Once in a Lifetime

by Chrissie Manby

  ‘Are you talking to me?’ Jane turned to see the young woman yelling instructions.

  ‘Absolutely. I think you need this.’ Nurse Van Niekerk handed Jane a flyer about Best Behaviour Boot Camp, before she and Jezza recognised each other.

  ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn,’ Nurse Van Niekerk tutted. ‘This is not how one of my students should behave and you know it. Best Behaviour Boot Camp boys always walk to heel.’ She held her hand out to Jane. ‘You must be Grandma Jezza,’ she said.

  ‘Well, yes,’ said Jane. ‘I suppose I am.’ Jane had heard all about Nurse Van Niekerk’s refusal to bother with human names.

  ‘I heard you were coming today. Now, Grandma Jezza, as Jezza is one of my students, I don’t mind giving you a quick crash course about how you can keep him on his very best behaviour today. You seem like an intelligent sort of woman …’

  At that moment, Dani’s friend Liz intervened, linking her arm through Jane’s and leading her away.

  ‘You mustn’t take any notice of Nurse Van Niekerk. She can be a little abrasive but she does get results. Hello, Jezza.’ Liz bent down to scratch the pup between the ears. ‘Dani told me to look out for the pair of you. You’re walking with us. Evan’s over there, surrounded by his clients.’

  One of whom was Bill.

  ‘Jane, this is Bill Hunter,’ Liz introduced them.

  ‘We’ve already met,’ he said.

  ‘Lots of times,’ said Jane.

  Liz raised an eyebrow.

  ‘At the pet shop. Best in Devon,’ Jane added.

  Sapphire was lazing at Bill’s feet. The elegant greyhound raised an eyebrow in a bored sort of way as Jezza tried to attract her attention again. As he adopted the ‘play’ position, bowing to Sapphire with his bottom high in the air, tail flapping from side to side like a windscreen wiper in a hurricane, Sapphire merely closed her eyes.

  ‘Never mind, Jezza,’ said Liz. ‘There will be other girls.’

  ‘I hope you will be having him done before that becomes an issue,’ said Nurse Van Niekerk, who’d caught up with them again.

  ‘Done?’ Bill grimaced. ‘Don’t say that in front of the poor lad,’ he joked. Jezza continued to court Sapphire while she continued to ignore him.

  ‘Sapphire’s very cool,’ said Bill. ‘But she likes him really.’

  ‘There’s no way we’ll be able to keep up with you two,’ said Jane.

  ‘Sapphire’s also very lazy. Greyhounds may be good over sprints but there’s nothing they like better than sleeping. She sleeps for twenty-three hours a day, I reckon.’

  While Jezza pranced about in front of her, Sapphire closed her eyes again.

  When the dogs and owners had reached critical mass, with latecomers spilling out onto the road, it was time to get things underway.

  Evan the vet, who had organised the event this year, climbed onto the platform and welcomed that afternoon’s walkers.

  ‘We’ve got almost two hundred dogs here this afternoon,’ he said. ‘And we’re grateful to see every single one of you. Your support is invaluable when it comes to keeping our sanctuary open. Several of our sanctuary dogs are going to be walking with us today. So, if you feel like there’s room in your home for another set of paws, please don’t hesitate to talk to me or one of my colleagues. A home isn’t complete without a dog, in my opinion.’

  A shout of ‘hear hear’ went up from several of the walkers.

  ‘Now let’s get going, shall we? There’s a barbecue at the other end!’

  The walkers, and their dogs, needed no more encouragement.

  Still the walk started off slowly as everyone trickled out of the hotel car park through the bottleneck of the gates. The staff of The Majestic had come to wave the walkers off. Jane waved to Dani, who was on the balcony of the restaurant in her kitchen whites.

  ‘Make her proud,’ Jane told Jezza. ‘Walk to heel.’

  Jezza pulled on his lead. ‘What did your nurse mean about talking to him?’ Jane asked Evan.

  ‘She meant, you just have to keep looking down at him from time to time, making eye contact and reminding him that he’s taking his cues from you,’ said Evan. ‘Like this.’

  He took Jezza’s lead and by chatting to him had the pup walking sensibly in under a minute.

  ‘Seems like hard work,’ said Jane.

  ‘Everything worth doing is hard work,’ said Evan, looking across at his wife.

