Щенок Элли, или Долгая дорога домой / Ellie the Homesick Puppy

Megan shook her head disbelievingly. ‘Please…?’ she whispered.

Mum sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Megan. We’ve already had one accident. And I nearly squashed Ellie with that box this morning. This just isn’t the right place for a puppy right now. And the new house, too. We don’t really know what it’s like – there might be all sorts of places where she could get herself into trouble. We need to check everything out first to make sure she’s safe.’

Ellie gave an anxious little whine. She could feel that Megan wasn’t happy, and she didn’t like it. She licked Megan’s cheek lovingly and looked at her with big, worried eyes.

Megan pressed her cheek gently against Ellie’s soft ears. It wasn’t just Ellie who was going to hate this. Megan had been counting on[65] having Ellie to cheer her up over the next couple of days. It was going to be so hard to leave her old home and her best friend. And now it looked like she was going to have to do it all on her own.

Gran drove up from Westbury later that afternoon to pick Ellie up. Ellie had a special dog cage for travelling, and it just about fitted on the back seat of Gran’s car. Megan carefully packed up Ellie’s basket and blanket, and her bowls and food – including her favourite bone-shaped biscuits. Then there was a bagful of toys, her lead, her blanket – the list went on[66] and on.