Writtten by: Richard Jackson
Illustrated by: Linda Trucchi

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CHAPTER 1

'Agro-Man lives behind that house!' one of the boys shouted.
They laughed as they walked past; but they did not speak to Saul.
They did not even look at him.
'That new kid's got trouble!' another one said.
He said it when he was right beside Saul. But he did not look at him. Just laughed.
Then they turned the corner and were gone.
Saul went quickly back inside his new house. He had heard the boys coming along the street, and gone out hoping he would meet them. He did not know anyone in his new neighbourhood.
He had pretended to be fixing the gate. He was right there on the edge of the sidewalk when they walked past.
He wished they had said hi, not just said that bit about "Agro-Man" and walked on, laughing.
He ran through the new house to the back yard.
'I heard some boys,' his mother said. 'Did you talk to them?'
'They said stuff,' Saul told her.
'It's tough being the new kid on the block,' his father said. He was stacking some boxes in the old shed. 'You'll soon make some friends.'
Saul dug his basketball out of the box he had packed it in before they had left the apartment.
'I need a dog,' he said. He dribbled the ball. 'Now we've got a yard of our own I can get one.'
'This yard's too small for a dog,' his mother said.
'But I'd take it for long walks,' Saul told her. 'And runs in the park. And...and everything!'
He dribbled his ball some more. It was his favourite thing.
'Can we go and get a dog as soon as we've finished unpacking?' he asked.
'No,' dad said. 'This yard is not big enough for a dog.'
'But we'd always be out in the parks playing ball and stuff,' Saul said.
'No,' dad said. 'A dog has to have room to play at home while you are at school. It would be too lonely with mum and me at work and you away, too.'
'Would you like a pair of rabbits?' mum asked. 'They can live in a hutch, and keep each other company while we're all away.'
'No thanks,' Saul said. 'A boy needs a dog. Boys in stories alway have dogs.'
'When they live in the country,' dad said. 'That's where a dog belongs. In the country.'
'Or in big yards,' mum said. 'Now we'll go back inside and put the furniture in place.'
'You stay out here and have a look round your new yard,' dad said.
Mum and dad went back inside. Saul looked around.

It was good to have a yard of his own. In the apartment they had not had any yard at all. The only place to play had been in the car park, so this was great. But he still wanted to have a dog. A boy needs a dog, he said to himself.
Dad came to the door of the house.
'I'll put a basket on the wall for you, soon. Then we can shoot baskets. You can bring all your friends home, too.'
'Yeah!' Saul shouted. It would be good to have a basket in his own yard. And he would soon make friends at the new school.
'But first we have to get the house set up,' dad said.
Saul bounced the ball. He dribbled it. He tried to slam-dunk it against the wall of the shed; and it bounced and went over the back fence.




CHAPTER 2

Saul climbed up onto the fence. The yard of the house behind was small, too. It was full of weeds and stuff. The ball was lying amongst some weeds.
'Is anybody home?' Saul called.
The back screen door was open. The door behind it had a small dog door cut into it. It was closed with a piece of wood that swung back and forth.
'Is there anybody home?' Saul called again, and banged on the fence.
The piece of wood crashed open. A black and white dog rushed out. A big black and white dog. It's teeth were showing in a snarl. It saw Saul, and threw itself at the fence, barking wildly.
Then the main door of the other house flew open. A big man shouted: 'Get off my fence!'
'I lost my ball in your yard,' Saul said.
'Get off my fence!' the man shouted again. 'Get him, Buddy!' He picked up a large stick.
The dog jumped up against the fence. He was going mad!

Saul remembered what the boy had said: "Agro-Man lives behind that place!"
Was this Agro-Man?
Saul jumped down and ran into the house.
'My ball went over the fence,' he said. 'There's an agro man and an agro dog over there!'
Dad laughed. 'Why would someone be agro just because your ball went into their yard?' he asked.
'We should make friends of our neighbours,' mum said. 'The man probably doesn't know we've bought this house. He might just think you've wandered in.'
'I think he's just an angry man,' Saul said.
'No one is like that,' his mother said.
'Come on. We'll go and introduce ourselves,' dad said.
Saul followed them as far as the door, then waited as his mother and father went out into the yard. They climbed onto the bottom rail of the fence so they could look over.
'Anyone home?' dad called.
Nothing happened, and dad tapped his knuckles against the fence.
'Anyone home?' he called again.
'We are your new neighbours!' mum called.
Saul heard the dog door bang open, and the dog rush across the yard barking. Then he heard the man shouting: 'Get off my fence! Get them, Buddy!'
'We're your new neighbours!' Mum called. 'We're Will and Angela! We'd like to meet you!'
'Get off my fence!' Agro-Man shouted.
'Take it easy!' dad shouted back.
'It doesn't matter, dad!' Saul called. He was frightened Agro-Man might do something to his father.
'Please. Can we have our son's ball back?' mum called.
'Just get off my fence!' Agro-Man shouted.
'My ball doesn't matter!' Saul cried out. 'Mum! Dad! It doesn't matter!'
His mother and father got back off the fence and came back to the house.
'Sorry, pal,' dad said.
'He is a very rude man,' mum said.
'Don't like that dog, Buddy, much, either,' dad said. 'Come inside and help us set things up.'
In his new bedroom, Saul unpacked boxes and put things into his cupboard and drawers. His window looked into the yard, and he kept stopping and looking out, wondering if Agro-Man and his dog Buddy were going to spoil things in his new home. Those kids who had gone past the gate had said they would not like to live here.
After a while, Saul went back to the yard and climbed onto the fence. The dog was lying on the ground beside the ball.

