Aussie Nibbles : Crusher Kevin

Chapter One

Charlie couldn't wait for his new house to be finished. In six months, Mum said, they'd be moving in.Charlie and Mum walked past the building site every morning on the way to school, and every afternoon on the way home.It was exciting watching the house grow.First bulldozers came and dug a huge hole in the ground, leaving mountains of dirt. Then big trucks with rotating mixers poured masses of sloppy grey concrete into the hole.'That's the foundation slab,' Dad said. 'It's what they'll build the house on.'When the concrete was dry, Charlie and Mum and Dad walked around on it, working out where all the rooms were.'Where's my bedroom?' asked Charlie.Dad showed him. It felt strange, standing there in the sunshine where one day his bed would be.There'll be a bed for my dog, too, Charlie thought. Mum and Dad had promised to get him a puppy when the house was built.He imagined what his puppy would be like: small, bouncy, bright-eyed. He didn't have a name for it. Billy, perhaps. Or Max. Mum said the name should be right for the sort of dog it was. And how could you give a name to a dog you didn't know yet?

Chapter Two

The man who was in charge of building the new house was called Nikos.Charlie liked Nikos. He gave Charlie a yellow safety helmet to wear and let him climb up the dirt mountains.One day Charlie saw two things he didn't expect to see.The first thing was a tall wire-mesh fence all around the building site.The second thing was a dog kennel.'But there's no dog here!' Charlie said.'There will be,' said Nikos.'Why?' asked Charlie.'Because tomorrow we're getting in all the bricks and timber we need to build your house,' Nikos said. 'Sometimes people try to help themselves to stuff like that. We need a fence to keep them out, and a guard dog to scare them away.''Oh,' said Charlie.