  Liz’s own dog Ted was not walking to heel at all. He was bustling ahead of the crowd, pulling so hard he was panting.

  ‘He likes to lead the way,’ Liz explained.

  ‘There’s no doubt who’s top dog in our house,’ Evan agreed.

  ‘Should have come to boot camp,’ Nurse Van Niekerk muttered.

  That morning, getting ready for the walk, Jane had been a little nervous. She’d worried that she wouldn’t find enough to talk about with Bill if they did the whole walk together so she was relieved that there were plenty of other walkers to pick up the slack.

  About a mile into the walk they were joined by a very smartly dressed woman with a jet black French bulldog.

  ‘Mrs Coco!’ Evan called, when he saw her.

  ‘Coco is the dog’s name, right?’ Jane asked Liz for confirmation. ‘And her name is?’

  ‘You know, after two years of knowing her, I still have absolutely no idea.’

  ‘We shan’t be walking with you very far,’ said Mrs Coco. ‘On account of Coco’s bad legs. But we wanted to show our support.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Evan. ‘How is Coco doing today?’

  ‘Oh she’s …’

  … already sitting down and refusing to move.

  ‘I might just pop back into the house and get her wheels,’ Mrs Coco said. ‘We’ll never keep up with you otherwise.’

  While Mrs Coco went inside and returned with a pram, Evan took a closer look at little Coco.

  ‘I think you should bring her in on Monday,’ he said. ‘See if we can’t persuade her to perk up a little.’

  ‘Right you are, Dr Thomas.’

  Mrs Coco loaded Coco into the pram and the walk continued. Coco seemed very happy to sit back and let the wind blow past her ears.

  The atmosphere on the walk was wonderful. The weather and the company made the day perfect. As the dog walkers made their way up onto the headland, well-wishers, who leaned out of their windows with speakers playing uplifting tunes, played them through the streets. Everyone was glad to see them. At the front of the procession were two people dressed in giant dog-suits – Dalmatians – who carried buckets to collect spare change.

  One of them fell back so that he was level with Jane and Bill for a while.

  ‘This bucket’s getting heavy,’ he said, showing them how much change he’d collected so far. ‘And I’m sweating like the proverbial pig in this dog-suit.’

  ‘Keep up the good work,’ said Evan. ‘This is on target to be a bumper year for the shelter.’

  ‘It’s a very good cause,’ said Mrs Coco.

  At the halfway point, a stall manned by volunteers was distributing water to the walkers and the dogs. Jane gratefully took the bottle Bill picked up for her and shared it with Jezza. Though the pup did not usually walk so far, he was showing no sign of flagging. He was determined to keep up with Sapphire who, with her long legs, was probably taking only half so many steps. She was a truly elegant creature.

  ‘Is Sapphire the first dog you’ve had?’ Jane asked Bill.

  ‘Heavens no. I’ve always had dogs,’ he said. ‘Since I was a kid. Can’t imagine life without them. When I was growing up, we spent the summer with my grandparents on their farm. That’s where I chose my first pup, from a litter by one of the sheepdogs. She was called Dancer. Wonderful dog. She was a bit too clever for me, I think, looking back. Lately, I’ve had three rescue greyhounds. They make great pets. Really calm in temperament. Don’t need much walking. I can take Sapphire into the shop without worrying that she’ll get into trouble. And Jezza?’

&n
bsp; ‘He’s my first. Well, he’s my granddaughter’s dog officially, but I feel like he belongs to all of us. Dani – that’s my daughter – wasn’t at all sure that we should keep him. Flossie, my granddaughter, well her old boyfriend bought her Jezza without asking whether it was OK. But I’m so glad Dani decided we should keep him. He’s such good company. He makes us laugh all the time.’

  ‘And like I said, it’s good to know that when you get into the house, someone will be there who’s pleased to see you, isn’t it?’ said Bill.

  ‘Oh yes.’

  ‘That’s been a life-changer for me. I don’t do well being on my own.’

  ‘You mean since you lost your wife?’ Jane asked.

  Bill nodded.

  ‘I know how you feel.’

  ‘Though for a long time, I wasn’t exactly great company if I did have people around. I hope that might be changing at last, though. I certainly feel like I want to be part of the world again. How about you?’

  ‘Snack, anybody?’ Mrs Coco pulled a paper bag out of her handbag and waggled it between Jane and Bill.