He was the kind of dog Saul wanted. He was mostly black, with white on his legs and a white patch on his head that came right down over one eye. He would be just the right sort of dog for a boy, Saul decided. And perhaps he was not really savage? Just doing what Agro-Man told him?
'Good dog!' Saul called. 'Good Buddy!'
Buddy leapt to his feet and made a rush at the fence. He jumped high and barked wildly.
Saul got a fright, and fell back into the yard. 'Stupid dog!' he shouted, and went inside.
It was bad enough not having a dog of his own. Now he had an angry one over the fence, and no ball.




CHAPTER 3

The next day Saul started at his new school. It was a good school, and he made some friends. Wilma and Josh were best friends, because they lived on the way home, and he walked with them.
He did not tell them about Agro-Man and the dog. There was too much else to talk about the new school. But he kept thinking about the dog, and the ball, and the first thing he did when he got home was to go out into the yard and climb up on the fence to look.
Buddy was lying beside the ball again. He must have heard Saul coming across the yard, because when Saul looked over, Buddy was watching.
'Good boy! Good Buddy!' Saul called.
Buddy growled, then leapt up and rushed at the fence, barking wildly.
'Buddy! Buddy!' Saul called. He did not notice Agro-Man come to his door.
'Get off my fence!' Agro-Man shouted. 'Get him, Buddy!'
'Can I have my ball, please?' Saul called.
'I'll give you ball!' Agro-Man shouted. He snatched up a broom and came running. But Saul did not wait to see any more. He ran, and slammed the back door as soon as he was inside.
Next day at school he told Wilma and Josh about Agro-Man and the dog.
'We know him!' Wilma said. 'He hates kids.'
'I know why, too,' Josh said. 'He used to have another dog, and some kids teased it. It ran across a road at them one day, and got run over by a bus.'
'They shouldn't have done that!' Saul said. 'I'll tell Agro-Man I won't tease Buddy.'
After school Saul went back to the fence. The ball was still there, but the dog was not.
He looked across to the house. The wire screen door was closed. That blocked the dog door. If he was quick he might be able to get his ball before the dog or the man heard him.
He began to climb the fence, then stopped. If Agro-Man or Buddy heard him Agro-Man would think he was just like the kids who had teased his other dog.
He waited a moment, then knocked on the fence. 'Are you there?' he called, and knocked again.
The screen door flew open, and Buddy raced from the dog door as Agro-Man tore open the other door and roared at Saul.
'I'm not the one who teased your other dog!' Saul shouted. 'I won't tease Buddy!'
'You kids are all the same!' Agro-Man shouted. 'Get him, Buddy!'
Buddy jumped at the fence, scratching and barking, and Saul jumped off and went back inside.
He was going to have to think of some other way to get his ball back. He thought about it a lot; then had a sudden idea.
'Yeah!' he said aloud.



