1
Scout hid behind the stack of baked-bean cans and waited. The supermarket was busy with Saturday morning shoppers. She knew this was the moment when Frank Furter, the notorious sausage thief, would strike again. He could steal a salami from a sandwich or a hot dog from a hot-dog stand without ever being seen. No police dog had caught him in action yet.
No one knew just how Frank Furter stole the sausages. But Scout thought she knew. She’d worked it out and now she was ready. She looked up at the ceiling of the supermarket and waited for Frank’s next move.
High above people’s heads, one white ceiling tile slid slowly sideways. Frank’s face appeared in the gap, spying down on the fresh-meat counter. Scout could see the bungee cord tied around his chest. She’d have to be quick on her feet to catch him.
Down came Frank.
“Gotcha!” shouted Scout.
She pounced, wrapping the string of sausages around and around him, tying him up in a big sausage knot.
Everyone cheered. Frank Furter had been caught at last, and Scout was their hero.
* * *
“Scout!”
“Scout!”
Scout woke up from her daydream.
“Come on, Scout,” said her mom. “Finish your breakfast. You can’t be late for school today.”
“Do you think Frank Furter will ever be caught?” said Scout.
Scout’s dad put down his paper. “He’s very clever. No one has worked out just how he steals the sausages.”
“But how do you know it’s him?” asked Scout.
“Frank’s pawprints are found all over the crime scenes,” said Scout’s dad. He shook his head. “Your mom and I have been working on this investigation for months. If we don’t catch him before the weekend, the village sausage festival will have to be canceled.”
“Canceled?” said Scout. “But it’s the most famous sausage festival in the world.”
“I know,” said Mom. “But unless Frank is caught, no one’s sausages are safe. These are dark times. There hasn’t been a case like this since Peppa Roni the Italian Spinoni hijacked Burt the Butcher’s truck.”
Scout frowned. “If anyone can catch Frank, you and Dad can.”
Scout’s mom sighed. “I hope so, Scout. I hope so.”
Scout’s mom and dad were well-known police dogs. They were loved by the villagers and feared by burglars. Until the recent spate of sausage robberies, there hadn’t been a crime in Little Barking for three years.
“Frank trained to be a police dog with us when we were at Puppy Academy,” said Scout’s mom. “He had a thing about sausages even back then.”
“Frank Furter was a police dog?!” said Scout. “But he should know not to break the law.”
Scout’s dad looked across at her. “There have been a few police dogs who have forgotten their vows.”
Scout put her paw to her chest. “I vow to be honest, brave, and true, and to serve my fellow dogs and humans too.”
“And above all else, be kind.” Scout’s mom smiled. “I’m sure you will make a great police dog one day.”
Scout puffed out her chest in pride. She was a German shepherd. She wanted to be a police dog like her mom and dad. She wanted to catch burglars, find lost children, and keep everyone in Little Barking safe.
“You look sharp in your new collar,” said Scout’s dad.
“I have to look my best today,” said Scout. “Our first test for our Care in the Community badge is to present ourselves to Major Bones.”
Scout went to the Sausage Dreams Puppy Academy for working dogs, where she was training to become a police dog. There were all sorts of puppies at the academy. Some were training to be sheepdogs. Others were training for water rescue or mountain rescue. And others wanted to assist humans who were blind or hard of hearing. There were so many different jobs for the puppies to choose from.
“Don’t forget your coat,” said Scout’s mom. “There’s more rain forecast for today.”
Scout’s dad looked at the water pooling outside the kennel. “The river is rising and the duck brigade is on standby for any flooding. The new houses by the river are at risk if it keeps raining like this.”
Scout put on her coat and looked at the row of badges she’d earned so far. She hoped she could add the Care in the Community badge by the end of the day.
* * *
Scout set off for the Puppy Academy. Despite the rain, she was feeling happy. She trotted through the main street of Little Barking. The village was busy with humans on their way to work and to school. Ahead, a crowd had gathered outside the butcher’s shop. Scout pushed her way through to find out what the fuss was about.
Burt the Butcher was standing in the doorway, red-faced and shaking his fist in the air. The meat trays in his shop window were sausage-less.
“The sausage thief has struck again!” shouted Burt.
There were gasps of horror from the crowd.
“The sausage festival will be canceled,” wailed one woman.
Scout looked around at the shocked faces, but she knew it was too late to do anything. Frank Furter, the master cold-meats criminal, would be far away already.
Scout set off again. She was weaving her way in and out of parents with strollers and children on their way to school when she stumbled upon something on the ground.
It was a threadbare teddy with a missing eye and a bandage on its paw. It lay in a puddle with a big, muddy footprint on its tummy.
It looked sad and lonely. Scout sniffed it. Beneath the mud and water, it smelled of strawberry shampoo and cheese-and-pickle sandwiches.
Scout knew that someone loved this teddy. She looked around to see if anyone was looking for it, but everyone was hurrying to get out of the rain.
A human child must have dropped this on the way to school, she thought. Maybe she should take it to the school, but she knew that would make her late for her test. Maybe she should leave it here. Whoever lost it might find it on the way home.
Scout sat the teddy on a bench and walked on, but deep inside she just knew that someone wanted this teddy back. She couldn’t leave it. Scout turned around, picked up the teddy, and trotted to the school. She followed the long line of children to the school gates. A small girl smelling of strawberry shampoo was sobbing in her mother’s arms.
Scout trotted up and pushed the teddy into the girl’s hands.
“Eddie!” cried the girl. “You’re alive!” She hugged her teddy tight against her.
“Clever pup,” said the girl’s mother, patting Scout on the head. “However did you find him?”
Scout wanted to tell her where she’d found the teddy, but she knew humans didn’t understand woofs and barks, so she just wagged her tail instead.
The girl reached into her bag and offered Scout a cheese-and-pickle sandwich, but at that moment the school bell rang. It was time for Scout to go to school too.
She turned and ran. She couldn’t be late. She had to make it to Puppy Academy on time.
Text copyright © 2015 by Gill Lewis
Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Sarah Horne
