Charley de Luna

Charley de Luna

Charley de Lupe is a Sydney based author of children’s books. She lives with her pets on the edge of a big national park and, every day, kookaburras, rosellas, king parrots, magpies and butcher birds visit her on her balcony. She loves animals and has a pet dog called Frankie. She also loves travelling, and so it was during a visit to Paris that she came up with the idea to write about an adventurous dog that got lost in France.

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”I don’t believe it!” Kaylia raked elegantly manicured fingernails through her chestnut curls and shrieked into her telephone. Her dark blue eyes were shining with excitement. ”Mango will be over the moon!” Joyfully, she tossed her phone into the air. As it came down, it slipped through her fingers, hitting the wooden floor hard and splitting open. The battery slid under the couch.

”Mango, you’ll never guess what’s happened!” Kaylia kicked the broken phone aside, danced across the room, plucked a rather surprised little fawn-coloured Puggle from where she was reclining on a bed of bright blue and turquoise silk cushions, and whirled the cuddly dog around in a full circle. ”Mango, Mango, Mango! This is the best news ever! They’re giving you your own star on the Walk of Fame! They want us to come down to Hollywood right away so you can add your paw print. There’s going to be a big ceremony on Friday afternoon.”

Mango snuffled her pleasure and her big brown eyes rolled excitedly. She knew all about the Walk of Fame. As Kaylia swung her around, she counted off her achievements. This had certainly been her year. First: her series Puggle in a Muddle had gone global and was being shown on television in countries as far afield as Romania and Australia. Second: she’d received the first Oscar ever awarded to a dog for her performance in the big screen version of Puggle in a Muddle. Third: Kaylia had released the most gorgeous range of doggie fashion garments, ‘Mango’s Hollyware’ and these were now de rigueur for all Hollywood dogs.

Kaylia placed her back down on the floor and Mango felt a little dizzy after all the twirling. She panted a little, ran around in a small circle the opposite way, and felt so much better for it. Then, as she got her breath back, she thought of two more achievements. First: a children’s birthday party was a complete failure unless the birthday cake had a beaming picture of Mango beaming in her yellow life jacket etched into the icing. Second: she now had her own secretary at the television studios to take care of the sacks of mail that arrived for her every day. It seemed that every boy and girl wanted a Puggle with a top knot like Mango’s. She had a most unusual curl that flipped to the left and gave her a great deal of character.

Mango wished she could thank Kaylia for bringing so much success her way. If only she could talk, she thought, not for the first time, there would be so much she and Kaylia could discuss. Of course, fame had also attracted its fair share of crazies. There was the strange woman in the green and yellow striped dress who used to sit outside their St. Paul house for most of the day. For a while, Mango had to have her own bodyguard – a very handsome black German Shepherd. And, only last month a scientist had pleaded in vain with Kaylia to allow him to make ten thousand clones of Mango. He had offered Kaylia ten million dollars.

Mango sniffed and smiled to herself. Thankfully, as far as Kaylia believed, there could only ever be one Mango. And now, with this invitation to have her paw print immortalised on the Walk of Fame, it seemed all their hard work had paid off. This really was a dream come true!

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