Alan MacDonald - Oscar and the Dognappers

To our good friends Deb and Tim

and all the Martins.

AM

For our dogs, Millie and Sandy.

SH

First published in Great Britain 2018

by Egmont UK Limited

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text copyright © 2018 Alan MacDonald

Illustrations copyright © 2018 Sarah Horne

The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been asserted

First e-book edition 2018

ISBN 978 1 4052 8723 4

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1796 0

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Dedication and Copyright To our good friends Deb and Tim and all the Martins. AM For our dogs, Millie and Sandy. SH First published in Great Britain 2018 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text copyright © 2018 Alan MacDonald Illustrations copyright © 2018 Sarah Horne The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been asserted First e-book edition 2018 ISBN 978 1 4052 8723 4 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1796 0 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

CHAPTER 1: Smoke Signals

CHAPTER 2: Dream Cafe

CHAPTER 3: Puppy Love

CHAPTER 4: Home Sweet Bone

CHAPTER 5: Follow That Van!

CHAPTER 6: In the Soup

CHAPTER 7: Nosing Around

CHAPTER 8: Ghost Dog

CHAPTER 9: Early Closing

CHAPTER 10: A Grand Day for a Run

CHAPTER 11: Dog’s Dinner

Back series promotional page

CHAPTER 1

SMOKE SIGNALS

It was Saturday morning in the Shilling house and a delicious smell was drifting upstairs from the kitchen. Sam was in his room getting dressed. Downstairs his dad was cooking sausages. His mum sat at the kitchen table while Oscar sat on the floor because dogs generally didn’t bother with chairs. Sausages, however, were his number-one favourite and his tail was beating the floor impatiently while he waited for them to cook. Dad slotted four pieces of bread into the Hercules Speedy Pop-up Toaster (one of his many inventions) and went back to turning the sausages.

‘Have you noticed you can’t get a decent cup of coffee round here?’ he said.

‘Mmm?’ said Mum.

‘Or tea or hot chocolate for that matter,’ Dad went on. ‘There’s nowhere to buy it – not without walking all the way into town.’

‘There’s a drinks machine at the garage,’ Mum pointed out.

Dad snorted. ‘Have you actually tried their coffee?’ he asked. ‘I wouldn’t give it to a dog!’

Oscar looked up and frowned. He sniffed the air and his tail ceased drumming for a moment. The Hercules Speedy Pop-up Toaster was taking its own sweet time. Stranger still, it was giving off a funny smell – a bit like burning toast. Oscar barked to get everyone’s attention.

‘Quiet, Oscar!’ cried Mr Shilling. ‘There’s nowhere on the seafront at all,’ he said, returning to his subject. ‘Don’t you think that’s odd?’

Oscar stared. Smoke was now rising from the toaster. It seemed impossible to miss, though everyone else was missing it. He decided he’d have to do something before things got out of hand. Trotting over to Mr Shilling he jumped up and pawed at the back of his legs.

‘OSCAR!’ cried Dad, turning round. ‘What’s the matter with him today?’

‘He’s probably hungry,’ replied Mum. ‘He can smell sausages.’

Oscar felt like howling. The toaster! he wanted to shout. For dog’s sake – LOOK!

Mum poured milk into her cereal bowl.

‘What’s that funny smell?’ she frowned. ‘Can you smell it?’

Finally thought Oscar. He looked at Mrs Shilling then back at the toaster. No response. This was getting ridiculous. He lay down on the floor with his paws over his head as if preparing for an explosion.

Dad stared at him. ‘Is he sick or something?’

Sam walked into the kitchen, still pulling on his sweatshirt.

Oscar sat up and barked loudly.

‘What’s up, Oscar?’ asked Sam.

Oscar turned and looked back at the toaster and raised a paw to point.

‘Something’s burning!’ cried Sam.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Suddenly the smoke alarm in the kitchen went off making them all jump. Seconds later there was a deafening BANG! as the Hercules Speedy Pop-up Toaster burst into flames.

‘THE TOASTER!’ cried Dad, waving the frying pan as sausages cartwheeled onto the floor. Everyone started shouting at once.

‘DO SOMETHING!’

‘CALL 999!’

‘PUT IT OUT, PUT IT OUT!’

It was Mum who actually did something, grabbing a towel to beat out the flames. Two charred pieces of bread popped up from the toaster with a clunk and promptly disintegrated.

There was a silence broken only by the sound of chomping and slobbering. Oscar felt it would be a great pity to let sausages go to waste, so he was eating them off the floor. Mum went over and opened a window to let out the smoke, before collapsing onto a chair.

‘That toaster has got to go. Why can’t we have a normal one?’ she sighed.

‘It must have overheated,’ said Dad. ‘It’s easily fixed.’

Sam shook his head. ‘Well it’s a good job Oscar was paying attention,’ he said.