Maybe Charlie would get one for being the most unusual breed! Bella couldn’t wait to go on the computer at home and look up all about Labradoodles on the Internet.
The school bell started ringing.
“Back to class, everyone,” said Mrs Frost.
Everyone headed for the classroom door, chattering about the Summer Fair. Bella glanced out of the window. She could see her friend Sophie, and her little brother, Louie, lining up to go back inside. It was a shame playtime was over. Apart from the grey cloud over the school hall, it was a perfect summer’s day. Now Bella wouldn’t be able to go outside until much later.
Bella looked at the grey cloud over the school hall again. And she realised it wasn’t a cloud at all.
“Fire!” Bella shouted. She pointed. “The school hall’s on fire!”
Everyone rushed to look. They could see flames shooting out of the hall roof. The smell of burning swept through the open window of the classroom. It made Bella cough.
“Oh, my goodness,” Mrs Frost gasped. “Quickly, everyone. Outside!”
The fire bell started ringing loudly. Children jostled and pushed. Teachers shouted. Smoke was starting to drift down the corridors.
“No need to panic!” called Mrs Frost in a loud, clear voice as Bella filed towards the outside doors with everyone else. “Straight to your meeting points on the playing field, please! Everyone out! As quickly as possible!”
Bella felt scared. She’d never seen a proper fire before. The flames were rushing over the hall roof now. The sky was changing colour as the smoke began to blot out the sunshine.
The school had had a fire drill only last week, so Bella knew where her meeting point was. For the first time, she realised how important fire drills were.
There was an explosion of sirens. Two fire engines screeched up outside the school.
Firemen scrambled for their hoses. Soon, fierce jets of water were dousing the hall roof. Bella stood helplessly with her class on the playing field. She could hear some of the children crying as they watched.
Bella couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Her school was burning down!
Dream Dogs on Wheels
“Mum!” Bella said feebly. “I can’t breathe!”
“Did you breathe in too much smoke?” Bella’s mum Suzi moaned. “Oh, my goodness, do we have to go to the hospital?”
“No,” Bella gasped. “You’re just squeezing me…too tightly!”
Suzi let go. Bella took a deep breath of fresh sea air. All over the beach, she could see parents cuddling their children. Pepper was barking and running wildly round in circles.
From here, it looked like the fire at the school had finally gone out. A mixture of steam and smoke still billowed around the buildings. Crowds of people stood watching.
“Oh, my life!” said Suzi. She gathered Bella and Louie in for another crushing hug. “When the school called, I thought my heart was going to stop!”
“Mum!” Louie grumbled, pushing Suzi off. “I’m not a baby!”
Suzi wiped her eyes. “You’ll always be my babies,” she said in a trembly voice. “Both of you. I can’t believe this has happened! How did the fire start?”
“Don’t know,” Bella said. “The fireman are going to spend the rest of the week checking.”
“Whoopee!”
Louie whooped. “Three days off school!”
“You’ll miss football tomorrow,” Bella reminded her little brother.
Louie’s face fell. He was totally football-mad and he’d been playing in the school team since the start of term.
“They’ll still do football though, right?” he checked hopefully. “We’ve got a match next week that’s really important. It’s going to be my first game and I’m going to be man of the match, not Jamie even though he’s really good.”
“I expect football will be cancelled too,” Suzi said, and Louie groaned.
“Now,” Suzi went on, “since I’ve got you a little earlier than expected, you’ll have to come with me to my next job. I’ve got an appointment at the top of town.”
Bella was confused. Customers came to Dream Dogs. Not the other way round. “You mean, someone from the top of town is bringing their dog to the salon?” she checked.
Suzi suddenly smiled. It was the first time Bella had seen her smile since she’d come to collect them off the playing field.
“I mean exactly what I say,” Suzi said. “I’ve got a surprise for you both at home. I think we can all use a bit of good news today, don’t you?”
Suzi refused to say anything else. Bella badgered her mum for clues. Even Louie was curious enough to stop grumbling about football and try to guess their mum’s secret.
They came off the beach and walked towards Dream Dogs. And at last, Bella saw the secret for herself.
Parked outside the dog parlour was her mum’s Dream Dogs van. But attached to the back was a strange pink trailer. DREAM DOGS MOBILE DOG-WASH was spelled out in dark pink letters. In smaller letters along the bottom, Bella read: Paws for Thought. The Pet Shop for All Your Pet’s Needs.
“I got the local pet shop to sponsor me!” said Suzi proudly as Bella and Louie rushed over to look. “They are helping me pay for it! Now I can take the business to all those people who can’t come to the salon. People without a car, for example. Older people, and people with disabilities. Isn’t it great?”
Suzi opened the back of the trailer. Inside was a bath and a shower unit, a tank of water and an electric pump. There was a cupboard full of towels. Another little cupboard held shampoo bottles. Both cupboards had lockable doors, to stop the towels and shampoos from falling out as the trailer drove along. Pepper jumped in and sniffed at the bath.
“It’s brilliant, Mum!” Bella gasped.
“Come on then,” said Suzi, checking her watch. “My appointment is at three o’clock sharp!”
They drove back towards the centre of Sandmouth. Smoke was still hanging over the school and part of the town was coned off. Bella saw some of her friends walking along the pavement with their parents. She grinned and waved. Her friends’ eyes grew round as they saw the new pink Dream Dogs trailer trundling past. Pepper put his head out of the window and barked. He loved the feeling of the wind in his ears when they drove along.
“We need number twenty-three on this road,” said Suzi, peering at the numbers on the houses