  Jane was grateful for the distraction from her conversation, until she saw that Mrs Coco was offering her kibble.

  ‘Oh, for Jezza?’ Jane asked.

  ‘If he’s allowed.’

  Jane took one for her dog. As did Bill. They were both astonished when Mrs Coco popped one into her own mouth.

  ‘It’s really very tasty,’ she said, not looking in the least bit embarrassed. ‘I got into it while Coco was on one of her diets. The thing is, she won’t eat anything unless she’s seen me eat it first. That was part of the problem. She was getting too much rich human food. So it was me who had to make the change.’

  ‘To dog food?’

  ‘Lots of the premium brands are probably better for you than anything you could buy in the ready meal cabinet at the supermarket,’ Evan chipped in.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Mrs Coco.

  ‘Well done, Mrs Coco. I’m really pleased to see you’re both sticking to the Waggy Weight Loss regime. Healthy owner, healthy dog. And vice versa too.’

  ‘It’s true. I’ve lost six pounds since I substituted kibble for Pringles,’ Mrs Coco confirmed. ‘You just can’t eat so much of it, you know.’

  No kidding, Jane thought.

  Jane could easily see how owning a dog could make people fitter but she hoped she would always draw the line at kibble. These dog people were bonkers, though they were certainly a friendly lot.

  Other owners passed human snacks along the chain of walkers. Because so many people knew Evan from his surgery and volunteer work at the shelter and Bill from the pet shop, Jane found herself being introduced to what seemed like hundreds of people. Every one of them stopped to admire Jezza and compliment Jane on his manners. She felt extremely proud. Even if Nurse Van Niekerk was forever tutting in despair when Jezza jumped up to greet new pals.

  ‘Keep him down, Grandma Jezza!’ she shouted. ‘More authority in your commands, please.’

  When Jane looked down into Jezza’s eyes, she was sure she saw him wink.

  It was quite the loveliest way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Even though she lived with her daughter and granddaughter, Jane often found herself at a loose end on a Sunday. Dani was sometimes at work over the weekend and now that Flossie was a teenager, she had her own things to do. Since Sarah had put herself on Tinder, she was out more often than in. Walking with Newbay’s dog community was so much nicer than sitting at home reading the Mail On Sunday.

  And it was fascinating to see that the old adage about dogs being like their owners held true. Mrs Coco and her French bulldog were like peas in a pod. The owner of the two Irish wolfhounds Jane had seen in the car park was similarly long of limb and hairy. Though Bill didn’t immediately seem to have much in common with his greyhound looks-wise – he was solidly built, reassuringly so – temperamentally they shared a laid-back attitude to life. They were a calming sort of presence. After a while, even Jezza stopped springing about like a newborn lamb and fell into step alongside Sapphire.

  ‘Are you glad you came along?’ Bill asked.

  Jane confirmed that she was.

  Almost two hours after the walkers set off from The Majestic, they reached their destination. The Driftwood. A pub that overlooked the water. It had a huge garden, perfect for canine visitors, and the landlords were ready for them. While the human beings queued for their pints, another team of volunteers distributed water and treats for the dogs. Sausages and burgers were being cooked on a very smoky barbecue. The smell was sending all the dogs a little bit bonkers. Coco strained to get out of her pram.

  ‘No, you certainly can’t have a burger,’ Mrs Coco told her dog. ‘What would Nurse Van Niekerk say?’

  ‘You’re staying for lunch, aren’t you?’ Liz asked Jane. ‘You must.’

  ‘You sit here,’ said Bill. ‘And I’ll go and fetch something for you. What would you like, Jane? A burger? A hot dog?’

  ‘A hot dog seems appropriate,’ said Jane. She glanced down at Jezza, who quickly found himself a spot in the shade beneath the table. Sapphire settled down beside him, though she was still pretending he wasn’t there.

  Lunch was a long one. And Jane was in no hurry to leave. She enjoyed sitting among her new friends, listening as they swapped stories of the funny things their dogs had done. Bill talked about a collie cross he’d once had.

  ‘Absolutely hated cats. Chased a Persian up a tree and actually managed to catch it by the tail. Came in with a great clump of fur in his mouth. The cat’s tail was completely bald. Well, you can imagine how that went down with his owner …’

  ‘The cat was in your dog’s garden,’ said Mrs Coco, searching for mitigating circumstances. ‘When Coco was younger, she almost caught a squirrel. Chased it into the house. It ran straight up my back and into my hair. You can’t imagine the mess.’