CHAPTER 4

When Saul looked over the fence the next morning, Buddy was lying beside the ball again.
He was still there when Saul came home from school. He growled, then barked once or twice, but he did not attack the fence, and Agro-Man did not come out.
Perhaps this was the chance to try his idea?
He ran back into the house and got his father's fishing rod. He took the hooks and sinker off the line, and tied some rope there instead.
In the end of the rope he made a lasso. Then he got his father's landing net and ran back outside and climbed the fence again.
Buddy growled from his place beside Saul's ball; then whimpered, and looked back towards the house. He seemed upset.
At least he did not rush at the fence, barking.
Saul used the rod to cast the lasso towards the ball. Buddy growled when the rope fell near him; but still he did not rush the fence.
'Good boy, Buddy,' Saul said. He reeled the line back in until the rope was hanging from the end of the rod, then cast it again.
This time the lasso fell right over the ball.
'Yeah!' Saul cheered, and began slowly reeling in the line to drag the ball across to the fence.
Buddy watched the moving ball, puzzled. He put his head on one side, and pricked one ear. The ball came quite a long way before the lasso slipped out from under it.
'Great!' Saul said, reeling in to make another throw. He would soon have the ball right across to the fence. Then he could use his father's landing net to scoop it up.
As Saul reeled in the line, Buddy moved forward to lie beside the ball again.
'Good boy,' Saul said, and cast again. 'Ohhhh....!' he exclaimed. He had not thought of this. The lasso had landed over Buddy's head.
'Wait!' Saul called as Buddy leapt to his feet. 'No...!'
Buddy had spun around and raced for the house, pulling the line with him. Saul used the brake on the reel to try and slow him down, but Buddy was stronger than any fish he had ever tried to hold.
The dog shot in through his door, and Saul stopped trying to use the brake and just waited.
Now Agro-Man would come rushing out shouting that Saul was just like the other kids, teasing his dog.
It had not been a good idea at all.
What would he do? He could just cut the line off and tell dad what had happened. Or hope that Agro-Man took the cord off Buddy's neck and let him have it back. Or...or something...
He lifted the rod. The line seemed to be free, now. He tried reeling it in, and it came quite easily; and he guessed the rope had been cut off.
That did not matter; just so long as he got dad's line back.
He watched the door as he reeled, waiting for Agro-Man to come bursting out. But through the dog door came a sheet of paper, and he realised it was tied to the end of the line where the rope had been.
What was Agro-Man doing? Writing nasty notes to him or something?
He reeled in the rest of the line, and looked at the paper. It was a note. But not the note he would have thought Agro-Man would write...



CHAPTER 5

"PLEASE HELP" the note read. "I HAVE HAD AN ACCIDENT"
Brent looked towards the door of Agro-Man's house.
'How can I help?' he shouted. 'I've got the note. What do you want me to do?'
There was no answer. Well he was not going to climb over the fence and go into Agro-Man's house.
He climbed off the fence and took the note inside.
'I just got this,' he told his mother and father. 'I think it must be from Agro-Man...you know...the man who does all the shouting. I was using your fishing rod and line to try and get my ball back, dad. It got caught on that dog, Buddy. He ran inside the house with it.'
'I suppose we better do something,' mum said. 'But we can't go in there. It's too risky.'
'Maybe ring the police,' dad said, going to the phone.
'Why not ring for an ambulance?' mum suggested. 'Then if he really has had an accident he won't have to wait any extra time?'
'Right,' dad agreed.
'We'll go and call out to him what we've done,' mum said.
Saul and his mother went out and climbed the fence.
'We have sent for help!' mum called.
Buddy ran from the house, barking; then went back inside.
'Can you hear me?' mum called again. 'We have sent for an ambulance!'
Dad came out, then, and climbed up beside them.
'There's an ambulance on its way,' he said. 'We'll try and keep that dog in the back so he doesn't attack them.' He banged on the fence, and Buddy came rushing out again, barking.
'Go round and watch the front of his house,' dad said. 'Come back and tell us when it's safe to let the dog go back.'
Saul ran round the block to the front of Agro-Man's house to wait for the ambulance. He could hear its siren, and waved to the driver to stop when it came along the street.
'In there,' he said. 'The man sent me a note.'
'Thanks, pal,' the driver said, and with the woman who was with him ran into the house with a stretcher.
People from the houses along the street came to gossip and watch, but Saul only waited until the stretcher was being carried out before he ran home.
'They've taken him away in an ambulance,' he told his parents.



CHAPTER 6

Before school the next morning Saul climbed onto the back fence. He thought Buddy might have gone and he would be able to get his ball back.
But Buddy was lying beside the ball. He growled and rushed at the fence when he saw Saul. He was still there when Saul came home at the end of the day.
But this time he did not rush at the fence. Just growled and snarled a few times. Then whined.
'What's wrong?' Saul asked.
Buddy 's stomach looked thin.
'Haven't you got anything to drink?'
Saul found an old plastic bowl. He dropped it over the fence. Then he got the garden hose and filled the bowl with water.
'Come on! Come on, Buddy!' he called. 'Come and have a drink.'
Buddy just growled.
'What are you going to eat?' Saul asked. He looked across to the house, in case Agro-Man had come home. But there was no sign of him, or anyone else.
'I'll go and get you something,' Saul said.
He went to his room got some money and went down to the supermarket. He wasn't sure what to buy, but the check-out girl said dry food would be best, so he got a bag of that.
Buddy was still lying beside the ball when he got back. He growled.
'Come on, Buddy!' Saul called. 'Food! Food!'
He tore open the top of the bag, and dropped a large handful of food over the fence near the bowl. The bowl was empty. Buddy must have come and drunk it while he was gone.
'Good boy!' Saul said.
He got the hose and poked it over the fence and filled the bowl again.
'Come on, Buddy!' he called. 'Come on!' But the dog would not move from beside the ball.
'Okay, then,' Saul said. 'I'll come and see you before school tomorrow.'
'I gave Buddy some water and some food,' he told his parents. 'It's sort of like having a dog of my own. Do you think the man might give me my ball back when he comes home?'
'I hope so,' mum said.
Next morning, before school, Saul went back to the fence again. Buddy was still lying beside the ball. But this time, when he saw Saul, he did not growl at all.
'Good boy!' Saul said. There was still some water left in the bowl, but all the food was gone.
Saul got more food and tipped it over. Then he filled the bowl with more water.
'Look after my ball for me while I'm at school, Buddy,' he called.
He told Josh and Wilma about feeding Buddy.
'Can we come and see him after school?' Wilma asked.
'Sure! He's a really great dog.'
When they climbed up onto the fence, Buddy looked at Saul and made a small crying sort of sound.

