by Megan Rix
Joe opened Patch’s crate door so he could give him a proper stroke rather than just touching him through the bars with his fingers, but he didn’t let Patch get out. His fur was puppy soft.
Patch nestled his head into Joe’s hand and Joe swallowed hard.
‘It’s going to be OK,’ he told the puppy. ‘You might not even pass the assessment.’ He sniffed and Patch looked up at him with his big brown eyes. He could sense his friend was sad, very sad, and that something was wrong, but he didn’t know what it was. He gave a whine.
Joe sniffed again. He knew in his heart of hearts that Patch was bound to pass his assessment. He was so smart and so quick to learn things and eager to please. He wouldn’t understand why he couldn’t be with Joe any more. And what about when it came to saying goodbye? Patch might think he’d done something wrong. He wouldn’t know he had to leave Joe because he’d done so many things right and had been such a good dog. This was probably the last day that Patch would be his puppy. Suddenly Joe just couldn’t bear it. He could feel tears coming and he didn’t want Patch to see him upset, not today.
Patch whined and pawed at the crate as Joe closed the metal door again.
And the next thing Joe knew, he was out of the van and running down the street, not knowing where he was going, but just needing to run and run.
Inside the van Patch was confused. Why had Joe left him behind? He barked to let Joe know he’d forgotten to take him with him. His bark sounded strange as it echoed inside the metal box. He didn’t like the sound, but he barked again and again, over and over. He tried to push his paws through the bars and scraped his claws on the side of his crate. He whined, then barked again.
‘All right, all right,’ said Lenny’s voice a few minutes later. ‘What on earth’s going on back there?’
He opened the back doors of the van.
‘Where’s Joe gone?’ He looked around and waited for him to come back, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
Joe ran until he couldn’t run any more. He didn’t know this part of town and he wasn’t sure where he was. His phone rang, but he ignored it. He didn’t want to talk to anyone at all.
Mr Humphreys was on the bus when he saw Joe running along the street towards the centre of town. He pressed the button and got off at the next stop.
‘Whoa there. What’s wrong?’ he said as he caught up with Joe.
Joe gasped and gulped down air, trying to be brave, trying not to cry.
‘I was supposed to go with him and now I’ve let him down.’
‘Calm down, son. Tell me what’s happened. Why aren’t you with Patch?’
‘I just couldn’t bear saying goodbye to someone … again.’
‘Hardest thing in the world,’ Mr Humphreys said.
‘What is?’ Joe asked, dashing away his tears before Mr Humphreys could see them.
‘Losing someone you love,’ Mr Humphreys said softly, and Joe realized Mr Humphreys truly did understand how he felt.
‘Yes, it is.’
Chapter 26
Patch still sat up waiting for Joe to come back as Lenny started the engine. But sitting up in the small crate wasn’t comfortable, so he lay down. Joe wasn’t there to stroke him any more and all he could see was the interior of the Helper Dogs van. Finally he dozed, but didn’t fall asleep.
A while later the van came to a juddery halt.
‘Here we are at last,’ said Lenny. He came round to the back of the van and opened the doors. Patch was already sitting up with a paw resting on the bars of his crate.
‘Yes, you can come out now,’ Lenny said as he pulled back the bolt and clipped on Patch’s lead.
It was dark outside and the air smelt different to what Patch was used to. It was the smell of the countryside.
‘Thought you two could do with this,’ a voice called to them.
‘Hello there, thanks for waiting for us,’ Lenny said as the kennel maid, Emma, came over to them with a mug of coffee and a sandwich for Lenny and a bowl of water and some food for Patch.
Patch was very hungry and he wolfed all the food down and was then given a long stroke and a cuddle by his new friend. He could smell other dogs, lots of other dogs that he didn’t know, and one dog that he did. He sniffed the air and his tail thumped on the ground.
‘Who’ve we got with us from your centre, Lenny?’ Emma asked him.
‘Hamish should still be here, I think,’ Lenny replied.
‘Oh yes, the lovely spaniel. Come on, Patch. Let’s take you to see your friend.’
