Pearl and Jasmine told Amelia that a new neighbor, Tara, had sent them each a poison pen letter full of horrible insults.

‘Why did she do that?’ asked Amelia. ‘And how do you know the letters were from her?’

Apparently another neighbor had seen Tara putting the notes in Pearl and Jasmine’s mail boxes.

‘She thought no one was looking,’ said Pearl.

‘She did it because she’s jealous,’ said Jasmine. ‘She’s got a thing about you, Amelia. She knows we’re your best friends, which is what she wants to be. She hasn’t got any friends at all.’

‘Oh dear! How awful,’ said Amelia. Then she said, ‘Wait! I’ve got a fantastic idea.’ She ran back to her house and made a few secret phone calls.

The next morning, when Jasmine and Pearl arrived at Amelia’s house for coffee, Amelia presented each of them with a gorgeous puppy. Pearl’s was a miniature English bull terrier: white with a black circle around one eye, and one black ear. Jasmine’s was a lilac horse-coat shar pei. Both women squealed with delight and rushed over to give Amelia a hug. They forgot all about the poison pen letters Tara had sent them and cheered up immediately.

Later that day, Amelia took a bassett hound puppy round to Tara’s house. ‘You’re obviously feeling miserable if you’re sending poison pen letters,’ she said. ‘Here’s a gift for you: a lovely dog. He will give you lots of love and cheer you up!’

Tara was incredibly touched. ‘Thank you,’ she said, cuddling the puppy against her body. Amelia left feeling happy. She was sure that Tara would never again send a poison pen letter. The basset hound would be her new best friend, and he’d enable her to make other friends too while she was out walking him.

The next day, over coffee, Amelia told Pearl and Jasmine about Tara and the bassett hound. Their reactions could not have been more different. ‘That’s such a neat idea,’ said Pearl. ‘I know how much I already love my puppy after only one day. No one with this much love inside them could sit down and write a vicious letter. Let’s hope you’ve solved all Tara’s problems, and all of ours too.’

Jasmine, meanwhile, had a face like a thundercloud. ‘How could you?’ she raged at Amelia. ‘You bought a present for the bitch who wrote me a nasty anonymous letter? You’re supposed to be my friend! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t throw you out of my house right now, you disloyal bitch!’

‘But I bought a puppy for you too,’ Amelia pointed out. ‘I demonstrated my loyalty to you by trying to make you happy when I saw that you were sad.’

‘But … then you also bought one for that bitch Tara! If you were my loyal friend, you’d spit at her in the street, snub her, shun her.’

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ Amelia explained. ‘I would never spit at, snub or shun anyone. To behave that way would make me feel terrible.’