by Iva Ibbotson
“He’s a Tottenham terrier,” he said.
“I’ve never heard of that,” she said. “It must be a new breed. He looks really intelligent. Why don’t you let him off the lead?”
“I’ve only just got him. I’m going to take him to dog training classes next week but I don’t know if he’d come back.”
“Of course he’d come back. He loves you.”
Hal looked at her. Her words made him feel ridiculously happy. He bent down and unclipped the lead. Fleck shook himself, then took off like a racing greyhound – and disappeared behind a clump of trees.
There was a moment of panic as Hal and the blonde girl looked at each other. Supposing he disappeared for ever? Then with as much speed as he had raced off, the little dog returned, a streak of white on his way home.
“Told you,” said the girl.
But Fleck was now ready to play. He led Hal to a large tree, and raced round it, chasing whatever was in his head – imaginary squirrels, rabbits, rats even. Hal followed him going the other way and they met in the middle. The girl with the blonde curls came too and a long game of chase followed. It was an oak tree; last year’s acorns lay on the ground. Fleck tried one, didn’t care for it, spat it out.
Behind the tree was a large hole – obviously the other dogs who had helped to make it were the right kind, because Fleck was delighted with it. He dug his share, with yelps of pleasure. The earth was rich and dark and damp – it must have rained in the night.
Two boys who had been kicking a football came over. Remembering the boys who had destroyed his birthday toys, Hal was apprehensive, but they were friendly – and let Fleck chase their ball a few times before they wandered off.
“I’d best take him back now,” Hal told the blonde girl. “I haven’t had breakfast yet and my parents will be wondering where I am.”
She nodded. “See you tomorrow maybe,” she said. “I’ll walk with you to the gate.”
But the path they took led past a pond – and on the pond were half a dozen ducks.
Fleck stood for a moment taking stock. The hair on his back rose, growls worthy of a Steppenwolf came from him, and before Hal realized what was happening, there was a mighty splash and Fleck was swimming strongly towards the ducks.
The birds squawked indignantly, then took off with a flutter of dripping wings. Fleck swam to and fro for a few minutes, pretending he had only gone in for the exercise; then, as Hal called him, he scrambled out through the reeds.
“Run!” said the girl. “Don’t let him get near you.” And she took off along the path. But Hal had only been a dog owner for a day. He waited, and Fleck came as close to him as possible and then, most mightily, he shook himself.
“That’s a plucky little brute you’ve got there,” said an old man leading a Great Dane. “They’re good swimmers, these cross-breeds.”
Hal was about to explain that he was a Tottenham terrier – but he was almost as wet as the dog and he put Fleck on the lead and set off for home.
As they came up the drive to his house, Hal began to worry. He had promised his mother that he wouldn’t let the dog make puddles, but Fleck was practically a walking puddle all by himself. He decided to go in through the back. Olga, the new maid, was surly; she came from Kazakhstan and hardly spoke a word of English and Hal was afraid of her sulks and her tears. But when she saw him with the soaking little dog she pulled him into the kitchen, and found a towel and rubbed Fleck till he looked freshly washed rather than bedraggled. Then she found some dry clothes for Hal and pushed him forward into the dining room.
“Mother eats already – go quick …” she said.
But she was smiling.
“If I didn’t know it was going to be over the day after tomorrow, I couldn’t stand it,” said Albina. “I found a white hair on the carpet – and another on the footstool. And I nearly fell over the creature’s drinking bowl. I do so hate mess!”
Albina’s friends – the ones with names beginning with G – were having morning coffee with her and they were very sympathetic.
“I had a friend whose husband brought home an Irish wolfhound,” said Glenda. “Imagine it – one swish of his tail and a whole table full of precious ornaments were swept to the floor. And all the husband could say was, ‘The dog is saying hello.’ She divorced him, of course – nothing else to do.”
Hal came in then, carrying Fleck for safety, to greet Aunt Georgia and Aunt Glenda and Aunt Geraldine.
