Alfie All Alone (5 page)

Chapter Six

The rest of the day was almost perfect for Alfie. Evie seemed to be back to her old self. She cuddled him loads, and she kept saying she was sorry for thinking he’d hurt Sam, and telling him what a clever dog he was for catching the fly. Just every so often, Alfie would remember how upset and angry everyone had been, and shudder,
and then Evie would hug him all over again.

Only one thing spoilt it. Alfie kept catching worried looks between Evie’s mum and dad – worried looks directed at him. Maybe they thought he might still be frightened, he wondered. He tried to be extra bouncy and friendly, with lots of jumping up to lick them, but it didn’t seem to work. If anything, they looked more worried, although they always patted him and smiled.

Evie gave him a huge tea and Alfie was so full afterwards that he went to sleep on her lap while she was trying to finish off her homework at the kitchen table. He didn’t notice Evie’s parents come to sit with her, or see the anxious looks on their faces.

“Evie.” Mum sounded strangely nervous. “Evie, we have to talk to you, sweetheart.”

Evie looked up. “I’m doing it! Look, I’m doing it now. It’s only Saturday, Mum, I’ll get it done, easily!”

“Not about your homework.” Dad’s voice was really flat, and Evie looked at him, suddenly scared. This was far more serious than just them complaining that she was rushing through her homework at the last minute.

“It’s about Alfie,” Dad went on.

Her heart suddenly thumping, Evie put her hand down to stroke Alfie, curled on her lap. He gave a little whine of pleasure, and stretched out luxuriously in his sleep before curling
himself up again even tighter. “What’s the matter?” Evie asked quietly.

Her mum and dad exchanged a look, then her dad sighed. “We’re not sure we can keep him, Evie.”

Evie gulped, her hand tightening on Alfie’s neck so that he wriggled uncomfortably. “Why?” she whispered. Then her voice strengthened. “He wasn’t biting, Dad, really,” she assured him. “He wouldn’t do that.” She smiled desperately at her dad, knowing she had to convince him.

“Evie, you thought he would,” Dad said gently. “And so did your mum. You were so upset this morning.”

“But he didn’t! It was all a mistake.” Evie’s eyes were filling with tears. Her dad sounded so decided. She turned to her mum for help, and saw that she was crying too.

“It’s not Alfie’s fault at all. It’s just that we haven’t been able to look after Alfie properly, Evie,” her mum said shakily. “We all love him, but he needs proper walks, and lots of attention. He hasn’t been getting that. Dogs can get very grumpy if they’re cooped up in the house all day.”

“I’ll walk him more!” Evie cried out. “Every day! Twice a day. I’ve just been taken up with having Sam around, that’s all.”

“We all have,” her dad agreed. “But that’s not fair on Alfie – he needs a home where he doesn’t get forgotten about.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Evie wailed, so loudly that Alfie woke up, his little white head suddenly popping up at the
table, making them all giggle hopelessly. He gave them a happy, doggy smile, showing lots of long pink tongue. What was the joke? Then he looked again, turning to sniff at Evie. Maybe there wasn’t a joke at all. Something felt wrong. Had he done something bad again? He hunched down on to Evie’s lap, looking scared.

“Evie, look at him. He’s upset. It’s not fair to put him through that,” Evie’s mum said gently.

Evie sniffed. “If – if we’re not going to keep him, what are we going to do? Are you going to give him back to Mrs Wilson?” She gulped, imagining Alfie sitting sadly in the puppy room all on his own, his brother and sisters already gone to new homes.

“No.” Dad looked thoughtful. “It would have been the best option, but she’s stopped breeding dogs now. She’s retired to the seaside, remember?”

“I suppose she might take just Alfie back…” Mum said. “Oh, but we don’t have her new address.”

“I think the sensible thing would be to take him to Riverside,” Dad said firmly, as though he was trying to convince himself.

“Riverside?” Evie’s eyes filled with tears again. “Where Gran got Ben and Tigger? But that’s for dogs that people don’t want! We
do
want Alfie!”

“Dogs that people can’t keep, Evie.” Mum’s voice sounded so sorry that Evie knew there was no point arguing. Hugging Alfie to her, she jumped up
and raced up the stairs to her room.

Evie didn’t come down for dinner. Alfie had already had his huge tea, and he was delighted to stay upstairs with Evie all evening. She was paying him loads of attention, teasing and tickling him, and playing all his favourite games. At bedtime he was allowed to snuggle up on her bed again. Alfie heaved a deep, happy sigh. This was where he was meant to be, not down in the kitchen on his own. Everything was the way it should be. He fell asleep at once, worn out from all the playing – so he didn’t notice that Evie lay awake half the night, tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

“Evie, you don’t have to come.”

Alfie looked interestedly back and forth between Evie and Dad. They were going somewhere! Excellent! He pattered off to fetch his lead, and jumped up with his paws on Evie’s knees to give it to her.

