A New Home for Socks A different life 3 Do you like sad stories? Good, because this is a sad story. Oh, some of you don t like sad stories. That s OK. This is also a happy story. The beginning is sad; but the ending is happy. This is a story about a girl called Penny Cooper. That is Penny in the picture. She leaves school and walks down the road. She gets on a bus and goes along a busy road. She gets off the bus and goes inside a big building. Inside the building are apartments. She goes into one of the apartments. It has three rooms. Penny walks round the apartment. The apartment is empty. It is January and the apartment is cold. Penny is on her own. She is often on her own. She s on her own at school and she s on her own at home. Penny often feels lonely. Penny lives in this apartment with her mother and her father. But her father is out. He is looking for work. Penny s mother is out, too. She is working in a café. Penny eats some bread and jam and drinks some water. Then she goes out again. There is a park near the apartments. Penny likes the park. There are people in the park and dogs. Penny likes dogs. y Glossar 12 busy: with traffic empty: there is nobody inside lonely: unhappy because she has no friends looking for: in search of on her own: alone; without other people out: not in the house 13
A New Home for Socks Now look. This is Penny again. But this is Penny six months ago. It is July. Penny lives in a small village. The village is beside a lake and there are hills and woods. Penny is with her friends. They run along a path beside the lake. There are houses beside the lake. One house is white; it has a big garden. There is a dog playing in the garden. Penny lives in the white house and the dog is waiting for her. The dog s name is Holly. Penny and her friends often play with Holly. Sometimes they throw sticks into the lake and Holly brings them back. Then she makes everyone wet. Penny and her friends laugh at Holly. Pets Do you like animals? Have you got a pet? What is your favourite pet? Tick (4) below. dog bird cat hamster fish horse WEB What does this say about you? Check on our website and find out. Penny s father, Mr Cooper, works at a factory and Penny s mother, Mrs Cooper, is at home. This is Penny s life six months ago. Six months is a long time. Six months ago Penny has friends and a dog and she lives in the country. She is happy. y Glossar beside: next to; at the side of factory: building where things are made 14 path: a small road for walking sticks: thin pieces of wood 15
8 SoCkS And poppi My parents have other worries, Penny thinks. I can t ask them if I can keep you. The apartment is not a place for a puppy, Penny tells Socks. There is nowhere in the apartment for a puppy. Penny puts on her coat and puts Socks inside. He makes a small happy noise and falls asleep. Penny goes back to the park. There are two dogs in the park with their owners. Penny does not know them. She puts Socks down on the ground and the two people come up to her. Oh, they say. You are a very sweet puppy. And they pet Socks. Penny tells them the story. She shows them the bin. People are horrible, says one owner. She is an old lady. My name is Lucy, and that is my dog, Poppi. She points to a very small dog. I can t keep Socks in my apartment, says Penny. Do you have room for him in your apartment? she asks Lucy. That s a good question, says Lucy. I don t know. I have a big apartment and I am happy with one dog. People Is it a good idea to talk to strangers? Why/why not? She calls her dog: Poppi, Poppi! Come here! The dog comes to Lucy. This is Socks, Lucy tells Poppi. Do you like Socks? Poppi smells Socks and wags her tail. She likes Socks. It s OK, says Lucy. Poppi likes Socks. Maybe Poppi wants a friend. Let s try. Poppi wags her tail again. Thank you very, very much, says Penny. Poppi comes up to Penny and Penny strokes her head. Poppi likes you, too, says Lucy. You re a kind girl. Penny thanks Lucy and she says goodbye to Socks. Then she goes home. At home she opens the windows and cleans the apartment. There is no smell of dog now. pet: touch an animal with your hands room: space sweet: nice; kind; attractive strokes: moves her hand gently over wags her tail: moves her tail from side to side 24 25
in the SChool 10 Penny goes back into her apartment and gets some food and a bowl and a torch. The school is dark now, she says to Socks. There are no students in the school; they are all at home. Perhaps you can live in the school, she tells the puppy. I m there every day. And we can play in the park together some days, too. She gets on the bus and goes back to her school. The big door is locked. Penny walks round the school; there are doors at the back. They are all locked. Then she sees a window. It is open. She climbs inside. It is dark. Penny puts her torch on. She walks along the corridors between the classrooms. She can t put Socks inside a classroom. Your school How many classrooms are in your school? Draw a map of the rooms and the corridors. bowl: climbs: goes up locked: closed with a key puts her torch on: starts the light in her torch torch: small electric lamp you hold in your hand 30 31
There are store rooms underneath the classrooms. Penny finds the door to the stairs. It is locked, too. She doesn t have a key. Penny puts Socks on the ground and he runs along the corridor. Penny runs after him. Come here, she says. Socks is not listening. He runs into a small room. It is the girls changing room. There is a basin in the room. Penny takes the bowl from her bag. She fills it with water. Socks drinks the water. Penny takes out the dog food and she gives it to Socks. Socks is very hungry and he eats it all. He runs around Penny and he barks. Penny takes a towel and she puts it on the floor. Socks lies on the towel. He is tired now and he falls asleep. OK, says Penny. You can stay here in the changing room. She shuts the door quietly and she goes back out of the window. She takes the bus home. Penny goes home and waits for her parents. When they come home, Penny s father is happy. There is a new company, he tells Penny s mother. They like me. They don t need me now, but maybe in a few weeks. That s great, says Mrs Cooper. Penny s parents open a bottle of wine. They are happy. Penny is happy because they are happy. She thinks that this is not a good time to talk about Socks. She says nothing about the puppy. She goes to her room and does her homework. Then she goes to bed. In the morning she gets up very early and she goes to the school. She goes to the changing room. Socks is sitting on the floor. He is chewing a trainer. The floor is covered with chewed trainers. The towel is in small pieces. And there are puddles on the floor. There is a very bad smell. Oh Socks! cries Penny. This is really bad. You are a bad dog. Socks wags his tail and licks her hand. Penny looks round the changing room. She doesn t know what to do. It is terrible. Adjectives Which adjectives have positive meanings and which adjectives have negative meanings? Find some on this page and make two lists. basin: quietly: silently stairs: steps to go from one floor to another store rooms: rooms where you keep things underneath: under; on the floor below trainer: sports shoe 32 33