When Siggy Met Phyllis Copyright ©2021 Brian Frederick All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher/author, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. All images, logos, quotes, and trademarks included in this book are subject to use according to English trademark and copyright laws. First published in 2021. Written by Brian Frederick Illustrated by Vivien Sárkány Page design by Bryony van der Merwe
To: my wonderful Harvinder, my spirit and soul. For: Sreyda, Hetty, Phoebe, Daiya and Maddie with much love xxx Thanks: to Maggie, Rachel, Mike n’ Barb, Linda, Michael and all you good, good people. You know who you are xxx
“Puppy 3,” said Mrs Beaton, “are you still not going to play with others?” The tiny dachshund turned to look at the lady who was speaking. He tilted his little head to one side. She was the one who brought him food and cared for him, so he quite liked her. But she was also the one who took his mummy away in the morning and only brought her back in the evening, and he didn’t like that. Not at all. He didn’t know how he felt about her. e didn’t know how he felt about her.
Puppy 3 was only fve weeks old. So, there were lots of things he didn’t know. For example, he didn’t know he was going to be called Siggy – mostly because nobody had named him yet. He’d heard Mrs Beaton say, “I don’t name my puppies because this makes it harder for me to let them go to their forever home.” He wasn’t sure what that meant, either. e wasn’t sure what that meant, either. As usual, Puppy 3 (soon to be called Siggy) sat by himself by the window. He was thinking little puppy thoughts. He was thinking about breakfast and his mummy, while he watched the world outside.
So, Siggy - we’ll call him that now - looked out of the window. He kept watching, and around him, all his own baby brothers and sisters were playing a game they called Rough and Tumble! He was watching some robin redbreasts outside. He saw a mummy, a daddy, and a baby robin in a little nest in the oak tree at the bottom of the garden. The parents were feeding the baby some worms. Siggy wondered what the wriggly things tasted like. There were no actual rules in Rough and Tumble. Everyone just piled in and jumped on top of one another until they all got tired. Whoever was on top at the end, won that round.
They played this game a lot. Sometimes, a dozen times a day. Then their mummy was brought back by Mrs Beaton, and the puppies used the last of their energy in excited delight and a quick feed before they all slept deeply and dreamed sweetly. During the day, while the other puppies cavorted, Siggy mostly preferred to just watch the world outside on his own. He was a thoughtful little puppy. What he didn’t know was that the world outside was about to visit him inside. And change his world forever.
If he hadn’t been so interested in the robins outside, he would have heard Mrs Beaton go into the hallway. He would have heard the doorbell that called her to the door. He would have heard people – two adults and a little girl – say that they had come to look at the puppies. Siggy didn’t even know he was called Siggy yet, and he certainly didn’t know anything about what was about to happen next… But when the door opened that morning, he would remember what happened next for the rest of his life. When the door did open, this time Siggy heard it, and he looked around.
He saw Mrs Beaton, but he was especially interested in the man and lady and little girl that walked into the room behind her. Siggy thought they looked nice, and he was “Where’s the proud mother?” asked the man. “Oh, Gladys?” replied Mrs Beaton. “I take her to another part of the house during the day. She doesn’t like people handling her babies, and when Gladys gets upset, all her puppies do too. I like everything to be happy and calm with my little sausages when people come to look at them.” fascinated by the child’s bright red dress. fascinated by the child’s bright red dress.
The adults began to speak amongst themselves, and Siggy lost track of the conversation. The girl gazed at the puppies, watching them playing, without looking at Siggy. So, after a little while, Siggy lost interest and started to watch the robins again. The child continued to peer at all the tumbling dachshund puppies, her face a happy mix of delight and concentration. She giggled and jiggled from one foot to the other with a huge smile.
Then all at once, she turned her head to look at Siggy. The little girl stopped jiggling and stood still. She tugged her mummy’s arm and spoke eagerly to her parents, pointing at Siggy. Then the adults spoke to each other, and they nodded and smiled. And she never loo k e d away. And she never lo o k e d away.
Siggy felt a small pair of warm hands take hold of him gently, and then the little girl was scooping him up. The girl looked into his tiny face and said, “Hello, little puppy!” Siggy looked back into her eyes, and he felt something very strange. A kind of sweet confusion and a feeling of belonging that he had only felt before when he saw his mummy. He didn’t know what this was. Like I said, there were a lot of things he didn’t know. But he knew that he liked the feeling. His big blue eyes gazed up at the girl’s face above him. Siggy had just fallen in love. The girl bounded over to Siggy. He looked timidly at her as she bent down to pick him up.
