Lulu and the Dog from the Sea Read online

  When the beach emptied at nighttime he inspected the places where they had been. Sometimes he found a lost toy. These he carried away as if they were great treasures. The sand dunes were dotted with shoes and burst balls and other things he had found.

  The dogcatchers did not forget the dog from the sea. Every now and then they would return and try to catch him. They never could. The dog was too good at hiding and the sand dunes were too huge. The little sandy paths wound through them like paths in a maze.

  The dog from the sea knew them all. Every tangled path in the grass. Every tunnel beneath the bushes. Every secret sandy hollow. Every lookout place.

  One of the lookout places was right above the little white cottage. The dog from the sea depended on the cottage. Roasted chickens lived in the kitchen there, and whole boxes of dog biscuits lay unguarded on the grass.

  There was a trash can like a treasure chest too. Sometimes it vanished at night, but sometimes it didn’t. It depended on who was staying in the cottage.

  On Saturday night, right before Lulu’s father went to bed, he stepped outside and breathed a deep breath. There was a lovely smell of sea air and short green grass. There was an unlovely smell of something else.

  “I’m not!” said Lulu’s father. “I’m just not! I’m just not taking that trash can into the house at night!”

  Chapter Three

  Sunday

  When Lulu and Mellie woke up on Sunday morning, there, right outside the window, was Lulu’s father. He had a trash bag and a pointy stick and Lulu’s seaside shovel for scooping. There was garbage all over the garden—not just the little bit of garbage that Lulu’s family had thrown away, but also everything left behind from the people who had stayed in the cottage the week before.

  “The dog from the sea must have come to visit!” said Lulu, and she was pleased.

  “He made an awful mess,” said Mellie.

  “Perhaps we will have to take the trash into the house at night after all,” said Lulu’s mother at breakfast time, but she wrinkled her nose as she spoke.

  “Absolutely not!” said Lulu’s father. “I’ve thought of what to do. I’ll get some big rocks from the beach and use them as weights on the lid of the can.”

  “You’re not supposed to do that!” said Lulu. “There’s a sign on the beach that says No stones or rocks to be taken away.”

  “I won’t take them away,” said Lulu’s father. “I’ll just borrow them for a little while.”

  “Will you put them back?” asked Mellie.

  “Of course.”

  “Carry them right across the sand dunes back to the beach?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “And put them exactly where you found them? How will you remember?”

  “I’ll draw a map.”

  “What if someone sees you?” said Lulu. “Even if you draw a map and even if you take them back and even if they’re only borrowed, you’ll still look like a rock burglar!”

  For a moment Lulu’s father looked rather sad. He didn’t want to look like a rock burglar. Then he had a good idea.

  “I’ll smuggle them! Under my shirt or hidden in a bag! I’ll locate the rocks, draw a map, mark their positions, borrow them—borrow, not take!—and then I’ll smuggle them across the sand dunes! And use them on the trash can lid!”

  Lulu’s father looked very happy at this thought. He was pleased to have an excuse to do some smuggling on his seaside vacation.

  “It will be good for my fitness training,” he said. “I’ve decided to run the next marathon! This vacation I am going to do push-ups and weights and a lot of running. Anyone who likes can come with me!”

  “This vacation I am going to read and read,” said Lulu’s mother. “I never get time to read at home. I’ve brought six books, one for each day, and War and Peace for a spare! Anyone who likes can borrow the ones I’m not reading!”

  “This vacation I’m going to make my kite perfectly,” said Mellie. “Every part perfect, like the picture on the box. Anyone who likes can help me!”

  “This vacation,” said Lulu, “I’m going to find the dog from the sea, make friends with him, tame him so that he doesn’t run away, and—”

  That was as much as Lulu managed to say before everyone started talking at once, saying what a bad idea they thought it was, and how it could never happen, and even if it did, what then? It wouldn’t be kind to the dog from the sea to make friends with him and tame him. He would have to be left behind at the end of the week anyway.

