by Megan Rix
As soon as Sky lay down, Henry curled up in his own comfy bed, and soon fell fast asleep with his stomach full and a bowl of water close by in case he felt thirsty during the night.
He woke up a few hours later and whined for Howl. They’d never been apart before. He crawled into Sky’s bed and curled up beside her. Sky licked his ear and soon the sound of the other animals sleeping had soothed Henry back to sleep.
Christmas morning at the Wards’ house started early. As always, Sky woke up first and raced up the stairs, closely followed by Henry. She pushed the door of Michael’s room open and then raced in and jumped on the bed and Henry tried unsuccessfully to jump on after her.
‘Merry Christmas,’ Michael said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He led them both back downstairs and let them out into the garden where Sky supervised Henry.
It was a crisp morning and his parents weren’t awake yet, so as a special treat Michael took Henry and Sky to the larger park around Alexandra Palace for a walk, or in Henry’s case a run. Every now and again Henry would race ahead and then run back to Michael and Sky as if urging them to go faster, and then he’d be off again.
The smell of the horses that had run on the Frying Pan racing track was intoxicating to Henry and he was unable to resist tasting the manure left by the horses that trained there. Fortunately Sky was less tempted and barked at Henry to tell him to stop.
‘Henry, no!’ Michael shouted.
Henry looked up, stopped for a second and then snuffled up as much as he could before Michael reached him. ‘You bad dog!’ Michael said, but he was also laughing. Henry was such a little greedy-guts!
‘Come on,’ he said and Henry gambolled along after him. ‘And no licking me,’ Michael warned him. Henry wagged his tail as they left.
Heggerty was still in her own bed when they came back in, snoring contentedly. Once she’d been an early riser, but now she preferred to stay in bed until she could smell her breakfast. But the other animals wanted theirs straight away so Michael started filling their bowls.
‘Merry Christmas,’ he said to the parrot, opening its cage door so it could fly around while he changed its water.
‘Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,’ the parrot squawked and flew over on to the curtain rail and then perched on top of the lampshade.
One of the cats watched him with interest, but the Wards made sure the parrot was never left alone with them when he was out of his cage. The parrot’s sharp beak could probably give a cat’s claws a run for their money – but not ten cats’ claws!
They never let the guinea pigs out of their cages unless they were safely in their run outside. They would have been too much for the cats, and probably now Henry, to resist.
‘This place is turning into our own family zoo,’ Mr Ward said later. But Michael shook his head.
‘I’m sure the animals in the zoo aren’t as spoilt as the ones living here!’
Heggerty gave Michael’s turkey sandwich a meaningful stare.
‘Go on then,’ he said, giving her the crust, which she wolfed down in a gulp before looking up hopefully for more.
Fortunately everyone who popped round was too busy wishing each other merry Christmas to ask many questions about where the new puppy came from. There were so many strays wandering the streets, they just assumed Henry was another one. But Michael couldn’t wait to introduce Henry to Ellie and Amy.
Down in the Underground station Daniel went to find some food for Howl in the pig bins. He took care not to be seen, although most of the staff were too busy eating their makeshift Christmas lunch to pay him much attention.
‘That’ll do him good,’ Daniel muttered as he took some leftover porridge and scrambled eggs. The food hadn’t been there long and shouldn’t be too rich for the pup in his present condition.
The smell of the food made Howl’s sensitive nose twitch when Daniel returned. It was the smell that he associated with his mother − not the rats he had lived on more recently, but the food he’d shared with his brother as a young pup.
‘Slow down there, Soldier,’ said Daniel as Howl gulped the food. He broke the bread into smaller bits and fed them to him slowly, then gave him some water to drink. Howl tried to stagger to his feet, but he wasn’t strong enough yet and he whimpered in pain and lay back down again.
‘Rest now,’ Daniel said as he stroked him. ‘Rest and recover.’
The sound of Daniel’s voice soothed him and Howl was soon fast asleep again.
As it was Christmas Day, Daniel decided Soldier needed a present, but the only thing he had to give him was Misty’s collar with the NARPAC ID tag on it. He laid it beside Howl for when he woke up later.
The puppy’s sleep was marked by twitching and cries. Daniel stroked him to try and soothe him. He wondered if he were having a nightmare about the fight he looked like he’d been in. Did dogs dream? He’d never thought about it before. But this one certainly seemed to be doing so.
Daniel dreamt too, try as he might not to, and it was always the same dream. The soldiers were packed together on-board the boat like sardines, but no one complained. All they wanted was to get home. Despite being hungry and having had no sleep for days, plus being soaked by the rough sea spray, they were in fine spirits as they saw the huge white cliffs of Dover in the distance, and a cheer went up.
They were almost home. They were safe.
Then the plane had come and the boat had been hit and he’d never forgotten the screams of the men as the boat caught fire and some of them were thrown overboard and some jumped into the waves as the boat sank.
