One Dog and His Boy

10 And Then There Were Five

Hal’s arms were getting tired. He had not expected to have to carry his dog to King’s Cross station. He had bought a map and learnt the route from Easy Pets and it shouldn’t have taken more than an hour to walk, but that was when he thought that Fleck would be trotting at his heels.

To begin with the little dog was just a dead weight, but now he was beginning to stir in Hal’s arms. His back leg twitched once, then again, and Hal turned into a small park with a fountain and sat down on the rim. It was dusk, and the people were all leaving. Soon the street lights would be lit.

The panic Hal had felt when he found Fleck stretched out in his cage had died down. Pippa had told him that he would recover, and Pippa knew about dogs. Now he laid Fleck down across his lap and began slowly, steadily to stroke his back.

“Please wake up,” he begged his dog. “Please.”

And it worked. The injection was wearing off and now Fleck turned and opened his eyes – and then he looked at Hal. Looked and looked with his dark right eye and his gold-flecked left eye, trying to believe what he was seeing. He gave a ghost of a whimper and then another. He was still too weak to do more than faintly move his tail, but as he took in that he was really there, where he needed to be, he began carefully to lick Hal’s wrist. He licked it steadily, thoroughly, making sure that everything was as clean as it ought to be.

Then he began on the other one. No piece of skin was left unwashed; every inch was cared for. Only when he had made certain that everything was as it should be did his tail start to wag, slowly at first, then fast, and faster … and from his throat came a burst of ecstatic barks.

And Hal held him close and told him that he would never leave him again. Never.

“I swear it, Fleck,” said Hal to his dog. “No one will come between us ever again, do you hear me?”

Fleck heard him. He became very quiet, and sighed, and buried his head in Hal’s chest and slept once more.

At first the four dogs Pippa had let out simply ran. They bounded down the long straight street which led away from Easy Pets, feeling the strength in their legs and the breeze blowing through their coats. Li-Chee had to take four steps to one of theirs, but even with his bandy legs he kept up.

They were free! No one tugged at their leads, shouted at them, pulled them away from whatever it was that they wanted to see or smell or touch. They had dreamed of running like this so often as they slept, their limbs twitching – and woken to face another day of sitting in their cages.

When they had run the length of the shopping street, they came to a row of houses with gardens. One of the garden gates was open. The patch of lawn was messy and rough; there were no flowers in the flower beds. It was exactly right for what they needed to do.

Francine went first, rolling and rubbing and rolling again. Then Honey followed, and Otto and Li-Chee. They rolled and turned and crawled on their stomachs, rubbing themselves as hard as they could against the scratchy grass. They pushed their faces into the earth. From time to time they stopped, their tongues lolling from the effort, and grinned at each other.

And it worked! Gradually the loathsome scents that had been sprayed on the dogs at Easy Pets disappeared, blotted out by earth and grass and mouldy leaves and comforting compost. The last whiffs of “Mountain Glory” left Otto’s thick coat, the vile odour of Francine’s “Dark Dancer” coiled up and was wafted away. Honey’s horrible “Heather Mist” and Li-Chee’s “Lotus Blossom” were extinguished. They sniffed each other blissfully, making sure that they smelled as they should smell once again: of dog. But now someone came out of the house shouting and shooing.

“Get out!” he said. “Get out of my garden at once.”

The dogs looked at him. They would have liked to thank him for the use of his garden but he didn’t seem to want to be thanked so they trotted out of the gate and into the street.

Now that they were rid of the ghastly, gooey scents which had plagued them, they could really enjoy the smells they came across. Spices from a distant kebab shop … pigeons on the roof … worm casts in a tub … an old shoe caught in a drain … dust and the sour smell of spilled milk from a doorway … cats which had passed by, of course … tom cats, kittens … a dead mouse in a gutter …

They had never been allowed to spend long enough at a lamp post, with its whirligig of amazing odours, before someone had yanked them back.

Then suddenly Otto stood stock-still and called the others. They came at once because what Otto had discovered was obviously important. They had caught the smell of a hundred pairs of feet, and of more dogs than they could count, but the smell which now came to them was familiar. It belonged to the boy who had come to Easy Pets to take away his dog. Now, as they put their noses together, they could smell the dog. It was Fleck, the small white mongrel who had been their friend.

They waited no longer. Their noses down, their tails up, they set off down the road, across a zebra crossing, and into a small park with a fountain.

