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  But then the golden puppy stopped nibbling at the seaweed and raced after the children, flinging herself at their legs and yapping. The older girl was just walking past Anya and her tower of stones, and the little dog was so excited that she knocked it over with her wagging tail.

  “Oh! I’m really sorry!” the girl said, looking down in horror at the pile. “I didn’t mean to knock it over.”

  “It’s OK! It was an accident. The dog knocked it with her tail,” Anya said, a little shyly. “She’s beautiful.”

  “She is, isn’t she?” the other girl agreed, watching as the puppy chased off after her little sister. “She’s called Molly. Do you want me to help you build your tower again? I was looking at it as we came past – it was really tall! I bet I couldn’t do that, but I could pass you the stones or something?”

  Anya smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I was only building it because I was a bit bored. It falls down every time. I must have built about seventeen towers by now.”

  “You’re bored?” The girl looked surprised. She glanced around the beach, as though she couldn’t see how anyone could be bored in such a nice place.

  “My dad says he’ll come in the sea with me later,” Anya explained. “But right now he’s looking after my baby sister and giving my mum a break. And he says it’s not a great idea to go in the sea on my own. I suppose I could paddle, but…” She shrugged. “You’re so lucky having your brother and sister to play with.”

  The other girl sat down next to Anya and let out a huffy sigh. “You think? Didn’t you see Zach tip me up into that wave? Having a big brother is awful.” She sniffed. “Little sisters are a bit better, but Lily always wants to do everything I’m doing, which is a real pain sometimes.” She grinned at Anya and nodded over at Jessie. “You’ll find out! But I suppose I am quite lucky really. It wouldn’t be as much fun here without them to do things with.” She glanced back at Anya. “You could come and build sandcastles with us, if you like? My mum says the tide’s going to be high in an hour, so if we want to get the water to go round the castle, now’s the time to build it. Would your mum and dad let you?”

  Anya nodded. “I’m sure they would. I’ll ask. Um, thanks,” she added, turning red. “That’s really nice of you.”

  “I’m Rachel,” the girl said, jumping up. “I’ll come with you. Then I can show your mum and dad where all our stuff is. We were going to build our castle just over there.”

  Anya’s mum was delighted that she’d found someone to play with.

  “Of course you can,” she said, smiling at Rachel. “It’s very kind of you to let Anya join in. Are you the same age as Anya? Nine?”

  “I’m almost ten,” Rachel said. “And my brother Zach is twelve and Lily’s seven. They’re both over there.” She pointed across the beach. “Oh, they’ve started. We’d better go, or Zach will build it all wrong.”

  Anya picked up her spade and followed Rachel over to her brother and sister. Zach was already digging enthusiastically, making a channel for the sea to flow into the moat, and Lily was collecting stones and seashells to decorate the castle. Molly was helping her, sniffing at the piles of seaweed again and rooting shells out for her to pick up.

  Anya and Rachel started to build the main part of the castle, digging out a deep moat and piling the sand into the middle to make the fort. Every so often they had to stop and shoo away Lily, who kept trying to stand on the mound of sand.

  “I’m bigger than you!” she sang to Rachel.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Yes, Lily, because you’re standing on a big pile of sand!”

  Anya giggled and Rachel shrugged at her. “Just you wait,” she muttered, elbowing Anya in a friendly sort of way. “Oh, look, look! The water’s starting to come in!”

  A creamy yellow foam was creeping slowly down Zach’s channel and the girls danced up and down excitedly, waiting for it to get right into the moat.

  “This wave! It’s going to be this one!” Anya yelped. “Look! There it is! Oh no…”

  Molly had been watching the water most suspiciously, glaring at it as it inched along. Now she leaped into the moat and stood there barking at it, sand showering down from the castle all over her golden coat.

  “You’re going to need a bath tonight,” Anya giggled. “Come on! Come on!” She coaxed the little dog out and sat down next to her, patting her gently as they watched the water spread all around the moat. Rachel crouched next to them and stroked Molly’s ears.

  “Yay, look, it’s meeting in the middle!” Rachel squealed, jumping up and nearly falling in the moat herself, before sitting back down again.

  Anya gave the surprised puppy a hug and then laughed as Molly licked her across the nose. “I’m so glad you knocked down my tower,” she whispered in Molly’s curly ear.

  STRIPES PUBLISHING

  An imprint of the Little Tiger Group

  1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,

  London SW6 6AW

  First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2017.

  Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2016

  Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2016

  My Naughty Little Puppy illustration copyright © Kate Pankhurst

  eISBN: 978-1-84715-754-6

  The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright

  Licensing Agency.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  www.littletiger.co.uk

 

 

 


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