Alfie All Alone is an Animal Stories book by Holly Webb.
Plot[]
At a supermarket, Evie's mum stares at a packet of rice cakes in her shopping trolley in confusion. Evie reminds her that Mum put the packet in the trolley, which she shouldn't, because they'll make her feel sick, because Mum is having a baby. When she goes off to look at the noticeboard, she spots a poster with Westie puppies for sale on it. She beckons Mum to come and have a look at it and she does and thinks about it. Evie wants to get a Westie, though her mum is not a bit sure about it, just before the baby arrives. As Evie goes to look at the animal magazines, Mum writes down the phone number from the puppy advert on her till receipt, and hurries off to the bathroom.
Soon, Evie's parents think over about a puppy, and agree to let Evie have one. She is so excited to get a puppy, and goes over to her gran's house to tell her the great news, with Tigger, Gran's greyhound, jumping at her excitedly. On Saturday, Evie goes with her parents to Mrs. Wilson's. She chooses a puppy and names him Alfie, and is promised to take him home tomorrow. The next day, they bring Alfie home and let him explore. In the middle of the night, Evie brings Alfie upstairs to her room because he is afraid to sleep in his lonely basket in the kitchen. The next night, Alfie can't sleep because he thinks he needs a wee. Gran comes to look after Evie and Alfie while her mum is at hospital. The next morning, Evie's mum and dad bring her new baby brother, Sam, home. Alfie is jealous of Sam and barks sharply, causing Sam to start crying and Evie to snap at Alfie, and she quickly grows a bond with Sam.
On Friday morning, Evie is tired and grumpy because Sam has kept her and Mum awake all night with his crying. After Mum drops Evie to school, while doing the laundry, she steps on Alfie's paw, but instead of saying sorry, she snaps at him. Feeling unwanted, Alfie chews Sam's teddy, making Mum more furious. When Gran comes round, she tells Mum to take a nap upstairs and volunteers to look after Sam and Alfie and pick Evie up from school for Mum, and tells Alfie that she'll tell Evie to give him exercise. But after Gran goes home to give Ben and Tigger their tea, Dad comes home and greets his flustered family. One of his methods of lulling Sam to sleep works, until Alfie bangs his bowl against the floor and barks, causing Sam to start crying again and Mum to banish Alfie and lock in the kitchen all night for the first time.
On Saturday morning, upon Sam calming down after every day's temper tantrums, Evie notices that Alfie is starving and feeds him a bit of croissant, but that makes Mum snap at Evie for doing it. Alfie slinks sadly to the living room where Sam is having a nap in his bouncy chair. Alfie sees a fly on his arm and tries to catch it, unbeknownst that Evie and Mum are watching him in horror, and Evie shouts at Alfie, causing him to run under the sofa, cowering. Sam then roars when Mum picks him up for protection, but he certainly hasn't noticed the fly. Evie starts crying, angry with Alfie for trying to bite Sam (which she thinks he has done), and flings her arms round Dad as soon as he comes into the living room. Evie realises Alfie hasn't bitten Sam at all after Mum explains so, and that she frightened Alfie by shouting at him. She tries to get him to come out from the sofa, but he stays there, to Evie's disappointment. After a little while, when she retries to get Alfie to come out from the sofa, along with an apology, Alfie crawls out and licks her comfortingly. Evie realises she hasn't been paying any attention to Alfie at all, and owes him lots of playing with, cuddles and apologies for being hard on him.
For the rest of the day, Evie pays more attention to Alfie, and gives him a huge tea, but Mum and Dad need to talk to her about him. They explain to her that they can't keep Alfie because she hasn't been paying any attention to him, all because they've been too busy taking care of Sam. Shocked and devastated, Evie tries to convince them that she started playing with Alfie all over again, and will take him for proper walks, but Evie's parents are unmoved and tell her that it isn't fair on Alfie, and he needs a home where he will get taken care of, and suggest to take him to Riverside. Horrified, Evie refuses, but to her parents' expressions, she makes do with the progress. She skips dinner and continues to play with Alfie, but she lays awake half the night, heartbroken.
Evie firmly decides to go with Dad to take Evie to Riverside, though Evie wishes they didn't have to. A girl who works at Riverside promises Evie to take good care of Alfie until he is given a new home, and Dad puts his arm round Evie as they leave. When they go to Gran's house, Dad tells her the depressing news, and Gran tries to cheer Evie up with a cake for tea, but upon that, Evie's runs into the house, devastated and unable to stop thinking about Alfie.
Back at Riverside, Alfie refuses to eat anything, feeling blue over Evie. A boy named Ethan, who is about Evie's age, lays eyes on Alfie and the girl picks Alfie up and lets Ethan stroke Alfie's ears. This causes Alfie to remind him of Evie and wriggle crossly in the girl's arm, and Ethan to leave Alfie. At Evie's house, Dad comes home with a newspaper and throws Evie a chocolate bar. Mum and Dad look at the photo of Evie and Alfie, and realise that Evie really loves Alfie very much and ask Evie to change Sam's nappy while they have a talk about Alfie. When they finally tell Evie that they'll go to Riverside and get Alfie back, Evie is overjoyed, and the family immediately jump in the car to Riverside. When they get to Riverside, Alfie isn't there. A few moments later, Evie sees Alfie and she and Alfie are reunited.
Characters[]
- Evie - The main character. She becomes a big sister when her new baby brother, Sam, is born.
- Alfie - Evie's Westie puppy. When Sam is born, Evie and her parents turn on him, but when they bring him to Riverside, they get him back.
- Sam - Evie's new baby brother. He cried loudly a lot since he was born, but by Saturday morning, Sam calmed down.
- Evie's Mum and Dad - Evie's parents.
- Gran - Evie's grandmother. She has two dogs called Ben and Tigger.
- Tigger - Gran's energetic greyhound.
- Ethan - An 8-year-old boy who comes to see Alfie at Riverside.