Free Harry the Homeless Puppy by Holly Webb Page A

room for themall in their current flat, especially now Grace and her brother Danny were getting older.
    “It’s no use, Gracie.” Danny sighed, as he squeezed behind the computer chair to go and make some more toast. The computer was squashed into one corner of the kitchen. “I’ve been trying to convince Mum and Dad to get a dog for years.”
    Mum frowned at him. “Don’t you start, Danny. You both know we just haven’t got the space. It’s not fair to shut a dog up in a flat, even a little one. If we had a garden flat, maybe. But not on the seventh floor!”
    Grace nodded. She knew it really, but every so often she managed to convince herself it wasn’t true, just for aminute. She went back to stirring her cereal, imagining running through the park with a gorgeous black Labrador or a bouncy little brown and white Jack Russell scampering beside her. If they were moving anyway… Was it too much to hope for a flat with a garden? She licked her spoon dreamily.
    “Don’t get rice pops on the keyboard, Grace!” Mum warned.
    “Hey!” Danny had paused behind Grace’s chair with his plate of toast, and was leaning over her shoulder. “Gracie, look! Mum, come and see!”
    “I’m never going to get on to my computer,” Mum muttered, coming over to look at the screen. “Fairview Animal Rescue Shelter. You’re still on the dogs’ home website? Danny, haven’twe all just agreed we can’t have a dog?”
    “Yes, but look. Our Fantastic Volunteers! People who help at the shelter.” He grabbed the mouse and clicked on the link. “Look, they get to walk the dogs!” Danny beamed at Grace. “We could do that, couldn’t we? I know we can’t have our own dog, but we could borrow some. It would be like having lots of dogs!”
    Grace practically pushed her nose up against the screen. There was a big photo of a hopeful-looking dog, with a lead in its mouth. Bonnie, she was called, apparently. “Could we do it, Mum?” she asked eagerly. “The shelter’s not far from here. Only a couple of streets away, on the other side of Fairview Park.”
    “Sounds like a good idea to me.” Dad had walked in, and was staring at the computer now, too. “Anything that gets you out in the fresh air and not watching TV is good news. Does it say when they’re open? I’ll take you over there later, if you like.”

    Danny scanned the page. “We’re always looking for more volunteers,” he read. “Please drop into the shelter!”
    Grace smiled up at Dad delightedly. “You really mean it?” she breathed. She hadn’t really expected to be allowed a dog, and this was much, much better than nothing!

    Harry was lying in his basket, with his nose shoved firmly into his blue cushion. It smelled like Beth’s house – his house – and it shut out the smells of other dogs. He couldn’t understand why Beth had left him here, and why she hadn’t come back. Beth had brushed him and fed him and loved him. Shehad run into the house to find him and play with him as soon as she got home from school. What had gone wrong? He hadn’t been naughty, he was sure.
    He could still hear the other dogs barking and whining, however hard he tried to bury his head in the cushion. But then he heard the sound of footsteps. Slowly, he crept out of his basket, and went to peer through the wire door of the pen. Maybe Beth was coming back? She might even be waiting for him out there! He sprang up against the wire hopefully, and from further up the corridor Sally turned round to look at him.

    “Hey, Harry…” she said very gently. “You decided to come and see what’s going on, did you?”
    Harry’s ears went back, and his tail sagged again. Beth wasn’t there. Just that woman who smelled of other dogs. He slunk back to his basket, and Sally sighed. She hoped Harry wasn’t going to have a really hard time.
    Harry thought miserably about home. It felt like the sort of time he’d normally be curling up at the end of Beth’s bed. His basket was