Treasure lay shivering in his pyjamas. He was curled up on the floorboards in the darkness of his bedroom, listening to the dog scratching at the door to get in. It was bitter outside. Too cold to sleep in the garden. The poor thing didn’t even have a kennel. Treasure’s bed was cosy, and a hot water bottle was tucked under the covers where his feet should be. But he didn’t want to be warm and comfortable while the dog was cold and miserable. The dog was a border collie; black and white with a black patch over one eye. She was skinny and her fur had worn away on her elbows where she was forced to lie down on the concrete in Jimmy Cox’s back yard. Jimmy Cox was their neighbour. He was a pawnbroker and ‘all-round nasty sonofabitch’ according to Treasure’s dad when he thought that Treasure wasn’t listening. But Treasure was always listening. And tonight, all he could hear was the dog scratching and the occasional pitiful whimper. She wouldn’t dare bark. If she did, Jimmy Cox would come to the door and silence her with his boot. She didn’t even have a name. He just called her Dog. Treasure had begged his mum and dad to ask Jimmy Cox if he could bring her home, or at least take her for walks. Ruby had tried, but Jimmy Cox had laughed in her face and told her to mind her own business. He obviously didn’t care about her. Didn’t want her. But Treasure was beginning to understand that there were some people in the world who got pleasure from inflicting fear and pain on others weaker than themselves. The bruises on his hip and shoulder were a painful reminder as he lay on the hard floor. He hadn’t told his mum and dad about the name-calling and the bullying. The shame and humiliation of being pushed over onto the rough tarmac of the playground and laughed at as he fought desperately and failed to hold back the tears. He told them he had fallen. An accident. But he did what he could for the dog. Every day he would push food through a gap in the fence. He would save the sandwiches from his packed lunch and sneak sausages and bits of cheese from the fridge. Sometimes, he would poke his fingers through the gap and try to stroke her face. But she was very scared, even of Treasure, and he could feel her trembling. So, he gave her food and the only other thing he could. A name. He called her Star.