Dog Gone Read Online Free PDF Page A

through the cemetery. She yelled over her shoulder, ‘Shut up, biscuit-face!’
    Sometimes I wished I had the guts to be as rude as my sister. But I did feel a bit sorry for old Arnott. Lots of kids used her place as a short cut, knowing it upset her.
    Molly and I were both puffing by the time we made it to the river. So much for my plan. If I was going to have any chance of meeting up with the ghost, I’d have to work out a way to come here on my own.
    When we got back, Mr Ironclad’s voice was booming from the kitchen.
    Molly disappeared to her room.
    â€˜Hello there, Ish,’ Mr Ironclad said. ‘I came to see if there was any news of Lucky. I’m sure he’ll turn up. Probably still tucking into that enormous fish he got away with. He’ll be home when he gets hungry.’
    â€˜Yes.’ I said the word, but I wasn’t sure I believed it.
    â€˜No fish today, lad?’
    â€˜Nah. They weren’t biting.’ They didn’t get a chance to. My stupid sister took over and kept reeling the line in every two seconds. ‘Maybe I’ll try later.’
    â€˜So it’s cereal and toast for you two, is it?’ Gran put a piece of bread in the toaster. ‘Where’s Molly?’
    â€˜Reading, probably.’
    Hearing Mr Ironclad mention Lucky made his disappearance seem even more real. While I’d been out fishing, I’d half expected him to appear from behind a log, like he had the day Dad and I found him when he was a puppy. I thought about his name and the reason we’d given it to him. Lots of times my dog really had been lucky.
    When Lucky was a puppy, he got into Gran’s chook yard and killed five chooks. It was lucky Gran didn’t kill him . He also chased Gran’s cat, Splat, who had a big white patch on her back that looked like a paint spot, out onto the road just as a car was coming.
    Lucky lived up to his name. So did Gran’s cat.
    Things were a bit strained between Gran and us for a while after that. She nearly banned Lucky forever. But Mum convinced her to let him come. I was like a lost soul without that dog, Mum had said. Thankfully, Gran had given in.
    As if Mr Ironclad had read my thoughts, he let out a huge sigh. ‘All the same, I couldn’t sleep last night for thinkin’ about that old pooch.’
    â€˜I keep telling you, Henry. He’ll be back. I know you love that dog almost as much as Ish.’ Gran buttered the toast and put it in front of me, next to my cereal.
    â€˜I do, Maggie. I hope you’re right about him comin’ back.’
    When I’d finished breakfast, I went to my room. I had to think of a way to find Lucky. I sat next to his bed and picked up his teddy. It was pretty mangled from all the tugs-of-war. I closed my eyes and let my mind go back to the time me and Lucky and Dad went camping …
    Day 2 - A Bad Bite
    Lucky lies on the vet’s table
    he’s breathing
    like a steam train
    puff puff puff puff
    I pat his damp brown fur
    with long slow strokes
    an hour ago
    we were building a campfire
    the tiger snake was still
    in its hiding place
    I closed Grandpa’s poetry journal and hoped with all my heart that Lucky would live up to his name this time.

Chapter 8

    â€˜ Run to starboard ,’ growled the voice.
    I was trying to, but I could only run in slow motion. This was particularly frustrating, because I was trying to find Lucky and I was in a lot of danger. I was in the middle of a wild storm, out at sea. Any minute I was going to be washed overboard, and Lucky was being kept prisoner on the boat.
    Panic was eating into my chest. Starboard. Which way was starboard? It was times like this I wish I’d paid more attention to interesting facts. Why didn’t I store them away in a labelled file in my brain like my sister did? Mine were chucked in a box labelled ‘ Sort Later’ . Port and starboard – which was which? Why didn’t the voice call