Playtime for Rascal Read online

  Christy grabbed a handful of bits from the recycling box, and they headed into the kitchen to find Bouncer and let the two dogs out into the garden. Bouncer pricked up his ears as soon as he saw Rascal, and the pair of them chased off down the garden path.

  Christy’s mum was fine about them using the recycling. In fact, she thought it was a brilliant idea. The girls dashed upstairs, carrying all the bits of recycling, and a big plastic sheet that she’d given them so they could lay it all out without making a mess on the bedroom carpet.

  An hour later, the stadium was taking shape. It still looked like a pile of cereal boxes, with towers made out of loo rolls, but Ellie could see that it was going to work. She was particularly proud of her egg box fold-away roof – it was lucky that Christy’s dad loved to make himself scrambled eggs for breakfast!

  Christy looked at it with her head on one side. “When it’s sprayed silver, I think it’ll look even better than the old one. And no one else will have a project like it.”

  The mention of silver paint reminded Ellie about Rascal. “I hope the dogs are still OK in the garden.”

  Christy jumped up and peered out of her window. “Well, Bouncer’s asleep under the bench, I can see his tail sticking out. I can’t see Rascal, though.”

  Ellie ran over to look as well. “I can’t see him either. We’d better go and check, just in case…”

  The girls hurried downstairs, and through the back door. Bouncer woke up as they came out and thumped his tail sleepily. But there was no sign of Rascal.

  “Where can he be?” Ellie muttered, running down the path. “Rascal! Rascal!” She peered behind the shed, wondering if he’d gone digging – he loved to dig holes. But no muddy little dog poked his head out. “He must be here somewhere. He couldn’t have escaped, could he?”

  “No, there is a hole under the fence, but it isn’t big enough…” Christy’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. It’s not big enough for Bouncer, but Rascal could get through it!” She ran over to the wheelbarrow standing by the shed. “Help me push this to the fence so we can look over. Quietly!” she hissed. “Mr Simpson next door really hates dogs – he always complains that Bouncer barks too much.”

  They pushed the wheelbarrow up against the fence, and scrambled into it to peer over.

  “Oh, no…” Christy gasped.

  The garden on the other side of the fence was immaculate, as though every blade of grass had been measured. And snuffling around the rose bushes was a small brown and white (and silver) dog. Rascal looked up at them and wagged his tail happily.

  “Rascal! Rascal, here!” Ellie tried to use the firm tone of voice that Jo had talked about at training, but it came out all high and worried, and Rascal ignored her.

  “Shall I go and get some treats to tempt him with?” Christy suggested.

  “Oi! What do you two think you’re doing?” A loud yell echoed across the garden, as the neighbour’s back door flew open and Mr Simpson tramped down the garden path. “What’s that in my roses? Get out of there, you little menace!”

  As the girls quickly tried to get down, the wheelbarrow wobbled, tipping them into a muddy patch of flower bed.

  Mr Simpson stuck his head over the fence, and glared down at them.

  Before he could say a word, Rascal shot through the gap under the fence, and bolted over to Ellie. He looked very scared. As Ellie scooped him up, he buried his head under her arm, quivering.

  “That dog has just been waltzing through my rose bushes!” Mr Simpson roared.

  “I’m really sorry,” Christy squeaked. “We didn’t realize he could get through the gap under the fence. He’s just visiting…”

  “Hmph! Well, luckily this time he didn’t do any damage. I suggest you don’t let him visit again!” Mr Simpson snapped, and stomped back down the garden path.

  “Oh, Christy, he’s really mean. I’m sorry for getting you into trouble!” Ellie said.

  “Don’t worry,” Christy replied. “Mr Simpson’s always cross about something. I kicked a ball over the fence last week, and when he threw it back he’d put a message on it in marker pen. It said next time he’d ‘accidentally’ dig into it with his garden fork!”

  Ellie giggled. “He’s horrible!”

  Christy nodded and gave Ellie a hug. “I think he likes being grumpy. He probably enjoyed having the chance to tell us off!”

