Dog Gone

by Carole Poustie

  The last item to go in was Grandpa’s fishing rod, which had been Brody’s suggestion. Because if it was magic, it could come in handy. The rod clicked down to just the right size to fit. As I zipped the bag closed, it felt like Grandpa was coming with me.

  The bus left Mount Selview at eight-thirty, from a stop opposite the cemetery. I had an hour to do a final check and get there.

  Chapter 27

  I froze. I’d forgotten the back gate creaked. Noises seemed so much louder at night.

  I ducked behind the fence, expecting someone to come and investigate any minute. When no one did, I sprinted past the peppercorn tree and down the lane as fast as I could. Old Arnott’s curtains were closed, and there was a light on in her living room. I’d be safe enough climbing over her back fence tonight.

  I tossed my bag over first and had my foot on the railing of the fence when I heard a noise behind me. I flattened myself against the fence and stood still. My eyes searched the darkness for movement, but all I could see was the outline of Nelly Arnott’s house and the black blobs of shrubs in her garden. The only sound I could hear was my own breathing.

  I waited a few minutes before it felt safe to have another go at the fence. It couldn’t have been old Arnott – I would have heard her come out the back door. I climbed to the top and scrambled over.

  I put my backpack on and started towards the cemetery. Then I heard another sound behind me – a soft thud – like someone else had jumped down off the fence. Someone was following me.

  I darted into the cemetery and hid behind a tombstone. I hunched myself up, balancing on the balls of my feet, straining to peer into the night, listening anxiously for whoever was out there to make another sound. It was freezing – I had trouble keeping my jaw clamped shut so my teeth didn’t chatter.

  I’d walked through the cemetery – run actually – heaps of times, but always in the daytime or just before dawn. The cemetery at night was altogether different. It was out-of-this-world creepy.

  Mist swirled over the tombstones like the whole place was a gigantic science laboratory where secret formulas bubbled and boiled into the night. Headstones stood in lines, like concrete books from an enchanted library. The ghost gums, which stood around the fence line guarding the underground bones, wheezed and coughed their night smell into the thin winter air. A vase on a nearby grave held one white rose. It was the only thing of softness in the cemetery.

  I was starting to get the creeps – big time. Was Grandpa going to make another appearance? Half of me wanted him to, and the other half was scared stiff. Was it really his ghost in the well? How many other ghosts might be lurking around? And who was following me?

  I was worried the bus would come and I’d miss it. My leg started to cramp. I stood up slowly, feeling exposed, even though the night was as black as my footy socks after a big match. Whoever was following me was hiding out there somewhere.

  I fingered the outline of Grandpa’s fishing rod in my bag, trying to decide whether to make a run for the bus stop or stay where I was. If the fishing rod was magic, maybe it would protect me. I thought about getting it out, but unzipping the bag would make too much noise.

  I decided to make a run for the bus stop. If whoever was following me was planning a murder, hopefully they’d think twice about committing it under a streetlight.

  I charged out from behind the tombstone, tripped on a tree root that had pushed up through the path, and found myself flying through the air instead. I landed on my chest, in a mangled heap beside a vase of dead flowers. My lungs felt like deflated balloons.

  ‘Ish! Are you all right?’ Molly’s voice came out of the darkness.

  It gave me such a fright, my lungs hurt even more, as I gasped. I couldn’t draw breath to speak, and I wasn’t sure if I’d broken anything. Molly had totally taken me by surprise. I heard her footsteps coming down the path.

  ‘I knew it. You were going to the bus stop, weren’t you? You’re going to Sydney, to find Dad.’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I finally managed.

  ‘You’ve been acting suspiciously all night.’

  ‘How would you know? You’ve been on the phone all night.’

  Molly was kneeling next to me now. ‘I heard you talking to someone in your room when I went to the toilet. You were talking about the Sydney bus.’

  ‘I’m not going –’

  ‘And you never go to bed early. Even if you’re dying.’ She was helping me sit up and was brushing dirt out of my hair. ‘You’re crazy to go to Sydney on your own.’

  ‘I’m not!’

