Buttons the Runaway Puppy Read Free Page A

Dad exchanged glances,and Mum sighed. “You’re right, Sophie. She would need lots of walks, a young energetic dog like that. Probably Mr Jenkins could do with some help. But it’s tricky. We don’t want to make him feel like we’re interfering, or that we think he can’t cope. If he asked, it would be different…”
    “I bet he won’t ask,” Tom said, through a mouthful of ice cream. “He’s not that sort of person.”
    “Well, if I see him, I’ll try and sound him out,” Mum suggested. “OK? A compromise.”
    Sophie nodded reluctantly. Poor Buttons. It looked like she was going to be stuck in the garden again for a while.

    Buttons followed Mr Jenkins into the house a little sadly. It had been fun walking with Sophie. Buttons tried hard not to pull on her lead with Mr Jenkins; she could tell it was hard for him to walk. She forgot sometimes, that was all. It was hard to remember to be careful when she smelled something yummy, or saw something she just had to chase. With Sophie, she had felt it was all right to be her bouncy puppy self and Buttons hoped she would see her again soon. Maybe Mr Jenkins would take her on a walk tomorrow.
    But he didn’t. On Monday morning, Buttons hopefully brought him her lead, just in case, but he was sitting in his chair, recovering from the effort of getting down the stairs.

    “I’m sorry, Buttons. Not today.” He sighed as he took her lead and heaved himself up. “You go and have a run round the garden, there’s a good girl. And I’ll put your food down for you in a minute.”
    Buttons could feel him watching her as she skittered off down the garden. He looked anxious, and she wondered what was wrong. He was holding her lead still, and looking at it sadly.
    Buttons looked around the garden and gave a little whine. She would much prefer a walk, but the garden was better than nothing. She was sniffing thoughtfully through the flower bed by the fence, when she came across a little hole under a bush. It was just large enough to get her nose into, but the loose dirt made her back out quickly, sneezing and shaking her muzzle.
    Once she’d stopped pawing at her nose, Buttons sat and looked at the hole, with her head on one side. It was only a small hole. But she was quite sure it could be bigger. If there was a hole under the fence, she could go off for a walk by herself. Without even her lead! Buttons crouched down, and started to scrape at the earth with one paw…

    The hole took a while to dig, but no one noticed what Buttons was doing because of the bush. It was a perfect cover.

    Late the next afternoon, Buttons wriggled and squirmed her way out under the fence, and stood in the street, looking round in delight. She could explore! She could go wherever she wanted! She sniffed the air eagerly. Which way should she go first? The most delicious smells wafted past her and she pattered off down the street, looking around curiously.
    On a wall two doors down from Mr Jenkins’s house, a black cat was snoozing in the sun, its tail dangling invitingly down the side of the wall. Buttons trotted up to it and barked. She’d been shut up in the garden for ages and she wanted to run. It would be even better if she could chase something! She didn’t know that chasing cats wasn’t allowed – there was just something about the cat that made her want to bark at it…
    The cat woke up with a start, and mewed frantically, its tail puffing out and all the fur standing up along its back.
    Buttons stood at the bottom of the wall, barking excitedly, and the cat hissed and spat.
    “Go away! Bad dog!” A woman was hurrying down the garden path, waving a trowel crossly.

    Buttons didn’t know what she’d done wrong, but she knew what bad dog meant. She slunk away with her tail between her legs, just in time to see Mr Jenkins standing at his gate, looking around for her worriedly.
    “Is this your dog?” the cat’s owner demanded. “She’s been terrorizing my poor Felix. You should