  Ellie decided she’d better take Rascal home after that, in case he did anything else. She left Christy the paint, so she could spray their model and leave it to dry overnight. Then they planned to add the finishing touches after school the next day, so it would be ready to take in on Thursday morning.

  “Did you manage to make something nice?” Mum asked when they arrived home. “And did Rascal behave?”

  “Well … we made a brilliant new model. But Rascal got a bit bored in Christy’s garden and he went … visiting.”

  “Oh, no! Not to Christy’s grumpy nextdoor neighbour? Her mum’s told me about him before.”

  “Yes,” Ellie admitted. “But he didn’t actually dig anything up!”

  “That dog!” her mum muttered. “When we decided to get a Jack Russell, Ellie, nobody told me that they were known to be one of the stubbornest, hardest-to-train, generally naughty dogs there are.”

  “And the most gorgeous!” Ellie reminded her, holding Rascal up so he could nudge Mum’s cheek with his damp little nose.

  “Hmmm…” was all her mum said, but she did pat him.

  “Actually, Mum, I think our new project is going to be better than the old one. The new design’s really green and clever, and no one else will have anything like it,” Ellie told her proudly. “Rascal did us a favour!”

  Ellie was right. Mrs Harley was very impressed by their model on Thursday when they set it up on the project table at school.

  “With a wind turbine? Very inventive, girls!” She made a little note in her folder.

  Ellie and Christy grinned at each other. Their project definitely looked the best.

  “And look, Sinead and Lily built a model of the same stadium we were making,” Ellie pointed out. “So it’s good that we did something different in the end.”

  Mr Turner arrived later that morning, and Mrs Harley showed him the projects. Everyone whispered excitedly, and Ellie and Christy both crossed their fingers.

  “Well done, all of you. There were some really good ideas, but we’ve chosen Ellie and Christy’s as the best project from this class.” Mr Turner smiled at them. “A brilliant use of recycled materials, girls. We’re going to put your model on display in the entrance hall, so the parents can all see it tomorrow.”

  “We should say thank you to Rascal for spoiling the old one!” Christy whispered, and Ellie nodded. Rascal really had done them a favour!

  That afternoon they had a long Sports Day practice session, and Ellie felt like she must have tripped over at least a hundred hurdles.

  “Can’t I just pretend to be ill tomorrow?” she muttered to Christy, but her friend shook her head firmly.

  “No. Because you’re going to be brilliant in the welly-throwing. You almost won when you had a go just now! Why don’t you ask your mum if I can come over for a bit tonight, so we can do some more running practice without loads of people watching?”

  “But people will be watching tomorrow!” Ellie pointed out.

  Christy frowned. “Perhaps you could pretend you’re invisible, or something?”

  “I wish I was.” Ellie sighed.

  Christy rolled her eyes and pulled a face.

  “All right,” said Ellie. “I’ll ask Mum if you can come over for one last practice.”

  “Run down to the end of the garden, touch the lilac tree and run back,” Christy said.

  “And try not to fall over your feet,” Max added, poking his head round the kitchen door.

  “That’s mean!” Christy said.

  “Yee-es,” Max agreed. “But true.”

  “I bet I’m faster than you,” Christy told Max, an
d he gave a disbelieving snort.

  “Race you! Lilac tree and back – or are you too scared?”

  Max smiled pityingly. “I’m two years older than you, and I’m a boy.”

  “Chicken,” Christy teased.

  Max shrugged. “OK. I could do with some practice for tomorrow, too. I was just warning you.”

  “She’s really fast,” Ellie told him. “She’s going to win the hundred metres for our year, no problem.”

  Christy grinned at her, as she and Max lined up. Ellie sat down on the edge of the patio and hugged Rascal tightly, so he wouldn’t try and join in. With her luck, he’d manage to trip Christy and Max up.

  “Ready, steady, go!” Ellie yelled, and they shot off down the garden. They were neck and neck as they touched the lilac tree, but Max was taller and stronger, and he put on a huge burst of speed on the run back up the garden. There was no way he was going to be beaten by a girl. But he only just came first.

