Щенок Элли, или Долгая дорога домой / Ellie the Homesick Puppy

Should she run now, and see if she could get far enough away in the few seconds she had left? But Sid wasn’t meowing to get Gran’s attention. He was sitting very still, just watching with disapproving eyes, the tip of his tail twitching very slightly.

The front door slammed shut. Ellie gulped. He wasn’t going to stop her. She supposed it made sense. He didn’t want her in his house any more than she wanted to be there. Ellie wagged her tail at him gratefully, and sneaked out from behind the bush and on to the pavement.

She needed to get away from Gran’s house fast, before Gran realized what had happened and came to find her. Ellie looked around, her tail wagging very slightly. She couldn’t help[90 - Устойчивое выражение can’t help (doing) something переводится «не мочь не», «не мочь удержаться от».] but be excited. She was heading back to Megan! She was going to find her, all by herself!

She was going home.

Ellie skittered quickly across the road, making for a little lane with high hedges that led down between some of the houses.

She’d be out of sight from Gran’s house quickly here, she was sure.

Once she was in the lane she raced as fast as she could. They had gone down here on the walk yesterday; it was brambly and overgrown[91 - Приставка over- означает «слишком»: заросший.], with lots of hiding places.

Finally she ran out of breath[92 - Выражение be out of breath означает «задыхаться, сбить дыхание». Глагол run (ran, run) вместо be указывает на причину этого состояния.

] and collapsed, panting, underneath a tangle of brambles. She lay in the leafy dimness, breathing fast, and loving the feeling of being out on her own. Walks with Megan were the best thing, of course, but it was fun not to have a lead on and to be able to go where she liked. The bramble bush smelled nice. Earthy, but sweet at the same time.

Ellie tried to work out[93 - Фразовый глагол work out означает «вычислять».] which way she should go next. Where was Megan? Which way?

She rested her nose on her paws.

It wasn’t that she was going to sniff Megan out exactly, that would be silly, she was much too far away for that. This was different from finding Megan’s scent. It was more of a feel. Megan – and home – was that way.

Ellie wriggled eagerly out from under the brambles and set off down the lane. She knew it was going to be a long way – longer than any walk she’d done before[94 - ’d – это сокращение от had.