“I thought you’d like to see him,” he said.
Fleck wanted to get down and say hello properly, with sniffing and rolling over and all that kind of thing, but Hal held him firmly. Aunt Glenda was wearing very full purple harem trousers and pumps with a big tassel on the toe and he had already discovered how fond Fleck was of anything attached to shoes.
“He’s not completely trained yet, though he does sit for quite a long time when you tell him to,” he told the ladies.
He carried the dog round to each of them as though he was offering them a wonderful present. Geraldine patted him gingerly, Glenda just smiled nervously, and Georgia said, “Does he bite?”
“Well, I hope Donald knows what he’s doing,” said Glenda, when Hal had carried the dog out again. “It doesn’t look as though he’s tired of him yet.”
“Donald is sure he will be by tomorrow evening. Hal had to get up early to exercise him – it’s a lot of work looking after the things. And frankly, whether there’s a fuss or not, I really couldn’t go on with this. Suppose he scratches the new coffee table?”
And all of them shuddered at a thought as dreadful as that.
That night, lying on the floor again covered by his duvet, with Fleck curled up beside him, Hal was thinking. Often and often when you wanted something and then got it, it was a disappointment. He had looked forward to going to the Seychelles for a holiday – his parents had said there would be snorkelling and scuba diving … but when he got there he developed a horrible rash from some tropical bug and couldn’t go into the water at all. And it was the same with skiing – they’d all gone to Davos and then there wasn’t any snow and the hotel was full of people having parties and drinking too much and being sick and they’d come home early.
But having a dog was completely different. He’d wanted it and wanted it and when it happened it was even better than he’d thought it would be. He’d imagined some of it – the companionship and the warmth – but he didn’t realize a dog would make you laugh so much, nor that he would help you to make so many friends.
It was extraordinary too how much a dog made you see. The hollows in the oak tree … and the way the acorns sat so neatly in their cups … how the earth clagged together, so dark after rain… Hal hadn’t even noticed that it had rained.
And how much he made you think. Fleck had found an iron grating over a drain when they went out in the afternoon. The drain had interested him so much that he’d lain down on his stomach, just looking and smelling and investigating, and Hal realized that he’d never before thought about what might live down there, in the black and evil-looking water. Perhaps ancient river spirits, driven from their homes … or strange animals washed down through bath outlets … there might be a whole drain underworld that no one knew about.
He reached up to turn on his night light, but Fleck was lying across his feet and Hal didn’t want to disturb him. Anyway, he didn’t need a night light now he had a protector and a friend.
Early the next morning, which was Sunday, Hal wrote a postcard to his grandparents in Northumberland. He had never had anything interesting to tell them but now he did. He knew how pleased they would be for him, how glad that he had a dog. There was a dog, of course, in their cottage by the sea. Then he addressed the card and took it to the letter box, with Fleck following at his heels.
They went on to the park and though they did not meet the girl with blonde hair, they met the man with the Great Dane and the big dog stood patiently while Fleck went round and round him, admiringly sniffing at each leg. Then they ran to t
he tree and found the hole and the pile of leaves and it was as though the park was already home.
Sunday was Olga’s day off but today she stopped Hal as he came in and showed him a bone which he could have for Fleck. It was the right kind of bone, not splintery, and Fleck thanked her very beautifully. She had stopped being silent and surly, and Hal realized that she had just been lonely and sad, another thing the dog had made him understand. Apparently she had had a lot of animals at home in Kazakhstan and whenever she couldn’t think of the name for whatever the animal was in English, she made the right noise – mooing and bleating and barking and hissing, till both she and Hal were doubled up with laughter.
“What on earth is going on here?” said Albina, coming in just as Olga was pretending to be a goat trying to swallow a bicycle tyre. Then she caught sight of Fleck, chewing his bone. “Oh, Hal, he’ll make a mess on the floor. Don’t bring him into the drawing room whatever you do.”
