Unleashed! Read online

  The two policewomen dragged the man to his feet and led him away. Another police officer spoke into a walkie-talkie issuing orders to ‘Get a search warrant’ and ‘Raid the animal shelter at Braxxby’. The fourth man began a meticulous search for more evidence.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Mio, walking over, to Officer Pressman. ‘You can use this for your case. I filmed everything. Including you and Clem.’ She grinned as she added, ‘Now you can see which is your good side.’

  ‘You were filming?’

  ‘Everything.’

  Darcy also walked over, saying, ‘And taking photos with a rapid shot and flash. There should be some beauties in this lot.’ He handed over the camera.

  Officer Pressman whistled. ‘All that’s left is to call Animal Rescue and get these poor dogs taken care of.’ She grinned as she said, ‘And maybe a ride in a police car home?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘Yay!’

  ‘Cool!’

  Suddenly, Bryce stopped. He looked at Officer Pressman in horror. ‘That video,’ he began, ‘I, um…it shows me picking the lock. Can that be used as evidence against me?’ His heart skipped a beat as he waited for her answer.

  Officer Pressman put her hand on his shoulder. ‘Son. That video makes you a hero.’ Bryce slumped with relief. ‘Now, do you want that lift home with the siren on or off?’

  ‘On!’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  ‘You’re lucky you were allowed to bring her home,’ said Mr Lark. The kids were sitting around his kitchen table, making rocky road. Tong was there, too. And so was the beagle. She sat in Clem’s lap, her lips drawn back in a smile, wagging her tail as Clem tickled behind her ears. Every so often the dog tipped back her head to give Clem a big wet lick.

  ‘Weren’t we just? When the vet checked her over this morning we found out that she really isn’t microchipped. No-one knows where she comes from. Lucky for us.’

  Mr Lark grinned at the dog nuzzling into Clem’s neck. ‘Lucky for her, too. Now, what are you going to call her?’

  Darcy groaned. ‘Don’t start! We’ve been arguing all night.’

  ‘As well as convincing Dad we should keep her.’

  Mio smiled as she broke up a large block of chocolate into a bowl then asked, ‘How did you manage that?’

  ‘Easy.’ Clem fondled the dog’s ears. ‘We told Dad that as he’s home so little…’

  Darcy continued ‘…and as there’s so many nasty characters out there…’

  ‘…that we need a guard dog.’

  The dog rubbed her head against Clem’s hand then lay back, her paws waving in the air as she showed everyone her white belly.

  Mio grinned. ‘Some guard dog!’

  Bryce lined a slice tin with foil as Darcy grabbed another block of chocolate and started to break it up, too. ‘Why don’t you call her something with attitude? Like Rebel?’

  Clem flicked her hair out of her eyes and pulled a face. ‘Darcy wants to call her Lou Lou.’

  Bryce shook his head and chuckled. ‘Sounds like a toilet.’

  Clem slapped her palm on the table, saying, ‘That’s what I said!’ She held the dog up for all to see. ‘Look at her. She’s too beautiful to be named after a loo.’

  ‘I agree. She is beautiful.’ Mio looked at the tan floppy ears, the white snout and the most soulful black eyes that looked like they were rimmed with kohl. ‘What about utsukush! It means beautiful in Japanese.’

  ‘Bit of a tongue-twister,’ said Clem.

  ‘Vietnamese word for beautiful is ,’ said Tong.

  Clem smiled. ‘Both of them are lovely but they’re not quite right.’ She turned the dog round to look her in the face, then rubbed noses with her.

  Darcy pretended to shudder as he flipped the last piece of chocolate into the bowl.

  ‘You’re a beautiful girl,’ said Clem in a singsongy voice. ‘Yes, you are.’

  Mr Lark patted the dog’s forehead. ‘Why don’t you call her Bella?’ He looked around the table. ‘Means beautiful in Italian. And it’s a tad easier to say.’

  Clem looked into the dog’s eyes and asked, ‘What do you think, little miss? Do you like Bella?’ The dog wagged her tail, her ears pricked, eyes darting around the table.

  ‘How stupid are you?’ Darcy shook his head. ‘As if she’s going to answer.’

  ‘Bella!’ called Mio.

  Woof!

  Clem whirled around to face her brother. ‘See?’ Then, she turned back to the dog. ‘Bella!’

  Woof!

  Bryce laughed. ‘Looks like that’s settled, then.’ He leaned over and shook the dog’s paw, saying, ‘Pleased to meet you, Bella.’

  Mr Lark did the same. ‘Hello, Bella. Bet you’d love some of this, but chocolate’s no good for dogs.’ He put the bowl into the microwave to melt the chocolate. ‘You’re going to have to watch her, Clem. Beagles are very fond of food.’

  Clem rolled her eyes. ‘A typical Jacobs!’

  Mr Lark laughed. He removed the bowl and stirred the chocolate to make sure there were no lumpy bits then put it back on the table. From a cupboard he pulled out the rest of the ingredients: one packet of white marshmallows; one packet of pink marshmallows; some soft jelly worms; some crushed nuts and sultanas.

  Bryce threw the jelly worms into the mixture as well as a handful of nuts. ‘Here, Tong.’ He pushed the sultanas across the table. ‘Put about the same amount of these in. We call this rocky road. It’s my favourite!’

  Mr Lark busied himself with opening the marshmallows. He gave a packet each to Mio and Bryce. ‘Add these and stir quickly. We don’t want them to melt.’

