The Snow Puppy and Other Christmas Stories Read online

  “There was more snow in the night,” she said excitedly. “D’you think the road to the village will be blocked? We might be cut off!”

  Neil stifled a yawn. “Shouldn’t think so. Coming for a walk?”

  With Jake pattering behind, they went down the back staircase and along the passage past the kitchens which led into the courtyard. Even here they could see how the film crew had taken over the castle. Lighting equipment was stacked in a storeroom just inside the side door, and across the passage the old castle scullery had been transformed into a make-up room, with stage make-up strewn over tables and lines of chairs facing mirrors propped against the wall.

  A girl was there, touching up the make-up of one of the cast. Neil caught a glimpse of the man’s face in the mirror as he walked past. It was the extra who had helped Prince when the set collapsed the day before. The girl was loading some filthy gunge onto his face.

  “Hello,” Neil said, stopping in the doorway. “Wasn’t it you who—”

  The make-up girl jumped at the sound of his voice. “Do you mind?” she said irritably. “There are people here trying to concentrate.”

  She flounced across the room and slammed the door in Neil’s face.

  Neil gaped. “What did I say?”

  “You startled her,” Emily said. “Maybe she just doesn’t like people watching her work.”

  Neil shrugged. He’d only wanted to thank the man for helping Prince. Still, he told himself, maybe anybody would be feeling snappy if they had to start work at this time in the morning.

  He followed Emily into the courtyard, where they met Max with Prince, and Princess tucked into the front of his padded jacket.

  “I thought we’d be the first ones up,” said Neil.

  Max laughed and shook his head. “Not on a film set! Every day’s an early start.”

  “Yes,” said Emily. “There’s someone in makeup already.”

  “They’ll want me soon,” said Max, “but I’ve just got time to walk Prince.”

  Together they crossed the causeway and took the footpath that led to the lake.

  Where the path curved down to the water’s edge, more early risers had gathered. Neil didn’t recognize some of them but he assumed they were actors in the film. Looking out onto the lake, he saw Penny, with Adrian Bartlett, skimming along expertly on ice skates. She raised a hand to wave as she glided past.

  “I’d like to do that,” Emily said. “Do you think Penny would teach me?”

  “Suppose so,” said Neil. “Better be careful, though.”

  “The ice is safe enough for now,” Lord Ainsworth said. He was standing beside the lake with King, watching the skaters. “I tested it myself, first thing.”

  Even so, Neil wasn’t sure he fancied ice skating. He carried on around the lake, with Emily and Max, while Jake and Prince played together, chasing each other and plunging through the fresh, powdery snow. Prince was his usual lively self. Max reported that the vet from Beckthwaite, David Blackburn, had checked him over the night before and found no injuries from his accident.

  “Neil,” Max said, “do you reckon it’s OK to let Princess run around? It won’t be too cold for her in all this snow?”

  “Well, she can’t stay inside your jacket all day,” Neil said, laughing. “She’ll be fine if you don’t keep her out for too long. And make sure you give her a good towelling when we get back.”

  Max put the wriggling Princess down in the snow. She sniffed at it and sneezed, and then took off after her dad and Jake, her feathery tail waving and her long ears bouncing up and down. Excited little yaps came from her as she ran.

  Neil shook his head. “You’ve got your work cut out there!”

  Further along the lake, Neil caught sight of Maggie Brown, walking back towards the castle with an enormous dog at her side. He grabbed Emily’s arm. “Hey, there’s Fred!”

  As he spoke, the dog gave a welcoming bark and began loping ahead of the trainer. He was huge, with a rough grey coat and a long tail which waved enthusiastically as he came up to Neil. Neil rumpled his ears and fished in his pocket for a dog treat. “Hi, Fred,” he said. “What’s it like being a movie star?”

  Fred was an Irish wolfhound who had taken part in the Time Travellers episode filmed at Padsham Castle near Neil’s home at King Street Kennels. He’d been such a hit as another heroic knight’s war hound that Jeff Calton had asked for him again, to play the part of King Arthur’s favourite hound, Cabal.

