The Chocolate Dog by Holly Webb Read Free Book Online Page A

with one finger. Amy had made it very carefully, so the mermaid had reddish-streaked hair, like the seaweed.
    â€œCan I come in?” Amy asked again, politely.
    â€œAll right,” Lara said after a pause. “For a bit.”
    Amy crawled in and sat on one of the cushions. It was cosy. Much nicer than the climbing frame. “I like it,” she told Lara.
    â€œMe too. But I can’t fit all my mermaids in, that’s all. And I might get more of them for my birthday.” She scowled. “I can’t have my party under the table.”
    Lara’s birthday was in a couple of days’ time, and she had been counting down the days. Ten of her friends from nursery were coming, and Mum and Dad’s bedroom was a weird mixture of party stuff and baby stuff, piled on top of the wardrobe and spilling out from under the bed.
    Amy nodded. “I did have an idea, about our bedroom. A way it might be better.”
    â€œWhat?” Lara sounded suspicious again.
    â€œI’d have to show you.”
    Lara scowled. “That means I have to come out. Mum’s making you.”
    Amy shook her head. “I promise she isn’t. If you don’t like it, you can go straight back under the table.” She crawled out, holding the cloth up for Lara, and led her upstairs past Mum, who was pretending to straighten the picture frames in the hall.
    They stopped at the airing cupboard on the landing, and Amy opened it, looking hopefully at the shelves. There was a pile of old flowery sheets that Mum never used but didn’t want to get rid of, just in case. Just in case of what, she never said, but they were just the thing.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Lara asked, as Amy hurried into their room and climbed up on to the window sill, trailing a sheet behind her. “You’re going to fall off!”
    Amy snorted. Sometimes Lara sounded exactly like Mum. She tied one corner of the first sheet round the curtain pole, then scrambled down again. “Pass me that hair ribbon.” She held out a hand for it and tied on another sheet. “Now we just have to find somewhere to tie the other end. The door’s going to be in my half, but you’re allowed in my tent to go in and out, I don’t mind. OK?”
    Lara nodded. She could see what was happening now. “Use the hooks! Those hooks Dad put up on the wall for your dressing gown and stuff. The ones Mum said were stupid, because you’d never reach them!”
    Amy glanced at her admiringly. She hadn’t thought of that. “That might work,” she agreed in a considering tone of voice.
    â€œI’m getting you the bathroom step, wait.” Lara raced out and came back carrying the step she’d always used to get to the basin. “There! And my hair ribbons this time.” She handed them to Amy. “It’s almost as good as under the table,” she told her seriously, looking up as Amy tied the end of the sheet to one of the hooks, dividing the big room in half. The evening sun was coming straight through the window, and they were wrapped in a soft yellowish-pink light as it streamed through the patterned sheets.
    Amy nodded. “I know. And it’s a lot drier than a real tent, honestly.”

Amy woke up, and blinked in surprise at the flowery tent hanging around her bed. Then she remembered what it was for, and smiled to herself.
    â€œAmy…”
    â€œMmm?”
    â€œWhen it’s my party tomorrow, can all my friends come into my tent? Are they allowed in the door?”
    Amy grinned. “If they’re good,” she said, very seriously.
    Choc rolled over on to his back with his paws in the air and yawned. Mum had tried to say that him sleeping on Amy’s bed was a holiday treat, but Amy and Lara had both begged, and Mum wasn’t in a mood to argue.
    â€œMaybe we can go to the woods with Choc today,” Amy suggested. If it was Lara’s birthday tomorrow, that meant it