Scruff

Scruff

One day, Tina and Rita found a dog. She was sitting at their door. "Doggy!" said Rita. "Cool!" said Tina. "Shoo!" said Mum. But the dog did not shoo. She ran into their house.

"She wants to be our dog," said Tina. "Can we keep her?" "No," said Mum. "She has her own family. Look at her tag. Her name is Scruff." Mum looked at the dog. "I can see why she's called Scruff," she said. There was a phone number on the tag too. Mum phoned the number, but no one answered. So she left a message. Just then, their cat Ginger meowed. Scruff was eating Ginger's dinner! "Bad dog!" said Rita.

"She wants some food," said Tina. Mum put some food down for Scruff. "There you go, you scruffy dog," she said. Ginger looked cross. Then Scruff got into Ginger's bed! "Meow!" cried Ginger, looking even more cross. "You bad little dog!" said Mum. "That bed belongs to Ginger."

Later, Dad came home. He looked at Scruff. "Who is this scruffy dog?" he asked. "It's Scruff!" said Rita. "I can see that," said Dad. At dinner, Dad's food went missing. "Where's my food gone?" he asked. Scruff was eating it! "You bad dog!" said Tina.

No one phoned back about Scruff. Tina was pleased, but Mum was not. She put a notice in the newspaper. "If no one phones about Scruff, can I keep her?" Tina asked Mum. "No," said Mum. "If no one phones, we'll take her to the animal shelter." "Please!" cried Tina. "No," said Mum. "We don't want a dog — not a scruffy, bad one like Scruff."