Free Selby Shattered by Duncan Ball

don’t know how to swim! I’ve got to find another way across.’
    Selby tore along the riverbank with the little girl close behind.
    ‘Mummy! Mummy! He’s slowing down. I’m going to catch him!’
    ‘We’ll see about that,’ Selby thought as he ran along a branch that lay across the river. ‘There are some things a dog can do that a little girl can’t.’
    Unfortunately, running across branches that stretch across fast-flowing creeks wasn’t one of them. Not with a sure-footed little girl pounding along behind him.
    ‘I’m (gasp) almost (gasp) there but she’s (gasp) making the branch bounce,’ Selby thought. ‘This isn’t a tree branch — it’s a trampoline!’
    And, in that instant, Selby bounced up into the air, then did a half flip, three turns and a forward roll into the raging creek.
    ‘Help!’ he cried out in plain English — knowing that he was giving away his secret forever. ‘I can’t swim! Somebody save me!’
    Selby could have saved his breath. In fact, Selby
should
have saved his breath because when he yelled he was deep underwater. Not only could no one hear him but his lungs were filling with water.

    He bobbed to the surface, this time yelling out, ‘I’m drowning!’ But all that came out was a rush of water followed by gasping and gurgling.
    ‘The doggy can’t swim!’ the little girl yelled, as Selby was swept away in the swirling water.
    ‘Nonsense!’ her mother said. ‘Every dog can swim.’
    ‘But this one can’t! He’s drowning!’
    Without a second thought, the little girl dived into the creek, grabbed Selby by the collar and dragged him to shore.
    Selby lay on the grass coughing and spluttering in the warm sun. Just then, Bogusville’s two police officers, Sergeant Short and Constable Long, made their way through the crowd.
    ‘Why, that’s Selby, Mayor Trifle’s dog,’ Sergeant Short said. ‘What’s wrong with him?’
    ‘He almost drowned but I saved him,’ the little girl said. ‘And guess what? He doesn’t have a shadow.’
    ‘He what?’ Constable Long said.
    ‘It’s true,’ the girl’s mother said. ‘He doesn’t have a shadow. It’s really weird.’
    The police officers looked down at Selby.
    ‘This is it,’ Selby thought. ‘Selby’s curse. The shadowless dog. I’m a freak — and it’s all Mr Sombra’s fault.’
    ‘He’s got a shadow,’ Sergeant Short said, pointing. ‘Look.’
    Everyone looked, even Selby.
    ‘So I do,’ Selby thought. ‘I’ve got my shadow back! The curse has lifted! I’m not a freak any more! Oh joy, oh joy!’
    When Selby was safely at home with the Trifles, his mind turned again to the curse.
    ‘I was silly. I thought Bogusville was filling up with flies,’ he thought. ‘It
always
fills up with flies at this time of year. And there are willy-willies all the time in summer. And the clock hands stopping at midnight. That was the silliest thing of all. Both hands were pointing to twelve. It could have stopped at mid
day,
not mid
night.
Come to think of it, when I passed the clock it
was
midday. The hands of the clock hadn’t stopped at all. The only thing I can’t figure out is that shadow business.’
    ‘It’s a mystery,’ Dr Trifle said to Mrs Trifle. ‘I sprayed my newly-invented ShadeAway all overSelby this morning when he was sleeping but it obviously doesn’t work.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘Because I saw him come back from his walk and his shadow was trotting right alongside him. It was there all right. My invention is useless.’
    ‘Hmmm,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘I guess you’re right. You don’t suppose it got washed off, do you?’
    ‘Washed off? Impossible. It hasn’t rained for ages. Look out there — it’s a beautiful sunny day.’
    ‘It certainly is,’ Selby thought. ‘Without a shadow of doubt. A shadow of a doubt? What am I saying?’
    Paw note: Not that again! Read my story ‘See-Through Selby’in the book
Selby’s Shemozzle
.
    S
    Paw note: Bogusville has a wonderful