  ‘You are crazy. Ish – Sydney’s massive – you’ll get lost.’

  ‘Molly, listen to me! I’m not going to Sydney. But I have to get to the bus stop or I’ll miss the bus!’

  ‘You’re not making any sense.’ Molly had helped me to my feet and was holding my backpack. ‘What bus?’

  ‘I’ve found Lucky. At least I’m fairly sure it’s Lucky. Molly, he’s in danger. There’s no time to explain now. I’m catching the Sydney bus, but I’m getting off at the first stop.’

  There was the sound of an engine before headlights swept around the corner, lighting up the first row of graves. The bus slowed down and pulled into the stop.

  ‘Molly I have to do this!’ I yanked my backpack out of her hand and took off.

  ‘Ish, wait! I’m coming with you!’

  The bus was crowded, so we sat down the back. As we drove through the outskirts of Mount Selview and onto the highway, I wondered if we would find Lucky at Vinny’s farm. I couldn’t begin to imagine what I’d do if he wasn’t there.

  I told Molly about Brody sneaking into my room. Then I told her about Brody’s Uncle Vinny. I shuddered. Now that I was on the bus, getting closer to the farm, the reality of it struck me. Maybe it was better Molly had come, after all. This could be more dangerous than I thought.

  ‘Dad should be helping to find Lucky. It’s so unfair he puts his job before his family. He’s so selfish.’ Molly spat the words out.

  ‘He didn’t even offer to come back and look for Lucky,’ I added.

  ‘I don’t know how Mum put up with him for so long. She’s better off without him.’ Molly shook her head and pushed her hair behind her ears like she always did when she was annoyed.

  ‘I wonder how Mum is?’

  ‘I can’t believe she fell off a camel! If anyone was going to do that, I’d have expected it to be Sylvia. In a way it serves her right, though. For going off and leaving us, just like Dad.’

  ‘It’s not the same, Mol,’ I said. ‘She only went on a holiday.’

  ‘Yeah, but she could’ve taken us.’

  I looked at my watch. ‘We should be at the first stop soon. It won’t take us long to walk to Vinny’s from there.’

  Chapter 28

  We crouched down behind a bush, panting, and talking in bursts as we caught our breath.

  ‘That was a stupid idea to run all the way from the bus stop,’ puffed Molly. ‘As if a couple of minutes is going to make a difference.’

  ‘It might, Molly, you don’t know. Come on, let’s go.’

  It was a relief to see ‘V. Wingott’ in peeling black letters on an old milk urn at the bottom of his overgrown driveway; we knew we had the right place. The house was set back from the road, behind bushes and trees, on a big block.

  We crept up the driveway as quietly as we could. Not too close, just enough to see his house more clearly. There was a light on in almost every room. Obviously, Vinny wasn’t fussed about his electricity bill.

  ‘Where do you think he’s got Lucky?’ I wheezed. I was so puffed, it hurt to breathe.

  ‘Doesn’t sound the type to keep a dog inside,’ panted Molly.

  ‘Maybe we’d better try to see in through the windows first.’ I suggested. ‘It’d be good to know where Vinny is.’

  ‘Yeah, good idea.’

  All the curtains were open and no outside lights were on. Between us and the house was an old run-d
own carport. A ute was parked half in and half out. Good! He had driven home. Beside the carport was an equally run-down tractor shed, overflowing with what looked like junk – hard to tell on this dark night. The moon was tucked well away behind gloomy clouds. Up behind the house was another building – probably a shed.

  Just to the right of the tractor shed, partly hidden by overhanging trees was something I’d seen before. ‘Molly! It’s the truck! Look, the one that nearly ran Lucky over.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right! So it was Vinny!’

  ‘Come on,’ I urged, ‘Lucky’s got to be here somewhere.’

  Molly and I dashed silently to the side of the house and crouched down under a window. This appeared to be the only room without a light on.

  Molly whispered, ‘I can hear a television in one of the rooms along the front, can you?

  I nodded. ‘He’s probably in there.’

  Molly started to make her way down to the next room, keeping low. I followed, peering into the darkness of the yard, hoping Vinny wasn’t going to jump out from behind a bush.

