Read Online Dog Gone by Carole Poustie - Free Book Online

then make sure I get a better mark than you.’
    â€˜How am I supposed to do that?’ I said.
    â€˜Figure it out for yourself, silly Milly.’ He jabbed the rod into my stomach now, to make sure I got the point. ‘You look like a maths nerd to me. Well I’m not . Get it?’
    I was starting to feel hot. I thought it was because I was feeling so angry. But as he jabbed the fishing rod into my stomach, the feeling I’d had in the cemetery began to rattle through my bones.
    Before I had a chance to work out what was happening, Brody’s expression suddenly changed and the colour drained out of his face. His eyes, wide with fear, were looking at something behind me.

Chapter 14

    Brody’s hand started twitching and the fishing rod began to jiggle up and down. His eyes, though, remained fixed on whatever it was he was looking at behind me. I snapped my head around to see if it was the ghost. All I saw, however, was a single branch of a nearby gum tree waving backwards and forwards. The light was fading fast, and a strong smell of river mud and evening air wafted past.
    I turned back to look at Brody, who was now watching his own hand as if it belonged to someone else. He was trying to let go of the rod but couldn’t. The rod was swishing all over the place, just like it had the morning I’d seen the ghost in the cemetery.
    I became aware of a strange sound. It felt familiar. There was no mistaking it – the whispering. I turned around again. The ghost must be here somewhere. Brody let out a wail and ran off down the track, trying to shake the fishing rod out of his hand. Every now and again, he fell over and picked himself back up. It was as if Grandpa’s fishing rod had permanently attached itself to Brody’s hand with invisible glue. It was funny as! Except he still had Grandpa’s rod.
    I heard him cursing long after he’d disappeared through the trees. I wondered if he’d seen the ghost.
    Gran’s alarm clock in the next room woke me out of a deep sleep. I rolled over and looked out at the last of the night sky. A kookaburra laughed somewhere in the distance and, for a moment, I had no idea of where I was in time. Then my inside calendar flipped over to today, and my stomach lurched. It was exactly ten days since Lucky had gone missing.
    The police still hadn’t heard anything and no dogs matching Lucky’s description had turned up at the pound or lost dogs’ home. Gran had phoned all the vets in Mount Selview and nearby towns. No dead dogs. Phew!
    I debated about whether I should visit Nelly Arnott on the way home from school. If she’d organised to have him kidnapped, then maybe, if Lucky was still alive, I could convince her to tell me where he was.
    I rolled over again and looked up at the ceiling. How was I going to get through another day without Lucky? How was I going to survive Mount Selview Prison? I didn’t want to get up. What would I do about the maths tests? Could I sneak in at lunchtime and fix up any mistakes on Brody’s test, while still making sure I made a few mistakes on mine?
    The whole idea made me feel sick. But how else was I going to get Grandpa’s fishing rod back? If I told Gran, I’d have to confess about being down at the river without her permission. Then she’d stop me from going altogether.
    Brody Callahan had me – and there was nothing I could do about it.
    I pulled on my jeans and the Mount Selview windcheater that one of Gran’s neighbours had lent me. The only thing that got me out of bed was my poster plan. Last night I’d visited Mr Ironclad after tea and he’d let me use his computer to make some more posters for Lucky. His computer was pretty ancient and slow, but it certainly beat Gran’s old typewriter. I’d planned to put posters up at the school. I had to do something to get Lucky back.
    Molly seemed keen to get to school. She’d had a better first day