Everybody now felt fine except for Hal. Fleck had greeted his friends with enthusiasm, barking and wagging his tail from the security of Hal’s lap. The four dogs who had been freed from Easy Pets felt fine too. It was good to see the little terrier again, and though roaming free through the town had been interesting, it was comforting to find a human whom they could trust. They settled themselves at Hal’s feet, ready to do his bidding, and Li-Chee, who was really very tired, closed his eyes and had a nap.

But Hal was desperate. He hadn’t been able to believe his eyes when the Easy Pets dogs came bounding across the park towards him. What should he do now? The dogs must have escaped after Pippa left, which meant she would get into trouble, but he couldn’t think of that now. Nor could he take the dogs back. The risk that there would be someone there who would make him give Fleck back was far too great.

“Go home,” Hal said, trying to sound firm. “Go on – go home!” and he waved his arms in the direction of the street.

The dogs just looked at him. Otto’s ears twitched; Francine blinked. Humans did make odd remarks like that sometimes. It was best to take no notice. Where was home? Certainly not the place they had come from. Not one of them moved.

And why should they? thought Hal. What kind of “home” was Easy Pets for a self-respecting dog? But he had to get Fleck to King’s Cross. The train left at nine-thirty and it was the last one of the night. Surely if he began to walk they would make their own way back?

He put Fleck down on the ground, and clipped on his collar and lead. It was awful to leave the dogs to fend for themselves but he had to get Fleck away before anyone noticed that he was gone.

He began to walk towards the gates of the park. Fleck could walk quite well now, with only a slight drunken lurch. The effects of the injection were almost gone. And a few paces behind, quietly and without fuss, came Otto and Francine, Honey and Li-Chee. A drunk carrying a bottle came towards them, and Otto’s hackles rose. He growled in his throat, and the drunk retreated. Not only was Otto accompanying them, but he had set himself up as a bodyguard.

Following his map, Hal walked the streets of London with his Tottenham terrier – and a few paces behind, correct and obedient, came the four dogs who had broken free. Every so often Hal stopped and said, “Go home, go on. Go!” and they looked at him politely, waiting till he should set off again. They were no trouble; stopping at zebra crossings, talking to any other dogs they met only briefly before catching up again with Hal. Fleck’s tail was high with pride, for not only was he reunited with his master, but he was enjoying the company of his friends.

They reached King’s Cross at last. Fleck was overwhelmed by the throng of people, and Hal picked him up as he made his way to the ticket office.

“Go home, please,” he said for the last time to the four dogs who were following him, but they only pressed closer on his heels because there were smells and sounds there that were most unappealing to self-respecting dogs. Someone was being sick; a group of people in funny hats were shouting and hiccupping and singing stupid songs. The dogs looked at Hal with their innocent eyes, wondering why they were there, but they trusted him to do his best even in this loathsome place.

Hal was desperate. He carried Fleck to the queue for the ticket office, and the four dogs queued also, silent and well behaved. Even if he’d had the money to buy tickets for the four escapees, he couldn’t have done it. The regulations said a passenger was allowed to bring only one dog on to the train.

“Yes?” said the ticket clerk impatiently.

“A single to Berwick on Tweed and one for the dog,” said Hal, laying his money on the counter.

He took his ticket and the one for Fleck. The train was on platform seven. There weren’t many trains now. He made his way along the almost empty platform, and the dogs, full of trust, came after him.

Hal knew there was only one thing to do. Getting Fleck away safely was a matter of life and death. He would get on the train and shut the door quickly and then – he was sure – the other dogs would go away. In the morning, when he reached Berwick, he would ring Pippa and tell her what had happened and she could organize a search for the dogs. Nothing terrible could happen to them in one night.

He got into his carriage and put Fleck down on the floor. Then he climbed in after him and turned to shut the door. The four dogs were still on the platform, looking up at him trustingly, but he hardened his heart.

“Come on, Fleck,” he said, and made his way to his seat.

“The nine-thirty service for Berwick and Edinburgh is now ready to depart from platform seven,” said a voice over the loudspeaker.

Doors slammed shut. The guard gave his signal. The train began to move.

The phone went at six o’clock in the morning and Pippa ran into the hall and lifted the receiver. It would probably be from Alison, the friend she was meeting so that they could go to school together. Everybody was assembling there to wait for the bus which would take them to the camp in the New Forest.

But it was not Alison.

“Is that Pippa?” said a faint voice.

“Yes. Who’s that?”

“It’s Hal.”

“Goodness! Have you got to your grandparents’ already?”

