Читать книгу Nugget - Aimee Harper - Страница 6

“Over here, Louie!” Bella shouted.

Across Chestnut Park, Bella’s little brother bent back his arm to throw the ball. Bella ran backwards, reaching up with her hands. Suddenly she stumbled and toppled over, landing on her bottom. The ball sailed over her head.

“Get off!” Bella spluttered, laughing as her little dog Pepper put his paws round her neck and tried to lick her face. “Your breath stinks!”

Louie jogged over. “It’s not his breath,” he said. “Pepper’s rolled in something smelly.”

“Yuck!” Bella wrinkled her nose and pushed Pepper off. She loved Pepper, but not when he rolled in things.

“You looked funny,” Louie sniggered. “Landing on your bum like that!”

“It was a bad throw,” Bella told him. She got up and brushed down her jeans. “How was I supposed to catch it?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of jumping?” Louie asked. “Oh, I forgot. Girls can’t jump.”

“Come back here and say that again!”

Bella chased Louie, laughing. Barking with excitement, Pepper followed her.

Chestnut Park was shaped like a large triangle. On one side were the backs of the shops and houses on the street where Bella and Louie lived. On another side was a busy road that Bella and Louis knew not to play near. On the third side was a row of much bigger houses, with large gardens and high hedges separated from the park by a stretch of woodland. Pepper loved the woods. Bella guessed that was where he’d found the stinky stuff to roll in.

Louie was running towards the trees. It was downhill part of the way. Bella ran faster, determined to catch him. At the last minute, Louie swerved. Bella couldn’t stop. She toppled into the straggly ditch that separated the woods from Chestnut Park. There was a nasty squelch as she sank into the thick brown mud. Somewhere out of sight, she could hear Louie laughing like a hyena.

“That is so gross!” Bella squealed, staring in dismay at the gunge on her knees and arms.

Pepper put his head through the tall grass on the top of the ditch. One of his ears pricked up and he started barking wildly.

“Be quiet, Pepper,” Bella grumbled, trying to rub the dirt off.

Pepper barked again, running up and down. His eyes were fixed on something near Bella. Bella saw what looked like a large lump of mud lying in the ditch. The lump got on to four legs and waved a long mucky tail at her.

“Louie, come quickly!” Bella shouted.

Louie’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “It’s a mud monster!” he shouted.

“Woof!” Pepper barked, almost beside himself.

“Don’t be silly,” said Bella. “It’s a dog. The poor thing must have fallen in the ditch and it couldn’t get out again!”

The dog was so caked in mud that it was having trouble opening its eyes. Louie kept a safe distance as Bella cautiously reached out her hand. The dog sniffed her fingers.

“Steady now,” said Bella gently. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The dog’s tail waved again. It was breathing quite fast, like it was in shock. Bella climbed up the bank. The dog tried to follow, but scrabbled and slid back down. It wasn’t wearing a collar. Bella reached down and grabbed its muddy scruff. It was a big dog, and it was heavy. She wasn’t sure she could pull it out. But she was determined to try.

The dog panted hard. Its sides were heaving. Bella dug her heels in and pulled. Scrabbling and whining, the dog tried to climb the bank again. This time, it succeeded. It jumped clumsily up at Bella and licked her. This made Bella even muddier, but she didn’t care.

Pepper growled and hid behind Louie as the exhausted dog flopped down on the grass. Bella looked around for the dog’s owner. Apart from her and Louie, there was no one else in Chestnut Park.

“Where did it come from?” Louie asked, coming a little closer.

“Mud Monster Land,” said Bella, rolling her eyes. “Oh, and thanks for all your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“I didn’t know it was a dog, did I?” Louie muttered. “It looked scary.”

“Let’s take it back to Mum,” said Bella. “We can wash it at Dream Dogs.”

She felt a little skip in her stomach at the thought of her mum’s dog parlour. Dream Dogs was Bella’s favourite place, with its pink walls and hanging plants and the smell of wet dog in the air. Washing the muck off to find out what kind of dog they’d found would be really exciting.

“Mum won’t let you wash it in Dream Dogs,” Louie said. “It’s too dirty.”

“That’s what Dream Dogs is for,” Bella pointed out. “Washing dogs. Remember?”

Bella teased Louie about mud monsters all the way back across Chestnut Park. The strange dog followed Bella adoringly. Pepper pressed himself close to Louie’s heels and growled every few steps.

“Pepper still thinks it’s a monster,” Louie said as they turned into their street.

“He’s just jealous,” Bella said.

It did look like Pepper was jealous. As soon as Bella unlatched the dog-gate between the door of Dream Dogs and the parlour, he trotted to his basket and lay down with his back to Bella.

“Mum!” Bella said. “You’ll never guess what we found!”

Bella and Louie’s mum Suzi looked up from where she was drying a little white West Highland terrier. Her eyes widened.

“It’s a dog,” said Bella proudly.

“Take it out before it—” Suzi began.

The rest of her words were lost as the muddy dog shook itself. Bella shrieked. Louie yelled. Suzi ducked. And mud went everywhere.