  Darcy grabbed the spoon and blended in all the ingredients, then he tipped the contents into the tin and spread them out. ‘Bags lick the bowl!’

  ‘Bags the spoon!’ Between Darcy and Clem the others didn’t get a look-in.

  Tong frowned as he asked, ‘Where bag?’

  Mr Lark chuckled. ‘Not a real bag. “Bags” means you get something before anyone else can get it.’ He took the tin and put it in the fridge.

  ‘In other words,’ said Mio, licking some chocolate off her fingers, ‘they’re acting like pigs.’

  Tong’s eyes opened wider. ‘Pig?’

  ‘Never mind. You’ll get English soon enough.’ Mio reached over and patted Tong’s hand. ‘I should know. Took me a good twelve months or more.’

  Tong didn’t look convinced.

  Ten minutes later the slice was removed and cut into chunks. The kids dug in, all except Tong.

  ‘Mmmmm.’

  ‘Good.’

  Even Mio was reaching for more.

  ‘Yummy.’ Bryce compared the squishy marshmallow to the crunchy nuts and decided he liked the chocolate bits best. He pushed the tray towards Tong, mumbling, ‘Here. Have some.’

  Tong picked up a piece of rocky road. He sniffed it, then turned it over in his hand.

  ‘It’s good. Won’t hurt you.’ Bryce polished off a second piece. ‘See?’

  Tong took a nibble. He chewed it up, pushing it around in his mouth. ‘Ngon! Very good.’ Then he smiled as wide as tomorrow and took another bite.

  Clem turned to Mr Lark, telling him, ‘Bella’s so clever. She sat in her basket in front of my bike and didn’t jump out.’

  ‘Another Freewheeler,’ said Mr Lark.

  ‘Yes, she is.’ Clem held out Bella’s paw and put her hand over the top. ‘Freewheeler.’ She looked around the room, saying, ‘Come on, everyone.’ Mio shook her head as if to say, This is ridiculous, but then added her hand to the pile. So did Darcy and Bryce. ‘Hey, Tong. You, too.’

  Tong hesitated. He blushed so that even his ears turned red. ‘Freewheeler ride bike.’ He pointed to himself. ‘No bike. My bike at home in Vietnam.’

  Mr Lark cleared his throat and said, ‘I might be able to fix that.’ He got to his feet and headed for the door, calling, ‘Come with me.’

  All the kids traipsed out of the kitchen, down the hall and into the back yard.
Then they followed Mr Lark to the garage. He winced as he bent down to pull on the door handle. ‘Rheumatism.’ To Tong he simplified it to ‘Bad back’. Once the door was open Mr Lark walked to the rear of the garage and pulled back a paintsplattered drop-sheet. It was an old bike, a bit rickety, a bit rusty, but a bike.

  ‘Whoa!’ Darcy leaned closer. ‘She’s a bit battered, just like my Bullet, but that’s never a problem.’

  Bryce turned to Mr Lark. ‘We can do her up. It won’t take much.’

  The others crowded around.

  ‘A bit of paint.’

  ‘Some new tyres.’

  ‘And a bit of oil.’

  ‘And she’ll be as good as new.’ Mr Lark turned to Tong. ‘She’s yours, Tong. If you want her.’

  Tong shook his head but smiled at the same time. He looked down.

  Mr Lark placed his arm around Tong’s shoulders and said, ‘You’d be doing me a favour if you took it. One less piece of junk lying around.’

  Clem took Tong’s hand and rested it on the handle. She put her hand over his then looked at the others. Three more hands were placed on top. Their voices rang out. ‘Freewheelers.’

  ‘Freewheeler!’

  Tong’s was the loudest.

  A few weeks later five riders flew down the hill in single file. In Clem’s basket, Bella’s ears fanned out like aeroplane wings as she lifted her snout into the breeze. Her cheeks flapped as she smiled. The kids took the curve, knees almost touching the ground, then straightened up for a coast. Out in front Darcy checked for oncoming traffic. There was none. And so began a most magical sequence of swoops and glides and twists and turns. Of figure eights and circles and slaloms.

  Go the Freewheelers!

  Acknowledgments

  With thanks for the love, support and wisdom of fellow authors Sue Murray, Susanne Gervay, Moya Simons and Chris Cheng. Thanks to Lisa Berryman for her vision and belief. Eternally grateful.

  About the Author

  Jeni (J.A.) Mawter has an MA in Children’s Literature from Macquarie University and a Diploma of Book Editing and Publishing from Macleay College. She is a full-time writer as well as a teacher of creative writing.

  Jeni lives in Lane Cove, Sydney with her husband and three children.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Also by J.A. Mawter

  So Stinky!

  So Grotty!

  So Festy!

  So Sick!

  So Feral!

  So Gross!

  Copyright

  Angus&Robertson

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Australia

  First published in 2006

  This edition published in 2010

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  www.harpercollins.com.au

  Copyright © J.A. Mawter 2006

  The right of J.A. Mawter to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

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  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  Mawter, J.A. (Jem A.).

  Unleashed!

  ISBN 978 0 207 20072 4. (pbk.)

  ISBN 0 207 20072 6. (pbk.)

  ISBN 978 0 7304 4445 9 (epub)

  1. Dogs – Juvenile fiction. 2. Animal pounds – Corrupt practices – Juvenile fiction. I. Title.

  A823.3

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