It was five hours before he’d been rescued and he was one of very few who’d survived. Later, in hospital, when he was half-delirious, he heard the term ‘shell shock’ for the first time. The doctors told him he didn’t have to fight any more, that he was released from service because of his condition. Still scared and confused, Daniel didn’t know what this really meant.
After he’d left the hospital, he’d decided to give Fletcher’s photograph back to Mary and tell her in person what had happened to him.
He knew that she might not even be aware that he’d died. Not everyone had come home yet. Some of the soldiers in France had been taken prisoner, others had been shot, and then there were those who’d stayed behind to stop the German panzers from reaching the beach. Soldiers who would never see home again, but would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of men.
He’d travelled up from the coast to London to give Mary the news.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said as he handed the photograph back to her.
What he hadn’t anticipated was her anger.
‘Why couldn’t you have died instead?’ she’d shouted at him. ‘Why couldn’t it have been you?’
Her words had stayed with Daniel, haunting him ever since. After that, he didn’t know what to do or where to go. He thought everyone would be angry with him, like Mary had been. So, eventually, he had found the perfect hiding place in the station, and that was where he had been living ever since, too scared to face anyone.
Chapter 15
Every morning and evening, and sometimes in between, Daniel checked on Howl’s bite wounds and cleaned them as best he could. Fortunately the salt that had been delivered to melt the ice on the station steps was stored close to the pig bins, and he mixed that with water to bathe the wounds. For a while it looked like one of the bites, the deepest, was infected, but Daniel’s continued attention and the salt water helped it to heal.
The first time Howl wagged his tail was the first time Daniel smiled in a long, long time. It had been so long that it felt strange to his face as the unused muscles were put back to use. Durin
g the weeks it took for Howl to heal, Daniel smiled a lot more and grew to love the dog. As for Howl, he adored Daniel.
Daniel’s fear of leaving the station had gradually grown during the months he’d been there until it had become all-consuming. Now even the idea of setting foot outside left him shaking with fear. But he also knew it had to be done for Howl’s sake. It was cruel for a dog to live its life inside.
Howl had been so brave and Daniel felt ashamed and guilty that he hadn’t been there to protect him when he’d needed him. He should have come out earlier to see what was happening. But the barking and panic of the feral dogs and the shouting of the NARPAC men had made him hide away. He hadn’t thought about the pups and how they might need him. All he’d thought about was his own fear.
As Daniel stroked Howl, he knew that more than anything he wanted to take the pup to the park and share his joy as his paws touched grass for the first time.
But for that to happen Daniel would need to get over his fear of going outside. In the early hours of the morning, when he was sure there was no one about to see him, he began to try.
The first time he attempted to step outside, past the pig bins to the cobblestoned area at the back of the station, he found his legs refused to move. He felt sick and shaky, but, with steely determination, he’d grabbed his right leg between his hands and forced it forward.
The next night he did the same thing, only once he’d forced his right leg to move he grabbed his left leg between his hands and forced that leg forward too. He’d barely taken a step, but a cold sweat ran down his forehead, neck and back. As he gritted his teeth and forced his leg forward, he fell and lay on the ground, staring up at the night sky. He’d come further than the two or three steps he’d intended, thanks to the fall. There was still a long way to go.
But, as Howl gradually grew stronger, Daniel’s night walks grew longer and, by the time Howl was fit enough to go for his first walk outside, so was Daniel.
He clipped Misty’s collar round Howl’s neck and tied a length of string through the loop.
‘In case of cars, Little Soldier. You don’t want to get hit by a car; that’d be very painful indeed,’ he told the dog.
Howl was used to being able to go where he wanted and had never had a lead put on him before. He tried to bite at it.
‘No, Soldier.’
And scratch at it.
‘Leave it be.’
Howl didn’t like his new lead much; it didn’t let him go where he wanted to go. But he did like Daniel, very much.
It was so early in the morning that it was still quite dark as they emerged from the back of the station into Hardy Passage. The air outside felt and smelt very different to what Howl was used to, and every lamp post he passed had myriad dog scents on it, so strong that it was almost overwhelming and he had to stop and sniff while Daniel urged him onwards.
‘Come on, Soldier, we’re going somewhere I think you’ll like,’ he said as they went through what was left of the gates of Lordship Rec. Most of the wrought iron had now been removed, ready to be melted down and used for the war effort.
Howl had never smelt grass before and this grass was frosty with dew.
‘There you go,’ Daniel said, untying the string.
At first, Howl didn’t leave Daniel’s side, scared of the unfamiliar new world they’d entered.
‘Go on, Soldier,’ Daniel urged him.
Still Howl stayed close. Until he saw a squirrel. The bushy tail was too much for him to resist and he went chasing after it and sat at the bottom of the tree and whined when the squirrel raced up into the safety of its branches.
‘That’s what squirrels are like,’ Daniel told him. ‘Tricky!’