  “He loves it,” Maggie said as she caught up. “Bill had to go home, but Fred doesn’t seem to be missing him too much.”

  Bill Grey, Fred’s owner, kept a butcher’s shop in Padsham, and the few days before Christmas were the busiest in the year for him.

  “If you like, I’ll help—” Neil began, and then broke off. Out of the corner of his eye he had seen Jake dash out onto the frozen lake. Neil spun round to see him darting in and out of the group of skaters, with Prince on his heels, barking madly, and Princess doing her best to keep up.

  Max laughed as Brett Benson tripped over Prince and only just managed to right himself and avoid falling flat on his back.

  “Jake! Jake!” Neil yelled.

  “They’re OK,” Max said. “They’re only playing.”

  But in his mind Neil could see a yawning gap open up in the ice, and his beloved dog sliding helplessly into dark water. He couldn’t help remembering the day Sam died, when Jake had been carried away in the river.

  Jake would have drowned that day if it had not been for Sam. He’d given his own life as his damaged heart failed in the fight to pull Jake to safety. Part of Neil knew he was being stupid, but he could see the whole horrible accident happening again.

  “Jake! Here!” he yelled.

  Out on the ice, Jake stopped, ears cocked. Prince dashed up to him and playfully hurled himself on top of the young Border collie; the two dogs rolled over and over together.

  “Jake! Come here!”

  Neil knew that he ought to go and grab Jake, but when he thought about putting his weight onto the ice he felt sick. Even though he could see it was thick enough to bear lots of other people, he still couldn’t help imagining it splintering, plunging him into the lake.

  He was taking a breath to shout again when Jake got to his feet, shook himself, and began trotting obediently to the bank. As soon as Neil could grip his collar without venturing onto the ice, he clipped on his lead. “Heel, Jake. Now!”

  He realized that Max was staring at him. “Hey, Neil, it’s not . . .”

  Neil took no notice. Then he heard Emily say under her breath, “Don’t bother him, Max. It’s because of what happened to Jake when Sam died. He nearly drowned, and so did Neil.”

  It was no help to Neil to realize that Emily understood. He felt hot and uncomfortable, as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

  It was worse still when Max asked, “Neil, are you afraid of water now? Because—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, OK?” Neil snapped.

  He pulled at Jake’s lead, and started to run along the path to the castle. As he was going he heard Emily say, “I think you’re right, Max. He’ll have to get over it, but it might take a long time.”

  4

  “What do you want from me?” said King Arthur. “Speak.”

  The king and his noble knights were seated around the Round Table in the Great Hall at Camelot. Zeno walked forward from the doorway, with his faithful dog at his heels, and bowed low to the king.

  “My Lord Arthur,” he said, “Queen Morgan le Fay has stolen something valuable from me. I need your help to get it back.”

  King Arthur gravely stroked his beard, while Sir Kay, his steward, leaned closer to him and said, “My lord, how do we know this boy isn’t a spy from Morgan?”

  As he spoke, Prince bounded down the length of the hall, hopped up onto an empty seat and put his front paws on the Round Table to bark indignantly at Sir Kay. The other knights laughed.

  “Pri
nce is so cool!” Neil murmured.

  Along with Emily and Penny, he was sitting in the minstrels’ gallery above the hall, watching the scene that was being shot below. He never stopped being amazed at how perfectly trained Prince was, and how he always seemed to know what he was supposed to do.

  “And look at Fred!” said Emily, pointing at the huge wolfhound sprawled lazily in front of the fireplace. “He’s pretty good, too.”

  Down below, Sir Lancelot was rising to his feet, but instead of getting on with the scene, he looked round for Brian Mason, and said, “Brian, I don’t think this scene is right.”

  “Cut!” Brian yelled at the camera crew. “What’s the matter now, Brett?”

  “Well, everybody knows that Sir Lancelot was Arthur’s best knight,” said Brett Benson. “I reckon I should have a line there, instead of the stupid business with the dog.”

