Rascal: Running For His Life. Chris Cooper

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CHAPTER 1

      It wasn’t the noise of passing traffic that woke Rascal. It wasn’t the brightness of the morning sun either, as it peeked out from behind the clouds, or the breeze that rustled the leaves of the bushes around him.

      No, it was better than that. It was the smell of sausages. That and the wonderful sizzle they made as they cooked. To Rascal’s ears it was one of the best sounds in the world. It seemed to whisper, ‘Come and eat us, come and eat us! What are you waiting for?’

      When a dog is as hungry as Rascal was, he doesn’t need a second invitation.

      The sun was already quite high. Rascal had slept long after sunrise. He had arrived in this town late the night before. He was weak and exhausted and there was a little blood between the pads of one of his front paws. He had just wanted to slump in the nearest doorway and sleep, but he knew that he couldn’t do that. He’d tried that once before, a few towns back, and an angry shopkeeper had shooed him away first thing in the morning. It wasn’t the greatest way to wake up. Rascal knew now that he had to find a better hiding place before he could allow the blackness of sleep to fold itself around him.

      So, when all he’d wanted to do was curl up and close his eyes, the dog had forced himself to pad around this strange new town in search of a safe place. There was a small park near the square. Rascal had found a clump of bushes there and dug his way inside them. It wasn’t very comfortable and it wasn’t very warm, but that didn’t stop Rascal from falling into a long dreamless sleep almost immediately.

      The next thing he knew, it was morning and . . . that wonderful smell of sausages!