Hamish, like the other dogs in the kennels, was in a small room with a dog sofa in one corner and a dog bed on the floor. There was also a water bowl and a blanket and a toy. Hamish immediately ran over to see them all, his tail wagging.
Patch wagged his tail back and sniffed at the other dog.
‘You’ll be OK here now you’ve got a doggy friend,’ Emma told Patch, and she put Patch into Hamish’s room with him.
‘It’ll be nice for Hamish to have some company too,’ she told Lenny.
‘I’ll be back to check on you both in a bit,’ Emma said to Patch and Hamish. ‘If you settle down nicely together, then Patch can stay with you for the night, Hamish. But if you’re playing all the time and neither of you are getting any sleep, then I’ll have to put Patch in a separate kennel.’
Lenny smiled as he looked at Patch. He was close to the edge of the dog room with his head tilted to one side as if he were listening to Emma’s every word.
‘You be a good pup now,’ Lenny said as he crouched down and put his fingers through the bars to stroke him. ‘I’m glad he’s got Hamish to keep him company. He’ll be missing his volunteer parent Joe, and heaven knows how much Joe must be missing him, poor lad. He’s only a boy. I thought he understood that Patch would be leaving him one day but …’
‘Too hard to comprehend until they’re gone,’ Emma said.
‘Yes,’ agreed Lenny, ‘but Joe only recently lost his dad too. Maybe we shouldn’t have signed him up to the programme. Poor lad was on his way with me here today, but then he ran off. All too much for him.’
Lenny had spoken to Joe’s mum to check that Joe had got home safely. He was pleased to hear the boy had been brought back by the old man Mr Humphreys. Thank goodness he’d found him. But now Lenny phoned Joe’s mum again.
‘He won’t speak to you, Lenny,’ Joe’s mum said. ‘I’m sorry but he’s taking this very hard.’
‘That’s OK,’ Lenny told her. ‘Can you just tell him that Patch is at headquarters now and he’s bunking with his friend Hamish?’
‘It’s like puppy sleepover time in the kennel sometimes and no sleep’s happening,’ Emma told Lenny ruefully as she saw him back to his van.
‘Patch should be tuckered out, poor little mite. It’s always tough letting them go,’ Lenny said.
‘But worth it when you see the difference they can make,’ Emma said.
Lenny nodded.
By the time Emma came back from waving Lenny off, Patch was fast asleep on Hamish’s bed. Hamish wasn’t asleep, but was watching over his friend from the sofa.
Later that night Patch whimpered in his sleep and cried out. Hamish’s bed didn’t smell the same as Joe’s, and Joe’s bed was where Patch had always slept at night. He half woke up and then drifted back to sleep. It had been a very long day.
Chapter 27
The next morning Patch woke up and immediately ran to the side of the kennel room to see if Joe was there. He barked to let him know where he was, but lots of other dogs – at least ten of them – were also barking.
‘All right, all right, I’m coming,’ Emma said.
Once Emma had checked all the dogs were OK from the night before, more kennel staff arrived to take the dogs for a walk. Louis took Hamish and Emma took Patch.
As they walked, Patch kept looking around as if he were searching for something, and he whined every now and again. There was no scent of Joe here.
Emma understood what was wrong. S
he’d seen this behaviour in almost all of the dogs before. Once they’d had their walk Emma gave Patch his breakfast. It was the same food that Joe had given him every day. He was missing Joe, but he was still hungry and gobbled it all up.
‘Slow down there,’ Emma said. ‘You don’t want to choke.’
Later in the afternoon, after Patch had had a whole morning of being with Hamish and was getting a bit bored, Emma took him to be assessed.
The assessor tested Patch on basic obedience and learning new skills, whether he could think for himself and how he handled stressful situations and obstacles.
Patch passed his test with flying colours.
‘Well done, Patch,’ Emma said as she stroked him. Patch knew he’d done well and kept wagging his tail and stepping from one foot to the other with excitement.
‘Whoever he was with before us did a fine job,’ the assessor said.
Emma looked down at the paperwork she had for Patch.