  Brian Mason banged down his clipboard. Some of the knights started to mutter among themselves. The actor playing Sir Kay put his chin on his hands and said, “Here we go again!”

  “Brett,” said Brian, “I thought up that ‘stupid business’ with the dog, along with Maggie Brown and the scriptwriters. Can’t you understand that in this film it’s the dog who’s the star?”

  Brett Benson looked furious. “Then if the dog’s the star, you obviously don’t need an actor of my talents. Find yourself another Sir Lancelot!” His chair scraped on the flagstones as he pushed it back and marched out of the hall. Brian Mason took a deep breath, called, “OK, folks, take five!” and hurried after him.

  “Oh, no!” said Emily. “They’ve stopped filming again. They’re never going to finish at this rate.”

  “I’m going down to talk to Max,” said Neil.

  With Emily and Penny following, he ran down the steps from the gallery and into the hall. Max was standing near the fireplace, talking to Suzie and Maggie Brown, but when he saw Neil and the others he came to meet them, with Prince trotting beside him.

  Neil could see that Max was seething with fury.

  “That was a really good take, until he ruined it!” fumed Max.

  “Take it easy,” Neil said. “It’ll be just as good next time.”

  Prince made a soft whining sound and pushed his nose into Max’s hand. Max relaxed a bit and stroked his head.

  “Why don’t you get another Sir Lancelot if Brett Benson is such a pain?” Penny asked.

  “I wish we could!” Max said. “But that would mean repeating all the scenes we’ve already shot. It would cost far too much, and Brett Benson knows it.”

  “And I used to be a fan of his!” Emily said indignantly.

  “What really gets me,” Max went on, “is that he doesn’t care about the film at all. He only cares about Brett Benson. Honestly, if he—”

  A voice interrupted him, shouting loudly from the passage outside. “Max! Where’s Max got to? Max!”

  Neil turned round. In the hall doorway stood Jeff Calton. His hair was untidy and his face was red with anger. He had a sheaf of tattered papers in one hand, and in the other, held by the scruff of the neck, was Princess. A shred of white paper was dangling from the little pup’s jaws.

  Princess was whimpering. Max stormed over to Jeff Calton and took her away from him. “Don’t hold her like that! You’re hurting her!”

  “Then look after her properly!” Jeff yelled back at him. “Look what she’s done!”

  He brandished the papers in Max’s face. Max took a step back, holding Princess close to him. “These are my production notes. They’re vital. Now I’ll have to do the whole lot again because your puppy chewed them up.”

  Neil came to stand beside Max. Princess was trembling, and trying to hide her head in the crook of Max’s arm.

  “Hang on a minute,” Neil said. “Everybody knows that pups chew things. If you left your notes lying around, Mr Calton, you’re just as much to blame as Princess.”

  Jeff Calton stared at him as if he didn’t remember who he was. “Those notes were left in a file in my bedroom,” he snapped. “With the door closed.”

  “Then how did Princess get at them?” Max asked.

  “How should I know? When I went up there just now, she was in the middle of the floor making a meal of them. You simply can’t have her here, Max, if you can’t take better care of her than that.”

  Max went red at the suggestion that he couldn’t take care of his dog. His hand shaking, he stroked Princess and said nothing.

  “It’s not Max’s fault,” Emily said, coming to stick up for him. “He was on set.”

  “Then who was supposed to be looking after the dog?”

  “Adrian,” said Penny. “He offered to look after Princess and Jake.”

  Neil began to think he understood. Adrian Bartlett was a whizz at taking charge of Lord Ainsworth’s business affairs, but a bit vague about everything else. Princess might well have wandered away from him, but that still didn’t explain how she managed to get into Jeff Calton’s bedroom, or open the file.

  “So where is Adrian now?” Jeff asked.

  Adrian Bartlett himself answered the question by walking through the doors as Jeff was speaking. He wore his outdoor clothes, and had Jake on a lead. He smiled at Neil as he handed the young dog over, stamped his feet on the floor to warm them up, and asked, “Is there a problem?”

