Free Charlie's Gang by Scilla James Page A

that his friend should speak to him in this way. How come he wasn’t laughing? Or teasing him? He thought about Dora and the way she’d looked at him when she’d caught sight of his fear, and he remembered too, that his own gang members had very little time for dogs that were scared of pests. But Timba seemed so matter of fact, and wasn’t laughing at all. So he followed his friend to the back of the pub car park and behind a rackety old shed that had been standing there for years, without being much use to anyone. Until Charlie and Timba arrived, all was quiet.
    Still Charlie hung back. ‘You make a start,’ he said, ‘I’ll watch and see how I get on.’
    But Timba wouldn’t take no for an answer. He gave Charlie a friendly shove.
    â€˜Come on Mate,’ he said, ‘I’ll stick with you.’
    Of course Charlie had been on countless ratting jobs with his gang, and there was very little he didn’t know about pest control, but today for the first time it dawned on him that whilst he’d watched Snip, Spud and Herbie dashing around the place after the rats, he himself had been so busy feeling scared that he’d never got around to making himself look as scary as the rest of his gang. Suddenly, it all became clear. Why would rats run away from a dog that didn’t either look or act scary, but just stood there hoping for the best? And Yes! These rats Timba had taken him to were just as scared of him as he was of them! Now this might seem obvious to a person who’s never chased a rat, but it came as a shock and a surprise to Charlie. Now, he snarled and bared his teeth as he had seen the others do, and as Timba was doing. The rats fled. He chased after them. He began to feel brave. And as Timba caught a couple and the rest ran away, Charlie felt that at last he had made some progress. He was sure that he had touched the furry back of at least one rat, which meant that he could cross off stage 2 of his CCBS plan. He turned to Timba. ‘Thanks friend,’ he said, ‘thanks to you I’m feeling better.’ The dogs parted and Charlie trotted home.
    â€˜Where on earth have you been Charlie boy?’ Mr Trundle asked him as he arrived, ‘I was beginning to worry.’
    Snip looked at him expectantly too, but Charlie ignored them both and went to look for lunch. He knew that he’d made one step forward in his quest to cure his phobia, and vowed that from now on he would snarl and bite with the rest of them.

13
    The Rescue Centre
    It was several days before Beattie felt herself again. She was so exhausted, and remained so fearful of Darren turning up to claim her, that she couldn’t relax for one minute.
    Would they really let Darren take her? Surely not! She couldn’t count the days but was certain that by now Brian must have come looking for her. She imagined the conversation the two men might have;
    Brian : Hiya Mate! Where’s my little Beattie then?
    Darren : Hiya. Better are you? Well, I’ve got a bit of bad news I’m afraid....
    Darren to himself : So that’s her stupid name. Right! Now I can go and get the little monster and teach her a lesson or two. That bite she gave me still hurts!
    Brian : What d’you mean bad news? Has something happened to her?
    Darren : ‘Fraid so Mate. We were out for a nice long walk on Sunday when she just ran off! For no reason! Just disappeared! Maybe someone stole her. She looked so lovely after I’d been feeding her up and that, while you were resting your leg.
    Brian : Why didn’t you call me? You didn’t did you? I could have gone looking for her. Sunday you say?
    Darren : I tried loads Mate. Your phone was off. Or was it that mine was off? Someone’s phone was off....
    By this stage in Beattie’s imaginary conversation she would lose track of what might be said next and would find herself in tears. Or what if Darren just said, ‘She’s had an