by Megan Rix
Nathan sighed. ‘OK, OK,’ he said. ‘But if I catch a cold from playing ball in the rain I’m not going to be happy.’ He was glad the colonel wasn’t around to see this. He’d have told him he had to be firmer with the dog.
Colonel Richardson continued to keep a close eye on Grey over the following week but he’d really already made his decision.
As soon as Nathan saw the colonel heading towards him and Grey on the training field he quickly jumped to attention.
‘At ease, soldier,’ Colonel Richardson said.
Grey ran in front of Nathan and then stopped, looked at him and then looked pointedly at his pocket.
‘He wants his ball,’ Nathan said, and he pulled the ball from his pocket and threw it for Grey to chase after. Grey raced after it and then ran back and dropped it at Nathan’s feet.
‘You’ve heard of the parachute regiment?’ the colonel asked Nathan.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And no doubt you’ve heard the rumour that there are going to be paradogs?’
Nathan smiled. ‘Yes, sir.’
That myth was always going around the War Dog Training School, but Nathan didn’t believe it for a minute.
He picked up Grey’s ball and threw it for him.
‘I’d like you and Grey to give it a try.’
Nathan’s eyes opened wide. So the paradog myth was true.
‘It’ll be dangerous and it’s voluntary. Would you be up for it?’ the colonel asked.
Nathan thought if any dog could parachute out of a plane, it would be Grey. He wasn’t so sure about himself, though – not sure at all.
The colonel was staring at him, waiting for an answer.
‘Soldier?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Nathan said, and with those two words he committed himself and Grey to jumping out of a plane hundreds of feet up in the sky, when in the past he’d always thought twice about riding on the big wheel at a fair.
‘Good, you’re to report to the paratroop regiment in Manchester in two days’ time.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Till then you’re on leave.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Nathan said, smartly. ‘Only …’
‘Yes, soldier?’
‘I haven’t finished my basic training yet.’
In fact, so far there had been very little basic training and lots of dog-handling training.
‘Don’t worry – you’ll get enough of that and more in the parachute regiment,’ the colonel said ruefully.
‘Yes, sir,’ Nathan said.
‘Make the most of your leave,’ the colonel told him.
Nathan took a deep breath. ‘I’d like to visit my sister during my leave, sir. She’s been evacuated to my grandparents’ farm in Kent. I wondered if …’ Nathan hesitated. He was sure he wouldn’t be allowed to take Grey away from the War Dog Training School.
‘Spit it out, man!’
‘Would it be all right for me to take Grey with me?’
Lieutenant Colonel Richardson looked thoughtful. ‘I don’t see why not,’ he said. ‘Don’t lose him though. He’s too valuable to us.’
‘No, sir.’
He was valuable to Nathan too.
‘A farm visit could be a useful exercise for him. Don’t want him being more terrified of unexpected cattle than Germans when he goes on a reconnaissance mission, do we? Permission granted.’
Nathan couldn’t help grinning. ‘Thank you, sir.’
Of course Grey might refuse to jump out of a plane, Nathan told himself, as he headed back to the kennels with Grey, and that would be the end of that. He didn’t let himself think that he himself might be the one who refused to jump.
Chapter 8
Grey’s tail went from wagging to hanging down low when they passed through the doors of Potters Bar train station.
‘It’s all right,’ Nathan said as he stroked the big dog’s head.
Grey had learnt so much in the short time they’d been together. Nathan was very proud of him.
‘Fine-looking dog,’ a man commented as he went past.
No one would call Grey skinny any more, but he was still lean, and very fit.
‘There’s something almost regal about him,’ said one woman with a pheasant feather in her hat.
Nathan looked down at Grey and thought that he did look almost regal, and then realized that the dog now had both ears standing straight up. He didn’t know if it was the daily ear-massaging or the regular good food he’d been eating, but Grey’s ears were both doing what they were supposed to. Now he looked like an adult German Shepherd. Although Nathan did miss his quirky one-ear-up-and-one-ear-down look a little.
‘This way,’ Nathan said to Grey when their train arrived. Grey went with him but baulked at the carriage steps. Nathan bent down to help him, but to Nathan’s surprise Grey jumped up them instead.
He shook as the whistle blew and the train set off, but soon after that he settled and sat on the floor at Nathan’s feet and leant against him.
Nathan noticed that no one wanted to sit near them; he knew many people were frightened of dogs, especially big dogs, and especially Alsatians, as they called them. Nathan stroked Grey’s head. In his experience the little dogs were often more of a problem than the big dogs were.
‘You wouldn’t hurt a fly, would you?’ he said.
Penny came running and waving along the platform as soon as she saw Nathan and Grey coming down the carriage steps.
’We’ve been waiting and waiting for you,’ she said as she threw her arms around Grey, who wagged his tail. He was glad to be finally standing on ground that wasn’t moving.
‘We got here early,’ Nathan’s grandfather said as he hugged Nathan and patted his back. ‘One of us –’ he nodded at Penny – ‘kept looking at the clock and worrying about your arrival so much that it was easier just to come to the station.’
