The Secret Dog

by Joe Friedman

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked up at Josh. His eyes were full of disappointment. ‘Is something wrong at school?’

  Josh shook his head.

  His uncle looked at him steadily. ‘Your attendance has been good.’ Josh knew he must have searched for something positive to say. ‘But, your work in English, history and maths are still unsatisfactory. And your expected level of achievement has gone down, rather than up in the most important subjects.’

  Josh knew all this. What he didn’t know, and was waiting to find out, was what his uncle proposed to do about this.

  ‘We’ve talked about this before,’ his uncle began. ‘If you don’t get better grades, you’ll never have any choices in life. I didn’t do well at school and when I was eighteen all I could do was work on my father’s croft.’

  This didn’t seem so bad to Josh. He liked their life, though it was hard work at times.

  ‘You have to improve these grades,’ his uncle continued. ‘Which means you’ll have to spend less time on the commons. Until your grades improve, you’ll need to come home after school and study.’

  Involuntarily, Josh drew in a deep breath. If he wasn’t allowed to go on the commons, he couldn’t complete Reggae’s training. And if he couldn’t complete her training he couldn’t participate in the Gathering and Reggae would have to stay secret another year!

  He absolutely couldn’t let Calum continue in this line of thinking!

  ‘That won’t be necessary,’ Josh said, with a calmness he didn’t feel, ‘Yvonne, the vet’s daughter, has agreed to tutor me in maths and English.’

  Josh’s uncle tilted his head. ‘Yvonne? I’ve heard she’s very clever.’

  ‘She’s the best in my classes,’ Josh agreed.

  Suddenly, Uncle Calum became suspicious. ‘You haven’t mentioned Yvonne before . . .’

  ‘She helped me rescue a bird a while ago,’ Josh replied. He searched frantically through his mind for what he knew about Yvonne’s schedule. ‘She can tutor me after school one day a week, and another I can go to her house before dinner.’

  ‘You’ve already discussed this?’ Calum asked.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Josh lied. Reggae’s future was at stake.

  ‘Won’t we have to pay her?’

  ‘She offered to help. She could see I was having trouble with the Shakespeare play we’re doing.’

  Uncle Calum hesitated. ‘I don’t see how she’ll have time for all this. I often see her out with her father doing his rounds. I’ll have a word with him. I’ll see him next Wednesday at the Forestry Trust meeting. If it’s all right with him, then we’ll see if this is enough to improve your grades. But if it doesn’t, you’ll have to stay in after school. I’ll write to the school to ask for them to give you extra homework.’

  Josh didn’t see that why it was necessary to go that far. But he said, ‘That’s fair. I’m sure it will make a difference.’

  He’d have to ask Yvonne before Wednesday. He was pretty confident she’d agree to tutor him. But even if she did, he wasn’t sure anything could help him at school.

  But at least this bought him enough time to finish Reggae’s training. Which was all that mattered.

  ‘I’ll tidy up,’ Josh said.

  ‘Are you sure? It’s my turn.’

  ‘You read the paper.’

  Josh cleared the table and set to work washing up. His uncle retired to his favourite armchair. Josh scraped the leftovers into a bowl and then added the water from the vegetables and the fat from the lamb steaks. This would make a special treat for Reggae tomorrow morning. This was why he didn’t mind doing more than his share of tidying.

  ‘What’s that?’ Calum’s voice cut into his reverie. He’d come into the kitchen with his empty mug.

  ‘Leftovers.’

  ‘I can see that. Why are you collecting them?’

  Josh hesitated for a moment. A half-truth, he thought.

  ‘It’s for a wounded animal I’ve rescued,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve seen you coming out of the shed at the far end of the field, near the woods. Do you keep them there?’

  Josh’s knees almost gave way. His uncle had noticed him going to the shed. He willed his voice to stay steady. ‘I’ve fitted it out as a field hospital.’

  Calum chuckled and said warmly. ‘A field hospital. I should have guessed.’

  He handed him the mug and returned to the kitchen. Josh tried to get control of his breathing. He’d done the best he could under the circumstances. He didn’t like lying to Calum. But he – and Reggae – were now in greater danger of discovery. Calum could drop by any time to see the animals in the ‘field hospital’. He had to say something. Now.

