Free Lulu and the Dog from the Sea by Hilary McKay Page B

a very small breakfast. Now he wanted the rest of it. He stood up on his teddy bear legs, dragged his bowl out from his mountain of luggage, carried it in his teeth to Lulu, and dropped it at her feet.
    It was Lulu’s job to fill it up as quickly as possible.
    As usual, she rushed to do it, and as usual Sam stood and watched, stumpy tail wagging, with a smile on his teddy bear face.
    From inside the cottage Lulu’s parents could see all this happening. Lulu’s mother asked worriedly, “Why do you want to warn us about our dog? We did tell you we were bringing him.”
    “Your dog?” asked the cottage owner, looking out of the window at the happy sight of Sam gobbling dog food. “I wasn’t talking about your dog! He’s a poor old thing, isn’t he? Looks more like a sheep... That dog!”
    She jabbed a pointing finger in the direction of the sand dunes, where a small sandstorm had just erupted.
    The sandstorm rolled down the sand dunes, arrived between Lulu and Mellie in a cloud of dust, seized the packet of dog food that Lulu had only a moment before put down, whirled around, and raced away, all in one astonishing moment.

    “ RUFF! RUFF! RUFF! ” barked Sam, nearly falling over with rage.
    “ That dog!” said the cottage owner, rushing out of the cottage with Lulu’s parents behind her. “That dog!” she repeated, pointing to a dusty blur on the sand dunes. “That dog from the sea! He’s a thief! He’s a menace! The people last week lost a whole roasted chicken from under their noses! Nothing is safe from him and no one can get near him. We’ve had the dogcatcher out twice already and he’s never gotten close enough to grab—”
    “Oh, poor dog!” exclaimed Lulu.
    “Don’t you go encouraging him,” said the woman, turning on Lulu quite fiercely. “He’s not welcome around here! You’ll have to be careful. No leaving out picnics or scraps for the seagulls. He goes through all the trash too. So you’ll have to remember to take the trash can into the house at night!”
    “ Take the trash can into the house at night? ” repeated Lulu’s father, staring.
    “I’ve warned you and now I need to go,” said the cottage owner.
    “Did you say, ‘Take...’?”
    “I did,” said the cottage owner, dragging a bike from the hedge. Then she handed Lulu’s mother a large and rather rusty key and rode off.
    “ Take the trash can into the house at night! ” exploded Lulu’s father wildly the moment she was gone. “What kind of place is it where you have to do that?”
    Lulu and Mellie became helpless with giggles and rolled around on the grass.
    “And you’re not helping!” complained Lulu’s father as he stepped over them.

    “Oh!” said Mellie. “I love this place!”
    “You haven’t seen the inside yet,” warned Lulu’s mother. “And neither have we, hardly! I thought she might stay and show us where things are... and explain about hot water and how the stove works... Oh well, never mind! Who’s coming with me to explore?”
    Lulu and Mellie scrambled to their feet and hurried to follow her into the cottage.
    It was very clean.
    And very bare.
    It was just four little rooms: two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room, with a very damp-smelling bathroom tacked onto the back. The water in the faucet was as cold as ice, and the oven (said a neat label that was stuck on the front) was missing a part.
    “No wonder Mrs.-on-the-Bike ran away so fast!” said Lulu’s father, and he went outside and looked suspiciously at the chimney to see if it had by lightning. It looked solid, however, and there was no ghost in the attic because there was no attic. There was no upstairs at all.
    “Well, at least we all have shoes this time!” said Lulu’s father, cheering up. “So maybe we’ll survive!”
    Lulu and Mellie were sure they would. Their bedroom window faced the sand dunes. They pushed it open and the sea wind blew in, and there they were, nearly among the blue-green grasses and gray,