  ‘Oh, I can.’ Jane shivered at the thought.

  Nurse Van Niekerk reminisced about her own dogs. Most recently, she’d had a lurcher called Berkeley. Her eyes glistened with tears as she talked about Berkeley’s loyalty.

  ‘He was always there for me. It was like he could read my mind.’

  ‘No mean feat,’ Liz whispered to Jane.

  ‘I don’t know what I would have done without Ted,’ Liz told the crowd at the picnic table. ‘When I was going through my divorce, sometimes his was the only friendly face I saw all day. He’s so much more than a pet.’

  ‘When Berkeley died my heart was broken,’ said Nurse Van Niekerk.

  ‘Dogs teach us the real meaning of love,’ Evan said.

  All the assembled dog owners agreed loudly.

  ‘They also teach us that the heart can expand exponentially. Every time I’ve have to say goodbye to a dog, I’ve told myself that I will never put myself through it again. The cost of that love is just too high. But then you meet the next one and realise that it’s worth it. It’s worth the goodbye. And you bring that new puppy home and love with all your heart again. You never forget the ones who went before, of course, but you realise that love isn’t finite and the more you give, the more you have to give. The heart is a muscle after all.’

  ‘Oh you’re so right, Dr Thomas,’ said Mrs Coco.

  ‘Spot on,’ said Nurse Van Niekerk, sneakily wiping away a tear.

  ‘I think I know what you mean,’ said Bill.

  ‘Good,’ said Evan. ‘Because my wife sometimes says I talk a load of old whatsit.’

  ‘Not about dogs,’ Liz interrupted him. ‘Never about dogs, you don’t. Or about love.’ She pressed a kiss to his cheek and Evan blushed.

  Jane blushed too, when she looked up to see that Bill was looking right at her.

  ‘It’s time I was getting home,’ Jane said shortly after that. ‘My granddaughter will be back soon and she’ll be wondering who’s going to make her tea.’

  ‘Tell her to make her own tea,’ said Liz, whose daughter was Flossie’s age.

  ‘Oh, Liz,’ said Ja
ne. ‘I can’t do that. I’ve got to go.’

  ‘I’ll see you again soon, I hope,’ said Bill.

  ‘As soon as this one needs another toy,’ said Jane, nodding at Jezza.

  Jane persuaded Jezza to stop pestering Sapphire and got up from the table. As she said a final goodbye and started to leave, she felt shy in a way she hadn’t felt for ages. Perhaps it was because she knew Bill was watching her go and with a flash of vanity, she hoped that her back view was as good as the front. It was while she was thinking about this that Jezza – who was not walking to heel now that Nurse Van Niekerk wasn’t looking – spotted something that interested him on the right of the path. Unfortunately, he was on Jane’s left at the time. He cut across right in front of her, causing her to trip on his lead.

  Jane went down with a thump.

  Chapter Fifty

  It was a nasty fall. Jane already knew that. But she didn’t know just how nasty until she attempted to stand up again. Still hanging on to Jezza’s lead – the puppy merely seemed amused that she was down at his level – Jane tried to pull herself back onto her feet by holding on to the low wall that bordered the pub’s garden. But the pain was too excruciating. As soon as she tried to put any weight on it, her left ankle gave way.

  ‘I think I need some help!’ she managed, in a voice that came out far more faintly than she hoped. The pain was that intense.

  When they realised what was going on, Evan, Liz, Nurse Van Niekerk, Mrs Coco and Bill were all with her in seconds. Evan and Nurse Van Niekerk lifted Jane so that she was sitting on a bench. Liz went into the pub to fetch a glass of water. Mrs Coco bustled after her in search of ice. Meanwhile Bill watched with concern as Evan set about examining the ankle Jane had twisted.

  Evan gently moved her foot.

  ‘Does this hurt?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Jane squeaked.

  ‘And this?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Evan sat back on his heels. ‘Nurse Van Niekerk, what do you think?’

  ‘It doesn’t look good,’ she agreed. ‘If Grandma Jezza were a dog I’d suggest an anti-inflammatory shot and a splint but obviously …’

  ‘She’s not a dog,’ Liz filled in the gaps.