  The sound of the television got louder as we approached the window, then a lot louder, as if it had just been turned up. ‘Look, there he is!’ said Molly, not bothering to whisper. ‘He’s standing right inside but I can’t see Lucky anywhere in the room.’

  Brody’s Uncle Vinny was enormous. He looked like a bear. He must have been over two metres tall and his enormous belly bulged from the sides of his overalls that were filthy and ripped. He stood next to the television and was getting something down from a shelf. I could see his hair was dirty and he probably hadn’t washed for weeks. After a minute, he walked over to a worn-out recliner chair and flopped down in it, facing the television, his back to the window.

  ‘Wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night,’ said Molly.

  ‘Ha, ha. Very funny Let’s hope we don’t,’ I said. ‘Where do you think Lucky is?’

  ‘Dunno. Better check all the rooms first, then we’ll look around outside. You sure Vinny lives by himself?’

  ‘That’s what Brody said.’

  ‘Okay, let’s go.’

  The lights made our job easy.

  ‘Doesn’t seem to be inside,’ said Molly, after we’d checked all the rooms.

  ‘He could still be in the laundry or hallway or the room with the light off,’ I said. My heart raced. What if Lucky wasn’t here at all? What if Vinny had killed him?

  ‘I think we’d better check that shed out the back. He could be in there,’ said Molly.

  We were walking along the front of the house, when suddenly the sound from the television died and the light flicked off. We dived under a window and froze. Lights flicked off in the other rooms.

  ‘Drat! Why couldn’t he have watched TV for a bit longer?’ whispered Molly.

  We waited several minutes before making our way up behind the house, which was in darkness now. It was hard to see where we were going. The building was concrete and looked like it could have been an old milking shed. There were a couple of bales of hay just outside the door, which was closed.

  My heart pounded even faster. Was Lucky in there? Molly turned around to say something to me, then suddenly lurched sideways. She’d tripped over something on the ground and cried out in pain as she landed heavily on her elbow.

  As soon as Molly cried out, a dog started barking from in the direction of the shed.

  Lucky!

  ‘Molly, it’s him, it’s Lucky!’

  ‘I know,’ Molly hissed at me, ‘but I think my elbow’s broken.’

  ‘Molly – look!’

  An outside light came on at the back of the house, spotlighting Molly and me.

  The back door flew open and Vinny appeared, wearing his pyjamas. ‘Shut up! Or I’ll come out and break your bloody neck!’

  I closed my eyes, waiting for Vinny to storm over. Molly was silent beside me. I could just hear little huffs of breath and nothing else. Then the door banged and, even through my closed eyes, I could tell the light was off.

  I opened my eyes cautiously. Vinny was gone.

  ‘Molly, are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?’

  ‘I’m okay. My arm hurts a bit, that’s all. Where do you think he’s gone?’

  ‘Don’t know. Do you think he saw us?’

  ‘Don’t know either. I just know I want to get out of here. That guy’s creepy. We need to distract him somehow, while we get Lucky.’

  I could see Molly now, standing in front of me, holding her elbow.

  ‘Maybe I should text Brody,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, maybe we’d better ring for help.’

  ‘No. I’ve got a better idea. Let’s ring Vinny. I put his number in Brody’s phone, you know, just in case. You talk to him – pretend you’re someone else – keep him on the phone while I get Lucky. Then we’ll make a run for it.’

  ‘Brilliant, Ish. I’ll be one of those call centres.’

  We scurried away from the house and hid among a clump of trees in the yard. Molly dialled Vinny’s number.

  It rang for ages – we could hear it ringing inside the house. For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to answer. When he finally did, I made a run for the shed. Lucky started to bark again. I hoped Molly was able to keep Vinny talking.

  I opened the door, but Lucky didn’t come flying out to greet me. There were some more barks. I shone the torch around and saw that he was tied up at the back, behind some hay bales. It really was Lucky.

  I rushed up and hugged him hard. ‘Shhhhh, Lucky – it’s me. I’ve come to get you, boy. It’s okay.’

