Lucy the Poorly Puppy Read Online Free Page A

mouth!”
    Lucy squeaked even louder. Where was the milk?
    “OK, OK, here you go.”
    Lucy sighed happily, and settled down to sucking. That was much better.
    After the first week, Lauren and her parents could leave Lucy for six hours in the middle of the night without a feed. Dad said he’d do the midnight feed on his own – he was used to staying up late working anyway. Lauren had to admit it was really nice to get a proper night’s sleep again, even though she still had to get up super-early for Lucy’s morning feed. 
    Millie came to visit the puppies when they were about two weeks old.
    “Can I feed Lucy?” she asked hopefully. “That photo you sent me of you feeding her was so cute. She’s even more gorgeous now her eyes are open, though.”
    “She is, isn’t she?” Lauren agreed, handing Millie the bottle. 

    Lucy watched Lauren the whole time she was feeding, and Lauren could tell she was a bit confused why somebody else was holding her bottle.
    “You have to burp her now, like your mum burps Amy!” Lauren told Millie, when Lucy had finished.
    Now that the puppies were two weeks old, their eyes were open, although they still hadn’t really started to move around much. The really exciting thing was that their markings were starting to come through. Lucy had more brown on her face now, not just her pretty eyebrows, and all the puppies were changing every day.
    Even though the puppies were still too tiny to really play with, Millie didn’t want to leave when her mum came to pick her up.
    Lauren waved goodbye from the door, and sighed as Millie’s car disappeared down the lane. She really missed seeing her best friend every day.
    “Lauren, I’ve got some really exciting news,” her mum started, as she came back into the kitchen. “Hey, what’s the matter?”
    “I just wish I could see Millie more often in the holidays, that’s all. Email and phoning aren’t the same as having a friend close by.”
    Her mum gave her a hug. “This is going to be extra-good news for you, then.” She beamed at Lauren. “We’ve rented out the cottage. To a family with a boy the same age as you!”
    Lauren blinked. The cottage was on the other side of the orchard, just beyond the farmyard. The old tenant had left ages ago, and Lauren had forgotten they were trying to find someone new.
    “He’s called Sam Martin, and he’s got a little sister called Molly. Isn’t that wonderful? You’ll have a friend really close by!”
    Lauren nodded slowly, but she wasn’t sure it was all that wonderful. What if she didn’t like this boy? And even if she did, he wouldn’t be as good a friend as Millie.

Chapter Five
    “Oh, that sounds like the Martins at the door!” Mum fussed around the kitchen, putting the kettle on. “Would you open it, Lauren?”
    It was two weeks after Mum had broken the news about the new neighbours moving in, and they’d said they were going to pop round that afternoon. Lauren still couldn’t help wishing it was a girl her age rather than a boy. And she didn’t want some strange boy and his little sister messing around with Lucy and upsetting her. Instead of opening the door, she quickly dashed upstairs with Lucy, and stashed her in the box she’d slept in on the first night. Mum still let her take Lucy upstairs occasionally, and Lucy couldn’t get out of the box yet, although she really liked trying.
    Lucy whined in surprise as Lauren put her down. What was happening? She had been having a nice cuddle, and now she was being left all on her own! She stood up with her paws against the edge of the box, scrabbling hard. Where was Lauren? She whimpered miserably. 
    Lauren ran back downstairs, and tried to look friendly as Mum introduced her to Nicky Martin and Sam, a blond-haired boy who looked just as embarrassed as she felt. Sam’s dad was still sorting things out at the house, and his little sister was asleep, Nicky said.
    Sam cuddled one of the puppies, the big boy that they had named