it's only four o clock but its and grey and getting dark.

Holly and Zaddie are on their way home from

school,talking about their day- about all the good things and the not so good things. When they get
to zadie s house,her mum opens the door and a big funny brown dog jumps out of the house and
into zadies arms.He nearly knocks her over. hey scamp take it easy says zadie,laughing. but scamp
just licks her face and wags his tail. do you want to come in asks zadies mom Holly nods and
smiles.but half an hour later,she is walking home again,alone.and she's thinking about another
boring evening. its time for holly to talk to her parents. So she gets up from her deckchair and
climbs all the way to the loft.The door is open so holly goes straight into her mum's office. she is
doing something on the computer

are you busy,mum

what was that,darling

her mother doesnt look up.

i want to talk

'oh,just a minute,' says her mother.She clicks on the keyboard, takes off her glasses and turns to
look at her daughter.

what is it,Holly

Holly coughs,takes a deep breath, then starts to explain. one minute later her mother says,
no,Holly.Thats impossible. And Holly turns around and walks out of the room.Holly walks noisily
downstairs to her father's office. She knocks on his door, waits for him to say, 'come in' then
enter.Her father's on the phone hes working on his computer. she waits and rehearses in her mind
what she plans to say. Finally he presses a buttom on his mobile and looks at her.

'Dad can we talk'

'Sure.but not for long.I have to make another call.What is it'

'I ve got an idea', says holly.

Thirty seconds later...

'Absolutely not' says her father.

So Holly walksout of the office leaving the door open, goes intro her own room and slams her door
shut.

24-25 The door opens.Its Sophie.

sophie: Whats up Holly You sound really mad.

Holly:This is so unfair

Sophie: What is it

Holly: Im really upset about all the dogs and cats at Christmas.

Sophie:What do you mean

Holly:People get bored with their nwe pets and then they abandon them. Its really sick.

Sophie:I agree. I feel really sorry for those animals.

Holly:Well,Mum and Dad dont understand at all.

Sophie:What can we do about it

Holly:I want to get a pet from one of the rescue centres. I want a dog.

Sophie: You want a dog Uh huh A dirt,noisy,smelly dog

Holly: Not all dogs are dirty and noisy...

Sophie:Yes they are I agree with mum and dad. I dont want a horrible dog in this house.

Sophie quickly leaves the room... and a book hits the door one second later.

The next day at school,Holly is quiet.Very quiet. She spends the whole time looking out of the
window during the science lesson. 'Whats up with Holly' whispers Grace. ' I dont know' says
Zadie.'Shes acting really weird'

Jack decides to have some fun.He takes a sheet of paper from his notebook,folds it,and makes a
paper plane. He aims carefully,then throws it at Holly.It files through the air and lans on her desk
but Holly doesnt even notice,Unfortunately,Ms Jones the science teacher does.'what do you think
you re doing,Jack' she asks loudly. 'its a scientific experiment' says Jack. Everybody laughs... exept
Holly and Ms Jones. Holly is still looking out of the window,thinking.

At lunchtime,Holly eats her sandwiches then walks on her own round the playing field.'Is Holly,ok'
asks Ricky

' i mnot sure' says david. 'she seems really worried about something' but during their maths
lesson,Hollysuddenly says: 'thats it' everybody looks at her 'what is it' asks ms cooke,the maths
teachers.

'oh erm nothing, ms cooke,sorry' but when ms cooke looks away,Holly smiles.

After the lesson,her friends all want to ask Holly the same questions. 'are you all right what are
you thinking about whats going on' 'i have a plan,guys' says Holly. 'And i need your help' on
saturdays morning,Hollys parents are in the kitchen having coffee.'wheres Holly' asks her
dad,ALAN. 'shes in her room' says her mum' i think shes doing her homework' 'well. im glad that
silly bussines about the dog is over,' says alan. and they smile. in fact Holly is chatting online with
David. they are writing a song together about a dog. it doesnt take them very long. on sunday
morning,Holly meets Ricky and Zadie at Grace's house. the girls are in a band and ricky he's
brillantat computers and all the things Holly doesnt understand records her new song. on monday
morning,Holly starts her campaign.Holly's alarm goes off at 6:00am. she immediately gets up,turns
on the light, and gets her CD player on the carpet.She puts in a new CD turns the volume to
maximum and presses play. then she quickly runs back to her room and jumps into bed. A terrible
noise fils the house. suddenly the bedroom door opens.two shocked white faces stare at te CD
player.Hollys parents cover their ears in horror
after school,Holly goes back to ricky's house.ten minutes later, she continues her journey home.she
is carrying a big bag full of paper. before she goes to sleep,Holly sets her alarm clock for
3:00am.when the alarm goes off,Holly gets up and goes into action. Hollys parents go downstairs in
the morning and they cant believe their eyes. on every wall and door,on every window and
mirror,on the fridge,on the table,on the ceiling and on the floor,there are posters.there are even
posters on their computers screens. in the evening,Holly presents her parents with a long sheet of
paper.