In the afternoon Hal’s parents had been invited to have tea with Sir Richard and Lady Dorothy Graham, who lived in a beautiful house in Richmond near the river, and had three children roughly Hal’s age. They were perfectly behaved children, the kind that made Hal want to be sick.
“Only there’s no question of taking the dog,” said Albina. “Lady Dorothy’s house is absolutely spotless – and anyway he’d make marks on the leather of the car.”
Albina’s Mercedes was upholstered in snow-white Moroccan leather and was the apple of Albina’s eye.
“I’m not going without Fleck. Absolutely not,” said Hal.
“Well, you can’t stay here alone,” said Albina.
But to everyone’s surprise, Olga, who always had Sunday afternoon off, said she would take Hal to the shopping mall so that he could buy a ball and some toys for Fleck.
So Hal stayed, and had a lovely afternoon. He had not spent any of the birthday money from his Australian godmother and he and Fleck studied squeaky rubber ducks and balls of various sizes and plastic bones and clockwork mice. There were other people there choosing Sunday treats for their pets, and the girl with fair hair Hal had met in the park was buying hamster food.
“We have tea!” said Olga, to Hal’s surprise, taking the girl by the arm. “You go ask mother – I have much cake.”
So the girl, whose name was Hilary, came to tea and they played with Fleck and threw the squeaky toys for him and he rushed all over the house retrieving them. But when Hilary had gone, and he settled down for a nap in Hal’s room, Fleck was not lying on the rubber duck which had been his favourite, but on Hal’s blue face flannel which had slipped from the side of the washbasin on to the floor. And later, when Hal tried to take it from him, he produced his first attempt at a growl and fastened his teeth more firmly round his treasure.
This flannel, Fleck was saying, is now mine.
6
The Trick
Hal was in bed, his father was in his study – but Albina was on her hands and knees on the stairs, searching for dog hairs. Hal had promised he would clean up after the dog wherever he went, but now she could see a hair on the half landing, and something – possibly a speck of mud – on the bottom stair.
She gave a squeak of irritation and reached for the dustpan and brush she had brought. Olga could do it properly in the morning but the wretched maid always went to bed so early.
Thank goodness this was the last day of having a messy animal in the house. Tomorrow Fleck was going back to where he came from. She really couldn’t have stood any more dirt and annoyance.
Going back into the house, Albina stored her dustpan and went to say goodnight to Hal. He was usually very quiet before she came in – but tonight there was the sound of running footsteps and shouting. He was having a game with the dog – and then came a crash as something fell to the floor.
She opened the door
“Oh Hal, not the night light! You know how expensive that was. It’s a special design and the pieces are hand-made to go with the carpet.”
She picked up the lamp. It was definitely ruined, the pieces bent. “I don’t know how I shall ever replace it.”
But Hal didn’t seem to be sorry.
“You won’t have to,” he said cheerfully. “I don’t need a night light any more. I don’t care how dark it is now that I’ve got Fleck.”
Going downstairs again, Albina went in search of her husband.
“I thought you said Hal would be bored with a dog after two days. You promised me.”
Donald was in his study. A small earpiece which connected him with head office in New York hung out of one ear. He hadn’t heard a word she said.
Albina repeated her words. “Will you listen? I’m telling you, he isn’t sick of the dog and you promised me he would be.”
Donald switched off reluctantly.
“Well, whether he’s sick of the dog or not, the animal goes back first thing. Make sure you get him there by ten o’clock, otherwise I have to pay for another day’s rental. And see that you get all the deposit back. The chap who runs the place is the worst sort of shark.”
Albina stared at him. “I’m not taking him back. You’re taking him back.”
“No, I’m not. I told you, I’m catching the six o’clock plane from Heathrow in the morning. I’m going to New York. I’ll be halfway across the Atlantic before the Easy Pets place opens.”
“Well, I think that’s a bit much. What am I going to tell Hal?”
“Tell him anything you like – but not till the dog’s safely back.”
Albina was very angry. “It’s all very well for you – having ideas and then flying off and leaving me to pick up the pieces. You do it all the time and I’m tired of it.”