'He's glad to see you, isn't he!' Wilma said.
'He's a strong dog,' Josh said. 'No one could take your ball while he was guarding it!'
'He's a great guard dog,' Saul said.
He let the others help him fill the bowl from the hose, and drop food over.


CHAPTER 7

Every morning before school, and every day after school, Saul gave Buddy food and water.
Soon, Buddy was waiting by the fence for him when he came. The dog would leap up and yap with excitement. His tail was always wagging, and his eyes were always bright.
One day, Buddy had a piece of stick in his mouth when he jumped up to meet Saul.
'Do you want me to throw it for you?' Saul asked.
He reached down and took the stick from Buddy's mouth. Then he threw it into the yard, and Buddy brought it back.
'He's playing fetch with me!' Saul shouted in excitement.
The next day Josh and Wilma came back to watch the new game.
'I wish I had a dog like Buddy,' Josh said.
Wilma wished for one, too. So Saul let them both throw the stick for Buddy to fetch.
But then next day, when Saul came home, Buddy was gone.
'Buddy...! Buddy...!' Saul called.
The ball was there. There was still some water in the bowl. But there was no dog.
'Buddy...! Buddy...!' he called, again, and again.
But Buddy did not come.
'Mum...! Dad...!' Saul shouted as he rushed inside. 'Someone has stolen my dog!'
They all went out to the fence. But all they could see in the yard was Saul's ball.
'Someone has closed the back screen door,' mum said.
'I guess the man who owns him has sent someone to take his dog away,' dad said.
'But they can't take my dog!' Saul cried.
'He's not your dog,' dad said. He climbed over the fence and got the ball. 'At least you can have your ball back.'
Dad and mum went inside.
Saul stayed looking over the fence for a while. Then he got down and picked up his ball. He bounced it a few times. Then he threw it over the back fence into Buddy's yard and went inside.


CHAPTER 8

'Where's your ball?' mum asked.
'I threw it back in case Buddy came home,' Saul said. 'It's his favourite thing.'
Josh and Wilma were sorry when he told them Buddy was gone.
'He was the best dog,' Josh said.
'He was a great guard dog,' Wilma said.
Saul did not ask them to come home after school. He went out into the yard, but he did not look over the fence. He just kicked things.
Then he heard a scratching noise. It was probably a rat or something.
Saul picked up a stick and threw it at the fence.
'Go away!' he shouted.
Something whimpered.
Saul froze, listening; then rushed to the fence and climbed it.
'Buddy...!' The dog leapt up against the fence.
'Buddy!' Saul shouted again, and in his excitement tumbled over the fence into the yard next door.
'Buddy...!' he cried as the dog leapt onto him, its tongue licking and licking at his face.
He threw his arms around the dog, and rolled with him in the dirt and weeds.

Rolled and shouted and shouted and wrestled until he was too tired to move.
'Oh, Buddy!' he cried again, and rolled onto his back, tired out...and found himself looking up into the eyes of Agro-Man.
'Ulp...!' Saul choked.
'Do you know what I think,' the man said.
Saul was too frightened to speak. He just shook his head.
'I think, now I am well again, I better get a hammer.'
Saul's body began to shake with fear.
'And a saw,' the man said. 'And some nails. And some screws. And some hinges.'
Saul felt as if he was going to cry. He was too frightened to call for mum or dad. He was too frightened to even move. He was too frightened to even understand what Agro-Man was saying.
'And when I get all those things,' the Agro-Man said. 'I think I should make a gate in this fence so you can come and play with your dog; and get your ball, without having to fall on your head every time!'
'W...what...?' Saul managed. 'M...my dog?'
'Well, let's say our dog,' the man said. 'I might need him to get help for me if I have another accident, eh?'
'Huh?' Saul managed.
But Buddy understood, and leapt onto him again; and they rolled off together amongst the weeds.

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