Astro's Indian Odyssey: Astro's Adventures

By Susan Day

Have you ever wondered what secrets and adventures were waiting for six dogs in the mystical land of India?
Have you ever scratched your head and pondered the dietary requirements of a twenty foot python?
Have you ever wanted to make a whole cricket team disappear?
Well, wonder no more!

In this funny children’s book, Astro and the gang are employed to find the mascot of the Eden Gardens Cricket Club. But this is not just any mascot! No! The greatest cricket ground in the world has a real Bengal tiger cub as and she’s been tiger-napped by the wicked genius, Speed Bump Charlie and his sidekick, Furball.

Joining our brave heroes on their zany journey is an Asian bear who loves honey; a prim and proper Deerhound who has a love for all things rich and refined and; a whole assortment of other creatures who will steal your heart and perhaps your sanity while, at the same time, tickling your funny bone!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Day
• Release date: Oct 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310515903

Susan Day

Susan is an author, canine behaviourist, and a storyteller. She lives with her family and dogs, in particular, Rocky the Border collie and Stella, the blind dog. She spends her time blogging, writing and illustrating; training and counselling dogs and being bossed around by the family cat, Speed Bump Charlie and his sidekick, Furball (see Dogs in Space). Susan travelled around the world twice before she was seven years old. It seemed only fitting that the wonderful events she experienced and the places she visited on these journeys be recorded for history. Thus, her story telling skills began. Firstly, to Rupert Bear, her lifelong companion, and then to a host of imaginary friends and finally to her pet dog once the family finally set down roots in Australia. Susan is passionate about children's literature and wants to inspire children to be better people and encourage them to follow their dreams. She runs workshops for children teaching them how to form the wonders of their imaginations into stories. Susan lives in a small country town where there are more kangaroos than people. She shares her country property with four dogs, three cats, three rescue guinea pigs and a very large fish and her patient husband. More about her adventures are reflected in Clarence the Snake from Dunolly.

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Astro’s Indian Odyssey -

Astro’s Adventures

by

Susan Day

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Susan Day on Smashwords

Astro’s Indian Odyssey -

Astro’s Adventures

by

Copyright © 2015 by Susan Day

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Astro’s Indian Odyssey -

Astro’s Adventures

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all the dogs of the world that don’t have a warm bed to curl up in, toys to play with or a cat to chase. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to rescue shelters to help you all.

Chapter One

Travelling with dogs was never an easy thing. Dogs don’t like being inside a moving vehicle. They tend to bark, or even worse, puke and vomit everywhere. When dogs are flown by plane they are normally stowed away in the cargo hold in special crates. Cargo holds are noisy, cold and quite frightening for the poor creatures.

Recently, on a flight to India, six dogs were travelling in a jumbo jet.

Were they in the cargo hold, freezing in steel crates?

No. They were relaxing in specially designated seats and flying first-class, would you believe!

These were no ordinary dogs. Sure, they were furry and had tails. They even barked and scratched, and they couldn’t resist chasing a tennis ball. Most of them were not very fond of cats, just like ordinary dogs – perhaps they were just like your dog.

Unlike ordinary dogs, however, these dogs were special.

They were highly trained animals who save other dogs from neglect. They lived far away in the island continent of Australia. They belonged to a secret organisation that was known only as The Organisation. It operated behind a Doggy Day-Care Centre and their activities were known to no human being – not one! (Well, except you and me, that is.)

Rocky was the commander and leader of the group. He was a large black Border collie who gave orders – lots of them - and kept the other dogs in control. Rocky had been born into the Organisation and had been its Commander for many years.

Helping Rocky was Stella D’oro. Her name meant Golden Star. Stella was a small Cocker spaniel who had curls of gold. Although she was only looked young she was said to be very old indeed. She had special powers too. For example, she can sense when something was going to go wrong and she could communicate telepathically – sending messages as thoughts into other animals’ minds. Stella was also blind.

Then there was the tunnel digging expert, Digger. He was a small terrier who could not only dig long, deep tunnels in minutes, but would remain sparkling clean the whole time. Digger was a very smart dog and he wore a green beret everywhere he went.

Indy was a tough, Australian Cattle dog. She was a deep grey colour which often looked blue. She wore a khaki vest and carried a hunting bone and a stink bomb. She was tough and liked nothing more than to battle the baddies, run through crocodile invested swamps for fun and arm wrestle lions.

Alfie was the biggest and the strongest dog on the team. He was a Doberman cross who was dedicated and loyal. Stories of how he broke through walls with his head were legendary. So are the ones about his appetite. Legend had it that Alfie could eat non-stop. However, he always complained about being hungry, as you are about to find out.

The newest recruit, and Alfie’s best friend, was Astro. Astro was a grey shaggy dog who loved being part of a secret organisation. Even though he was quite spoilt he had gotten used to the rough and tumble life of being a secret agent and loved the adventure and excitement that it brought.

Today, Astro and the other dogs were travelling to India but they didn’t know why.

Chapter Two

Meanwhile in India, the sun was shining and a gentle breeze chased a handful of leaves across the ground. It was the first day of a friendly match between the Bengal Cricket Team and the Australian Kangas.

Nice day for it, an old voice croaked from the stands.

A young man nodded and stared straight down the cricket pitch. He rubbed the red ball on his white shirt. He eyed his target and squinted. He had two choices. He could bowl on the full and hope the batsman would be silly enough to lop the ball into the air so it’d be an easy catch for one of his team mates. Or he could add a spin at the last minute and the batsman would miss and the ball allowing it to sail into the wickets. Either way, it would be a great start to their match – first ball and the batsman out for a duck.

He decided to go for the first option. He shuffled his feet and bowed his head. He quickly muttered an incantation of luck and then began his run. As he got to the bowler’s end, he launched his attack. The ball flew from his hand and skyrocketed towards the batsman. As planned, the batsman couldn’t resist and he hit the ball square in the centre of his bat. The ball lifted up, up into the air and made its way clear across the grounds and over the fence. There was no chance anyone could have caught it.

Six!! the crowd cheered.

Better luck next time, the old voice whispered.

The voice belonged to an old, white-haired dog. He sat in the back of the stands and had been the cricket club’s unofficial mascot for many years. No one was sure how old he was but his silver hair and wrinkled face showed many years spent outdoors playing cricket. The younger team members had nicknamed him Ritcho but no one knew who he belonged to or how old he was. They took it in turns to bring him food and one of the coaches had left a swag of old jumpers in the corner for him to sleep on.

Normally, Ritcho spent his time looking after the club’s official mascot. Most clubs had some kind of mascot. An animal whose strength and cunning they admired and tried to emulate when they played. This cricket club was one of the best in the world so they had chosen one of the most powerful and cunning creatures. It was also an animal that represented their ancient and mysterious country.

The cricket club was Eden Gardens and the club mascot was a Bengal tiger cub.

Sadly, two days ago the tiger cub had been kidnapped and no one knew where she had been taken. She was named Durga after the Hindu Goddess. The Goddess Durga was known as the Warrior Queen and she was the Goddess of good winning over evil. She often rode into battle to save her children on the back of