Free Fortune Cookie by Jean Ure Page A

then suddenly stopped. His tail went down, his head went down. His sides started heaving. Cupcake went into instant panic.
    â€œWhat’s happening? What’s happening? What’s wrong with him?”
    It’s just as well that I know about dogs. “It’s all right,” I said. “He’s only being sick.”
    â€œBut why? What’s wrong?”

    â€œHe probably didn’t chew his food properly. It’s what happens with my gran’s dog. If she doesn’t cut his dinner up small enough, he gollops it all down, then brings it straight back up.”
    â€œBut he hasn’t had any dinner! He had his dinner last night. Oh, God, suppose he’s been poisoned?”
    Already Cupcake was on her hands and knees, peering at whatever it was that Cookie had sicked up. Cookie peered, too. His tail wagged hopefully.
    â€œWhat is it?” I said. Something repulsive, I bet.
    â€œDon’t know.” Cupcake broke a twig off a nearby bush and began poking. “Hey, come and have a look!”
    â€œDo I have to?”
    â€œYes! There’s something here.”
    A pile of dog sick. I crawled across the grass.
    â€œIt’s a ring!” said Cupcake.
    â€œWow!” I suddenly got excited. I snatched at the twig. “Let’s have a proper look… this could be valuable!”
    â€œ Ugh .” Cupcake shied away. “It’s all black and gungy!”

    â€œOnly cos it’s been inside him. It’s stomach acid.”
    â€œIt’s disgusting!”
    â€œYou were the one prodding at it. Let’s take it back to my place and get it cleaned up!”
    Cupcake said, “My mum’s got cleaning stuff.”
    â€œYeah, but she’d want to know what we wanted it for. We can be on our own if we go back to my place. My mum’s out shopping.” Mum was out shopping, Dad was at work. In other words, nobody around to ask questions . I just felt, instinctively, that it would be better if our mums didn’t know. The start of the slippery slope…
    â€œFirst thing to do,” I said, “is soak it in vinegar.”
    â€œWhat for?” said Cupcake.
    â€œIt’s what you do.” It was what my dad had done when he’d dug up an ancient spoon in my gran’s back garden. Not my doggy gran; the other one. The spoon had been black, just like the ring. Dad had been really excited! He’d soaked it in vinegar and cleaned it with special polish, then looked at it through a magnifying glass to see if it was silver.

    â€œHow can you tell?” said Cupcake.
    I said, “I’m not sure… they have these little marks.” Hall marks; that’s what Dad had called them. “He looked them up on the computer. If it’s got the right sort of marks it means it’s real silver.”
    Gran’s spoon had had the right marks. Dad had wanted to sell it, but Gran had said no, she fancied the idea of having a real silver spoon.
    â€œBut she could have sold it,” I said. “People give you money for real silver.”
    Me and Cupcake looked at each other.
    â€œHow much?” said Cupcake.
    â€œDunno, but I think you’d get more for jewellery than for a spoon,” I said.
    We couldn’t wait for that ring to be cleaned up! As soon as we’d soaked it and polished it, so that it was all bright and shiny, I held it at an angle and squinted at it.
    â€œIs there a mark? Is there a mark?” Cupcake was almost jumping up and down with impatience.

    â€œThere’s a… a thing that looks like an anchor, and a… a lion.”
    â€œWhat does that mean? Does that mean it’s real silver?”
    â€œNot sure till we’ve looked it up. But look! Blue stones.” There was a whole little cluster of them, arranged in the shape of a flower. “They could be sapphires!”
    Cupcake’s eyes went very big and round. “ Sapphires ,” she breathed.