Ashley’s eyelids were drooping as she finished her dinner. The day seemed to have been going forever; she wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep. Was it only the night before that the storm knocked the tree over and the water poured in under the door?
‘You can sleep down here again tonight,’ Micky said, taking her plate. ‘Though if it all goes well, you probably won’t get much sleep. Dexter should be waking up and feeling active at about eleven pm. When he calls for food, come and wake me and I’ll try to get him taking milk. You’ll learn how to do his feeds in the next couple of days, but these first few are vital and we can’t afford to get them wrong.’
‘Mmm.’ Ashley nodded.
Micky cocked her head to one side. ‘He’s very quiet now. Best to leave him alone if you can’t hear anything.’
‘But what if he’s in trouble?’
‘There’s not much you can do if he’s in trouble,’ Micky said. ‘If he’s going to die, he’s going to die.’
She stooped over and gave Ashley a kiss on the top of the head. ‘You did well today, kid. I’m off to bed.’
Ashley watched her aunt climb up the second little stairway in the house. She was going up one step at a time, favouring her ankle. She didn’t complain about it, but it was obviously still hurting.
Ashley cleaned her teeth and got into her pyjamas. She checked the kitchen. Most of what she needed to feed Dexter was laid out, sterilised and ready, on the bench. She opened the drawer, looking for a spoon, and rummaged quietly.
Her fingers came to rest on something familiar and she pulled it out. It was her mobile phone! She’d wondered where Micky had hidden it.
She weighed it in her hand for a moment, then pressed the ‘on’ button. Nothing happened. It was still uncharged.
But she knew the charger was in her bag, down on the floor by the fire. Ashley hesitated. Her aunt had taken the phone from her. She wasn’t supposed to have it.
On the other hand, somehow she had to try to keep herself awake, and the best way to do that was to play games on her phone. She didn’t want to risk falling into such a heavy sleep that she didn’t hear Dexter calling for food.
She made up her mind. She took it over to her bag, pulled out the charger and found a power point where she could plug it in. It was a few minutes before the phone revived enough to flash the start-up symbol and begin checking for coverage.
Micky had told her that mobile reception was hopeless at Toad Hall, and Ashley wondered if she’d have any at all. She watched the little picture of the antenna as it scanned. It took ages, but finally a single bar of reception showed.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Messages started popping up on the screen and Ashley quickly switched the phone to silent. When it stopped vibrating, she began to flick through them.
Emma had sent twelve messages, she saw, and most of them contained photos. Ashley wondered if they were all photos of Emma with Bella. She really wasn’t sure she wanted to see them, but she was too curious to resist. She flicked to the first message.
It was a picture of Bella and Puppy together on a patch of grass. There was no message with the photo. What did it mean? Had Emma, in spite of everything, convinced her parents to secretly pick up Puppy for her?
Ashley felt a strange tightness in her belly, which took her by surprise. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure how she felt about Puppy.
‘Ashley! What are you doing?’
Ashley jumped and nearly dropped the phone.
Micky had come back down the steps and was standing at the bottom, hands on hips. ‘You know you’re not meant to have the phone!’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ashley stammered. ‘It’s just — I thought playing a game would help me stay awake.’
Micky glared at her. ‘Not good enough, kid. I need you to stick by what you say. Hand it over.’
Ashley pulled the plug out of the phone and put it in her aunt’s hand. ‘But something’s happened.’
‘I don’t care,’ Micky said. ‘You’ve made a commitment to look after Dexter and that’s all that matters right now.’
‘He hasn’t made any noise,’ Ashley said.
‘He’s probably eating leaf in that case,’ Micky said. ‘I’m going back to bed.’ She turned away and clumped painfully up the stairs again.
Ashley settled down on the couch and switched off the light. Her brain was buzzing furiously as she tried to work out what might be going on. Was Puppy waiting for her at Emma’s? Did her parents know?
And most of all — why was she suddenly unsure how she felt about him?