  ‘Uncle Calum,’ he said hesitantly. ‘I keep a lot of my stuff in the field hospital. Would you mind if I kept it just for me?’

  Josh felt guilty as a hurt look passed across his uncle’s face.

  ‘I guess you’re becoming a “teenager”,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘And you need your own space . . . Okay. The shed’s yours. I wasn’t using it anyway.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Josh said, meaning it.

  Sometimes Calum surprised him

  Chapter 11

  The following Monday Josh led Yvonne up the wooded path which ended near Reggae’s secret kennel. Yvonne had been asking to meet her for some time. It wasn’t exactly that Josh didn’t want her to – he did . . . But he didn’t feel Reggae was ready. At least until last week. That’s when he’d agreed to introduce Yvonne to Reggae. All that was fine. What wasn’t fine was that his mouth seemed to have taken on a life of its own. He just couldn’t seem to stop talking.

  ‘I know she’s really small. But I’ve trained her to do a lot of things. Some things she just figured out by herself. I don’t mean she really figured it out. It happened too fast for that but she just seemed to have an instinct as if she’d read a book about it or been a sheepdog before . . .’

  As he and Yvonne approached Reggae’s shed, he heard himself talking even faster, if that were possible.

  ‘It doesn’t look like much but it’s really comfortable inside and actually the way it looks on the outside helps because it means no one would guess it’s a kennel for a dog.’

  To Josh’s immense relief Yvonne, who had been silent most of the way from the school, interrupted his torrent of words. ‘It’s wonderful! Even better than I imagined.’

  Better than she’d imagined? It was a wreck! How could she have dreamt up a worse wreck?

  Suddenly a terrible thought hit him. What if Yvonne didn’t like Reggae?

  They arrived at the shed’s door. He could hear Reggae scratching.

  ‘I can’t wait to meet her,’ Yvonne said.

  The noise from inside the shed stopped. At first Josh couldn’t understand. Then he realised Reggae must have heard Yvonne’s voice, and had gone into stealth mode.

  ‘It’s okay, girl,’ Josh said, speaking to the closed door. But the shed remained silent. He opened the padlock, then the door. They entered. Where was Reggae? She usually jumped on him as soon as he came in.

  He closed the door behind them. As his eyes got used to the dim light in the shed, he saw a shadow in the dark, wet corner of the part of the shed that leaked. What was she doing there?

  ‘It’s only me,’ Yvonne said, quietly.

  ‘You’re the first person she’s met, apart from me,’ Josh said. ‘I guess I need to make a formal introduction.’

  He was pleased when Yvonne giggled.

  Josh slowly approached Reggae in the corner. Yvonne followed his lead. Josh spoke softly. ‘Good girl. Well done.’ He knelt down and tickled her under her ear. She began to relax.

  ‘This is Yvonne. I brought her to meet you. She’s my friend.’

  Yvonne smiled shyly at Josh.

  Then Reggae got up and walked over to Yvonne. She licked her hand several times. Yvonne gently rubbed the dog’s forehead.

  ‘She likes me!’ Yvonne said.

  ‘She
really does,’ Josh agreed.

  * * *

  ‘Have I told you about our valley?’ he asked, as they walked along the old river. Yvonne shook her head. He continued, ‘I call it the secret valley, because unless you’re on one of the hills that overlook it, you’d never see us training.’

  Reggae tugged on the lead, looking at Josh reproachfully. Josh ignored her. So what if he usually let Reggae go here? He was hardly going to jog along with Yvonne.

  He continued to talk with her. Reggae pulled on the lead again. Josh stopped, stared at her sternly, and said, ‘Heel.’ Then he turned back to Yvonne.

  There was a different group of sheep in the valley today. A larger group, twelve lambs and ewes. A new challenge for Reggae.

  Reggae seemed unusually subdued as he unfastened her lead. Usually she had her eye on the sheep and was itching to go. But instead she kept looking from Josh to Yvonne, and then back again.

  ‘Are you all right?’ asked Josh, suddenly concerned. When had Reggae got so out of sorts?

  After a long glance at Yvonne, Reggae shifted her head to stare at the group of sheep. Josh hoped that meant she was all right.

