3 Heads & a Tail (36 page)

“
Great! Thank you so much
.
”

“
It
'
s
because
of the readers, Ben. We
'
ve had lots of letters and phone
calls. People want to know where the dogs are. They want to know more about them. If you could write me some stories
, some funny things about Glen,
all
that sort of thing will help. And
this time
we
'
re putting a big photo of them on the cover. One of the pictures
you
took
at
the park.
”

“
I don
'
t know how to than
k you.
”

“
It
'
s not
hing
,
Ben.
We all want Glen home.
”
S
he hung up.

“
They
'
re putting the story on the cover this week,
”
said Ben to Ms Hill.
“
The readers want to know
what happened to our dogs. T
he woman who saw them... it was in another town. They
'
re ok
ay
.
”
H
e sighed with relief. It
was only a matter
of time before Glen
came home.

Ms Hill wiped her eyes and nodded. She gripped the photo album in her hands.

Later that week, Ben was down at the corner shop
first thing in the morning before
it open
ed
its doors. Sure enough, just like Josie said, Glen and Mimi stared out
from the cover of Nature
'
s Way
. Ben picked it up and flicke
d through. A map showed the dog
s
'
presumed
journey.
The story was four pages long, with a lot of pictures and anecdotes...
and letters. Two pages
alone
were full of letters from readers. Some asked for more information or for details about the dogs. All of them sent their best wishes. Ben smiled. There were a lot of dog lovers out there. When he got home, he
read all of the letters twice.
Then he went off to work
feeling more hopeful
. Life went on
,
after all.

The next day, Josie rang him while he was at work.
“
Ben, have you seen the Daily News?
”

“
No, I don
'
t read that
.
”

“
There
'
s a story on pa
ge five about Glen and Mimi! T
hey picked up the story from the
magazine and our local paper,
”
she trilled.

“
No way! Glen in the news? That
'
s f
antastic!
”

“
I know!
I ju
st know he
'
s coming home
,
”
she said.

“
I feel that too.
”

The next morning, the story
ran
on
TV –
at the end of
the morning
news.
'
Have you seen these dogs? Phone this number
.
'
I
t was no longer a local story – it
had gone national.
The public
wante
d to know where the dogs were and e
veryone wanted to be the one to spot them. Out there somewhere, Glen and Mimi had no idea that they were suddenly the two most famous g
olden Labradors in the country.

At midday, a bus driver rang in to say the dogs had taken a ride on his bus to Bedrin Village. They had been in good health and happy, enjoying the
ride. Ben got the news at 2pm. He p
honed Josie and they met back at the house as quickly as possible. Her editor was going to meet
them in
the village.

“
Where
'
s
Ayla
?
”
asked Josie when she got back to the house with Kay. Ben was waiting with three steaming mugs of coffee. David was in the lounge, pl
aying his guitar. It sent tremo
rs of sound through the wall.

“
She
'
s visiting family, but she sends good luck wishes. Ms Hill will be here soon. We
'
re going to drive to the village in her car.
”

“
That
'
s nice of
Ayla
,
”
smiled Josie, sipping the coffee.
“
Ms Hill must be as excited as
we are
!
”

“
Yeah, she couldn
'
t wait to get off the phone.
”

“
Thanks for making me one,
”
said Kay.
“
So
,
how are things going with
Ayla
?
”

“
Kay!
”
said Josie, astonished.
“
Stop being
so nos
y!
”

“
Well, while we
'
re waiting,
I just wondered,
”
said Kay, pouting.

“
She
'
s fine,
”
said Ben,
“
but we decided to just cool things.
We
'
re still friends though. She
'
s a nice girl.
”

“
What happened?
”
asked Kay, moving a bit closer.

“
Kay!
”
repeated Josie. Her friend was incorrigible.

“
No, it
'
s
fine
,
”
said Ben.
“
She
'
s moving to the States to study, so there wasn
'
t much point starting anything
serious
. Plus she
'
s a bit too young I guess! I
'
m an oldie compare
d
to her.
”

“
I don
'
t t
hink that matters,
”
said Kay,
“
b
ut the moving
to America is
big.
”

“
I
t
'
s good you can be friends,
”
said Josie,
sipping
her coffee.

The doorbell sounded. Josie breathed a silent sigh of relief and
went to open
the door. It was Ms Hill. Josie
had never seen her smiling before.
Her face was as bright as the sunny morning.

“
Hello Josie,
”
she
said, beaming
.
“
What great news we have today!
”

“
Yes
, it
'
s brilliant.
”

“
I
t
'
s all because of
your magazine.
I won
'
t forget that! I have to thank your editor.
”

“
She
'
s meeting u
s at the village,
so you can thank her then.
”

“
Great.
”
Ms Hill
was carrying Mimi
'
s lead and a box of biscuits. They m
ust be
the dog
'
s
favourite,
guessed
Josie.

“
Are we going now?
”
asked David,
walking
into the hallway.

Ben and Kay stepped out of the kitchen.
“
I don
'
t think there
'
s room, David,
”
said
Kay
.

Ben brushed past without looking at him.

David caught the hint.
“
Right,
I
'
ll catch the bus...
I want to help.
”

Ben scowled at him.
“
We don
'
t need your help. You
'
ve done enough damage.
”

Everyone, except David,
jumped into
the car
and drove off.
Despite her excitement,
M
s Hill tried not to speed. No
one
spoke; t
hey were a
ll
lost in
their own thoughts
about how the day would end
.

This
morning is even hotter than yesterday. The sun is so bright that I can
'
t look up
at
it. I
'
m so thirsty. We
'
re heading towards the village shop and the big bowl of water that
'
s always outside. I can
sort of taste it now. C
ool and refreshing.

“
Lovely day,
”
says Mimi, padding along beside me.
“
What
'
s the pla
n
?
”

“
A
long drink of cool water and then
we can explore a bit.
”

“
The village is small,
”
says Mimi.
“
I think we
'
ve explored all of it.
”

She
'
s grinning.
I think she means she has itchy feet
and wants to
travel some more. Mayb
e we can take another bus and head off somewhere
more exciting. With not many shops, this place is a bit difficult for finding food. Luckily
,
the villagers are friendly and the guy in the shop has been feeding us. Ah
,
here we are. The
Holy Grail of water bowls
.
“
Voof.
”

“
Ladies first,
”
I say, stepping aside.

Mimi gives me a goofy look and starts slurping the water. I bet it
'
s cold and
feels
great on the tongue. Funny, today there
are
a lot of people in the shop. From here they can
'
t see me, but I can see
them. D
own the front by the till there are quite a few
gathered, all
talking.

I pad over to the row of newspapers in front of the shop to check the news. I wonder what
'
s going on in the
big wide
world. I used to always look at Ben
'
s paper in the morning when I brought
it to
him. He had no idea I did that. Not that I
can read it, but I look
at the pictures and the mai
n titles. Sometimes I recognise
the odd word. Out here, the newspapers are in glass cases so I
can
'
t
just grab one with my teeth. Ah,
here
'
s
the local paper.
..