‘I was so excited I could hardly sleep,’ Penny said as she swapped places to hug Nathan while her grandfather said hello to Grey.
‘Good-looking dog,’ their grandfather said as Grey nuzzled his head into him.
‘Best-looking dog in the whole world,’ said Penny.
‘He’s going to be a parachute dog,’ Nathan told them.
‘A parachute dog!’ Penny gasped. ‘But dogs can’t do that.’
‘Yes, they can,’ Nathan told her. ‘A dog was the first animal to do a parachute jump back in the 1700s.’
‘But he doesn’t have any hands,’ Penny said, practically. ‘How’s he going to get the parachute off? He can’t run around for the rest of the war with a parachute billowing out behind him.’ She crouched down and cuddled Grey’s furry head.
‘No, I’ll be parachute jumping too, so I can release the parachute for him,’ Nathan informed them.
‘But Nathan,’ his grandfather frowned. ‘Do you really think that’s wise … ?’
‘How are you going to jump out of a plane when you’re too scared even to climb to the top of the tree at the back of the house?’ Penny asked him.
Nathan gritted his teeth. ‘I’ll manage,’ he said. Although he certainly wasn’t looking forward to it one bit.
‘Many men have to do things in war they’d never normally dream of doing in peacetime,’ Penny’s grandfather told her her, and Nathan nodded, as they all climbed into the farm truck.
‘Up, Grey.’
Grey jumped into the truck and lay down on the floor for the short journey.
‘
Can we show Grey my chickens?’ Penny asked, when they got to the farm.
‘OK,’ Nathan said. ‘But we’ll have to watch him carefully. I don’t know if he’s ever met a chicken before and we don’t want him chasing them and making scrambled eggs.’
Penny laughed. ‘My chickens won’t be frightened,’ she said. ‘Come on, Grey.’
Nathan followed Penny and his dog over to the chicken run. He was glad the two of them were getting on so well. Maybe Grey had once had a family of his own before he ended up as a stray. He supposed he’d never know where Grey had come from, or exactly what his life had been like, before the war.
As soon as Grey saw the clucking chickens he crouched down low and for an anxious moment Nathan was worried he’d pounce and kill one of them. But then one of the chickens squawked and flapped towards him and Grey turned tail and ran a few feet away.
‘It looks like your chickens are safe,’ Nathan said as Penny laughed.
‘Come on, Grey, they won’t hurt you,’ Penny told the dog. But Grey wasn’t sure about that and he stayed where he was.
‘Grey, come!’ Nathan said.
And Grey came to him, his tail between his legs, his eyes looking warily at the feathered creatures. He stopped at Nathan’s side and looked round his legs at the chickens, who were much more interested in pecking at the corn Penny scattered for them than in a scaredy dog. Grey spat out the bit of the chicken’s corn he’d managed to lick up.
‘Let’s show him Toffee,’ Penny suggested, taking Nathan’s hand.
‘All right,’ Nathan said, although if Grey was scared of chickens he didn’t know what he was going to think of the sweet-natured, but huge, shire horse.
Toffee poked her head out of the top of the stable door as they headed towards her and whinnied at the sight of Nathan.
Grey had never seen a horse before and he wasn’t sure about it. It didn’t smell like a dog at all.
Toffee had met plenty of dogs, though, when she’d been exhibited at country shows. Most of them had been friendly and a few had been frightened and so not very friendly. She put her head down to blow through her nostrils at Grey and Grey skittered back at first, scared, but then he came forward to sniff her. Toffee blew at him again, her soft breath ruffling his fur.
‘Hello, beautiful,’ Nathan said as he stroked her and pressed his face into Toffee’s neck.
Grey, perhaps responding to the obvious love between Nathan and the horse, wagged his tail. If Nathan wasn’t frightened of the strange beast, then neither was he.
When Nathan brought Toffee out of the stable, Grey retreated nervously, but he soon came back as Nathan’s voice soothed him.
‘It’s OK, Grey.’
Grey was very surprised when Nathan swung himself up on the horse’s back. He stayed close to Penny as the Toffee clopped her way round the farmyard.
After his ride, Nathan’s gran came hurrying over to envelop him in a hug as they approached the farmhouse. Grey sniffed the air. Nathan’s grandmother had been slow-roasting a goose in her oven range since seven o’clock that morning.
Grey had never eaten goose before but the scent of it now made him drool.
‘Here you are,’ Mrs Dawson said, and she put a plate of roast goose down on the floor for Grey as the rest of the family took their places at the table.
Grey’s dish was empty and licked clean almost as soon as Nathan’s gran had put it down.
After lunch, Grey got to chase his ball across the farmyard.
‘Be careful of my daffodils,’ Nathan’s gran called out.
‘Watch this,’ Nathan said to Penny, and he hid Grey’s ball in the shed.
‘Find it,’ Nathan told him, and Grey went into the shed, tail wagging hard, to look for it. He emerged triumphant, with the ball in his mouth, a few moments later.
