A Home for Rascal Read Online Free PDF Page A

door.
    “Just look at those scratches on the paintwork!” Mum cried.
    Auntie Gemma laughed. “I think you named him just right, Ellie!”

    “Rascal, no! Ellie, catch him, please!” Mum sounded cross. Rascal was sick of being shut in the kitchen, and was getting clever at sneaking out whenever anyone opened the door even a crack. “If he escapes again, then no walk today!”
    Ellie carefully shooed Rascal back in.“Sorry, Rascal! This is your room.” She turned to her mum. “You didn’t mean what you said about not going for a walk?” she asked worriedly.
    Mum sighed. “No, I suppose not. And we probably should start letting him out of the kitchen now he’s settled in. But he got halfway up the stairs twice last night, before your dad caught him. I think he wants to be with you.”
    Ellie imagined Rascal asleep on her bed. She looked at her mum hopefully. “Could I … just once?”

    “No! And don’t think I won’t notice if you try and sneak him into your room. He sheds those white hairseverywhere he goes!”
    Rascal looked over at Mum with big brown eyes, as she opened the fridge door. “Oh, yes, you’re very cute, but you’re not getting round me. Don’t try and pretend you’re starving, just because I’ve got the fridge open.” She frowned. “There should be some ham in here I was going to use for lunch. Max must’ve eaten it!”
    Ellie opened her mouth and then shut it again, as Max came into the kitchen.
    “Mum! I’m starving, what’s for lunch?”
    Mum glared at Max. “How can you possibly be hungry when you’ve eaten all that ham that was in here? Toast is what you’ll be getting now; there’s nothing left for sandwiches!”

    “I didn’t eat it!” Max protested.
    Mum folded her arms. “Like you didn’t eat that whole packet of biscuits last week?”
    “I did take the biscuits, I told you I did, but not the ham. This is so unfair!”
    “Fine. No lunch,” Mum snapped.
    “Um, Mum…” Ellie muttered. “It was me…”
    Mum looked at her wide-eyed. “You ate half a packet of ham? Ellie, you don’t even like ham. I always have to do Marmite for you!”
    “Rascal likes it,” Ellie whispered.
    Mum looked down at Rascal, sitting innocently by Ellie’s feet. “You fed it to Rascal? All of it?”
    “He was hungry…” Ellie stared down at the floor. She wasn’t used to Mum being cross with her. “And I thought he might need a little extra, with his first proper walk this afternoon. Sorry, Mum.”

    “Ellie, you’ll make him sick if you overfeed him,” Mum explained. “You really mustn’t give him anything that isn’t his proper food. And don’t take food out of the fridge without asking!” She frowned. “You’d better both be angels from now on, or the walk really can wait for another day!”
    Ellie nodded. “I will, and Rascal will too, I promise!”
    “I just hope he isn’t sick,” Mum muttered.
    “Hey, what about me?” Max put in.
    “What am I going to have to eat if Rascal’s had all the ham?”

Chapter Nine
Rascal’s First Walk
    â€œCan we go yet?” Ellie asked hopefully. Mum seemed to have been pottering about for ages. Luckily, the ham didn’t seem to have upset Rascal’s stomach, and Ellie had managed to hide her pair of flip-flops that Rascal had stolen from under her chair during lunch. Hopefully she could stick the flowery bits back on before Mum noticed.
    â€œWhy don’t you get his lead, Ellie, while I finish my cup of tea?” Mum smiled at her.
    Just then, Max came in dangling Rascal’s red lead, and Ellie’s face fell. Of course Max and Lila would want to walk Rascal too. She’d forgotten that, imagining it would be just her and Mum.
    Rascal looked at the lead uncertainly, and Ellie wondered if he remembered his trip to the vet’s. But he let Max clip it on. “Come on, Rascal,” Max called, leading him to the front door. Mum and Ellie followed, and Lila ran down the stairs to join