Nine Open Arms by Benny Lindelauf

Author:Benny Lindelauf
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000, book
ISBN: 9781743433416
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2013-12-23T05:00:00+00:00

Charley had not even reached Putse Gate with its guards when he was overtaken by Dimdog. Dimdog was meant to be their watchdog, but she wasn’t fierce enough. Lame wanted to drown her, but Charley had managed to prevent that. Dimdog was a small bitch with a constantly slobbering mouth and dark, dumb eyes. Most of the time she was locked into the coal shed at the workshop, her short snout poking through the hole in the door. As soon as she got half a chance, though, she’d escape.

Dimdog was mad about Charley. And even madder about sausage.

Charley tried to make her go back, but he wasn’t too upset when she wouldn’t. He didn’t like Sjlammbams Sahara in the dark; he had heard too many stories about it that ended badly. And he knew that so long as he kept the poisoned sausage under his coat, Dimdog was in no danger.

‘The gate will be locked at eleven, Charley Bottletop,’ said the guards. ‘After that, you can only look from outside at us sleeping inside.’

It was a strange night, that night Charley Bottletop and Dimdog set out to poison the travellers’ dogs. There must have been wind up in the sky, because large clumps of cloud drifted across it. But down there, at the start of Sjlammbams Sahara, there was hardly a breath of air. It was so still you could hear the foxes yipping in the cornfield.

Charley kept clutching the sausage to his chest, holding the chair leg in his other hand. First they passed the cornfield, then the field of beets, until finally they came to the spot where earthen banks hid the road and led downwards. On the left embankment stood a blackened oak tree; on the right grew dense blackberry bushes.

Dimdog stopped.

‘Come on,’ said Charley. But she stayed where she was, even when Charley slithered further along the muddy path. He pulled out the sausage. Dimdog may not have seen it, but she could certainly smell it. Wagging her whole body, she came towards Charley again.

At the last bend, he stopped. From here, he could see the field where the travellers were camping. He saw a burning lantern, dangling from a stick attached to the caravan. White underpants hung on a washing line. He couldn’t see the dogs. Apart from the horse, tied onto a linden tree further along, there was no sign of life.

‘They’ll be lying under the caravan,’ Lame Krit had told him. ‘Be careful not to walk downwind.’

Charley wet his finger, but he couldn’t feel the direction of the wind.

He used his trouser belt to tie Dimdog to a tree. She protested softly.

‘Shush, Dimdog, shush!’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.