3 Heads & a Tail (30 page)

Next is the tricky bit, but it should be soon; a
lways
around the same
time
on a
Sunday
night
. Just need to wait, keep
my voofing cool and
stay hidden. That
'
s it. Good. Don
'
t pant
too hard. That
'
s it. I
'
m holding back the panting. I hear footsteps
. They
'
re coming up the path, up the steps, up to the front door.
.. oompf... try not to pant. T
ail
, stop wagging on the floor!

Voo
mph...
the
front door
is
op
ening... away we go... whoo
s
h
!
I
'
m sprinting for the door as fast as I can go, my ears
flapping, my tongue lapping.
I can see David i
s surprised... he
'
s wobbling
and his guitar case smashes up the door
. O
ops
,
I banged into his legs... hey, asshole, move
it
! Flop! I think
I almost knocked him over. His hand flies out and he
'
s trying to grab my collar. My ears flap past him.
See ya!

Oom
p
h,
I
'
m slipping, I
'
m sliding, but I
'
m steadying...
and now I
'
m running.
I
'
m bounding
down the steps.
I can hear David shouting. I hope Ben doesn
'
t hear because he
'
d be sprinting down the street after me, but I know David won
'
t run. I
'
m not his dog and he
'
s too lazy. I
'
m running down the pavement as fast as my paw
s can carry me, my
ears
blowing in the breeze. But it
'
s warm out here, s
till mid-summer.

I
t
'
s a nice, cool run. I can
'
t hear David any more. He
'
s probably gone into the house. But as Ben isn
'
t talking to him, I wonder what
'
s going to happen. Ben might be like a volcano erupting. Wish I could see that, but I
'
ve got to keep
on running. I can
'
t stop. I
'
m c
rossing the road,
going
round the corner, on and on. S
hould I take a s
hortcut straight across the park? No
pe
, it
'
s too dark and
there are
dodgy fellows in there at night-time. I
'
ll take the longer route. Glen, don
'
t be a chicken! Time is of the essence here!

Right
,
“
voof
”
, I
'
m skidding round and charging back the other
way, and into the park. I
'
m r
acing past dodgy man number one – he
'
s sitting on the g
rass singing. Keep on running. On and on, p
ast dodgy man number two. He
'
s sitting on a ben
ch, waving a beer can at me,
cursing
and calling me Charlie
. I keep on running, p
ast dodgy man number three. He
'
s staggering around with his trousers around his ankles sing
ing. Not sure what he
'
s doing. He must be hot and just
airing his bits. Keep on running
Glen, but maybe
go a bit
faster.
And I
'
m sprinting p
ast dodgy man numb
er four.
Luckily
, he
'
s just asleep. You
'
re s
noring a bit
,
mate.

T
hen
I
'
m out of th
e park and
running acro
ss the road, down the pavement. I take a
few turns,
followed by
a few more, and I
'
m there. I can see the house. I can almost smell the roses.
But
now I have to be quiet. I bow my head and sneak along the corner of the street. I daren
'
t go up the pathway t
o the front door, so I
'
m heading round the back where I
'
ve gotta
jump the fence. W
hoa! T
hat
'
s higher than I remember. Who
osh
,
bump
,
and I
'
m over. Voof. Can
'
t bark, can
'
t bark.
I must be quiet.
Just think the voof.

And now I wait
behind this
big bush.
I can hear something but
I
'
m
not sure what it
is.
Something
is moving in the house, but the lights are off so I can
'
t make anything out
.
I slink my body close to th
e ground and move closer to
the back door. I can s
ee the outline of a shadow
. It
'
s her! The door handle
moves
down and the door slowly opens. A pink nose is the first thing I see. My ears perk up and I can feel my tail gaining a life of its own. I try to stop it going too fast. Suddenly
,
her amazingly bright
brown eyes are in front on me and s
he
'
s
panting
.

“
I think we better go
,
”
she whispers, her ears perking
up. I know she
'
s never done anything
this crazy in her life and she
'
s
relying on me to
guide
her.

I nod
,
and slink slowly and quiet
ly
out of the back g
arden, hiding behind the bushes
. She follows. I don
'
t look
back,
but I can hear her breathing
behind me
. We wander out
in
to
th
e street and for the first time
we
'
re actually alone. It feels wil
d and
unsafe, but
good
.

“
Ready?
”
I ask her,
certain that
she
'
s scared out of her wits.

S
he looks at me quite calmly and just nods.

“
I know this is scary,
”
I say.
“
I
'
m scared too, but let
'
s just go and see what happe
ns. We
'
re wearing collars so no
one will think we are strays.
”

“
Okay, but l
et
'
s go before she wakes up!
”
says Mimi.

I nod
. We
cross the road and
turn
the corner. Then I start running and she follows. Luckily, we
'
re under the cover of night
because we must
be a strange sight. It
'
s not
often that you see two golden R
etrievers runn
ing
on
the pavement on their own
. You might see one with a grumpy owner in hot pursuit, but that
'
s about it.

Voof! I want to bark wit
h happiness, but I just think it
. I haven
'
t thought about Ben, but now I do. I knock it out of my head. Don
'
t want to spoil the feeling of freedom
in which
I
'
m basking. We charg
e down the street, cross roads and
speed round corners, our ears flopping in the breeze and our tails wagging
like there
'
s no tomorrow
.
I wish there wasn
'
t
one
. I wish there was only tonight and
that it went on forever, and no
one would find us. But I k
now we
'
ll be found eventually – if not tonight then
maybe tom
orrow, but definitely some time
.

“
I think it
'
s the next corner,
”
sighs Mimi, a bit breathless.

She
'
s
right. We race into the park. Luckily, the guy with the trousers round his ankles has wandered off. I hope
he didn
'
t trip on the way.

“
Where to now?
”
she asks.

We
'
re standing under a huge willow tree beside the lake. The leaves are so long that i
t forms a giant, organic tent. It almost smells green
.

“
I
'
m not sure,
”
I say. I sit down and Mimi
echoes
me. I know she
'
s relying on me to make the decisions. She thinks I
'
m streetwise and I guess I am a bit, but I
'
ve always had Ben to look after me. This time he can
'
t help
me
.

Mimi whines softly.

“
Don
'
t worry,
”
I say.
“
Let
'
s think of the options. Go
ing back to your house is not one
. I
'
d like to
go to my house. Ben is so nice. He
would
want to
help us, but he also likes to do the right thing,
so that
'
s not an option.
We could stay here in the park, but we
'
re bound to
be
found. Ben will search
the park first as it
'
s my favourite place
. Or we can just class
this
as an
adventure and see where we go.
”

“
H
ow will we live?
”
asks
Mimi, lifting h
er head off her paws. She looks
up at
me with those big brown eyes
. I
have
to make sure no harm
comes
to her.

“
Well, I
'
m thinking we
'
ll
be
found
at some point. It
'
s bound to happen, b
ut in the meantime we can just be together. We can eat whatever we find, dri
nk water from wherever, travel and
be free.
Together.
”

“
I
'
m not sure...
”

“
You want to
be free
, don
'
t you?
”