  ‘Okay,’ he urged. ‘Let’s show Yvonne what we can do. Heel.’

  He walked towards the sheep with Reggae by his side. When he glanced back at Yvonne, Reggae looked towards her too, then back at the sheep uncertainly. Josh stopped. He glanced back again and then looked at Reggae. ‘Away.’

  Reggae looked at Yvonne, then the sheep. She hesitated. Then she started off to his right. Josh circled slowly to his left, then he stopped.

  What was Reggae doing? She hadn’t stopped opposite him. Instead, she was continuing towards him, making a full circle of the sheep. ‘Down,’ Josh yelled. But Reggae didn’t go down. Instead, she ran past him on her way to do another circuit. Blood rushed to Josh’s face. He couldn’t believe Reggae was doing this in front of Yvonne!

  Reggae continued circling the sheep. This time, as she approached Josh, he moved sideways, with his arms outstretched, to block her path. She simply reversed direction and started to go around the other way.

  Josh thought quickly. He could make this work! When she got halfway around the sheep, he moved swiftly to block her path again. Reggae, seeing this, hesitated at the far side of the sheep.

  ‘Down,’ Josh commanded firmly. This time Reggae went flat on the ground, more or less opposite Josh.

  Okay, this wasn’t the way he’d wanted it to look, but at least Reggae was now in position. Now he had to get her to bring the sheep to him.

  He walked backwards, so that Reggae would see she had a job to do. ‘Up,’ he shouted and gestured. Reggae, who now gave Josh her full attention, stood.

  ‘Come by,’ Josh commanded.

  Reggae crouched down low and took a few steps to her left. Josh moved a few steps to the left, and Reggae balanced him by moving to the right. She then crept forward, retreating swiftly to the right to urge a lamb that was starting to stray back into position. Soon, the little flock had been brought to Josh.

  ‘That’ll do,’ Josh said, releasing Reggae.

  Josh waited for her to come around and the two of them rejoined Yvonne.

  ‘That was incredible,’ Yvonne said. ‘And it was only your fourth day working in the open?’

  ‘It was a disaster!’ Josh said. ‘She should know that she stops opposite me. I don’t know what got into her.’

  ‘Lots of young dogs circle the sheep like that,’ Yvonne said.

  ‘That’s the point,’ Josh said. ‘Young dogs do that. Reggae has to act like an old dog. She can’t circle the sheep during the Gathering. They won’t keep us for a second day.’

  ‘She is a young dog,’ Yvonne said. ‘I know you’re in a rush to train her but you mustn’t forget that. What matters is not that she circled but that you figured out a way to make it work for you. And that she responded to you.’

  Josh looked at Yvonne gratefully. Why didn’t his teachers encourage him like she did?

  ‘Do you mind if we do another run?’ Josh asked.

  ‘I could watch Reggae all day,’ Yvonne said.

  * * *

  As they walked along the river bed on the way home, Josh remembered the conversation with his uncle. He had to ask Yvonne about tutoring. Now. Then he spotted two people coming towards them round the bend of the river. It was too late for them to hide Reggae. What could they do?

  ‘Psst,’ he whispered, nodding his head towards the walkers.

  Yvonne glanced up, clocked the walkers and hesitated for a moment. Then she took Reggae’s lead smoothly out of his hand. She pulled Reggae towards her and continued to walk towards the man and woman, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.

  ‘Hi, Mr and Mrs MacLeish,’ she called, when they were near enough to hear her.

  ‘Tush, Yvonne!’ the female walker said. ‘It’s Karen and John . . . What are you doing here?’ The woman looked at Josh, then nodded slightly, as if her question had been answered.

  ‘Josh,’ Yvonne said brightly, ‘I’d like you to meet Mr . . . Karen and John.’

  Josh extended his hand and John shook it warmly.

  ‘The MacLeishes own a croft on the other side of the loch, just near the sea,’ Yvonne explained to Josh.

  Without a break, she turned to the MacLeish’s. ‘How’s your calf?’

  ‘She’s fine now, thanks to you and your father,’ John said

  ‘That girl of yours,’ said Karen to Josh, ‘is a wonder with animals. Her father would be lost without her.’