‘Oh, he was with Joe – the boy who did that amazing diary all about him.’
The assessor nodded; he’d seen it too. ‘I loved all those photos he took of him.’
‘Me too.’
Sam had been waiting by the phone all day and it only rang once before he answered it.
‘Yes?’
‘Would you like to meet your new Helper Dog?’ the assessor asked him.
Sam breathed out a sigh of relief. Patch had passed. It was time for them to meet and the first part of their team training together to begin.
‘Yes. Yes, I would,’ he said.
‘Then we’ll see you tomorrow for the start of your residential stay.’
Sam was so excited to be meeting Patch at last that he arrived hours too early.
‘It’s only seven o’clock,’ Emma said. ‘You’ll have an awfully long wait.’
But Sam told her he didn’t care about that.
When Patch was finally brought into the room, Sam called softly to him.
‘Patch, Patch!’
And Patch looked straight at him with his big brown eyes.
Sam swallowed hard. The pup was even more special than Sam had imagined. Patch tilted his head to one side as if he were weighing Sam up.
‘Patch!’ Sam called again and patted his lap. Patch came bounding over to him.
Sam stroked the pup and Patch put his front paws on Sam’s lap so it was easier for the soldier to reach him. Sam buried his face in Patch’s soft fur and Patch licked away the salty water that ran down his face.
‘Looks as though Patch likes you,’ Emma said.
Sam nodded. ‘Yes, it does,’ he said, his voice cracking.
‘Now the hard work begins,’ Emma told him. ‘Over the next two weeks, during your residential stay here, we’ll be teaching Patch the tasks that would be most helpful specifically for you.’
‘If he could drag my ceiling hoist to me to help me pull myself up out of bed in the mornings, that’d be great. My arms aren’t as strong as I’d like them to be yet.’
‘No problem,’ Emma said. ‘Patch will be able to do those things and more to assist you in no time.’
Patch wagged his tail and barked.
‘Looks like he’s ready to learn,’ laughed Sam as he bent down to stroke the pup. He was hardly able to believe that Patch was really going to be his Helper Dog. He’d wanted it for so long.
‘You’ll need to take him out for walks,’ Emma said. ‘To burn off all that excess puppy energy.’
‘Of course.’
‘In all weathers.’
‘Looking forward to it.’
Emma smiled. She was sure Sam and Patch were a perfect match.
‘After your residential stay here there will be a ninety-day probation period to make sure you’re a perfect fit for each other.’
‘We will be,’ Sam said.
‘Your residential stay’s over Christmas and we always have a bit of a do for the dogs, handlers and past puppy raisers. We’ve already asked Joe and his mum. Did you know that Joe’s dad was a soldier too? He was killed on duty back in May.’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Sam said, looking up. ‘But I’d really like to meet Joe, more than ever now. I’m so grateful to him and his mother for all their hard work in training Patch. And for letting him move on to come and live with me.’
‘Come on, I’ll show you your room – yours and Patch’s!’ said Emma.
Later that day, while Patch had a snooze, Sam opened his laptop and went to Patch’s diary page.
I’ve been waiting to meet Patch for so long that I could hardly breathe when we met for the first time today. Just having him with me is going to make all the difference in the world to my life now. I’m so grateful to you, Joe, and would like to shake your hand. Please do come to the Helper Dogs party on the 24th. Patch would be over the moon to see you and so would I.
Chapter 28
Joe lay on his bed looking at the ceiling. He could hear his mum in the room next door typing on the computer. The house felt completely different without Patch there. They were so used to his waggy tail greeting them when they came through the front door, his soft furry body lying next to them and his head pushing its way under their hands when he wanted a stroke. It suddenly felt very empty and quiet.
Joe’s mum popped her head round his bedroom door.
‘Joe, love, I’ve got something I think you should see,’ she said, beckoning to him to follow her back into her home office.
When Joe read what Sam had written in Patch’s online diary, he sat back and sighed. He could feel his mum watching him. He took a deep breath.
‘I think we should go,’ he said to her, and she immediately knew that Joe was talking about the party at the Helper Dogs headquarters.
