Princess Phoebe Read Online Free Page A

jam sandwich (his favourite). I promise to help Mum with the baby. I even promise to try and stop fighting with the twins.
    â€˜Now, that is tempting,’ Dad says. I can see he’s weakening.
    I decide I’d better do a demonstration, so I wash up a pile of dishes. I turn to make pleading faces at him in between plates as he sits on the sofa with Tag. I notice that Mum’s giving him looks, too, until, in the end, just before bed, he gives a big sigh and says crossly, ‘ All right !’
    I shout with joy. I kiss him and Mum, and then I text Jan. I’m so excited. Jan and I send texts to each other until midnight, planning all the stuff we’re going to do as dog owners. It’s brilliant.
    Next day at school, we carry out Jan’s idea for the other two puppies. We print off the advert, after we’ve checked a few spellings:
    FREE TO GOOD HOMES!
    TWO 10 WEEK OLD CHARMING GREYHOUND PUPPIES WANT LOVING HOMES WITH SOFAS AND GOOD FOOD
Apply Ellie or Jan
    It seems worth it to say about the food and the sofas, to make sure the puppies will be comfortable, wherever they go.
    All we have to do is to pass the advert round in our year. It turns out that loads of kids, and their parents, want them, so Jan and I take trips up to the allotment to show the puppies off and choose who to give them to. In the end, the same family takes both of them. They’ve already got two greyhounds but they live in a village and have plenty of room for more. That’s the thing about greyhounds. You can never have too many.
    We’re so happy as we send everyone to their new homes, and Jan and I take Princess and Jade at the same time. Queenie’s overcome with excitement and trots off with Margaret to her warm cosy house, without a backward glance at me. I know I’ll see her often so, when it comes to it, I don’t mind. I tell myself she’s Margaret’s dog now, and I have Princess to love. It’s a perfect story, which should end there. But for me and Princess, it’s only just beginning.

4
Princess
    Once the puppies have gone to their new homes and Queenie has taken off with Margaret, Jan and I can begin our new lives as proud dog owners. At last, I have my own dog that I can love and train, and who can become my best friend in life. I can’t afford a collar or lead, but I find a bit of rope in a corner of the allotment that Margaret says I can have. I walk home with Princess, feeling like a princess myself with such a beautiful greyhound walking beside me through the town. Well, not quite walking. I need to do a bit of training there , I think, as Princess hauls me down the hill at twenty miles an hour.
    When I get home, Dad’s there at the gate.
    â€˜Everything’s ready for her,’ he says, pointing to the open shed. ‘I’ve put down some bedding and water.’
    â€˜What do you mean, Dad? She’s not sleeping in the shed!’
    â€˜Of course she is,’ he says, ‘you surely didn’t think she’d be coming into the house? She’s a greyhound , Ellie, she’ll expect to be out of doors. You’ll have her all day to play with.’
    â€˜She’s my dog, Dad, she needs to be with me!’
    â€˜Ellie, don’t be silly. She can’t possibly come indoors, what with Tag and all you kids. Now don’t start being difficult or she’s off down the rescue this minute. And don’t go crying because it’ll do no good.’
    Dad takes the rope from me and pulls poor Princess towards the shed. With one movement, he slips her neck free and pushes her in with his leg, shutting the door after her. ‘She’ll be just fine in there. Now, come in and help your mother.’ He takes me by the arm and raises his voice as I pull back.
    â€˜ That’s enough, Ellie !’
    I’m not strong enough to get away from him and I can hear Princess starting to howl and scratch at the shed door. It’s not how I’d