Sandra and Blue

By George Man

Sandra and Blue by George Man

After living on an Outback Australian research station with her parents for five years, Sandra was adjusting to life back in Holland. She would be starting high school and had to get used to freezing cold, snowy winters, and no more horseriding, swimming and daily ou

• Language: English
• Publisher: George Man
• Release date: Feb 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9780648476238

Book preview

Dedication

I dedicate Sandra and Blue to Ania, my sister-in-law in Rotterdam, Holland, who asked me to tell her about Blue and strongly advised me to continue writing.

The Story so Far …

The first book, Blue, introduced us to seven-year-old Sandra who lives with her parents in Holland. She has a very nice aunt, Aunt Anne, who lives in a small fishing village on the coast and a girlfriend, Heidi, who lives close to her.

Sandra’s father received an offer to work for five years at Mitchell, an agricultural research station in Outback Australia, where Sandra and her parents relocate for that period. Along with all of the changes and her new lifestyle, she gets her own horse called Lady and an Australian cattle dog pup, whom she calls Blue.

Blue has fierce blue eyes, a silvery grey-blue pelt and grows to a size comparable to a German shepherd. Sandra and Blue have many adventures in Australia. Blue rescues a boy from raging floodwaters and becomes well known when he saves his young mistress from an enraged bull.

The most amazing feat of all came when Blue stayed with Sandra when she was badly injured after a fall from her horse in a remote mountain area. He nearly gave his life protecting her from dingoes—the Australian wild dogs.

Sandra and Blue go through an extremely difficult time when she returns to Holland and is forced to leave her amazing dog behind. Finally, they get back together when Blue, with the help of a Dutch television station, is brought to Holland and is allowed to stay with Sandra.

Chapter One

Lots to Learn, A Fight and Blue Goes Shopping

The first days in Holland were not easy for Blue. Everything was so different from his life in Australia. He learnt that he could not go roaming around and that he had to stay in the garden.

The first day Sandra went to school was especially difficult. Mother had to hold him, pat him and talk to him for a long time. He trembled and a low howling noise came out of his throat, but after a while, he went to lie down on the mat at the front door and stayed there until his young mistress came home that afternoon.

After a couple of days, he seemed to understand that she left in the morning and always returned in the afternoon. He followed Mother everywhere through the house and garden, but he was always at the front door to welcome Sandra home. Soon enough, he learnt how to walk on a leash outside the garden, but luckily, they regularly went to Aunt Anne’s where he could run loose on the beach and have balls and sticks thrown for him to retrieve. He also went shopping with Mother and learnt to run beside her bike’s rear wheel and wait near the bicycle at the shops.

The weekends were the best because Sandra did not go to school! He was often allowed to accompany her to Heidi’s place, where he quietly lay down in the living room while his watchful blue eyes followed Sandra everywhere.

Winter started with cold, misty days and long evenings inside with the heater on. Sandra soon remembered what a difference it was from the Australian climate. In the middle of December, the first snow fell. It was not a thick layer, but it was a completely new experience for Blue. The first couple of steps that he took in it were extremely funny. He put a paw down and pulled it straight back up again, but after a while, he acted like he had walked in snow for years. He discovered that running with his nose in the snow blew it up like a spray, and it was good fun.

On the Saturday afternoon a week before Christmas, there was a good cover of snow, and Sandra and Heidi went to the park with their sleds, taking Blue with them. They had a great time sliding down the hill with the big dog, Blue, chasing after them.

There were lots of other children who had also brought their dogs, and sometimes those dogs growled at each other, but nothing else happened. One of the dogs was a big boxer and all the other dogs stayed out of his way—especially when he growled. He was slightly bigger than Blue, who did not take any notice of him.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened: Sandra and Heidi were coming down the hill with Blue running and panting beside them. They passed close to the boxer, who was already annoyed that the grey-blue dog was not taking any notice of him. The boxer sniffed the air. He would show that dog that he was tough—he had never lost a fight and this dog was smaller and lighter than he was. He ran straight at Blue, planning to bump into him. This straight approach always unsettled other opponents and a couple of good bites usually made them take flight immediately. When he was very close, he gave a savage growl and took the last jump at full speed to collide with Blue. But Blue was not there. The boxer rolled through the snow, and then he felt a surge of pain in one of his rear paws.

Australian cattle dogs are sometimes charged by cattle, and through instinct, they