Then there were only two of us left, just my brother and I. His kennel name was Buster because that name describes just what he was like. He would push and shove and bust himself at feeding time to make sure he got the largest share of the food; he would be the first one out of the kennel into our play run and really he was the bravest whippet of all of us. He was the boss. I was quiet and shy and the lady at the kennels never called me anything and so at 15 weeks old I still didn’t have a name. It made me feel quite sad.
Then one day a lovely lady and man came to the kennels and picked me to go home with them as their pet and I was called Charlie. At first I was called Dylan, then Billy, then Georgie but at last they decided Charlie was the best name of all.
I was given a lovely soft bed to lie on instead of the prickly straw in the kennel and I lived in the house with my new mum and dad. At night I went in the kitchen on my soft bed where, at first, I was very lonely and missed cuddling my big brother. I cried quite a bit but realised I couldn’t have lived with my big brother for ever. He was probably in his new home now with a new mum and dad so even if I went back to our kennel he wouldn’t be there anymore.
Everything was very strange to me; I had to wear a collar around my neck and also I was walked on a lead if I was taken outside the house, which seemed all the time to start with. I had to learn many things so that I could live in the house and when I did they told me I was a good boy. I was fed lovely chicken and meat and sometimes fish – how good was that?
My new dad took me to the vets where I met a very nice lady; well she was nice except when she gave me an injection which hurt just a bit. Oh blimey, I had to have another one of those and also what they called a microchip placed so that if I ever got lost, my address and telephone number would be there so people would know where I lived. Now I could go out walking on my lead anywhere.
Well, that’s all the serious stuff out of the way. Now to get on with my new life:-
Charlie and the Birds
It was a lovely morning, hot and sunny with blue skies and a big golden sun shining, and my new mum was doing the family washing in the kitchen. I thought I would get out of her way and explore the new garden to see if I could find any friends as I did still miss my brother to play with.
The garden was quite big with lots of lawns and little winding stone paths and many plants and trees. There was a big shed at the side of the garden with many things inside including my mum’s bicycle. There was a blue summerhouse at the back underneath a huge tall tree and a greenhouse filled with many more plants. This was very exciting and I found you could easily get lost if you took the wrong path. I explored everywhere and everything and was just having a rest on the large bench when a voice said “Who are you and what are you doing in my garden?” I jumped because I couldn’t see anyone. “I will have to chase you away because this is my garden” said the voice.
“Who and where are you?” I said quite bravely even though I was a bit frightened. Suddenly a big blackbird flew down from a tree and sat on the corner of the bench beside me. “I am called Blackie and I am the Head bird of this garden” he said. “Who are you?” I told him who I was and that I wanted to be friends with him but he said Head birds couldn’t be friends with just anyone. “I have a job to do making sure everything in this garden runs smoothly and that everybody is happy” he said, “and that means I can’t waste my time being friends with just anyone”.
“I’m not just anyone” I said to him “I am the new family pet and my name is Charlie and I am a bit lonely and everything is very strange to me. I am looking for a new friend and wish it could be you as you seem very nice.” “Well, we will have to see about that” he said as he chased a large magpie away from the bird’s feeding area.
He told me to meet him and all the other birds and animals of the garden at supper time down by the summerhouse where they would hold a meeting to decide together if a whippet puppy could be their friend and if so how he could help in their garden.
Feeling very pleased with himself, Charlie walked back through the kitchen door of the house and lay on his bed thinking of all the good times he might have with his new friend Blackie. He was even more pleased when his new mum gave him a large dish of lovely creamy milk to drink. He fell asleep thinking this new life might be very good to him.
It was getting near supper time when he woke up again. He cried at the door because he knew his new mum would let him out into the garden and he had a secret date to keep. He walked down the windy path behind the summer house to meet Blackie and was surprised to see so many others there to greet him.
Blackie introduced everyone to Charlie:- There was Mr and Mrs Owl, Mr and Mrs Percy Pigeon with two babies, Mr and Mrs Blue Tit with their three babies, Mrs Blackbird, Blackie’s other half with their three babies from the first clutch of eggs and three more babies from the second clutch of eggs and would you believe two more babies from the last clutch of eggs. No wonder Blackie was busy with all those babies to feed. Mrs Robin with her three babies, but there was no Mr Robin, Mr and Mrs Chaffinch with their three babies, Mr and Mrs Greenfinch with their three babies, Mr and Mrs Gold Crested Tit with their two babies and last but not least Mr and Mrs Red Legged Partridge with their three babies. Mrs Red Legged Partridge was only there for a minute as she had to rush back to her home as more eggs were ready to hatch out in her ground nest. Blimey, Charlie had never seen so many birds in one place before; in fact until he had met Blackie he had never seen a bird before.
