Bella Read online

  “Bella’s here to stay, so you’d better get used to it.”

  Millie looked at Bella and curled her lip, as if to say, “I told you so!”

  Another day, in the park, Miss Sophie was talking to a friend.

  “And how is the new little one getting on?” asked the friend, looking down at Bella. Bella always kept very close to Miss Sophie, these days, when they were in the park. She was terrified of being bullied by Millie and Kim and their gang. “Is she beginning to settle down?”

  “I think so,” said Miss Sophie. “But she still doesn’t get on too well with the others.”

  “Poor little thing!” The friend bent down and patted Bella on the head. “It must be so confusing for her! It’s always sad, when a dog loses its owner.”

  “There’s just no way of explaining it to them,” agreed Miss Sophie; and she sighed. “I’m afraid my mother did spoil her, rather. She didn’t really treat her like a dog. More like a baby. She’s going to have to get used to a bit of rough and tumble.”

  “Don’t worry,” said the friend. “Give it another few weeks and she’ll be mucking in with the rest of them.”

  Bella was alarmed. What did it mean? Another few weeks – mucking in – rough and tumble? She didn’t want to muck in! She didn’t want rough and tumble! She wanted to go back to Mrs Jessop!

  “What’s your problem?” said Millie, later that day, as Bella lay shivering with her head on her paws.

  “I want to go home!” whimpered Bella.

  “Well, you can’t,” said Millie. “I told you... you’re not going home again. Ever!”

  That was when Bella made up her mind. If Miss Sophie wasn’t going to take her home, she would have to go by herself. Not to the dear old home that she remembered; she no longer knew where that was. But to the other home. The home where she had gone visiting. It wasn’t as nice as her old one, but Bella didn’t mind. She just wanted to be with Mrs Jessop!

  Next morning, as usual, they went for a walk in the park. Bella stayed at Miss Sophie’s side, while the others went galloping off with their friends. Florence, the German Shepherd. Juno, the great squat thing. Brandy, the terrier.

  “Hey, Booboos!” they cried. “Come and roll in the mud!”

  But Bella pressed herself close to Miss Sophie. She was going back to her old lady! She didn’t want anything to do with these horrid rough dogs.

  After a bit, Miss Sophie met up with another lady and they started talking. Bella had noticed that people do a lot of talking. Dogs sniff and rub noses; but people talk. And very often, when they talk, they no longer notice what is going on around them.

  The other lady was the owner of Brandy, the terrier. She was telling Miss Sophie how she had had to take Brandy to the vet with a bad eye, and the vet had given her special eye drops to put in it. Miss Sophie seemed really interested. She might almost have forgotten that Bella was there.

  Little by little, Bella began to hang back. She sniffed an interesting smell and nibbled at a blade of grass. Miss Sophie went walking on. Bella took a deep breath... and ran! She ran just as fast as her stumpy little legs would carry her. Across the grass, down the path, out through the gates and up the road! She admits now that she was very, very frightened.

  “I thought my heart was going to burst!”

  She had never been out on her own before, and she wasn’t at all streetwise. She thought she could remember the way, but she had a big main road to cross, through all the thundering buses and cars.

  Poor Bella! She must have been so terrified. Nobody had ever taught her about looking both ways, or waiting for the lights to change. She just ran out, blindly, with everybody hooting their horns and swerving to avoid her. If you ask me, it was a wonder she didn’t get run over.

  I think it was really very brave of such a small dog. Even the cats are impressed when they hear how she found her way, all by herself. She might have been a bit silly and spoilt, but she showed a lot of courage.

  “I just knew that I had to do it,” she says.

  She did so want to be with Mrs Jessop again!

  She came to the house where she had gone visiting with Miss Sophie, and ran joyfully up the steps to the front door. The door was closed, but Bella wasn’t bothered. She would just sit on the step and wait until someone opened it. She would wait all day, if she had to. She would wait all night. Somewhere in that house was Mrs Jessop, and Bella wasn’t going to move until she had found her.

  She didn’t have to wait all night. She didn’t even have to wait all day. She had only been there a short while when a postman came, with a parcel to deliver. As soon as the door was opened, Bella was inside! She went scampering up the stairs and along the landing to the room where Mrs Jessop had been.

  Outside the room, she stood and barked. She scraped at the door. She barked again.

  “Let me in, let me in!”

  Very slowly the door opened and a head poked out. But it didn’t belong to Bella’s old lady. It wasn’t Mrs Jessop.

  Bella rushed into the room, expecting to find Mrs Jessop in bed, as she had last seen her. But the bed was empty! Mrs Jessop wasn’t there! Where was she? Where had she gone?

  Bella put her head in the air and howled. She wanted her old lady!

  Suddenly there were lots of old ladies, all around her. Some came out of other rooms, some came up the stairs.

  “Why!” cried one of them. “That’s Mrs Jessop’s little dog, I’m sure it is! Her daughter brought her in to visit, just a day or two before the poor lady passed away.”

  Bella began to tremble all over. She knew what “passed away” meant. It meant that her old lady had gone and she would never see her again. She would never be cuddled or kissed by her. She would never snuggle up on her lap. She would never be called Little Princess. She was an orphan. There was nobody to love her.

  The old ladies were very kind. They took her downstairs and made a fuss of her and fed her bits of chocolate.

  “Such a pity she can’t stay here with us,” they said.

  But the old people’s home wouldn’t allow pets. The Matron rang Miss Sophie, and Miss Sophie came to take Bella away. To take her back to the house where those two horrible dogs were waiting to nip her and growl and roll her in the mud.

  “I’m afraid this is your home now,” said Miss Sophie. “I promised Mum I’d look after you, and I will, but oh, Bella! You must try to be a bit more like a real dog!”