  Josh glanced at Reggae, who was sitting attentively at Yvonne’s side, just as if she belonged to her. Josh thought he should explain to Mrs MacLeish that Yvonne wasn’t ‘his girl’, but before he could get a word out, Yvonne was saying:

  ‘Josh is good with animals too. He was helping me work with one of my father’s dogs.’

  Karen smiled. Then she really looked at Josh, as if trying to place him.

  ‘I’m Calum McCrae’s nephew,’ Josh filled in.

  ‘We’ve got to be going,’ Yvonne urged Josh. ‘Come on, Spike.’ Reggae hesitated for a moment, then stood.

  ‘Remember us to your father,’ John said. ‘Tell him we hope we won’t be needing to see him soon,’ he laughed.

  Yvonne pulled Reggae along behind her as the couple headed off.

  ‘That was quick thinking,’ Josh whispered. ‘You should be an actress!’

  Yvonne laughed. ‘It was lucky Reggae played along . . .’

  Josh remembered what he’d been about to do before the MacLeishes came along. ‘Yvonne,’ he began. Yvonne looked at him warily.

  ‘Usually sentences that begin with my name end with me being told off.’ she said.

  ‘That’s not it!’ Josh snapped.

  Involuntarily, Yvonne stepped back from him.

  Josh took a deep breath. ‘Sorry. I’m not good at this. Asking for help . . .’

  Yvonne’s face relaxed. ‘You’re not going to tell me off?’

  ‘Why would I do that?’ Josh said. ‘No one’s ever been nicer to me!’

  ‘Then why . . .’ Yvonne asked, confused.

  ‘I can’t help it. I’m rubbish with people.’

  ‘Rubbish, yes,’ Yvonne agreed. ‘Helpless, no.’

  ‘I’m trying to help it!’

  Yvonne sighed. They started walking again. After a bit, she spoke. ‘Why don’t you start again?’

  ‘Okay.’ Josh looked at her mischievously. ‘Yvonne . . .’ he started.

  Yvonne started to giggle. ‘By Jove, I think he’s got it!’

  Now Josh was confused. ‘Who’s Jove?’

  Yvonne touched his arm lightly. ‘It’s not important. It’s a line from one of my mum’s favourite movies.’

  Josh decided to let this go. He took a deep breath. ‘I need help in English, history and maths.’

  ‘I offered to help with English before.’

  ‘I was too stubborn then.’

  ‘Now?’
<
br />   ‘My uncle says if I don’t improve my grades I can’t go on the commons after school.’

  Yvonne looked at him, concerned. ‘You couldn’t finish Reggae’s training.’

  Josh nodded. ‘Could we do two lessons a week?’

  ‘That’s a lot.’

  ‘The thing is, I’ve already told my uncle you’ve agreed.’

  Yvonne punched him on the arm. Hard. She wagged her finger at him. ‘Josh McCrae.’

  ‘Uh, oh. Trouble on the way,’ Josh said, ducking as if something had been thrown at him.

  Yvonne started to laugh. ‘You know, you’re not as rubbish at people as you think . . .’

  Chapter 12

  One good thing about racing home every lunch hour to see Reggae, Josh thought, as he arrived back at the school library, was that he was in the best shape ever. He didn’t even get winded when he ran back to school.

  He wasn’t out of breath, but he was tired. The night before he’d been up until three trying to figure out why Reggae had misbehaved when he’d been training her with Yvonne. Which really amounted to finding out what Josh had done wrong, as all the training books at the library agreed if your dog had a problem, it was your fault.

  He finally decided that he’d come back to school early and look for a solution on the web. He often spent the last ten minutes of his lunch break at a library computer. He’d discovered the internet was a wonderful source of information about training Border collies. There were websites, videos on YouTube and special forums devoted to showing, explaining and even arguing about the best way to teach a working dog.

  And Yvonne usually showed up before the end of the lunch break so they could walk to their next classes together. Sometimes, she’d even bring a sandwich.

  He googled ‘dogs circling sheep’ and then clicked on a video on the Border Collie Boards forum.

  A harsh voice interrupted his concentration. Josh looked up. It was Kearney and his troll-like sidekick, Angus. Kearney looked at him as if he were a dog that had done a very clever trick. ‘You can work a computer?’ Then he noticed what Josh was watching. ‘Getting a dog are you?’