“Is that the one, Phyllis?” asked the lady. “Do you like him?” “What’s his name?” asked the man. “That’s Puppy 3,” replied Mrs Beaton. “I never name them, or it breaks my heart to let them go.” She smiled sadly and then added, “And it only confuses them if they have a name and then their forever owner changes it.” “I think we should call him Sigmund!” said the lady. “What do you think, Phyllis?” The little girl said, “Sigman?” She found Sigmund difcult to say. Her parents laughed. “Not Sigman, Phyllis! Sigmund!” her daddy replied. “I like it.” “I know! Phyllis – what about Siggy?” said her mum. “Can you say Siggy?” “SIGGY!” said Phyllis delightedly.
She looked at the little dachshund. “Hello, Siggy!” she said softly. Siggy looked back at the girl, and he saw himself refected in her big green eyes. If he had been able to explain, he’d have said that those eyes were flled with love. His own eyes were flled with love too. “I’m Phyllis,” said the little girl. The baby dachshund made a sweet puppyish noise in reply. The adults heard him make a few soft little barking and snuffing sounds as he wagged his tail furiously. But Phyllis heard him say, “Hello, Phyllis!” “Will you be my puppy?” Phyllis very earnestly asked the tiny dachshund.
Siggy looked deep into her eyes and seemed to nod his little head as he made another puppy sound. “Yes!” he said. Phyllis heard him perfectly. “He said yes, Mummy! He said yes!” Phyllis cooed and hugged the puppy close. “Are you going to be my forever human?” whispered Siggy. “Yes, Siggy!” answered Phyllis, looking into his eyes again. “I’m always going to take care of you. We’re going to have such fun together!”
“Aww! Look at them!” said her mummy. “I think we have a winner!” laughed her daddy. The little girl and her little dog continued to have eyes just for each other. Daddy and Mrs Beaton went into the next room, and when he came back a few minutes later, he was holding some papers. “He’s all yours, Phyllis!” he said. Phyllis felt her heart burst with joy. “Thank you!” she said. “Thank you, Mummy and Daddy. I promise I’ll always love him and care for him.” She brought Siggy over, and clutching him tightly in one arm, she hugged her mummy, and her daddy hugged them both.
Siggy said goodbye to his little brothers and sisters, who hardly noticed he was leaving, but he didn’t feel sad. He didn’t know where he was going, and he would always remember his mother, Gladys. “Let’s go home now, darling,” said her mummy.
But all the same, he felt that if he was going with Phyllis, then he was going home.
The End Siggy and Phyllis return in and Phyllis return in Siggy the Soccer Dog Siggy the Soccer Dog and AVAILABLE NOW! ILABLE NOW! COMING SOON! ING SOON! Siggy Loves Sausages oves Sausages Siggy Saves Christmas aves Christmas
About the author Children’s book author Brian Frederick enjoyed creating his own worlds and being an insatiable reader from an early age. He always wanted to be a writer, having won praise and awards for his early stories, and was particularly inspired by the Narnia books. Brian grew up in Northern Ireland, during “the Troubles” and went to a posh school where CS Lewis was once a pupil and Samuel Beckett briefy taught. A young Brian made the sports page headlines as a champion swimmer and he admits he may have been more dedicated to training than to his studies at times. After school, a legal career beckoned and he pursued it, but it turns out that Brian likes being a writer more than being a lawyer. “I much prefer writing stories to writing writs,” he quips. “Clever Books for Clever Children” Brianfrederickauthor.com “I don’t know if stories for children can change the world, but I hope they can make it a little better – certainly for my readers.”
Other books in this series Join Siggy, as he learns about the happiness that comes from keeping promises, during his romp through a fast and fabulous adventure that ultimately takes him into the deep dark woods... where magic sometimes happens… agic sometimes happens… All rights reserved by BRIAN FREDERICK and BIBA BOOKS, LTD. www. https://bibabooks.com QUANTITY PURCHASES: Schools, companies, professional groups, clubs, and other organisations may qualify for special terms when ordering quantities of this title. For information, email [email protected] Buy Siggy Loves Sausages now at Amazon UK, Amazon US (and all other Amazon sites worldwide)
This is where Siggy and Phyllis live now...
You WILL after this… Phyllis is excited to go with her parents to choose a dachshund puppy. When she gets there, she’s transfxed by the cute, cavorting pups as they play, but she can’t decide. Then, all of a sudden, one of them speaks to her… “This is a beautiful little prequel for you to introduce you to Siggy and how he fell in love with Phyllis the very frst time he met her, when she was choosing a puppy... But - Beware! You May fall in LOVE too...” Brian Frederick, Author
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