  Poor Bella! She didn’t know how to behave like a real dog. She only knew how to sit on silk cushions, and wear a red ribbon, and be petted and pampered and treated like a little princess.

  But her silk cushion had been ripped apart, her red ribbon had been torn to pieces, and there was no one, any more, to pet or to pamper her.

  Miss Sophie was kind, but she didn’t believe in petting or pampering.

  “A dog should be a dog,” she said.

  Kim and Millie were dogs.

  “We’re proper dogs,” they told Bella. “You’re just a toy!”

  Miss Sophie didn’t have the time to keep brushing Bella’s coat every day, so very soon it became all matted and tangled. Bella was so ashamed! What would Mrs Jessop say if she could see her like that? In the end, Miss Sophie decided to cut it all off.

  “That’s much better,” she said. “Now you can run and play like the others.”

  But Bella felt cold without her coat. And Kim and Millie jeered at her.

  “Look, it’s a rat!” said Kim.

  “Or is it a cat?”

  “Whatever it is, it’s not a dog!”

  “I always knew it wasn’t,” said Millie.

  When they went up to the park, they shouted at all their friends: “Look what we’ve got!”

  Florence the German Shepherd, and Juno the great squat thing, and Brandy the terrier, all came bounding over to see.

  “What is it?” said Florence.

  “It’s a rat-cat!”

  “Yeeurgh! Horrible!”

  “It’s all na
ked,” said Juno.

  “It’s ugly,” said Brandy.

  And they all pulled faces and curled their lips and began to circle round poor, shivering Bella. Miss Sophie had walked on – talking, as usual – and hadn’t noticed that Bella was being ganged up on.

  “Naked!” said Florence. “How disgusting!” And she bared her teeth and made a little dart forward.

  “Rat-cats are for chasing,” said Juno; and she came barrelling towards Bella with a very nasty glint in her little piggy eyes.

  “Rat-cats are for biting,” said Brandy. And she opened her mouth and sprang.

  Bella gave a scream of fright and took to her heels. She couldn’t run to Miss Sophie because Kim and Millie were barring the way. They both had big grins on their faces. They had been longing to have a go at Bella ever since they first met her! Stupid simpering lap dog.

  Bella, in a panic, headed for the nearest exit… straight for the main road! The pack of dogs streamed after her. Miss Sophie had spun round as she heard Bella scream, but too late. Nothing could stop her now.

  “Bella! Come back!” cried Miss Sophie. “Millie! Kim! Stay!”

  All the other owners joined in, calling to their pets.

  “Florence! Juno! Brandy!”

  None of the dogs took any notice. Their blood was up. They were after the rat-cat!

  And this, I am glad to say, is where I came in. My people didn’t usually take me to that park, but on this particular day they had had to deliver something on the far side of town and had decided to take me with them. Lucky for Bella! If we hadn’t arrived when we did I dread to think what would have happened.

  I took in the situation at a glance: one small, terrified dog being hounded by a pack. And all girls! Not a boy amongst them. But girls aren’t always soft and gentle. Oh, no! They can be bullies just the same as us boys.

  I knew that I had to do something – and do it quickly. I ran at Bella and headed her off. I snapped at her, “Stand still!”

  She was so scared. She was trembling from head to foot. But she did as I told her. I was a grown dog, and she was only an itty bitty little thing.

  I placed my body between her and the pack, daring them to come any closer. I can look really fierce when I want to!

  Slowly, the pack wheeled to a halt. There was a lot of low grumbling and growling, but already they were starting to look rather ashamed of themselves.

  And now my people had come up, and Miss Sophie was charging full tilt across the park. Bella was still very frightened. She was cowering, low to the ground, and shaking like a leaf. But I nuzzled her and licked her and told her that she would be quite safe with me. I wouldn’t let any harm come to her!

  Miss Sophie arrived and put Millie and Kim on their leads.

  “Bad girls!” she said. “Bad, bad girls!”

  She was very upset.

  “I just don’t know what to do!” she said.

  She explained how Bella had belonged to her mother, and how she had promised to look after her.

  “But she’s just not happy! She doesn’t get on with my two. I’m really beginning to think I shall have to find a new home for her. But I promised my mum!”

  I’m not sure whether my people felt more sorry for Miss Sophie or for Bella. I could see that they were hesitating, so I looked up at them and barked. And then I nuzzled Bella, and barked again. They understood me all right!

  “Well,” they said, “it seems as though Buster’s taken to her... maybe she’d be happier living with us?”

  So Bella came to Munchy Flats. She settled down immediately. That very first night she crept into my basket and curled up next to me. She has slept in my basket ever since.

  It is a joke with our people that “Bella is like Buster’s shadow”. She follows me everywhere! Upstairs, downstairs: into the garden, round the park. She never leaves my side. She tells all the other dogs we meet that she is my girlfriend. I don’t mind! She is a pretty little thing.

  But I have taught her to be more like a real dog. We play together, and go hunting, and roll on our backs in the mud. Sometimes she can be quite brave. The other day she barked at a Rottweiler! But whenever there is trouble, she comes running back to me. She knows that I’ll always be there to look after her.

  I suppose, in a way, you could say that I am her hero. Me. A common mongrel!

  But mongrels are the best. At least, that is what I think.

  If you enjoyed Bella, check out these other great Jean Ure titles.

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  Also by the Author

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  Bouncer

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  Monster in the Mirror

  Big Tom

  Help! It’s Harriet!

  For older readers

  Skinny Melon and Me

  Becky Bananas, This is Your Life!

  Fruit and Nutcase

  The Secret Life of Sally Tomato

  Family Fan Club

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