Evie gulped, and tears started to seep from the corners of her eyes again. He was such a lovely dog! How could they be doing this? Hurriedly she wiped the tears away – she didn’t want Alfie to know what was going on. “I’m coming,” she said firmly, her voice hardly shaking at all. “I’m not having Alfie think I didn’t say goodbye.”

Dad sighed. “OK. Hey, Alfie, come on, boy. You’re going on a car ride,” he said, trying to sound cheerful.

But Alfie laid his ears back. Something odd was going on. He jumped into the car and saw that Evie’s hands were trembling as she did up his harness. Usually Evie would beg her dad to have the radio on and they’d sing along, but today they hardly spoke at all.

When the car stopped, Alfie thought Evie would put his lead on and let him walk, but for some reason she was carrying him up in front of her so she could nuzzle into his fur. Alfie licked her face gratefully. He liked being carried, so he could see what was going on. Evie was walking very slowly though – Dad kept stopping and looking back for her as they headed towards the building. Alfie wasn’t
surprised. It didn’t smell good, too clean, a bit like the vet’s that he’d been taken to a few weeks before.

What was this place?

Evie stood by the reception desk, while Dad explained quietly to a girl in a green uniform. She was nodding sympathetically, and she gave Alfie a considering look.

“I’m sure he’ll be rehomed very quickly. He’s a lovely little dog.” She came round the reception desk and held out her arms. “Come on, sweetie,” she crooned to Alfie.

Alfie felt suddenly scared. Who was this girl? Why were they here? All at once he knew that the lovely, cuddly time he’d been having with Evie over the last day hadn’t been real. In fact,
nothing had been right since he’d snapped at that fly on Sam’s arm. But he still didn’t understand!What should he have done? He scrabbled helplessly as the girl in green lifted him from Evie’s arms. He was squealing with fright, desperately trying to get away.

“Come on, Evie.” Her dad quickly marched Evie away, before she grabbed Alfie back again. Alfie’s last sight of Evie was as her dad hustled her out of the door, hugging her tightly against him, so that she couldn’t turn and see her little dog howling for her to come back.

Chapter Seven

As Evie trailed up the front path, she heard someone calling her, and excited woofs. She spun round immediately, thinking that somehow it was Alfie.

“Hello, Evie! Ben and Tigger and I are just out for our walk. We thought we’d see if you and Alfie wanted to come with us. I know you haven’t had a lot of time to walk him recently.”

Gran was beaming at Evie, but then she noticed Evie’s dad, who was shaking his head and holding his finger to lips.

“Jack, are you all right?” Gran asked worriedly, as Tigger and Ben towed her through the gate.

Evie’s dad sighed. “Not really.”

Evie crouched down to pat Ben and Tigger. “We just took Alfie to Riverside,” she told them quietly. Somehow it was easier to tell the dogs than Gran. Suddenly she remembered. “You were right, Gran, you said we wouldn’t be able to manage.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m really sorry.” Gran’s face crumpled. “I hadn’t realized it was that bad. Why didn’t you say?” she asked Evie’s dad.

He shrugged. “It was one of those difficult decisions…” he said sadly. “I’m sure someone really nice will take Alfie home. You know that, Evie, don’t you?”

Evie was fighting back tears. She didn’t want anybody else taking Alfie anywhere, even if they fed him out of a solid gold bowl! He was her dog – only he wasn’t. Not any more. In fact, she suddenly realized, she was never going to see him again. She gasped, and then she scrambled up and dashed into the house, tears stinging her eyes.

“That little Westie’s still not eating.”

“Really? He’s only been here three days. He’ll change his mind soon.”

The two girls in the green Riverside uniform leaned against the wall, sipping their tea, and staring thoughtfully into Alfie’s run. He was curled up at the back, a miserable little ball, not even looking at his overflowing food bowl.

“He’s really taking it hard, poor little thing.”

“Yeah, I was here when they brought him in – the little girl he belonged to was really upset too.”

Alfie snuggled his paws further round his ears to shut out their voices. If he kept his eyes shut tight, he could almost pretend that he was back home.

“Alfie! Alfie!”

Alfie twitched, but it wasn’t Evie. It was another of the Riverside staff, with some people looking for a dog. Quite a few people had been to see Alfie already, and everyone said how cute he was. They seemed surprised, as though such a sweet puppy shouldn’t really be at a dogs’ home. But when they tried to talk to Alfie, and he refused to budge from the back of his run, they gave up, moving on to friendlier dogs.

“Mum, look at this great dog!” A boy about Evie’s age was peering through the fence. “Can we meet him? Please?”

“Sure.” The Riverside girl got out her keys. “This is Alfie. He’s a gorgeous Westie puppy who is being rehomed because his owners had a new baby and couldn’t keep him. He’s a lovely boy, but he’s not too happy right now. Hey, Alfie…” She cooed gently to him. “Come and meet Ethan, he’s looking for a nice dog just like you.”

