Free Dog Gone by Carole Poustie Page A

I’d started a few days ago.
    Day 10 - Unexpected Delivery
    It’s the man who delivered our new freezer on Friday
    standing at our front door
    he’s holding my dog in his arms
    Lucky tries to wag his tail
    it only does one flick
    mum is crying
    dad is calling the vet
    today is Tuesday
    no one saw Lucky climb in
    that van could have been
    a coffin
    So far, Lucky had always lived up to his name. But what if he’d finally used up all his luck? What if he was dead? I tried not to think about it. If only he could find a way to come back to me.
    I closed the journal and realised this would be a good opportunity to sneak a look at Molly’s tarot cards. Maybe they’d help me find Lucky. I also realised I was hungry. I fished around in the pantry, found some dry biscuits and poured myself a glass of milk.
    I felt a bit guilty sneaking into Molly’s room, but the cards might give me a clue. Molly was always either up in the peppercorn tree with her book or in her room with the tarot cards. One day her door wasn’t quite closed and I saw her with the cards all spread out on the floor, in a circle around her. She had the light off and the room lit with candles. If Gran had seen the candles, she’d have had a fit. She’d banned Molly from candles when one dripped wax all over her fake Persian rug.
    Mum gave Molly the cards before she set off for Mongolia. Gran thought they were silly and a complete waste of time. She’d said she didn’t know what had gotten into Mum lately – all this palm reading and lighting candles and incense. It was a miracle Mum hadn’t burned the house down.
    Gran told Mum straight out that a set of tarot cards was a totally inappropriate gift for a fifteen-year-old. Mum told Gran to mind her own business and Molly to keep the cards close to her heart.
    Molly wouldn’t be home for at least an hour.
    The cards were on the dressing table, on a pile of Molly’s books. They were bigger than normal playing cards, and each one had some writing and a brightly coloured picture. I so hoped they’d show me where to find Lucky.
    I laid them face down across Molly’s bed and closed my eyes. I twirled my finger in the air, then jabbed at one of the cards. I held it for a while before turning it over. It was a picture of three fish, intertwined. At the bottom of the card was the word ‘affection’.
    They reminded me of the humungous fish I’d caught the day I’d seen the ghost at the cemetery. The day I couldn’t even remember catching them or bringing them home.
    And the fish reminded me of the river and Grandpa. The word affection summed up everything about him. He was so much fun to be with. Whenever I was with him, I felt important. He made me feel like I could do anything if I tried hard enough.
    That’s what the river reminded me of – Grandpa and feeling important.
    I couldn’t stop looking at the card. Out of all the cards, I’d picked this one. Amazing!
    I felt goose bumps break out all over me. The cards were telling me Grandpa would help me find Lucky. The ghost had to be Grandpa!
    I needed some place to think. Climbing the pepper-corn tree in the backyard was my first choice. You had to take a bit of a run at it and jump up to reach the first branch, then scramble up the trunk with your feet. Once you’d pulled yourself up onto it, there were lots of branches that were easy to get to and you could climb right to the top. That’s where I sat to wait for Gran, with my journal stuffed inside my jacket and a pen in my pocket.
    It was great to have the tree to myself.
    I crushed a small clump of leaves between my fingers and breathed in the smell. When Grandpa took me fishing, we always grabbed a handful of peppercorn leaves from the tree in the back lane, on our way down to the river. Grandpa reckoned it stopped your hands from smelling fishy. I looked down at the crushed leaves in my palm and wondered if