Lucy the Poorly Puppy by Holly Webb Read Free Book Online Page A

then that man came! We had to hide Lucy away in case he got her first!”

    “Is this something to do with the table full of apples at the top of the lane?” Mum asked.
    Lauren nodded. “We sold the apples from the orchard, and my old toys, too.”
    “And it’s my birthday money.”
    “And my money from Grandma.”
    “There’s more apples left,” Sam added. “We should get to a hundred, easily.”
    Mum smiled sadly. “That man was going to pay four hundred pounds. That’s what a pedigree puppy costs.”
    “Four hundred!” Lauren whispered in horror. “We couldn’t raise that much. Oh no…” And she started to cry. She was going to have to give Lucy up after all.
    Lucy looked up from her bowl. What was the matter with Lauren? She dashed across the kitchen floor, and scrabbled frantically at Lauren’s legs.
    Lauren reached down and picked Lucy up, cuddling her close, while Sam stroked her head.
    Lucy howled loudly, joining in with Lauren’s sobbing.
    “Lauren, shhh…” her dad said gently. “And please tell Lucy to hush too, I can’t hear myself think. That’s better,” he added, as Lauren stroked Lucy and shushed her. “We didn’t realize you were that desperate to keep Lucy. Why didn’t you say?”
    “I tried!” Lauren burst out. “But you kept saying we had Bella, and ever since the puppies came you’d said we couldn’t keep them. I told Sam about it, didn’t I?” 
    Sam nodded. “But we thought if we had enough money we could keep her. Lauren said I could share her too.”
    “Oh, Sam…” his mum said sadly. “He loves dogs,” she explained to Lauren’s parents. “But his dad is allergic.”
    Lauren’s mum was watching Lucy, snuggling up in Lauren’s arms, her eyes switching from person to person, as she tried to follow what was going on. “She is lovely,” Mum said slowly.
    Lauren’s dad looked round at her. “It was you that said no more dogs, Annie!”
    “Somehow I can’t imagine being back to just one, after all those puppies. It already seems very quiet, with only Bella and Lucy.” Mum smiled. “And she’s definitely the prettiest of the litter.” 
    “So can we keep her?” Lauren asked, not quite sure whether that was what her mum was saying. “Really? You mean it?”
    Mum nodded, and laughed as Lauren hugged her, squidging Lucy in between them. “Don’t squash her!”
    “But if Bella has puppies again, we’re not keeping any!” Dad said sternly.
    Lauren shook her head. “Oh no, I promise I wouldn’t even ask!”
    “You can have your birthday money back, Sam,” Lauren’s mum said, smiling.
    Sam nodded, but he looked a bit sad.
    “Do you still want to share Lucy, though?” Lauren asked, holding Lucy out to him.
    Sam nodded eagerly, and Lucy wagged her tail so fast it almost blurred, and then licked his hand lovingly.
    “We can use the apple money to buy her a really smart new collar and lead,” Lauren suggested. “Not Bella’s old ones any more. And we can put ‘This dog belongs to Lauren and Sam’ on her collar tag.”
    Everyone laughed, and Lucy howled again, a real show-off howl with her ears thrown back and her tail wagging under Sam’s arm.
    Sam grinned. “I think she likes that idea. 
     

About the Author

    Holly Webb started out as a children’s book editor, and wrote her first series for the publisher she worked for. She has been writing ever since, with over sixty books to her name. Holly lives in Berkshire, with her husband and three young sons. She has a pet cat called Marble, who is always nosying around when she’s trying to type on her laptop.

Other titles by Holly Webb:
    Lost in the Snow
    Lost in the Storm
    Alfie all Alone
    Sam the Stolen Puppy
    Max the Missing Puppy
    Sky the Unwanted Kitten
    Timmy in Trouble
    Ginger the Stray Kitten
    Harry the Homeless Puppy
    Buttons the Runaway Puppy
    Alone in the Night
    Ellie the Homesick Puppy
    Jess the Lonely Puppy
    Misty the Abandoned Kitten
    Oscar’s Lonely Christmas
    Lucy the