Lulu and the Dog from the Sea Read Online Free Page A

the walls and a telescope on top of the battlements. With the telescope you could look right over the sand dunes. Lulu looked for a long time while a fidgety line built up behind her, but she did not see the dog from the sea.
    A chilly wind blew over the battlements, straight through their fleeces and cold on their skin.
    “Let’s go home and make my kite,” said Mellie.
    On the box of Mellie’s kite, under, Includes everything needed to build this magnificent kite! it also said, Not suitable for children under the age of 36 months. Underneath this Lulu’s father had written: Or anyone living on a potholey road.
    The kite in the kit was plain white plastic. That was so that you could draw your own picture. This was the part that Mellie had looked forward to most. She planned to cover the white plastic with rainbow-colored seagulls.
    It was a very big kite. It would take a lot of rainbow seagulls to cover the whole surface.
    “Anyone who likes can draw seagulls on my kite,” said Mellie, tipping out felt pens all over the floor.
    The problem was, anyone couldn’t.
    The pens were all dried up. One after another Mellie pulled off their lids, discovered their ghostly shadows, and flung them away.
    “It’s not fair!” she wailed.
    Lulu did not think it was fair either. “Brand new pens all dried up!” she exclaimed indignantly.
    “I didn’t use them once!” said Mellie sadly. “Well, once, maybe... Or a few times... I’ll never get this kite made. I might as well stop trying.”
    Bump, bump, bump went the car through the potholes on an emergency expedition to save Mellie from despair. They bought new pens and cotton candy and a mountain of french fries with chili-cheese sauce. The cotton candy got in their hair and the chili-cheese sauce smelled much nicer than it tasted, but by bedtime a flock of seagulls as bright as flowers blossomed across the kite. And that was another day over.

    The dog from the sea did not come creeping like a wolf that night. He came trotting down the garden path like a friend on a visit. He was very pleased indeed with his fries and chili-cheese sauce. He swallowed in big hungry gulps and drank a bucketful of water.
    As he drank, Lulu noticed his paper-bag ears. They were all tangled up with bramble stems. The brambles were so knotted into his fur that Lulu could not pull them free.
    “I’ll have to get the kite scissors,” she whispered to the dog. She was very surprised a moment later to hear a voice call, “Here!”
    “Mellie!”
    “I’ve been watching,” said Mellie, passing the scissors out of the window. “Be careful not to make him too tame, Lulu!”
    “Why?” asked Lulu, beginning to snip.
    “Oh,” said Mellie slowly. “Because it might not be safe to be too tame...”
    The bramble strands pulled loose. The dog shook his paper-bag ears back into their proper places.
    “...if he doesn’t want to be caught,” said Mellie.

    Until that moment the dog had not noticed Mellie.
    Suddenly he did. Perhaps because the snipping had stopped. Maybe because his ears were free at last. Whatever the reason, the dog from the sea gave Mellie a swift glance. Sudden alarm seemed to show in his eyes. His body went still.
    “Good dog! It’s all right,” Lulu told him. “Good dog!”
    The alarm seemed to fade. Very slowly the dog’s tail began swinging again.
    “He trusts you,” said Mellie.
    He did, but he was still nervous. At the sudden rustle of the French fry bag he backed away. A moment later, when Lulu accidentally rattled the trash can lid, he vanished completely.
    “He’ll be back again tomorrow,” said Lulu.
    Tuesday was a day of gray skies and sudden showers.
    “There’s a cliff-top walk we really should try,” said Lulu’s father, getting out his map.
    Sam knew about maps and very long walks and he went and hid behind the sofa.
    “I know how he feels,” said Lulu’s mother, but she did not hide behind the sofa. She built a driftwood fire and settled down in