  Jeff launched into a long complaint about his ruined notes.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” Adrian said when he had finished. “Jake needed a walk, and Princess was asleep in her basket in the kitchen, so I left her there. We were only gone twenty minutes or so.”

  “And you remembered to shut the door, I suppose?” Jeff said sarcastically, not waiting for an answer. “I’ve had just about enough of this,” he went on. “I’m going to phone Manchester and get a couple more security staff sent down. From now on, nothing’s going to happen round here unless I say so.”

  He spun round, but his dramatic exit was spoilt when he nearly tripped over Jake, who barked in protest as he darted to one side.

  “Dogs!” Jeff Calton snarled. “I’ve had dogs up to here!”

  He strode out.

  Adrian looked after him with a bewildered expression. “I did shut the door,” he said. “I don’t know how she managed to get out.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Penny said loyally. “He must have left the notes lying around, whatever he says.”

  But Neil wasn’t so sure. He knew how efficient Jeff Calton was. “Max, you know what you told us, about the accidents?”

  “You’ve been pretty unlucky, haven’t you?” Emily added.

  “Well, yes . . .” said Max.

  “It’s just . . .” Neil began. He paused as he put two and two together and came up with an answer he didn’t like at all. “Well, what if they’re not accidents?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Penny.

  “I mean that they’re happening too often. It just can’t be coincidence. It’s almost as if somebody is doing it on purpose.”

  “They couldn’t be.” Max had gone pale.

  “Oh, yes, they could,” said Neil. “How do you think Princess managed to get into Jeff Calton’s room, unless somebody put her there? How do you think she got the notes out of the file all by herself? Max . . .” He hesitated and then went on, “Max, can you think of anyone who would deliberately try to wreck this film?”

  5

  Neil halted and stood panting, watching his breath puff out into the cold air. “Whew!” he gasped. “These branches are heavy!”

  After the scene in the Great Hall was eventually finished, he and Emily had gone into the woods with the dogs to cut greenery for Christmas decorations. Now they were pulling a sledge back to the castle, loaded with holly and yew boughs and trailing strands of ivy.

  Jake and Prince were frolicking about among the trees, and Princess sat in the middle of the branches, looking as proud as if she was riding in a royal coach. Neil was looking after the dogs for Max, so that Max could shut himself
up in his bedroom and learn some lines for the following day.

  Emily laughed, and picked up the sledge rope that Neil had dropped. “Medieval peasants had to collect wood every day, you know.”

  “Well, I’m glad I’m not a medieval peasant then,” Neil said, rubbing his aching back.

  “But you’re going to be,” Emily said. “Max told me. Just as soon as they rebuild the village.”

  “Why am I always a peasant?” Neil complained. “Why don’t I get to be a knight, or even a squire?”

  “Or a huntsman with the hounds,” Emily teased.

  Neil brightened up. “Yeah! That’d be ace!”

  “Come on,” said Emily. “Let’s get back before we freeze. I’ll pull for a bit.”

  As they began slogging through the snow again, Emily asked, “Neil, are you really convinced that somebody’s trying to spoil the filming?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “But who would do that?”

  His sister didn’t sound as if she expected an answer, but Neil gave her one. “I think it might be Brett Benson.”

  “Oh, him!” Emily sniffed. “I wouldn’t be surprised. But if the film isn’t made, he’ll be out of a job.”

  Neil watched his feet crunching into the snow, as if that would help him concentrate. “I didn’t want to say this in front of Max, but most of the things that have gone wrong involve the dogs – Prince mostly, and now Princess as well. And who around here can’t stand Prince?”

  “Brett Benson!” said Emily.

  “Right. Maybe he thinks that if he causes enough trouble, Prince will be out of the film and he’ll be the star.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense! It’s a Time Travellers film. Prince has to be in it.”

  “You know that. I know that. The whole world and his dog knows that,” Neil said. “But does Brett Benson know it? He doesn’t act like he does. I reckon he keeps delaying the filming, just because—”

  Neil broke off as he heard frantic barking from among the trees where the dogs had been playing. Princess started yapping in reply.