Alan MacDonald - Ask Oscar

His mind raced. If he said there was a strange dog at the door he knew his parents would come and shoo it away. But he didn’t want the dog to go yet – it had only just arrived and it had come all this way on the bus! He crouched down, stroking the dog’s shaggy coat. It nuzzled up to him readily and gave his face a lick. Sam laughed.

‘Shh!’ he said. ‘Don’t make a noise!’

The dog blinked. It stopped washing his face, then pushed past him into the hall.

It looked around as if deciding whether the house was up to scratch.

‘Sam, what are you doing?’

It was his Mum again and she sounded impatient.

‘Nothing. Just coming!’ Sam called back.

He’d have to move fast. There was nothing for it but to hide the dog, at least until he’d worked out what to do with him. The shed was no good because Dad used it as his workshop. The only safe place was Sam’s bedroom but that meant smuggling the dog through the house and upstairs without his parents seeing him.

Sam noticed the dog had a leather collar with a silver name disc. It said, ‘OSCAR’.

‘Go round to the back door, Oscar,’ Sam whispered, leading him out again. ‘I’ll let you in, but no barking, okay?’

He realised it was asking a lot for the dog to understand – he might as well be speaking Norwegian – but amazingly the dog obeyed. He went out and trotted round the side of the house as if he knew the way. Sam quickly shut the front door and headed back to the kitchen, trying to look as if nothing unusual had happened, like a dog appearing from nowhere.

‘What took you so long?’ demanded his Mum.

‘I was just checking there wasn’t anyone there,’ explained Sam. ‘It must have been the wind.’

‘It didn’t sound like the wind,’ said Dad. ‘I swear I heard scratching.’

‘Maybe it was Mr Trusscot next door?’ suggested Sam. ‘He scratches sometimes.’

‘Not so loudly that you can hear him through the walls,’ said Mum.

Mr Trusscot was their annoying neighbour who was also Leader of the Town Council, as he often reminded them. Sam had been slowly edging out of the kitchen. He needed to get to the back door in case the dog started whining and gave them away.

‘Where are you off to now?’ asked Mum.

‘Um, I’ve got homework,’ said Sam.

‘But you haven’t even finished your supper,’ argued Mum.

‘It’s a lot of homework,’ said Sam, ducking out of the door. He hurried down the hall. Luckily his parents soon went back to their argument about the bills.

Oscar was waiting outside the back door. He immediately padded in, wagging his tail so hard that it practically dented the doorframe. Somehow Sam had to get him through the hall, past the kitchen and up the stairs without making any noise. He decided he’d better communicate with the dog by mime, acting out what he had in mind. Pointing upwards, he pretended to be climbing some stairs on tiptoe. Oscar watched patiently with his head on one side as if this was a new sort of game – like doggy charades.

Sam set off down the hall with the dog padding at his heels. The kitchen door was half open and his parents were still talking. With a bit of luck he might be able to sneak Oscar past without them seeing anything. Sam ducked his head and went first . . .

‘SAM!’

He froze in the doorway, trying to block his parents’ view of the hall.

‘Yes?’ he said, his heart racing. If he looked down he was afraid he’d see Oscar’s whiskery face peering out between his legs.

‘Don’t forget to pack your school bag for the morning,’ said Mum. ‘Are you all right? ’

‘Me? Yes! Fine, I’ll do it later,’ promised Sam.

He backed out quickly and closed the kitchen door. That was close. But looking round, his heart missed a beat. The dog had disappeared! Where had he got to now? If he’d slipped past Sam into the kitchen then the game was up. Sam rushed down the hall. He checked the lounge and the downstairs toilet. No dog. The front door was closed so he couldn’t have got out. Turning round, he caught sight of something. Oscar sat at the top of the stairs, waiting patiently. He cocked his head on one side as if to say, ‘Really, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?’

All that evening Sam stayed in his room on the pretence that he was getting on with his homework. Actually he spent the time introducing Oscar to his collection of doggy toys. Later, Sam crept downstairs and managed to sneak a bowl of water from the kitchen. Naturally he knew that they couldn’t go on like this forever. Eventually Oscar would be discovered or Sam would have to tell his parents, but he didn’t want to think about that. For the moment he had a dog of his own and he wanted to make it last as long as possible.

Later, when he heard his mum coming upstairs, he hid Oscar under the bed. Turning off the main light he dived back under the covers just as his mum’s head appeared round the door.

‘Night, night, love, sleep tight!’ she said, softly.

‘Night,’ mumbled Sam, praying that the dog wouldn’t make a sound.

The door clicked shut. Sam crept out from under this duvet and opened his cupboard. He found an old beanbag for Oscar to sleep on – at least that was the idea. Some hours later when the house was dark and his parents were in bed, he heard the soft patter of feet. A second later, Oscar leapt up onto the bed and licked his nose.

‘Hello!’ Sam laughed.

Eventually they settled down to sleep with Oscar making himself comfortable on top of the duvet. Sam rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.

‘Good night, Oscar,’ he murmured drowsily.

‘Night.’

Sam’s eyes flew open. He switched on his bedside lamp and sat up, looking around wildly. There was no one else in the room, only the dog dozing peacefully on the duvet.

‘Ridiculous, I must have been dreaming,’ Sam told himself. ‘Dogs definitely cannot talk.’

CHAPTER 2

HIDE AND SNEAK

The next day was Monday, a school day, which posed an awkward problem – what to do with Oscar? Sam considered taking him to school but he was pretty sure dogs weren’t allowed. Even if he dressed Oscar in a shirt and school tie he didn’t think Miss Bramble would be fooled. He’d have to hide him at home somewhere his parents weren’t likely to look. But where? A dog under the duvet would look pretty obvious and anyway Oscar wouldn’t stay there for long.

Sam looked around, trying to think. Of course – the clothes cupboard! Sam’s bedroom had a large built-in cupboard with shelves piled high with clothes, books, comics and toys. If he cleared some space on the floor there was plenty of room for a not-too-large dog. He dragged the beanbag into the cupboard.

‘In you go, boy,’ he said, pointing. Oscar looked at the cupboard then back at him. He didn’t budge.

‘Come on, Oscar, it’s not for long, just while I’m at school,’ pleaded Sam. ‘Once Mum and Dad know, you won’t have to hide.’

In the end, Sam had to pick Oscar up and carry him into the cupboard. He left him with a supply of dog biscuits, a bowl of water and the rubber bone to play with in case he got bored. It wasn’t ideal, he told himself, but it was only for today. As long as Dad didn’t go nosing in his room then Oscar would be safe – and it would give him time to break the news that they were getting a dog.