Aimee Harper - Nugget

The Dream Dog door tinkled open, interrupting Bella.

“Whatever happened?” exclaimed the old lady in the doorway. “Did you know there’s mud on the ceiling, Suzi?”

“Sorry, Miss Waldicott,” said Suzi. “We all just had a little… accident. I’ll have to give Angus a fresh rinse. I hope you’re not in a hurry.”

Miss Waldicott perched on the seat beneath the window. “No plans this morning,” she said. “I’m visiting my sister Grace this afternoon. She moved into Meadowbanks last month but she is finding it a bit hard to settle in, so I like to try and visit as much as I can.”

“The nursing home?” asked Suzi, lifting Angus back into the bath tub.

Miss Waldicott nodded. “It’s a lovely place—delicious home-made cakes,” she said. She leaned forward confidingly. “But I think Grace is missing her own little flat on the seafront and hasn’t spoken a word since she moved in. I’m sure she’ll be very happy at Meadowbanks but it might just take a little time for her to get used to her new surroundings.”

Suzi looked up from the bath. “It’s hard moving somewhere new, but I’m sure she’s in good hands.”

Bella pulled the muddy dog back on to its feet. “I suppose we’d better take you outside,” she said.

“You can bring her back when I’ve finished Angus,” Suzi called as Bella pushed open the back door. “Louie? Get some food and water. That animal must be hungry. Then we can wash her and you can tell me the whole story from the beginning. And on the subject of washing, Bella, go and change your clothes and wash your face and hands. You look nearly as bad as the dog! I’m so sorry, Miss Waldicott…”

The dog lay down on her side in the yard. She was still panting hard. The mud on her head had dried now, and the fur was hard and matted.

“So you’re a girl, are you?” Bella said. “We’ll give you a name as soon as we’ve washed you.”

The strange dog was bigger than Pepper, with triangular ears that flopped down and a square muzzle. Her coat looked thick, and she was very broad across her back and tummy. Bella guessed that her tail would be plumey and gorgeous once they washed it. But what was she? Bella wondered, as she headed upstairs to change. A collie? A Labrador?

When Bella came back, the dog still hadn’t touched the food that Louie had put down for her.

“She looked like she’d been in that ditch for ages,” Bella said, watching as the dog paced around the yard. “I thought she’d be hungry. Why isn’t she eating?”

“Bella!” Suzi called from inside the salon. “Amber’s here!”

Bella ran inside to see her best friend. Amber’s long hair was loose on her shoulders today, instead of tied up in plaits the way it usually was.

“Thank you, Suzi, dear!” Miss Waldicott was saying as she left with a freshly washed and dried Angus tucked under her arm.

Bella grabbed Amber’s arm as the salon door swung shut behind Miss Waldicott. “You’ve got to see this!” she said, towing Amber out of the back door.

“Is it a dog?” Amber asked, staring at the muddy beast panting in the sunshine.

Bella nodded. “Of course it is!” she said in excitement. “Do you want to help wash her?”

Amber’s eyes gleamed. “Definitely!”

“Has she eaten anything?” Suzi asked as Bella and Amber led the dog back into the salon.

Louie shook his head.

“Oh well,” Suzi said. “Perhaps she’ll feel like something after her bath.”

Bella and Amber coaxed the muddy dog up the steps and into the bath. Pepper stared grumpily at Bella from his basket. Bella blew him a kiss as her mum handed her the shower attachment. She’d make it up to Pepper later.

“Here goes,” said Bella.

She directed the water at the dog’s back. Mud poured off.

“We’re going to block the plughole,” Amber gasped as rivers of brown gloop ran off the dog’s legs and back. “Hey, don’t sit down…We need to clean your tummy!”

Slowly, the water began to run clear. Bella fetched the shampoo. She and Amber rubbed it in. More mud cascaded down the plughole.

“What colour is she?” Amber said, peering at the dog’s wet back after ten minutes of scrubbing.

Bella ruffled up the dog’s fur as Suzi turned off the water. It gleamed beneath her fingers.

“Gold,” she breathed. “She’s a golden retriever, Amber! And she’s gorgeous !”

The clean golden retriever sat patiently as Bella and Amber took turns with Suzi’s big dog-dryer. She kept trying to lie down, but Bella coaxed her up again so she could dry her all over.

“Look how bright she is now,” Amber said, switching off the dryer at last and ruffling up the retriever’s silky fur. “She’s like a big golden nugget.”

“Nugget!” Bella exclaimed. “That’s what we should call her!”

Nugget panted and wriggled as Amber and Bella kissed her and stroked her silky golden ears. Her shoulders and ribs felt bony, making Bella wonder when she’d last eaten. It was funny that her tummy was so fat.

“She’s probably got a name already,” Suzi warned, washing away the mud around the rim of the bath. “It’s been quite a day for her, but tomorrow I must take her to the vet so that they can check if she has a microchip. Then we’ll know if she belongs to anyone. We’ll also need to alert the police, or put up posters. Someone might be missing her.”

“We’ll do posters,” Bella said. “Can we borrow your computer and printer, Mum? And your camera?”

Suzi fetched her digital camera out of the drawer beneath the till and handed it to Bella. Bella snapped a picture of Nugget.

“We’ll make you a brilliant poster, Nugget,” she promised, lowering the camera. “Come on, Amber. We’ll do it upstairs!”

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