“If you think I like flying all over the world, you’re mistaken. It’s very exhausting. I do it so that you can have a beautiful home and all the clothes you need. If you weren’t so extravagant …”
They began to quarrel. They were so used to quarrelling that they almost forgot what the quarrel was about. This one went on till it was time to go to bed – but by that time Albina had decided that she would get the maid, Olga, to take Hal to the dentist on the following morning – and while he was gone she would bundle the dog up and take him to Easy Pets. By the time Hal got back everything would be over. He would be upset, she could see that, so perhaps it might be an idea to take him shopping in the afternoon. Perhaps a new Scalectric set … or one of those miniature radios shaped like a piece of fruit. She had seen them in the Hamleys catalogue and they looked really cute.
The appointment with the dentist was at ten o’clock.
“Olga will take you,” said Hal’s mother on the following morning.
“Can I take Fleck? The receptionist is very nice; she’ll let me put him in the garden at the back.”
“No, Hal, definitely not. No animals are allowed in the surgery, you know that.”
“But—”
“That’s enough, Hal. Go and clean your teeth and get ready. You can give Fleck a bone to eat while you’re away.”
Hal shook his head. “We’ve only got the kind left that splinters, but I’ll stop off on the way back and get a good one. Marrow bones are best. Olga’ll help me, she said.” His eyes lit up. “And we could go and see if Fleck’s basket has come in. The man in the pet shop said it might be in today.”
He bent down to the dog and put his arm round him. “I won’t be long, Fleck – and then we’ll go into the park and go and see the tree and the drain … and maybe Hilary will be there.”
Fleck wagged his tail and tried to lick Hal’s face, but when Albina spoke sharply to him he whimpered and went to fetch his flannel. His eyes, as he watched the door close behind Hal, were dark pools of anxiety.
Something was wrong.
Hal came running in an hour later, already whistling for the dog as he opened the door. “Fleck,” he called. “Fleck, I’m back!”
He waited for the yelps of welcome, the sound of toenails skittering over the marble floor of the entrance
hall.
Silence.
Olga went to look in the kitchen. Hal raced through the house.
“His lead’s gone. That must mean that Mummy’s taken him out for a walk. I knew she’d get to like him. I knew it!”
Olga’s face was grave.
“I make cocoa,” was all she said.
It was nearly an hour before they heard the sound of the car, and then Albina got out. She had no lead, no small white dog … only some parcels.
Hal ran towards her. “You’ve got Fleck, haven’t you?”
“No, Hal, I haven’t. Fleck’s gone back to where he came from.”
Hal did not speak, but something had happened to his face that made Albina step back a pace.
“You mean you’ve taken him back to Easy Pets?”
“Yes, that’s right. You see your father just rented him for the weekend. We could never put up with the inconvenience of a dog for longer than that, but we wanted to give you a treat.”
“You’re not going to fetch him back?” said Hal in a toneless voice. “It was just a trick you played on me?”
“Not a trick, Hal. We just wanted you to have a dog for a little while. You know how I feel about animals in the house. And I’ve bought you a present.”
She handed him a gaudily wrapped box. The next second the box flew across the room and crashed into a vase on the ornamental chest.
“Oh Hal, look what you’ve done,” shrieked Albina.
“It’s what you’ve done,” said Hal in a strange, grown-up voice. “That’s what you want to think about.”
And then he turned and went up to his room and shut the door.
7
Sorrow
The dogs in Room A were doing their best. They understood what had happened to Fleck: how he had felt about the boy who came to fetch him, and how the boy had felt about him, and now they did everything they could to cheer him up.
All of them had known sorrow. Francine still dreamed of the circus and the busy useful life she had led there. Honey, in her sleep, still raced over the heather-clad hills at the sound of her master’s whistle. Otto had never stopped yearning for the peace of the monastery and the silent dignity of the monks. Li-Chee still waited for someone who would look into his fiery soul.