  “Why?” asked Lulu. “What about the more the merrier, as long as I clean up after them?”

  “That’s hamsters and goldfish and rabbits and things!” her mother told her. “Not dogs! Think of Sam!”

  “Sam would hate it,” said Lulu’s father. “He’s an only-dog sort of dog.”

  That was true.

  Sam could put up with parrots and he really liked goldfish. He didn’t mind guinea pigs. He was only slightly annoyed by hamsters and rabbits.

  But dogs he could not stand!

  Sam thought dogs were smelly and noisy and greedy. They were his least favorite animals, even worse than cats.

  Sam didn’t know, and would never have guessed, that he was a dog himself.

  “But who will look after the dog from the sea?” asked Lulu.

  “Someone,” said her mother.

  “Not us,” said her father, and then both of them said, “Not sensible! Not going to happen! Not even slightly possible!”

  Lulu did not argue. She had found that arguing only made people argue back. It was better, she thought, to do exactly as you liked, quietly, with no fuss. Besides, what did her crazy family know about possible and impossible?

  As if it were even slightly possible that her father would ever run a marathon!

  Or that her mother would read six books in six days ending with War and Peace (which she had been trying to read ever since before Lulu was born).

  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.

  Chapter Four

  Monday and Tuesday

  On Monday Lulu’s family spent the day exploring the local fort. It had cannons around the walls and a telescope on top of the battlements. With the telescope you could look right over the sand dunes. Lulu looked for a long time while a fidgety line built up behind her, but she did not see the dog from the sea.

  A chilly wind blew over the battlements, straight through their fleeces and cold on their skin.

  “Let’s go home and make my kite,” said Mellie.

  On the box of Mellie’s kite, under, Includes everything needed to build this magnificent kite! it also said, Not suitable for children under the age of 36 months. Underneath this Lulu’s father had written: Or anyone living on a potholey road.

  The kite in the kit was plain white plastic. That was so that you could draw your own picture. This was the part that Mellie had looked forward to most. She planned to cover the white plastic with rainbow-colored seagulls.

  It was a very big kite. It would take a lot of rainbow seagulls to cover the whole surface.

  “Anyone who likes can draw seagulls on my kite,” said Mellie, tipping out felt pens all over the floor.

  The problem was, anyone couldn’t.

  The pens were all dried up. One after another Mellie pulled off their lids, discovered their ghostly shadows,
and flung them away.

  “It’s not fair!” she wailed.

  Lulu did not think it was fair either. “Brand new pens all dried up!” she exclaimed indignantly.

  “I didn’t use them once!” said Mellie sadly. “Well, once, maybe... Or a few times... I’ll never get this kite made. I might as well stop trying.”

  Bump, bump, bump went the car through the potholes on an emergency expedition to save Mellie from despair. They bought new pens and cotton candy and a mountain of french fries with chili-cheese sauce. The cotton candy got in their hair and the chili-cheese sauce smelled much nicer than it tasted, but by bedtime a flock of seagulls as bright as flowers blossomed across the kite. And that was another day over.

  The dog from the sea did not come creeping like a wolf that night. He came trotting down the garden path like a friend on a visit. He was very pleased indeed with his fries and chili-cheese sauce. He swallowed in big hungry gulps and drank a bucketful of water.

  As he drank, Lulu noticed his paper-bag ears. They were all tangled up with bramble stems. The brambles were so knotted into his fur that Lulu could not pull them free.

  “I’ll have to get the kite scissors,” she whispered to the dog. She was very surprised a moment later to hear a voice call, “Here!”

  “Mellie!”

  “I’ve been watching,” said Mellie, passing the scissors out of the window. “Be careful not to make him too tame, Lulu!”

  “Why?” asked Lulu, beginning to snip.

  “Oh,” said Mellie slowly. “Because it might not be safe to be too tame...”

  The bramble strands pulled loose. The dog shook his paper-bag ears back into their proper places.

  “...if he doesn’t want to be caught,” said Mellie.

  Until that moment the dog had not noticed Mellie.