‘I think we should too,’ she said. ‘As long as you’re sure.’
‘I’d like to meet Sam and I’d like to know … I’d like to know that Patch will be happy.’
‘Well, I think you’ll have lots of support too. I can think of a few other people who might like to come with us. Helper Dogs said all Patch’s friends are welcome.’
Joe smiled and reached for his phone to call Charlie, while his mum popped next door to tell Mr Humphreys.
When Charlie heard they were going, she wanted to come to the party too and she told everyone she met about it.
Mrs Hodges had already been invited by Helper Dogs as she’d donated Patch to them.
The next morning Joe, his mum and Mr Humphreys all set off together.
‘I’m looking forward to seeing the little imp again. Feels like weeks instead of days since I’ve seen him,’ Mr Humphreys said.
Joe and his mum exchanged a look in the car mirror. It had felt like years to them. They were almost bursting to see Patch.
At last they arrived and pulled into the car park. Helper Dogs headquarters consisted of an old manor house where the offices were located, a large modern dog-kennel block and training area, and three fields surrounding it for exercising the dogs in.
‘Hello, you must be Joe and Mrs Scott,’ Emma said when she met them at the entrance.
‘Please, call me Mary. And this is our neighbour Mr Humphreys. He and Patch are good friends too.’
‘We have this party every year,’ Emma told Joe and his mum and Mr Humphreys. ‘And every year it gets bigger with so many different people coming whose lives have been affected by a Helper Dog. It’s my absolute favourite event that we have.’
As she led them into the hall where the party was being held, Joe looked over at the huge real fir tree in the corner of the room that reached up to the ceiling and was decorated with lights and tinsel and baubles. His dad had loved big trees. This one even had presents underneath it.
‘Dog presents,’ Emma told him when she saw Joe looking at the tree. ‘And not only do we have presents under the tree, the dogs have their own Christmas stockings for Santa to fill too.’
Joe grinned. ‘Do you think Patch’ll like his first Christmas dinner turkey?’
‘I’ve never known a dog that doesn’t,’ Emma said, smiling back at him.
Patch wasn’t the only dog currently at Helper Dogs headquarters for his residential advanced training. There was also Hamish, who’d been placed with an ex-pilot called Sheila, plus two Labradors, called Faber and Winnie, and all of them had friends and family at the party too. Also many of the Helper Dogs administrative staff had brought in their own pets for the day.
There were so many people and dogs inside the hall there was hardly room to move.
Joe felt a tap on his shoulder.
‘Charlie said everyone who knew Patch was welcome,’ Callum and Daniel grinned. ‘This party is excellent.’
‘I had to say goodbye to him,’ said Joe’s teacher Miss Addams.
‘He felt like part of the school,’ agreed Mr Potter, his head teacher.
Archie and his mum came over with Ben. Joe saw Sheila going past wearing a tinsel necklace.
‘But how did you all know about the party?’ he asked.
‘A little bird told us,’ said Miss Addams, nodding over Joe’s shoulder. He turned round to see Charlie and her dad across the other side of the hall, patting Hamish and laughing. She caught his eye, gave him a big smile and then headed over to join them.
Joe couldn’t believe everyone had come. All these people who loved Patch too. Joe wished for the millionth time that his dad could have met Patch. He knew he’d have loved him just like everyone else who met him did.
‘Do you think Dad knows about Patch?’ he whispered to his mum.
‘I’m sure he does,’ she said as she lightly squeezed his hand. ‘And he’d be so very proud of you and all the training you did with him.’
Mr Humphreys nodded.
But Joe shook his head. ‘Patch was really easy to train,’ he said. ‘Just about taught himself!’
‘That’s what Little Blue did,’ Mrs Hodges said, overhearing Joe and his mum and talking to Mr Humphreys. ‘That’s Patch’s sister, you know. Only she taught herself to do lots of things her new owners didn’t want her to do, like chewing cushions and chasing cats. They said they’d decided a dog wasn’t for them after all and so she’s being returned to me after Christmas. I couldn’t let her go to an animal shelter.’