‘He’s better at hide and seek than me,’ Penny laughed.
‘Better than me too,’ Nathan grinned.
After dinner, when Grey had goose again, they played blind man’s buff and musical chairs, and sang along to ‘Mairzy Doats’ by the Merry Macs on the radio.
‘Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?’
Grey looked up at Nathan and then he looked over at Penny as their voices rang out.
‘If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
Sing: Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy …’
Grey wasn’t used to singing and he tried to join in too, which made everyone laugh. But then Nathan’s gran started crying and Grey went over to her.
‘If only this rotten war could be over,’ she said as she mopped up her tears. Grey laid his head on her lap and looked up at her.
‘You take care of my grandson,’ she told Grey. ‘Parachute jumping of all things.’ She managed a watery smile and stood up. ‘Right, then, who’s ready for some carrot cake? I got the recipe from the Home Front Cookery Advice Leaflet.’
Grey gobbled down a slice of carrot cake – but for him it couldn’t rival the goose he’d had for lunch and dinner. Nothing could top that.
Nathan was still asleep when Grey padded out of the room and down the hall the next morning.
‘Grey, Grey – come here!’ Penny called, as soon as she saw his nose peeping round her bedroom door. She patted her bed cover. ‘Grey – come.’
Grey went over to her bed and hopped up on to it, whereupon he was immediately enveloped in a hug and then kissed on the top of his furry head.
‘Come and help me feed my chickens.’
Down at the chicken coop Penny threw corn to the birds and Grey tried another bit of corn but spat it out again. Once Penny had collected the eggs, her grandmother made delicious scrambled eggs for them all. Much better. Grey had his with the last of the goose leftovers.
‘Don’t want you getting hungry on your journey to the parachute regiment,’ she said.
‘He’s a truly good dog,’ Nathan’s grandfather said, on their way to the train station. ‘You’ve trained him well.’ Grey wagged his tail.
Nathan shook his head. ‘Mostly he’s trained himself. I just steered him a bit. He’s a smart dog.’
Grey saw the train drawing into the station and his tail stopped wagging.
‘I’m proud of you, Nathan,’ Mr Dawson said as he opened the carriage door for Nathan and Grey to climb on board. This time Grey didn’t make a fuss. ‘Just make sure you bring that dog and yourself home safe and well.’
Nathan settled Grey as the train set off for Manchester and RAF Ringway. He looked out of the window until he couldn’t see his grandfather standing on the platform any more.
Chapter 9
Although he hadn’t said so to Penny or his grandparents, Nathan was feeling very worried about parachute jumping, as well as starting at a new camp where he wouldn’t know anyone apart from Grey. The War Dog Training School had been designed for dogs and dog handlers, whereas the airbase was designed for the Army Air Corps. He hadn’t even properly finished his basic training and now it looked like he was going to be a paratrooper, as long as he passed, alongside some of the fittest soldiers there were.
So he was more than a little nervous as he and Grey were checked in at the gate.
‘I thought it was a joke when they said we might be getting a trainee paradog,’ the guard told Nathan.
‘No joke,’ Nathan said.
‘Crazy,’ the guard muttered.
Grey
wagged his tail.
Nathan could feel the guard’s eyes watching him and Grey as they walked into the camp. It made him feel uncomfortable but it didn’t seem to bother Grey at all.
As the dog strolled confidently by his side through the camp, Nathan found it hard to remember him as a stray dog, and he certainly didn’t look like one any more. He looked like a proud military dog, especially now both his ears were standing up straight. But whether he could be a paradog remained to be seen.
A squad of soldiers jogged past and some of them stared at Grey.
‘Eyes front, soldiers,’ the sergeant shouted at them.
‘Come on, Grey,’ Nathan said, and Grey looked up at him and wagged his tail at the sound of his name.
Grey was used to there being lots of other dogs about at the War Dog Training School, but here there were no sounds of barking or scents of different dogs in the air. Here he was the only dog, although other dogs were being trained to parachute jump at other air bases. Nathan wasn’t sure why Grey and he couldn’t be trained with those other dogs and their handlers, but he was a soldier and his job was to obey orders without question, so that’s what he intended to do.
At least there was a brand-new kennel waiting for Grey.
Grey sniffed at it and detected that the kennel had had a visit from a mouse earlier in the day. Grey was very fond of mice and the smell reminded him of happy times with Molly in the shed back in Dover, when they would hunt for mice together.
‘Welcome to your new home,’ Nathan said as he clipped Grey’s lead to the kennel and went to find his commanding officer. Grey barked as he left, but Nathan didn’t turn back. Grey barked again and then he whined, but Nathan was gone. So Grey had a long drink of cool water from the bowl beside his kennel and then lay down to wait for his friend to come back. He was getting more and more used to Nathan leaving him, and gradually learning to trust that he would come back for him.
‘You’ve heard about the Calais mission?’ Nathan’s commanding officer, Major Parry, asked him.