  “Hey, you are good,” he said admiringly.

  “You – still – won!” Christy panted.

  Max sat down next to Ellie. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you about Sports Day. You know what you should do?”

  Ellie shook her head cautiously. She wasn’t sure if Max was still teasing her.

  “Practise the three-legged race with Christy. If you work out how to step together, you’ve got a really good chance. I’ll show you, look.”

  He pulled Ellie to her feet, grabbed the skipping rope that was lying on the patio, and tied her and Christy’s legs together. “You go middle, side, middle, side, and don’t get mixed up. That’s all there is to it.”

  Ellie looked at him doubtfully. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? “Middle,” she said slowly, and she and Christy put their tied feet forwards. Rascal trotted after them, looking confused.

  “Say it together,” Max told them.

  “Middle, side, middle, side, middle, side,” Ellie and Christy chanted, wobbling down the garden, and then they laughed out loud.

  It worked!

  “Told you so,” Max said. “Rascal wants to join in, though. Maybe it ought to be a seven-legged race!”

  Ellie waved at Mum and Rascal, as her class walked out on to the school field. There were flags hung up all along the fence, and the mums and dads were sitting on rugs ready to watch the Sports Day events. Lots of little brothers and sisters were running around, and there were quite a few dogs, too.

  Ellie’s mum was sitting next to Christy’s mum, with Christy’s little sister Jade, but she hadn’t brought Bouncer. Although Christy had begged for him to come, her mum had said Jade was quite enough to worry about, without a dog as well. Jade was playing with Rascal and seemed to be trying to put her comfort blanket on him as a cloak.

  “Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to Sports Day,” Mr Turner announced over the PA system. “So that we have time to give everyone a chance at all the events, we’ll be moving the classes around the field. Each class has been divided into four groups for most of the races.”

  He went on to read out a list of where all the different classes should be. Ellie’s year were starting with the hurdles, Ellie’s worst race. At least she was in the first six, so she could get it over with.

  Please don’t let me fall over, she whispered to herself, as Mrs Harley waved them off. It hadn’t seemed to matter in the practices whether she went as fast as she could or slow and careful, she still tripped over the things.

  So Ellie simply pretended she was racing across the park with Rascal, jumping over bits of long grass. It worked very well for the first four hurdles, but somehow the ‘long grass’ got twisted round her ankles on the last one, and she tumbled over.

  Ellie clambered to her feet, scarlet-cheeked. She could hear all the mothers tutting and worrying if she was hurt. She jogged to the finish line, and slunk away to hide in a group of other girls from her class.

  “Never mind.” Christy gave her a hug. “Remember the welly-throwing. You’ll be really good at that.”

  Ellie nodded gratefully. Just the skipping and the sack race to get through first. At least everybody fell over in that one…

  Ellie lifted the red welly boot, and swung it gently back and forth. She grinned hopefully over at Mum and Rascal, who were standing close by, watching.

  Rascal gave an excited bark and dragged on the lead to get closer to Ellie, but Mum pulled him back and got him to sit. Ellie watched proudly as Rascal sat down perfectly and lifted his nose to gobble up the treat Mum held out for him. He looked like an advert for puppy-training!

  She shook herself firmly. She had to concentrate. Max had won three races already, and Christy had won the skipping race. Ellie at least wanted to get her welly in the centre of the circle!

  Ellie stepped up to the line and threw the welly. It was looking good! Surely that was going to go in…?

  Then a small white-and-brown blur darted in front of her, and made a flying leap for the welly. It was a fantastic jump, even Ellie could see that, at the same time as she was squirming with embarrassment.

  Rascal pranced over to her, tail wagging so fast it blurred, and laid the welly lovingly at her feet. It was the first time he’d ever given her anything he’d fetched, Ellie realized. She crouched down and gave him a pat as she took the welly.

  Mum raced over and grabbed Rascal’s lead. “Oh, Ellie, I’m sorry. He was sitting so nicely… I didn’t notice he was about to chase the welly.”

