Free Emily's Dream by Holly Webb Page B

She grinned. “And imagine how cute Posy would be. And thepuppies! Still, even if it doesn’t get on the news, I’m sure people will know about it. I went to walk Charlie last night, and Mrs Everett told me she went into town with her daughter to go shopping, and she saw four posters for the party! So we must have done something right.”

    “Hi, Emily! Hi, Maya!” Lucy popped her head round the door to the cats’ area and waved. “If I were you, I wouldn’t go anywhere near Sal in the office. She says she’s done nothing but answer the phone to people wanting party tickets this week. She doesn’t usually come in on a Saturday, but she said she’d have to so as to catch up with all the other stuff she should have been doing.”
    “Really?” Emily squeaked excitedly. “Have lots of people asked for tickets then? How many are coming?”
    “More than a hundred already,” Lucy told her, laughing at Emily’s half-horrified, half-excited face. “And you’ve got eleven entries for the dog fancy dress, six for the dog who looks most like their owner, and ten for waggiest tail!”
    “But that’s twenty-seven pounds just from the dog show bit!” Emily gasped, and Maya grabbed herhands and they started to dance madly around the yard.
    “I’m really glad my mum said she’d help with the food,” Emily said, panting, as they slowed down and staggered dizzily back towards Lucy. “More than a hundred people?”
    “And that’s only after a week,” Lucy pointed out. “There’s another two weeks till the party. It could be lots more.” She put an arm round each of them. “I actually think you girls are going to raise enough money to get the roof mended, do you realise? The newspaper article was amazing – a couple of people have sent us cheques already, you know! There was one old gentleman who said he was probably a bit old for a party, but he really wanted to help.”
    Emily nodded. “It was a lovely piece – a whole page, and they put all the photos in.”
    “Do you want to hear the absolute best thing?” Lucy said, beaming. “A lady rang up yesterday to say that Posy was gorgeous, and her family loved Jack Russells, and could they come and meet her. They’re coming today.”
    “Yeeeess!” Emily hugged her. “Oh, can we go and brush Posy? Or give her a bath, maybe?”
    Maya grabbed her hand. “It might be too late.Look, there’s a car pulling up. It could be them already.”
    Emily looked anxiously over at the car, and the people getting out of it. Posy was really cute – she was quite stubborn, but Lucy said all Jack Russells were like that. And if these people loved Jack Russells, perhaps they wouldn’t mind.
    “I want to listen to what they say about her!” Maya whispered. “I hope they’re nice. I want her to live somewhere lovely.”
    Emily nodded. She wanted fabulous homes for all the dogs, especially Barney, because he was so funny, and she knew it was going to be hard to find owners for such an old dog. And then there was her favourite dog at the shelter, Twinkle the whippet. Twinkle needed someone really gentle. They all needed special people, that was the problem.
    “Could you take Spike and Twinkle out for me, girls?” Lucy asked, as she hurried over towards the gate. “And Lulu and Sam, if you can manage two each?”
    “Course,” Emily said eagerly. “Be slow putting their leads on,” she added to Maya in a whisper, and Maya nodded. They strolled over towards the pens, eavesdropping on Lucy talking to the family who’dcome to see Posy. They seemed nice – a couple, and their son, who looked about fourteen.
    “Our lovely Jack Russell died three months ago,” the lady was explaining. “He was twelve, so we should have expected it, I suppose. But it was still a shock. We weren’t thinking of getting another dog, not for a while, anyway. But then we saw Posy in the paper…”
    “She is lovely,” Lucy agreed, smiling at Emily and Maya dithering by the hooks with the