Selby Santa Read Free

from one branch to the next, getting slower and slower till he landed softly on the ground.
    ‘I’m alive!’ Selby thought. ‘But now I’m really going to have to tell the Trifles.’
    It was a scratched and bruised dog who limped his way home. As Selby lay waiting for his owners, he practised the words he would speak the moment they came in the door.
    He heard them coming.
    He cleared his throat.
    The door opened.
    ‘I’m sorry. You are the dearest, most wonderful people in the world and I just did something very silly. I tried to be Santa and I crashed the sleigh. Okay, so it was Denis’s fault because he ruined the controls. I should have told you about it but I didn’t. I tried to fix things myself. I don’t deserve to be your pet.’
    Dr and Mrs Trifle’s mouths were open as Selby was about to speak these words.
    ‘Something’s wrong,’ he thought. ‘Why are they smiling like that?’
    ‘Selby!’ Mrs Trifle cried, picking him up and giving him a big hug. ‘The most wonderful thing happened tonight!’
    ‘It was like magic!’ Dr Trifle added. ‘The real Santa flew over Bogusville and dropped lollies! He must have known that my invention didn’t work.’
    ‘Hey, that was me!’ Selby thought. ‘They saw me!’
    ‘You should have seen the looks on the kids’ faces,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘We all heard him saying
Ho ho ho
. What a night! The magic of Christmas was really alive. Everybody felt it!’
    ‘Almost everyone,’ Dr Trifle said. ‘Denis Dorset didn’t seem very pleased.’
    ‘He’s going to be even less pleased when he gets back to Poshfield,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘Didn’t you hear? His new helicopter was destroyed.’
    ‘Destroyed?’
    ‘Yes. It was sitting at Poshfield Airport when something came shooting right out of the sky and crashed into it. They think it must havebeen a comet. The whole thing is burned to a crisp. So I guess Denis won’t be arriving in his helicopter tomorrow. Of course, after seeing the real Santa, the kids won’t want to see him in his silly Santa suit anyway.’
    Selby struggled not to smile.
    ‘Oh joy! Oh joy!’ he thought. ‘Oh joyful day!’
    ‘Speaking of Santa and sleighs, I’d better start taking apart that useless invention of mine,’ Dr Trifle said as he opened the back curtains. ‘Hmmm, that’s strange. I’m sure it was here when we left the house.’
    ‘Gulp,’ Selby gulped. ‘Oh well, I guess you could say the magic of Christmas strikes again.’
    Paw note: See the story ‘Santa Selby’ in the book
Selby Splits.
    S
    Paw note: This is my invention, an exclamation-comma ().
Look for other exclamation-commas and question-commas () throughout the Selby books.
    S

TRIM, TAUT AND TERRIFIC SELBY
    ‘How much do you want for your handsome dog?’ the man asked Mrs Trifle.
    ‘Handsome dog?’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘You don’t mean Selby, do you, Dr Schnipskin?’
    ‘Yes, I do. Is he a special breed?’
    ‘No, he’s just a bitser — a bit of this and a bit of that.’
    ‘He is, quite frankly, the handsomest dog I’ve ever seen.’
    ‘Hey, I like this guy,’ Selby thought. ‘He knows a quality dog when he sees one.’
    ‘He should be the beginning of a dog breed all of his own,’ Dr Schnipskin said.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Mrs Trifle asked.
    ‘Think of it this way, there are poodles and cocker spaniels and collies, and now there could be Selbys.I have a company called the New Breed Institute and I’ve been looking for the perfect dog to start off a whole new breed. Selby could be the beginning. I can hear them now:
Mummy, Mummy, can I have a Selby for Christmas
and,
Darling, please don’t waste your money on a diamond engagement ring. I’d rather have a Selby.
People would be lining up at petshops all around the world to buy a Selby.’
    ‘Are you telling me that you want to breed Selby?’
    ‘Breed?’ Selby thought. ‘Hold the show! I don’t like the sound of this.’
    ‘Oh, no,’ Dr Schnipskin said. ‘If you breed