Lulu and the Dog from the Sea (4 page)

Or even that Mellie would perfectly finish her kite, which was already spread all over the living room floor with the string in knots and the instructions missing.

“Never mind,” said Mellie. “I never bother with boring instructions anyway.”

“How can you make it without instructions?” wondered Lulu.

“I’ll just copy the picture on the box.”

“It’ll take ages.”

“Not if you help,” said Mellie, looking around to make sure Lulu’s parents were out of the way, and adding, “You help me with my kite and I’ll help you with the dog from the sea.”

Lulu thought about how much she liked Mellie, who never thought anything was impossible.

“I’ll help you as soon as we come back from the beach,” she promised.

The way to the beach was straight out the door and over the sand dunes.

A path of soft, sliding sand climbed up and down.

A leg-aching sort of path.

“We should have brought camels,” said Lulu’s father as they slipped and dropped things and tumbled over Sam, who kept stopping for rests where people were about to walk.

Lulu was looking out for the dog from the sea. She had filled her pockets with dog biscuits before she left the cottage. Now she lagged behind the others and scattered them along the path as she walked.

Just in case
, thought Lulu.

Not many people came to their end of the beach. Most of the other families on vacation were far away. The umbrellas and picnic blankets where they had set up their camps looked like tiny bright patches in the distance.

Lulu’s family made a camp too, a very large one, because there seemed to be so many things they could not do without. Books and shovels and training weights, the frisbee and the towels. The picnic blanket and picnic things. The windscreen because Sam did not like chilly breezes. Sam’s beanbag, so that he could snooze in comfort, and, of course, his dog food dish and his water bowl and a big bottle of water.

The dog from the sea found his trail of biscuits very quickly, and after that it did not take him long to find Lulu and the camp. From high up on the sand dunes he watched everything that happened. The longer he watched, the more interested he became.

Some of the things he saw were very puzzling. Lulu’s mother, for instance, reading her book, turning the pages, not looking up, saying, “Hmmm, hmmm,” when anyone spoke to her.
A strange way to behave
, thought the dog from the sea.

Lulu and Mellie were not so mysterious. They were chasing a round toy that flew through the air. As soon as they caught it they flung it away. They made happy noises unless they fell over. Then they squealed. If they squealed very loudly the person with the book said, “Hmmm?” But she still didn’t look up.

Lulu’s father was not mysterious at all. He was collecting things, just like the dog did himself sometimes. Safe at a distance, the dog watched him toil through the sand dunes—backward and forward, smuggling rocks.

Then there was Sam.

The dog from the sea had been so busy looking at the people that he did not notice Sam until Lulu’s mother put down her book and called, “What about our picnic?”

Then he noticed him.

Sam ate biscuits and pizza and jam drops and wheat bread and sandwiches, and the dog from the sea watched every bite. He wanted the sandwiches so much he cried a little as he saw them vanish, but the thing he longed for most of all was Sam’s water bowl.

The beach was a thirsty place for a dog to live. The golf course stream at one end was guarded by golfers. The kiddie pool at the other end was guarded by paddlers.

When the dog from the sea saw Sam’s water bowl brimming with clear water he crept closer and closer.

The food was all gone. The last of the pizza and jam drops and wheat bread and sandwiches all eaten up.

Lulu’s mother put down her book, stretched her arms, and wandered off to collect shells.

Lulu’s father did some stretches and set off to jog along the surf.

Only Lulu and Mellie and Sam were left.

The dog from the sea was hardly frightened at all of people who were Lulu and Mellie’s size. And he had a strong feeling that he could run faster than Sam.

And he was very thirsty. He took a step forward, and then another, creeping through the sand-dune grasses... then suddenly Sam saw him.

“
RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!
” barked Sam.

“
RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!
” And he tumbled off his beanbag.

“
RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!
” And he actually set off at a teddy bear trot toward the dog from the sea.

The dog from the sea sank lower and lower into the blue-green grasses as Sam came near.

He sank until he was invisible.

Then he gave a great leap and jumped right over Sam.

He landed in front of the water bowl. There was a sound like a drain, and the bowl was empty—slurped dry in one enormous slurp by the dog from the sea.

“
RUFF!
” roared Sam.

The dog from the sea ran, trampling his great sandy paws over Sam’s beanbag on the way.

“
RUFF!
” howled Sam furiously, and he would have gone after him if Lulu had not grabbed his collar.

“Shush!” she told Sam, while Mellie refilled his water bowl, and to the dog from the sea Lulu called, “Good dog! It’s all right! Good dog!”

High on the sand dunes the dog heard and was happy.

He had never been called a good dog before.

He liked it.

Lulu and Millie did not see the dog from the sea again that day. In the afternoon they walked into the town to bounce on the giant trampolines. That was fun. Afterward they went back to the cottage to start work on Mellie’s kite.

Even with all the family’s help that was not easy at all.

Includes everything needed to build this magnificent kite!
read the writing on the box.

Lulu’s father said there had been a printing error. He said it should read
nothing
instead of
everything
.

The bare little cottage was not much help. It didn’t contain any useful kite-making things. Just before the shops closed they sent Lulu’s father out in the car to buy scissors and glue and something sharp that would drill tiny holes.

“And while you are shopping you might get a couple of new mugs,” said Lulu’s mother. “And some bread and some salad and some sausages and a can opener that works. And a dish towel or two would be useful...”

Lulu’s father groaned. Shopping was his least favorite thing to do and driving through potholes was his second least favorite. He drove away before they could think of any more things they needed.

“Scotch tape,” remembered Mellie, watching the dust fly up as he bumped down the road.

“More dog food and a frying pan,” added Lulu’s mother. “Oh well, we’ll send him again tomorrow! Poor thing! Never mind. We’ll be extra nice to him when he comes back.”

They were very kind to Lulu’s father when he came bumping home. They let him barbecue the sausages, and afterward they played softball with him and then they helped him pile his smuggled rocks onto the trash can lid, and then they all went to bed.

Everyone went to sleep at once.

Except Lulu.

Lulu thought about the dog from the sea.

She thought about the smuggled rocks piled up on the trash can.

And she thought how painful it would be if those rocks were to fall on anyone’s nose.

As soon as Lulu had thought these thoughts she climbed out of bed.

And then out of the window.

Then she went to the trash can and began lifting the rocks from its lid. She had to concentrate hard while she was doing this, because of the danger of dropping them on her bare feet. She did not look up until she had lifted down the last rock, and then she nearly jumped out of her skin.

The dog from the sea was creeping toward her like a hungry wolf.

(“I think I would have screamed,” said Mellie, when Lulu told her the next day.)

Lulu managed not to scream. Instead she said, as she had said before, “Good dog! It’s all right! Good dog!”

The dog’s tail began to swing with pleasure.

“Good dog,” said Lulu encouragingly, and she lifted the lid from the trash can and fished out a burned sausage.

The dog ate all the burned sausages, and he drank two buckets full of water (collected for him by Lulu by way of the bedroom window). Then he and Lulu sat down together, and Lulu petted him, being careful not to touch the itchy patches where his fleas had made him scratch away his fur. Often she said “Good dog” as she petted, and every time she said it the dog’s tail beat with happiness.

That was how Lulu and the dog from the sea became friends.