Alfie hunched himself up tighter. The staff at Riverside were right. He hadn’t accepted what was going on. How could he? He didn’t understand. He couldn’t let anyone take him home, because Evie was coming back for him. He was sure of it. But he was becoming just a little less sure every time he woke up and he was still in a grey concrete run, waiting for her.

The girl picked him up, and Alfie lay limply and sadly in her arms as she carried him out. The little boy stroked him gently. “He’s great.”

Ethan’s eyes were shining, just like Evie’s used to. Alfie let Ethan scratch him behind the ears. That was nice.

“Can we take him home?” Ethan begged.

Home! Alfie suddenly twisted in the Riverside girl’s arms, and growled angrily. What was he thinking? His home was with Evie.

Ethan’s parents pulled him away quickly to look at another dog, and the girl with the keys sighed. “Oh, Alfie. That would have been a wonderful home. When are you going to give up and let someone else love you?”

Alfie slunk back into his run, and curled up facing the wall. He only wanted
Evie
to love him.

Evie thought it was strange that her house could feel so different, just because Alfie wasn’t there. She didn’t have a warm body curled on her toes at night. No cold nose was resting on her knee at mealtimes, hoping for scraps. Only Mum and Sam met her from school, and she and Dad didn’t go for walks any more. Alfie going had changed everything.

She tried to explain to Gran when she went round after school on Wednesday.

“I never really thought how nice it was having Alfie to play with when Mum was busy. She’s got so much to do with feeding Sam, and everything. But I had Alfie, and it was OK. I really miss him, Gran.” She stared into her juice, and Tigger pushed his head into her lap, sensing that she was unhappy. “Yeah, you miss him too, don’t you, Tigger?”

“I should think your parents miss Alfie as well, you know,” Gran said.

Evie nodded miserably. “I think Dad does. I caught him in the hall yesterday with Alfie’s lead. He looked really confused, and he muttered something about having forgotten. We sometimes used to take Alfie for walks after tea.”

“Why don’t you talk to them about
it? You might have made the wrong decision.” Gran looked thoughtfully at Evie, wondering what she’d say.

Evie stroked Tigger. Then she looked up, and her face was so sad that Gran caught her breath. “I shouldn’t ever have let him go, Gran!” She got up to put on her coat. “I miss Alfie so much.”

Gran nodded firmly. “I definitely think you should talk to them.” She watched Evie walking slowly down the path, and then looked down at Ben and Tigger. They stared back at her encouragingly. “Mmm. Yes, I think you’re right,” Gran muttered to herself.

A couple of times during the week, Evie thought about what Gran had said, but there didn’t seem any point in talking to Mum and Dad about Alfie. It would just make everything worse when they said no, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to change their minds. Then on Saturday morning she wandered into the kitchen, and found her mum staring at something on the table, with a funny look on her face.

“What’s the matter?” Evie leaned over to see what she was looking at, and saw that her mum was holding a photo of Alfie.

“Oh! Evie, I didn’t hear you come in.” Mum quickly put the photo back on the window sill, but Evie was staring at her.

“You miss him too, don’t you?” she asked, her voice suddenly full of hope. “Gran said you did, but I didn’t believe her.” Then her shoulders slumped. “But I suppose it doesn’t make any difference.” She looked over at Sam, who was sitting in his bouncy chair staring in wonder at his toes. She still adored her baby brother, but she couldn’t help thinking that it was his fault.

Mum looked too. “Maybe.” Then her voice changed. “Maybe not, Evie. Perhaps we were being too hard on him.”

“Who?” Dad walked in with the newspaper. “Got you some chocolate, Evie,” he added, throwing her a bar.

Evie caught it automatically, but
didn’t even look to see what sort it was. “Dad, Mum thinks maybe we shouldn’t have taken Alfie to Riverside!”

Her dad sat down at the table slowly, looking back and forth between them. “Really?” he said thoughtfully.

Mum sat down too. “Come on. Tell me you haven’t missed him.”

“But that’s not the point!We weren’t able to look after him properly. And what about Sam? Think back to this time last week!”

“I think we overreacted. We panicked – we were all tired, and we made a snap decision. I don’t think it was a good one.” Mum reached out for his hand. “Alfie was such fun to have around. Do you really think he would have harmed Sam?”

Evie watched hopefully, holding her breath as Dad shook his head. “To be honest, I think watching Alfie cheered the little guy up sometimes,” he said.

They looked over at Sam, who stared back seriously, and said, “Ooooo,” in a meaningful way, waving his foot.

“And I really missed taking him to the paper shop this morning,” Dad added. “You know, I never came out of the shop and found Alfie on his own – he was always being fussed over by someone. Everyone loved him.”