'whats this' her father asks nervousoly

'its a petition'

'a petition' repeats her mother

'thats right.its a petition for me to have a pet dog.look,these are the signatures of nearly everyone
at my school'

Holly's parents look at the long list of names.Luckily ,they dont read all of them.lots of the names
are in Holly and her friends handwriting. then her parents look at each other and Hollys mother
nods. 'All right,Holly,' says her father. 'we know this is important to you. you can have a dog'. Holly
givves a loud happy shout. 'but' adds her mother 'its your responsibility.Do you understand' 'of
course' says Holly with a big smile. 'now where do we get a dog' asks her father. 'from an animal
rescue centre' says Holly.ON saturday morning...

dad:'well,here we are'

Holly:'oh wow look those are goats'

Cuidador: we dont only look after cats and dogs. we have rabbits and guinea pigs...

Holly:I cant believe there are so many animals here.

Cuidador: ducks and geese... and ponies and donkeys,too

Cuidador: we have twenty dogs here at the moment. its always bad after christmas.

Holly: they re all so sweet

mum:we cant take all of them,Holly

Holly:oh look at him

sister:he looks a bit strange to me

mother:why dont you choose a beautiful dog

Holly:hes so cute i love him

cuidador:are you sure

Holly:definitely hes my dog

And so holly gests her pet dog. she's so happy - and the dog is happy too! Now there's an
importan decision to make. the dog needs a name.

why don't ypu call him brownie?' her mother says.

brownie? Why? asks Holly-

Because he's brown,' she explains.

?that's silly,' says Sophei. what about jack Sparrow?

like in the pirates of the carribbean?' ask's Holly

'that's right. he looks like a pirate with an eye patch!

'I prefer a traditional name like Rex or Rover' her father says.

'oh no, dad, that's awful! says Holly. I want to call him eco.?

What? they all ask

Eco. like ecological.!

'You're joking,' says Sophie.

'No, i'am not,' says holly. that's his name. come here. Eco!

And eco wags his tail.

That nigt, holly puts her glass of water next to her bed, reads for ten minutes, then fall asleep. And
she finds herserlf in a beautiful forest. the treses are tall above her head and they arecovered in
big. green leaves. Small birds fly between the trees, singing all the time. and as holly walks
trhrought the forest, she sees smiliing anywhere. there are no houses or car or computers. and
there are no car radios with their booming sound systems. there is only tje spun of the moving
leaves and birdsong an insects and... something else.

In her dreams, holly stops and listen

lap, lap, lap

what is thar noise? it sounds like water. Is it rain ? but Holly can see the sky an it is clear an blue. Is
it river? or a stream?

lap, lap,lap

Holly walks towards the sound

lap, lap, lap

the sound in quite loud now. it seems very close

lap, lap, lap

Holly wakes up and rubs her eyes. She isn't dreaminh. but she can still hear the spund

lap, lap, lap.

HOlly turns on the bedside lamp and see Eco. He is drinking from her glass of water! He wags his
tail, jump onto the bed and licks her face.

before school, Holly tajkes Eco for his first morning walks. She feels very tired. it´s really cold and
dark - and it is so early!

bur Eco doesn't mind. He pull on the lead, stops, sniffs , pulls, again, see a black car, tries to chase
it and nearly pull Holly off her feet !

He sees a huge dog and tries to play with it ( the big dog in quite frightening). and then he chooses
and a tree. Eco stops, sniffs at the tree trunk, look up, sniffs again, and makes a decision. This in
the perfect place.

Holly looks away and waits.

when Eco in finished, she takes a plastic bag from her pocket and picks up the dog mess.

Yuck!

Holly gests back from the walk and realises its late.She quickly eats a slice of toast,grabas her bag
and jacket,and runs out of the front door.'Close the door,Holly'shouts her mother.But its too late
when Holly gets to school,everybody is sitting quietly in the classrom.They are doing a french
test.Holly says sorry to Mr Maxwell and sits down next to Zadie.Then she looks at the test.The
questions are really difficult.

