The Puppy Present (Red Storybook) Read Online Free PDF Page A

never seen any before and it frightened him the way they roared and belched and rushed along at such a pace. It frightened him even more now that he knew they could squash things flat.
    Another bad thing was a big fierce dog that he met in a doorway. The dog took one look at Ginger and hurled itself at him, snarling and frothing, its lips pulled back over long yellow teeth. It was twice the size of Ginger. It could have snapped him in two with just one bite.
    Ginger screamed with terror and rolled overonto his back. From somewhere a man’s voice yelled, “Sable!
Leave
!”

    Sable backed off, but not before he had taken a quick snap. Ginger knew what the snap meant: “This is my territory! You keep away!”
    When Ginger wobbled to his feet he discovered that he had made a little puddle on the pavement. He looked round, nervously. Was someone going to hit him and tell him he was a bad boy? Maisie had never hit him, but her mum was always lashing out.
    Ginger was scared of Maisie’s mum. It hadn’t been so bad when Maisie was there to protect him, but Maisie didn’t seem to care about Ginger any more. She didn’t care if her mum shook him or kicked him or hurled him into the garden. He had just become a nuisance.
    Ginger put his tail between his legs and crept away. Away from the puddle and the big fiercedog. He hadn’t known there were dogs that attacked other dogs. It made him feel very small and insecure. He couldn’t trust people, he couldn’t trust dogs. Even the cat on the wall had spat at him when he had jumped up to say hello. Not like the lovely furry one that he remembered from the days when he had lived in a basket.
    Ginger was discovering that the big wide world could be a very frightening place.
    He kept on the move until in the end it grew dark and started to rain, and he thought that perhaps he had better go home. But where was home? Ginger no longer knew. He was lost!
    Some boys were coming towards him, shouting and laughing and kicking tin cans. One of them saw Ginger and called out to him.
    “Doggie, doggie! Come here, doggie!”
    Ginger cowered and slunk away. The boy held out a hand.
    “Here, doggie! Nice doggie! Want some food, doggie?”
    Ginger hesitated. The boy was offering him something. Something that smelt good. It smelt like… chocolate! Ginger remembered chocolate. Maisie had given him a tiny square at Christmas, as a ‘special treat’. He licked his lips. It seemed a long time since he had found the overturned dustbin and nosed out some food.
    Ginger crept forward, low to the ground, his ears flattened and his tail wagging hopefully. The boy held out the chocolate. As Ginger went to take it, a hail of tin cans came smashing into him. Bish! Bosh! Bash!

    The boys guffawed. They thought it really funny.
    “Har har har!” went the boys.
    One of them swooped on a bottle and booted it, very hard, straight at Ginger. The one that had held out the chocolate aimed a kick at Ginger’s head. The others set up a chant.
    “Get the dog, get the dog, get the dog!”

    Ginger turned and ran, as fast as his wobbly puppy legs would carry him. The boys galloped behind, whooping and shouting.
    “Get the dog, get the dog!”
    Ginger’s heart pounded in his rib cage. He had never been so scared in all his life. Another tin can caught him on the shoulder.
    “Get the dog, get the dog!”
    Maddened with fear, Ginger dashed out into the road. A car jammed on its brakes and pulled up with a screech only centimetres away from him. The driver leant out of his window and bellowed, angrily.
    “Get that dog off the road!”
    “It ain’t ours,” said one of the boys. And they went on their way, rather quickly, before they could be accused of causing an accident.
    The driver hooted furiously on his horn. In panic, Ginger bolted – straight down the road, into the path of a large container truck. There was a
thub
, as Ginger and one of the nearside front wheels came into contact.
    Ginger grunted. His body