Rascal: Running For His Life. Chris Cooper

side and crashed out on to another path.

      What now? Up ahead was a children’s playground. There was a row of swings to the side. The rest of the area was taken up by one big, multicoloured play structure. It didn’t offer many hiding spots, but there was a slide that was completely covered. Rascal went to the bottom of it and jumped up. He tucked his back legs up so that he was hidden in the bottom section where the tube levelled off. No one would be able to see him unless they were directly in front of the hole at the bottom of the slide.

      Rascal lay as still as he could. After a few moments, he heard the crunch of boots on gravel. The man and woman were in the playground.

      ‘Where’d he go?’ asked the woman.

      ‘Beats me,’ said the man. ‘He can’t have run so far. It looked as if his leg was hurting him.’

      ‘Wait a minute,’ said the woman. It sounded as if she was smiling.

      Rascal held his breath in the silence that followed. Footsteps began to crunch on the gravel again. Were they going away? No, the footsteps were getting louder, closer!

      ‘Have a look at this, Dan,’ said the woman. Then she crouched down and said to the dog, ‘You can’t be comfortable in there.’

      Rascal let himself be pulled out of the slide. The woman held one arm round his neck and shoulders. She was about to put the lead on him when a new voice shouted, ‘There you are! Come here, boy!’

      Rascal looked up. It was the boy from the park – the one who had been sitting on the bench. He was standing at the edge of the playground and holding out his arms as if he was waiting for Rascal to jump into them. As if he was Rascal’s owner!

      Confusion flashed through the dog’s mind, but this had to be better than the place the dog catchers would take him to. Rascal bounded up to the stranger and launched himself into the waiting arms. The boy laughed as he staggered under the impact of low-flying dog!

      He was tousling Rascal’s fur as if they were the best of friends. The two dog catchers joined them.

      ‘Is this your dog?’ asked the man.

      ‘Yes, sir, he is,’ answered the boy immediately.