Holly is trying to write a conversation in French when she hears lack laughing 'what's so funny,Jack
asks Mr Maxwell.'That, sir' Jack is pointing at the window and they all start laughing,too.A dog is
lookinginto the classroom. Eco Its dark when Holly takes Eco for his evening walk. Holly runs along
the road with him, but its difficultbecause Eco often stops to investigate interesting bushes and
trees.And he often triest to catch birds or playwith twigs and fallen leaves. After about ten minutes
,its Hollys turn to stop suddenly.She sees two boys on the corner.They are standing under a
streetlamp.One of theme is tall,the other one is short.They are the boys from the alley.Holly feels
nervous.She decides to take a different route.She doesnt want to go near them with Eco . A few
days go by.then...

Holly:'its raining outside . but wheres Eco,Eco come in'

Eco enters...and the trouble starts

dad:oh look at your dirty paws come here

mom:stop that dog at once

Holly:eco

CRASH

eco runs upstair!

holly: oh no

mom: my favorite vase

mom: where in he now?

is he in in your dad's office

get out of here!

no! he's in Sophie's rooom!

you horrible dog!

don't panic. Sophie. Stay cool

that's my new sweater!

do somthing, Holly!

come on. Eco. letd go. please!

that evening...

thar dog is your responsibility, holly,' says her father. 'and it is out of control.'

but he's only puppy,'

he's a horrible little dog. look at my sweater! says Sophie.

it's a horrible sweater anyway,' holly replies.

'holly!' says sandra

all right, i'm sorry, sophie, says holly.

sophie still looks very angry.

that dog need rule, her father continues.

but eco's a fre spirit! says holly.

no, he isn't, holly', says her father.

eco in a pet in our house.

he needs to know the rules. and the first rule is, keep him in the kitcchen al night. put his basket in
ther corner. and keep the kitchen door shut. i don't want Eco in the rest of the house. Do you
understand?. Holly doesn't answer. holly, do you understand? yes' Good'.

but that night, holly lies awake in bed.

she waits and waits

when she thinks everybody is sleeping, she get up and pull on her socks. then she creeps.
downstairs.

one of the steps on the the stair makes a creaking noise.

it's an awful noise

holly stops.

buts notbody wakes up!

so holly carries on and goes into the kitchen.

Eco is awake. he wags his tail and holly gives him a hug.

poor little eco. it isn't fair. you don't want to sleep in this rotten. old kitchen. she picks him up
and carries him into the conservatory.

'you can sleep in here,' she says

there are lots of lovely plants

then holly puts his basket near herbs.

she goes back into the kitchen, closes the kitchen door, and silently goes back to her room.

holly wakes up early. her parent musn't find Eco in the conservatory! so d¿she goes downstains
and enter the kitchen there are leaves and dirt in the kitchen floor?

there's no answer.

so holly enters the conservatory and it's a disaster

first she sees her mum's plants an flowers. theys aren't all neat and tidy now. the plants are lying
on their sides or on the floor. and the pots are bloken into a hundred pieces.

then holly looks at the side of the conservatory. it is a scene or total chaos. and Eco is sitting in the
dirt an leaves.
all my herbs! all may beautiful plants!

Eco wags his tail.

you bad dog! holly says. 'come here!

Eco looks confised. he doesn't move.

holly opens the door to the garden

get out. do you hear me? i have to clean up this mess before mum and dad get up.'

Eco still doesn't move

holly gests really angry now

GET OUT YOU STUPID DOG! she shouts angrily

this time Eco runs into the garden. but holly doesn't have time to clean up the conservatory. she
hears voices behind her.

'oh alan, look at this!

what's going on, Holly? where's Eco?

holly looks at the parents, then she looks at the garden. Eco inn't there.

holly looks in the garden... Eco where are you?

next she checks in the road.... Eco!

after that she searches the house... it's hopeless, mum

it's time for school now but don´t worry. he'll come back

but whenshe gests home.. he ins't there.... ECO! eco!

so hilly calls her friends... hi Grace. i'm so worried. I really need your hepl.

they all search for Eco

even sophie help.. we're looking for holly¿s horrible dog. it's sooo cold .

