Pip's Peculiar Squeak

Pip woke up on Tuesday feeling exactly like himself — loyal, brave, and convinced he was the biggest dog on the street. He trotted to the back door, took a deep breath, and barked at the morning. Out came… a squeak. Pip sat very still. He looked at the door. He looked at the garden. He tried again. Squeak. His tail drooped, just a little. Something was peculiar.

Maya came downstairs in her orange top and blue leggings, and she found Pip in the kitchen, opening and closing his mouth at the tiles. "Pip?" she said. "What are you doing?" Squeak, said Pip. Maya's eyes went very wide. Then she pressed her lips together very tightly, because she was four and she was trying extremely hard not to giggle. She mostly succeeded.

Four pigeons had landed on the lawn. Normally, Pip would dash out and bark them away in three seconds flat. Today, Pip dashed out anyway — because he was brave and he was convinced he was enormous — and he barked his very best bark. Squeak squeak squeak. The pigeons looked at him. One of them tilted its head. Then they all went back to pecking the grass. Pip turned around and walked back inside with tremendous dignity.

"You need water," Maya announced. She was very sure about this. "Lots of it." She filled Pip's red bowl right to the very top. Pip drank it all. Every drop. Loudly, importantly, and with enormous confidence. He lifted his head. He shook his ears. He barked. Squeeeeeak. That was the tiniest squeak yet. Maya patted his scruffy head. "Hmm," she said. "Maybe not water."

Maya had one more idea. She went to the laundry basket and pulled out Pip's absolute favourite thing in the whole house — his old stripy sock. The one that had somehow lost its pair in the summer. She held it up high and wiggled it slowly, side to side. Pip's ears went up — both of them, even the floppy one. His eyes went wide. His tail went absolutely wild.

Pip leapt. And out came — "WUFF!" Big and round and perfectly Pip-shaped. The bark bounced off the yellow walls. The pigeons, still on the lawn, flew away at last. Maya laughed and Pip pranced and the stripy sock ended up under the sofa, which was exactly where it belonged. Later, Pip curled on the squashy blue sofa, his nose tucked under his tail. Maya sat beside him, one hand resting warm on his sandy fur. All was quiet. All was well.