Blackie flew on to the high post to get everybody’s attention so that he could find out what they all thought of this newcomer to their special garden and indeed to find him a job as everybody who lived in the garden had their own special job to do. This was a bit more complicated than usual because, they as birds could all fly quickly at the first sign of any danger, but could a whippet fly – they would have to find out.
“Come on, Charlie, get up here on this post with me and then see if you can fly down to the ground” said Blackie. Charlie jumped up to the high post and sat on the top with his new friend. “Now spread your wings and fly down to the ground.” said Blackie. Charlie looked everywhere, behind his neck, under his legs, behind his tail but he couldn’t find any wings yet alone spread them to fly with.
“But I haven’t got any wings,” said Charlie disappointedly, “I will have to use my four legs instead and run as fast as I can”. “Oh dear,” said Blackie “but if you can’t fly will you be quick enough to get away from the black cat and the tabby cat who come into the garden to try to catch us?”
“Oh yes,” said Charlie rather pleased with himself “I am a whippet and I can run very fast indeed, probably as fast as you can fly.” “Well, if you are sure,” said Blackie “We will have a race across the garden to see who is the fastest.”
So Charlie and Blackie lined up at the edge of the garden and Mr Owl whistled for them to start. Blackie flew and Charlie ran as quickly as he possibly could. They puffed and they blew and one ran and one flew and finally they reached the other end of the garden where Percy the Pigeon waited to judge who had won, but guess what? There was no winner – they both arrived together and it was a tie.
Charlie was very happy as everybody clapped and cheered. He was also happier still when his new friends clapped louder and louder when he told them all that really he didn’t have to run away from the cats as he wasn’t frightened of them at all. The cats were more frightened of him because he was a dog and cats didn’t like dogs very much. “Hurrah,” said Mrs Gold Crested Tit, “now we have someone to chase the cats away so that we need not be worried when we are teaching our babies to fly anymore”.
So now Charlie was the watchman for the garden and his job was to protect the birds in the garden, especially the babies from any dangers. Oh he really was going to love this new life. He wondered back in to the house and on to his bed and fell asleep feeling very much the hero and dreaming of all the adventures he was going to have protecting everybody.
The next day Charlie was up bright and early and ready for his new job. He wandered around the little pathways and then round to the front garden where Elsie the Red legged Partridge was sitting on her eggs. She had thrown some broken eggshells out of her nest as they had already hatched out and those chicks were lying in the sun close to their mother. “After just over three weeks of sitting here day and night, I will be glad when all my babies have hatched”, she said to Charlie “then I can have a wander around the garden just like you.”
Charlie moved on to where there was a tiny pond in the garden and barked when he saw another dog in the water. “Where did you come from?” he said to the other dog, “and what are you doing in my garden?” As he moved sideways, the other dog moved sideways and then when he moved back again so did the other dog. In fact, every time Charlie moved so did the dog in the water and would you believe he even looked like Charlie. “Come on out of there,” said Charlie, “I have to protect my new friends from strangers in our garden and you are a stranger.” Charlie was quite baffled that the other dog took no notice of him at all and didn’t move away.
Then he heard laughter from behind him and when he turned he saw Mr Owl and Blackie sitting on the bench laughing at him. “Why are you laughing at me when I am trying to do my new job?” Charlie said. “I am trying to chase the strange dog away and protect everybody.”
“We are laughing because the strange dog is really you Charlie. It is what we call a reflection so when you look in the water you can see yourself. That is why the other dog looks so much like you, because it is you! The same thing happens if you look in a mirror you will see yourself. When you go in the house, try to find a mirror hanging on the wall, look in it and you will see what I mean.”
Charlie felt a bit silly that he didn’t know what a reflection was but hey he was only a puppy and had to learn all these new things. Anyway the good news was that there was no strange dog to chase away so he could carry on his lookout around the rest of the garden.
He thought that next he might check out the vegetable patch area and so made his way around the winding path. What was that noise he could hear? It sounded like it was coming from the runner bean plants that were growing very tall with lots of red flowers and also beans on them. He stretched up to see what it was and realised it was a busy bee buzzing like mad as it landed on the red flower.
Charlie stood on his two hind legs to see more but as he did he felt himself being pushed upwards. As he looked down he could see that the soil under his feet was in a small mound and was getting higher and larger by the minute. He dropped to the ground on all four legs and watched in amazement as the mound grew and grew. Suddenly a black snout appeared at the top of the mound followed by a little black body. “Howdy” said a little gruff voice “where am I? I thought I was in the cottage vegetable garden but looking at you I am not so sure. You have a furry coat like mine but you have awfully long legs and a long body with a thin head and whiskers? What kind of animal are you?”