“No, I haven’t.” Hal’s voice sounded strained and worried. “I’m still here. I’m in London because an awful thing’s happened. All the dogs that were in the room with Fleck have escaped, and they caught up with me and won’t go away. I’d got on the train, I was all ready to go, but they just sat on the platform and looked and waited. They were sure I was going to take them too. I tried to ignore them but I couldn’t, so I got off the train again and spent the night in a freezing shed at the back of a building site. It was horrible. There was a Rottweiler guarding it but Otto just talked to him and he let us in. Only you’ve got to come and take the dogs back, Pippa. You’ve got to.”

Pippa’s mind was racing. “Where are you? Tell me exactly.”

“I’m in Mortland Square. There’s a patch of grass and a war memorial. I can wait here for a while but people are beginning to stare. It’s off the North Road.”

“All right. I know it. Just stay there. Don’t move, whatever you do. Tell them you’re waiting for their owners or something.”

She put down the phone. Kayley was still asleep. She’d been asleep the previous night too when Pippa came back. Pippa’s rucksack was packed, there was only her toothbrush to put in and the packet of sandwiches her mother had made the night before. She crept to the kitchen and took it from the fridge and added some cold sausages and half a loaf of bread. Then she hurried to the sitting room and turned on the computer and printer and wrote a note to her teacher to say that she had flu and would be unable to come to camp, and signed it with her mother’s name. Her mother’s handwriting was easy to copy.

“Did I hear the phone?” said Mrs O’Brian sleepily as Pippa crept in to say goodbye.

“Yes. It was Alison to say we’re to meet half an hour earlier. I’ll have to be off.”

She hugged her mother and let herself out of the house. When she reached Alison’s house she dropped the letter in and hurried on to the bus stop. She was sorry to miss the camp but Hal was obviously going to make a thorough mess of things if she didn’t get there to put him right.

Hal looked cold and peaky and there was a smutty stain on his cheek, but the dogs seemed to be in fine fettle. They greeted her rapturously, tails rotating like windmills. Francine gave her a paw; Honey rubbed her nose against Pippa’s leg.

Pippa opened her rucksack.

“We’d all better eat something,” she said. “Cold sausages aren’t good for dogs, but they’ll have to do.”

The sausages did very well, wolfed down by all five of the dogs, and Pippa and Hal shared the sandwiches. Hal was beginning to feel a bit better. The night on the filthy floor of the hut had taken it out of him.

“We’ll get a hot drink in a minute,” said Pippa. And then: “I think I better tell you what happened to the dogs. They didn’t escape. I let them out. On purpose.”

Hal stared at her. She went on. “Suddenly I couldn’t bear to see them in their cages like that, when Fleck was going to be free. It was a sort of brainstorm, I suppose. Really stupid. Anything could have happened to them, but it didn’t. They found you so that’s all right.”

“But it isn’t all right,” said Hal frantically. “I must get away. I think I may be able to change my ticket – I’m not sure – but I can’t take the others. You simply have to take them back.”

“Well I’m not going to,” said Pippa firmly, zipping up the rucksack, “so you can forget that absolutely.”

Fleck was in his usual position on Hal’s lap and Hal gathered him and held him very close.

“My parents will find I’m gone in a few hours and then it will all begin. And I tell you if they try to take Fleck away again, I’ll kill them, and no one wants to kill their parents.”

“Never mind your parents,” said Pippa. “What about your grandparents? The people you’re escaping to. What are they like? Describe them.”

“They’re very kind and … quiet but not soft at all. They’re like … it sounds silly, but like trees, or earth … things that are just there and you don’t think about them but it would be awful if they were gone.”

“And you’re sure that they’d take you in, you and Fleck?”

“Yes. They’ve always thought I should have a dog and they live by the sea in Northumberland where there’s lots of space. They wouldn’t just send us back, I’m sure.”

Pippa was fiddling with the strap of her rucksack. Otto had come to sit beside her and was resting his head on her shoulder. “And what about the others?” She waved her hand at the four dogs sitting round in a companionable silence. “Would they take them in too?”

This was difficult. “I don’t know,” said Hal slowly. “They live in a small cottage and my parents are always saying how poor they are … but I don’t believe they’d send the dogs back to Easy Pets once they knew what it was like. I don’t know, but I don’t believe they would.”

“Well, that settles it,” said Pippa. “We’ll come with you. We’ll all go to Northumberland.”

Hal stared at her. “But how? I’ve hardly any money left and they won’t let us take all the dogs on the train.”

“Then we won’t go by train. We’ll walk and get lifts on lorries or on anything we can get to take us. You’ll see,” said Pippa, getting to her feet. “We’ll get a map as soon as the shops open. But it can’t be too difficult. After all, one thing is certain about Northumberland. It must be in the north.”