  His tail wagged so much, it sent clouds of hay dust up into the air.

  I sneezed and dropped the torch on the hard concrete floor. The light went out and wouldn’t come on again. Darn!

  I reached for Lucky’s rope and bumped up against something heavy. Whatever it was toppled over with a loud crash, sending Lucky into another barking frenzy.

  Seconds later the lights came on again outside, lighting up the inside of the shed as well. I tugged at Lucky’s rope just as a shadow moved across the room.

  Lucky began to growl and I turned around to see Vinny standing in the doorway. He was massive, even bigger than he’d looked through the window. And he was dead ugly. He grinned at me, but his eyes looked wild and scary. A thread of saliva fell from a gap between his teeth, as though he was drooling – the bear getting ready to eat his prey.

  Lucky growled more fiercely.

  ‘Shut up, mutt,’ spat Vinny. He took a step towards us. ‘Wanna see what I do to trespassers, buddy?’

  I looked around desperately, but there was nowhere to hide and no escape.

  Vinny stood in front of the only door.

  I spotted a pitchfork leaning up against the wall, between the wheelbarrow and the ride-on mower. Vinny must have read my thoughts because we both dived for it at the same time.

  But I was too fast for him. By the time he’d taken another step forward, and made a lunge at the handle, I’d already grabbed it and had the prongs pointing towards him.

  Lucky went berserk, barking and growling at the same time.

  Vinny swung around, wrapped his gigantic hand around the prongs, and yanked the pitchfork away from me. So much for my weapon.

  He lifted it above his head, like an axe. He brought it down, but I dived out of the way just in time. The sound of the metal prongs crashing onto the concrete floor made me feel sick. That could’ve been me.

  He was still in front of the door. He raised the fork again, laughing. I saw another trickle of saliva run down his chin. I backed away from him but there was nowhere to go.

  He swung again. I jumped aside, landing near a metal rake. It toppled over, just as Vinny took a step back, and straight onto the rake’s handle.

  He teetered backwards, just managing to save himself from falling. The pitchfork clattered to the ground at his feet.

  I sprang forward and snatched it! I jabbed the pitchfork in the air towards Vinny and tri
ed to yank Lucky’s rope free with my other hand.

  ‘You little – you little – I’ll kill you!’ Vinny grabbed one of the handles of the wheelbarrow and swung it through the air as if he was Superman.

  The barrow landed next to me. Its wheel caught my right arm and jerked the pitchfork out my grip. I felt pain shoot all the way up to my shoulder, but had to ignore it while I frantically tried to undo Lucky’s rope. It was no good, he was pulling so hard on it, I couldn’t get it loose.

  Vinny stomped towards me and picked up the pitchfork. I yanked Lucky back towards me, to slacken the rope. There was some give in the knot and I clawed at it desperately.

  Vinny made crazy gurgling sounds as he pointed the pitchfork in my direction.

  Just as my fingers felt like they were turning to rubber, the knot came undone and the rope slipped free.

  Lucky dived at Vinny’s fat ankle and clamped his teeth around it.

  I ran towards the door and screamed for Lucky to follow, but he wouldn’t let go of Vinny’s leg.

  Vinny lifted the pitchfork above his head.

  ‘Nooooooo!’

  Chapter 29

  Vinny froze. He looked as if he was playing musical statues and the music had stopped. Standing with the pitchfork ready to slice into Lucky’s neck, you would’ve thought he’d suddenly turned into stone. He was goggling at something behind me.

  Lucky let go of Vinny’s leg but kept growling.

  Molly was standing in the doorway, trying to control the fishing rod. It was thrashing around wildly in her hands. Curling out from the end of it, like a genie from a lamp, was the ghost.

  The pitchfork dropped from Vinny’s hand and clanked uselessly to the floor next to Lucky, just missing him. Molly screamed as Vinny pushed past her and ran towards the house. The back door banged.

  Molly stood frozen to the spot, gaping at the ghost, which had lit her face up with a spooky green light. ‘What the –?’

  Lucky barked and suddenly broke the spell. The ghost disappeared.

  ‘Run, Molly! Run!’ I yelled.