“My name is Charlie and I am the new whippet puppy pet who lives in the house. I am the new watchman for the garden looking after all my bird friends and I can look after you if you want me to, if you live in the garden although I am not quite sure why you are under the ground and not on top of it like all of us?”
“I live under the ground where it is dark and my name is Michael mole. I am partly blind but I have a good nose for smelling and with this I find many worms to eat. Sometimes I have to push the soil into a mound on top of the garden because I have to clear my tunnels and pathways to find more worms. Thank you for caring about me but the only protection I need is from people who try very hard to catch me in traps or with smoke in my tunnels. They don’t like me making my mounds in their gardens so if you see them trying to catch me, you could always warn me by barking loud.”
“I will certainly do that for you Michael mole” said Charlie, and as he spoke the little black body vanished under the ground again. “Well,” thought Charlie to himself, “whatever next!”
What with all that had happened to him this morning, Charlie thought he might go back in the house on his bed to think about it and so he did. He would go back out later after his nap.
He was woken by a voice calling him “Charlie, come on wake up, we are now going to the supermarket in the car to get the weekly shopping” said his new mum. Charlie looked up, stretched and wagged his tail quite pleased that he was going out. As they travelled in the car, his new dad opened the windows so that Charlie could get some fresh air. He sat on the back seat as they went along the road, looking out of the window, and tried very hard to catch the other cars and bicycles on the road. This was a really good game but they were travelling far too fast for him to catch them, still it was good fun trying.
They arrived at the supermarket car park and his mum told him he must now sit in the car quietly and be very good whilst she went inside to buy the shopping. Charlie sat and watched what seemed like hundreds of people walking in the car park, getting their shopping trolleys and then going into the shop to buy their groceries. He felt as if he had been sitting waiting there forever but then he spotted his mum and dad pushing their trolley towards the car. He watched as they put bread, butter, bacon, eggs and all sorts of food stuff into the car in the bags.
As he watched he had a wonderful idea – I could have a shop in the garden, he thought, by collecting the fruit and vegetables, and seeds and berries and then all my friends could visit me to get their food too. I could find some large leaves for them to carry the food in that could be used just like the bags that my mum used to carry her shopping in from her supermarket. Yes, I could have my very own garden supermarket!”
Charlie couldn’t wait to get home to put his plans into action. Once back he cried at the door to be let out into the garden and raced to the vegetable patch first. He picked beans and peas and then he went on to the fruit garden where he picked strawberries and blackberries. He found seeds and roots and just for good measure he picked the plums that he could reach growing on the big tree. Now he had to find that large leafed plant in the flower garden so that he could pick a few of the leaves to wrap the food in. He found it quite easily as it was so big and managed to get about twelve large leaves even though twice he fell over backwards because they were so hard to pull off. In fact, once he nearly fell into the water in the pond and then he would have looked just like the reflection he had seen this morning.
Blimey, all this work was very tiring for a puppy so he sat down on the grass for a short while to think about how he could make his shop He needed a table to put the food on so that his friends could see exactly what he had for them to eat. Better still, as he walked through the garden he spotted a large log of wood that would make an ideal table.
He began to set out all the fruit and vegetables and seeds and roots on the log and stepped back in excitement as they looked very good. Now he stood behind the log and waited for his friends to arrive. Charlie waited and waited but nobody came and he thought that perhaps this idea was not quite as wonderful as he had first thought. There had been hundreds of people at the supermarket this afternoon buying their food but at his shop he had not had even one customer.
Feeling very miserable Charlie walked slowly back to the house when he met Mrs Chaffinch and her babies just back from a walk. “Why Charlie, whatever is the matter,” she said,” you look very sad.”
“Yes, I am a very sad whippet,” Charlie said and told her all about his wonderful idea that went badly wrong.
“But you didn’t tell us, you had opened a shop” she said “so how did we know to come to get our food from it? Come on, lets go and see,” and with that she followed Charlie back to the shop. “Oh this is wonderful” said Mrs Chaffinch, “no more pecking and rooting for seeds and no more trying to fly with a large strawberry in my mouth. I will take two strawberries and a handful of seeds please. That will be enough to feed my family for two days and will save me so much time”
Charlie felt a bit better now and wrapped her goods in one of the big leaves so she could easily carry it back to her nest.
Well, within two minutes Charlie was so busy in his shop that he didn’t have time to think about anything. Mrs Owl, followed by Mrs Red legged Partridge, Mrs Pigeon and so it carried on until he had nothing left on the log. What a success that was! The busy mothers were thrilled with the new shop and said they would be back tomorrow and the next day and the next.
From now on Charlie would open the shop for an hour everyday. All the stock was grown or found in the garden and so it was all free to everyone who lived there.”
Today was a very good day?” Charlie thought, as he lay on his bed that evening.