Snow Dog (3 page)

“How on earth can we make our own dog?” asked Nicky.

“Come with me.” Grandad led the way into the living room. “Now then, where did I put it?”

“Put what?”

“My bag,” said Grandad looking around.

“It’s over there, next to the telly.” Nicky wondered how Grandad could miss it! His bag was gigantic and Mum and Dad were always complaining that it looked like Grandad was carrying a huge scatter cushion on his shoulder.

“Right then, stand back!” Grandad bent down and buried his head in the bag. It looked like he was diving right into it. Nicky watched as Grandad started throwing out all kinds of
things
, like a yellow lampshade and an electric kettle and a half-eaten packet of chocolate biscuits. Several books, a few CDs and a computer keyboard flew across the room after the biscuits.

“Ah! Here it is!” exclaimed Grandad at last. “The very thing.”

“What is it?” Nicky couldn’t resist going closer to see.

“It’s a snow dome kit. It’s got a dome and the base and glitter and bits of plastic we can use for snow and it’s got extra-special clay that we can use to make your dog.”

“What’s extra-special about it?” asked Nicky.

“I found this clay at the end of the most beautiful rainbow I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Grandad. “I dug it up myself. And everyone knows rainbows are made of wishes and are very special. So any dog made with this clay will be extra-special. Maybe even magic …”

“A clay dog isn’t the same as having a real dog.” Nicky sighed.

“We’ll see,” winked Grandad. “We’ll see.”

For the next hour, Grandad and Nicky sat at the table making a snow dome dog.

Nicky made the body and the face and Grandad made the tail and the legs. Nicky gave her dog big, floppy ears and, very carefully, she turned up the corners of the puppy’s mouth. And she turned his tail up too, to show that he was wagging it.

“That’s better. He looks like a happy dog now.” Nicky sat back, satisfied.

At last it was finished.

“Now we have to bake it until it’s quite hard,” said Grandad. “And then we can paint it.”

When at last the dog had baked and was cool enough to paint, Nicky did that all by herself. She painted her dog a golden brown with dark brown eyes and silver paws.

“Perfect!” said Grandad. “Now we just have to wait for the paint to dry,”

As soon as the paint was dry, Nicky very carefully attached the puppy to the base of the dome. Grandad filled the glass dome with water and asked, “Shall we put in the snow or some glitter?”