Read Online Selby Spacedog by Duncan Ball - Free Book Online Page B

on, Willy. I’ll tell you what; you write it and I’ll sign it,’ Selby said, holding the pad out through the net.
    Willy suddenly went quiet. After a minute he said, ‘I can’t read and write.’
    ‘Just as I thought,’ Selby said, beginning to write. ‘Okay, I’ll do the writing. “My name is Selby. I’m a dog and I can talk.” Signed, “Selby”. How’s that?’
    ‘Gimme!’ Willy demanded.
    ‘Oh, no,’ Selby said. ‘If I give the confession to you then you’ll push the START button and send me through the machine.’
    ‘No, I won’t!’
    ‘Don’t give me that, Willy,’ Selby said. ‘I’ll tell you what: you push the RELEASE button so that I can climb out of this net and get awayfrom the machine and I’ll give you the confession. Deal?’
    ‘You promise?’
    ‘I promise,’ Selby said.
    Willy pushed the RELEASE button and Selby climbed out of the net and jumped free.
    ‘Where is it?’ Willy asked.
    ‘It’s there,’ Selby said, ‘inside the net.’
    Willy reached into the net and grabbed the confession but before he could pull it out, the mechanical arms reached out and grabbed him around his waist.
    ‘Hey! I’m stuck!’ Willy cried. ‘You let me go! You push the button!’
    ‘Let’s see now,’ Selby said, reaching out a paw. ‘Would that be the RELEASE button or the START button? I think you must mean the START button.’
    ‘Nooooooooo!’ screeched Willy.
    But it was too late. In a split second, Selby pressed the START button and the screaming Willy shot into the machine. There followed a deafening series of
whumps!
and
whams!
and
biffs!
and
bams!
until a well-plumped Willy dropped out the other end.
    ‘Willy!’ Dr Trifle cried from the doorway. ‘You silly boy! You’ve gone through the pillow-plumper. I told you to stay away from there!’
    ‘Selby made me do it!’ Willy screamed, wiping away his tears. ‘And he knows how to talk! Look!’ Willy said, holding out the piece of paper.
    Dr Trifle took the confession.

    “‘Dear uncle,”’ Dr Trifle read out loud, “‘I hate you, you poo-poo stink-face …”’ Dr Trifleread the rest to himself and then glared at Willy. ‘Why, you ungrateful little so-and-so.’
    ‘I didn’t write it,’ Willy bawled. ‘Selby wrote it! He tricked me!’
    ‘Shame on you, Willy. Tomorrow you’re going straight back to your mother. It’s bad enough using that sort of language, but blaming it on a poor dumb animal —’
    ‘He’s not dumb! ‘Willy cried.
    ‘The kid’s certainly right about that,’ Selby thought, as he trotted back to the lounge room to get some sleep at last. ‘And that’ll teach him to match wits with a Pressure-Powered-Brat-Paddling-Pooch!’
    Paw note: The first time I talked to Willy was in the story “Wild West Willy Rides Again’ in the book
Selby’s Secret.
P.S. It was a big mistake!
    S

SELBY SUPERPOOCH
    ‘Dogs are being stolen all over the country,’ Mrs Trifle exclaimed as she hurried in the door. ‘There’s an international dog-smuggling ring!’
    Selby’s eyes popped open and his heart skipped a couple of beats at the thought of the disappearing dogs.
    ‘That’s terrible,’ Dr Trifle said. ‘But surely, no one would steal dogs here in Bogusville.’
    ‘Oh, yes, they would,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘The Bogusville Canine Society is about to have its annual dog show. It would be a perfect place to steal dogs.’
    ‘Have you told the police?’
    ‘Yes, but these dog-smugglers are highly-trained, professional thieves,’ Mrs Trifle explained. ‘I was tipped off by an international dog-watch group called InterPooch. They’re coming to Bogusville today to help.’
    ‘InterPooch? An international dog-watch group? Coming here? To Bogusville? Can this be true?’
    ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, and it most definitely is true,’ Mrs Trifle said, answering her husband’s questions in the order he’d asked them. ‘They’ll be after show-dogs, pure-bred dogs, expensive dogs.’
    Selby heaved a