for herself.

Parked outside the dog parlour was her mum’s Dream Dogs van. But attached to the back was a strange pink trailer. DREAM DOGS MOBILE DOG-WASH was spelled out in dark pink letters. In smaller letters along the bottom, Bella read: Paws for Thought. The Pet Shop for All Your Pet’s Needs.

“I got the local pet shop to sponsor me!” said Suzi proudly as Bella and Louie rushed over to look. “They are helping me pay for it! Now I can take the business to all those people who can’t come to the salon. People without a car, for example. Older people, and people with disabilities. Isn’t it great?”

Suzi opened the back of the trailer. Inside was a bath and a shower unit, a tank of water and an electric pump. There was a cupboard full of towels. Another little cupboard held shampoo bottles. Both cupboards had lockable doors, to stop the towels and shampoos from falling out as the trailer drove along. Pepper jumped in and sniffed at the bath.

“It’s brilliant, Mum!” Bella gasped.

“Come on then,” said Suzi, checking her watch. “My appointment is at three o’clock sharp!”

They drove back towards the centre of Sandmouth. Smoke was still hanging over the school and part of the town was coned off. Bella saw some of her friends walking along the pavement with their parents. She grinned and waved. Her friends’ eyes grew round as they saw the new pink Dream Dogs trailer trundling past. Pepper put his head out of the window and barked. He loved the feeling of the wind in his ears when they drove along.

“We need number twenty-three on this road,” said Suzi, peering at the numbers on the houses as they took a sharp left. “There!”

Number 23 had a wide driveway. Suzi carefully backed the dog-wash trailer up the drive and put the handbrake on. As Bella and Louie scrambled out of the car, the front door banged open. An old man limped out. His hands were jammed in the pockets of his old cardigan. The top of his head was bald, although tufts of white hair were growing out of his ears. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

“Are you the dog-wash people?” he said gruffly.

Bella blinked. DREAM DOGS MOBILE DOG-WASH was printed in big letters on the side of the trailer. Of course they were the ‘dog-wash people’. Then she saw that the old man was holding a small, folded-up white stick in one hand. He was blind!

“You must be Mr Flynn,” said Suzi cheerfully. “Hello there!”

The old man didn’t smile. “About time you turned up,” he said. He called back over his shoulder. “Archie! Here, boy!”

A large German shepherd trotted outside. He had a big black body and a golden head, and he sat down obediently at Mr Flynn’s feet. He was wearing a special harness on his back, which Mr Flynn could hold on to.

“Is he your guide-dog?” Louie asked.

“What else might he be?” said Mr Flynn sourly. “My guinea pig?”

Bella frowned. The old man wasn’t being very nice.

“Wait in the car, children,” Suzi said. “I won’t be long.”

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