holly sometimes thinks she sees him... but she's wrong

finally, they meet outside the house. i'm sorry , holly. we can't find him tonight. we can try again
tomorrow..
before she goes to bed,Holly leaves a bowl of dog food and a bowl of water outside the
conservatory door, then she goes to bed and lies there in the dark,listening and listening.she wakes
up suddenly in the early morning. she jumps out of bed and rushes downstairs.she opens the
conservatory door.the food bowl is empty.but the water in the other bowl is frozen 'Eco' she calls
out she waits 'Eco 'she tries again but the garden is empty and still

A window opens upstairs. 'don't stand outside in the cold,Holly her father says. its freezing.'Holly
looks up but everything looks strange and blurred.Shes crying. Ricky is waiting for her outside the
school gate.'is there any sign of Eco' he asks Holly sadly shakes her head 'we can find
him,Holly.look at this' Ricky takes a big sheet of paper from his bag.It isnt a petition this time.its a
poster.'Oh,ricky,thats really kind of you' Holly feelslike crying again.'Hey Holly,its no big deal.i love
making things on my computer' then Holly looks at the poster again. 'A100 eurosreward'i havent
got that money,she says.'dont worry,Holly,We can all help.Holly's friends stick up the posters all
over town. but nobody phones her with news os Eco.she leaves food and water in the garden every
night. Every morning there is no food and no Eco.And every night Holly sits by her window,looking
down into the garden.sometimes she hears a noiseand thinks it's him. sometimes she thinks she
can see a shapein the darkness. but she knows there are cats out here,and foxes,too.Maybe they
are eating Eco's food. she remembers the dog with the funny face at the animal rescue centre.she
thinks of his silly eye patch.she thinks of his wagging tail. and she remember that last morning...A
full moon is shining above the houses and the trees. it travels slowly across the sky.it never stops
moving.it has no home to go to.Holly thinks of Eco out there in the cold night, all alone and scared.
she remembers those two horrible boys.and she looks,and she listens,and she cant sleep. Tears
drip from her eyes. A grey blanket of cloud creeps across the sky,eating up all the stars.it moves
across the face of the moon,too. and noweven the moon is invisible. and in the light from
streetlamp,Holly sees white flakes falling from the sky.they fall silently past her window to the
garden below. it is snowing.

when holly looks out of the windows in the morning, the world id white. the roofs of the houses
are white, the trees are white, the grass in white. but she sees something else, too. She pulls on
her clothes and trainers, runs downstairs, and open the conservatory door, the bright snow
dazzles her eyes and the cold air makes her cheeks turn red.

But there, in the snow, she clearly sees little shapes goins fron the food bowl to the end of the
garden. these aren't human foot prints. they are paw prints! Holly follows them across the
garden, crunching the snow under her feet.

they go under a gap in the fence beneath the old tree to the garage. the garage door ins't
completely closed. the paaw prints stop at the entrance. an animal is in there. a fox? a cat? o
ever... oh please, please,' she says softly.

Holly pushes up the door and steps inside.

It's very quiet in the garage. her parent's car is in middle, and along the walls are sherves filled wiht
all the old things that don't fir in the house. her dad's tools, Holly's old toys, bosex, bags - all the
things they don't whant but don's want to throw away.

In the corner, under a pile or cardboard boxex, and lying on and old blanket, she sees a dark shape.

It opens an eye

It opens another eye

it's tail starts to wag

Eco!

before Holly goes to school, there a meeting in the kitchen. her mother, father, sister and dog are
all there. the conclusion is: Holly can keep Eco.

BUT

she must take him to a dog training school

Holly doesn't like the idea, but she hasn't got a choice. and secretly she knows it is the only
solution.

So Eco, learns to sir when Holly says, 'Sit!'

He learns to come when Holly says, 'come here!'

He goes to his basket when...

ypu get the idea!

And the amazing thing is, Eco really enjoys it. For him, it's one big game. And he doesn't get into
trouble!

Holly is walking through a beautiful forest.

The sun in shining through the tall trees and the thick, green leaves. Birds are singing on the
branches and butterflies are dancing in the air.

Then she hears a noise.

It's a splashing, lapping sort of noise.

Water!

Holly runs towards the sound and finds...

Eco in the middle of a stream! he is playing, jumping around and chasing a stick.
But this isn't a dream. Holly doesn't wake up and find Eco licking her face or drinking from her
glass of water.

She smiles.

'come here, Eco!' she call out.

Eco looks up and see Holly.

And then runs to her.

para martina... I love you so much beautiful of my life