Daniel moved on and Howl trotted along behind him, glancing back every now and again at the tree where the squirrel had gone. Then he spotted another squirrel on the grass in the distance and raced after it. He got closer and closer as Daniel held his breath. Then came to a sudden halt. Howl sat down as the squirrel ran up the trunk of a tree and disappeared into the branches.
Howl looked up at the squirrel, threw back his head and howled with disappointment. Daniel smiled when he saw the pup up to his old tricks again.
Under the tree, hidden in the grass close to the trunk, Daniel saw a ball and picked it up. It reminded him of the time he’d found a ball of string and how much fun the two pups, and the cat, had had with it.
‘Here, fetch,’ said Daniel, and he threw the ball and Howl raced after it. Almost as much fun to chase as a squirrel and balls didn’t run up trees!
He brought the ball back to Daniel in his mouth and Daniel threw it and Howl got to chase after it again. Howl would have happily played the game all day long, but Daniel was aware of the time ticking past.
‘We’d better head back, Soldier,’ he said at last.
People were walking through the park now and the working day was beginning. It was time for them to go back to not being seen, back to being hidden inside the Underground station.
Daniel didn’t want to meet or speak to anyone. He wasn’t just ashamed of being alive when braver soldiers, ones with families and people who needed them, had died. He also felt ashamed of being invalided out of the army. Although he knew the effect of shell shock was all too real, there were still those who thought of it as the coward’s way out.
He pushed the string through the hoop of Howl’s collar.
‘This way, Soldier.’
Howl looked behind him as they went through the gates and Daniel knew he’d really have liked to stay longer.
‘We’ll be back tomorrow,’ he said.
Daniel was as good as his word and the next day they went back to the park, where Howl found another ball, by the rose garden this time, and Daniel threw it for him.
As the days passed, part of the fun of going to the park for Howl was looking for balls that had been lost. For Daniel, who’d once been so terrified to go out, their early-morning walks were now the highlight of his day.
He’d helped to heal Howl’s physical wounds, but in return Howl was helping to heal his mental scars. As each day passed, Daniel grew a little more confident and dared to hope that one day he might return to living a normal life, with Howl by his side. Maybe he’d even be able to help in the war again.
‘Find it,’ Daniel would say, and Howl would search through bushes and hedges and long grass, his tail wagging constantly, until he found a ball – or something else interesting.
‘A mitten?’ Daniel said, laughing, when Howl presented him with a muddy mitten instead of a ball. ‘That’s not for throwing.’
Howl dived back into the bush and came out with a broken umbrella instead.
‘And that’s not for throwing either!’
Whenever Howl did find a ball, Daniel always threw it for him and Howl loved to race after it while Daniel watched him run. Howl was very fast.
Daniel hadn’t really thought about how Howl would react to his first view of the lake. Of course the pup had never seen a vast expanse of water before. Water was scarce down on the Underground and the most he’d probably seen before was in a bucket.
The first time they went near the lake Howl didn’t even seem to notice it. The second time he looked at it, but stayed close to Daniel. The third time they went Howl spent a long time watching the ducks on the lake with his head cocked to one side. But the fourth time Howl raced to the side of the water with Daniel’s voice ringing in his ears: ‘Soldier, come back!’
And then he raced right in. It was the first time he had ever felt water on his fur and the shock of its cold wetness almost stopped him, but only for a second.
‘Soldier, h
ere boy, here!’ Daniel called from the side of the lake, but Howl didn’t return. He was having too much fun!
As the water grew deeper, the ducks got closer and, as the water became too deep for him to stand in, Howl’s legs started to paddle and he was swimming.
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief as he watched him. He knew dogs were instinctively supposed to be able to swim, but he’d still been worried for Soldier as he raced into that water.
Howl paddled towards a duck and the duck quickly swam off in the opposite direction. He swam towards another duck only to have it quack at him and fly away.
Daniel watched the dog almost enviously. He never wanted to go in the sea again, but the water in the lake looked so inviting. The next moment he’d thrown off his outer clothes and was wading into the water. He gasped at the icy coldness of it. But it was nothing compared to the hours he’d spent waiting to be rescued in the English Channel off Dover.
Howl doggy-paddled over to him and they swam out to the ornamental island in the centre of the lake together. As they crawled on to the bank, Howl shook himself vigorously beside Daniel.
‘Watch where you’re shaking that water, Soldier,’ Daniel shouted as he got splashed.
Howl just wagged his tail and Daniel laughed. Then Daniel remembered that people would be walking through the park soon, taking short cuts to work.
‘Time we were heading home, Soldier,’ he said after they’d rested a little. They swam back to the edge of the lake and climbed out, once again disturbing the ducks, which quacked and squawked as they waddled and swam away at the sight of them. Daniel rubbed himself dry as best he could with his clothes while Howl shook himself vigorously again and then rolled over and over in the grass. It was a lot easier for dogs.
Howl raced over to Daniel, wagging his tail as if to say, ‘That was fun, wasn’t it?’ Daniel laughed, something he seemed to be doing a lot more often since he and Howl had become friends.