  “Would you like another go?” Mrs Harley asked, as Ellie handed her the welly, but Ellie shook her head. All she wanted was to go and hide behind a tree at the far end of the field.

  All of Ellie’s class were jumping up and down and cheering. It was the final of the hundred metres for their year, and the competition was stiff. Ellie stood with her mum and Christy’s mum, cheering Christy on.

  “Look at that boy, he’s so tall!” Christy’s mum murmured, as Christy and the others lined up. “She can’t possibly run faster than him.”

  But she could. Christy sped down the track, just beating the boy by a whisker. She danced over to them, beaming.

  “Well done!” Ellie cried. “I told you you’d win.”

  Christy’s mum gave her a hug. “That was brilliant! I’m so proud of you!”

  Ellie saw her mum behind them, smiling, and wished she’d won something. I trained Rascal to fetch! she told herself firmly. That’s really clever. And useful.

  “Mum, where’s Jade?” Christy asked suddenly, and Christy’s mum whirled round.

  “She’s sitting on the rug, isn’t she?”

  But, apart from Jade’s little pink blanket lying there in a heap, the rug was bare.

  Christy’s mum shook her head. “Jade was there a second ago,” she said. “She was sitting there with her blanket. She can’t just have disappeared…”

  But she had. Christy’s mum decided to stay by the blanket in case Jade came back, while Ellie’s mum went to get Mr Turner to make an announcement over the PA system. Meanwhile, Christy and Ellie set off across the field to search for her.

  Jade wasn’t sitting with any of the other children scattered around the field, and she wasn’t in the crowd watching the races.

  “What about the cake stall?” Christy suggested, and she and Ellie tore across the field to check. But she wasn’t there.

  “Where else can we look?” Christy said, sounding panicky. She sometimes complained about how annoying Jade was, but she adored her really. It was like Ellie moaning about Max and Lila.

  “We have a missing child, can everyone look out for Jade Lassiter, aged three. She must be somewhere on the field…” called Mr Turner, over the PA system.

  Ellie swallowed. The announcement made it feel even more serious.

  The races stopped, and people started searching all over the field. Where else was there to look?

  “I know!” Ellie suddenly remembered a programme she’d watched about police dogs. She grabbed Christy’s hand, and dragged her back to t
heir rug.

  “Jade’s not here!” Christy protested. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting this,” Ellie answered, snatching up Jade’s blanket. “Now we need Rascal.”

  Ellie’s mum was comforting Christy’s mum. “What do you want him for?” she asked, as Ellie tried to take Rascal’s lead. “Ellie, this isn’t the time…”

  “Rascal can find her!” Ellie explained. “Look, Rascal.” She held the pink blanket under his nose. “Jade carries this around all over the place, doesn’t she? It’ll smell of her,” Ellie went on. “Rascal, where’s Jade? Find Jade, Rascal.”

  Rascal sniffed at it with interest and looked up at Ellie, his eyes sparkling. He’d been bored, sitting around on the rug all afternoon, when there was a field he could have been chasing about in. Now Ellie was playing a good game.

  He set off, looking this way and that, ears pricked and tail wagging. Ellie followed him, pulling Christy by the hand. “Good boy, Rascal. Keep going.”

  Rascal trotted across the field and round the corner of the school building.

  “He can’t be right, Ellie, there’s nothing here,” Christy murmured.

  “He is leading us somewhere,” Ellie told her. But even she was beginning to doubt Rascal, just a little bit.

  Then Rascal stopped in front of the funny little metal shed where the sports equipment was kept. He looked up at Ellie, his tail wagging frantically.

  “She’s in there?” Ellie asked him, and Rascal pulled against his lead, dragging her over to the door. Then he looked up again and barked loudly, almost as if he was saying, “There! Told you so!”

  As Ellie opened the door, Rascal raced inside. At the back of the little shed, curled up on a pile of old gym mats, was Jade, holding on to the corner of a sack-race sack, instead of her beloved pink blanket.