3 Heads & a Tail (41 page)

“
Y
ou don
'
t look bad for a bloke who just got shot in the leg!
”
said Josie, putting the flowers on the s
ide
.

“
Yeah, hello
mate, you
'
re looking
well,
”
said Ben.
“
H
ow
'
s the leg?
”

David smiled.
“
N
ot
so bad.
The bullet
skimmed
the side
of my thigh
.
Coul
d
have been much
worse – I
could have lost it
! Hey, I
'
m just kidding.
I realise I
'
m damn lucky!
”

“
You were very brave,
”
said Kay, leaning over and giving him a
kiss
.

“
Ah, Kay, as cheeky as ever!
”
he laughed.
“
I
'
m not sure what I was thinking – jumping in front of that bullet like some geezer in an action movie.
”

“
You
'
re the new Bruce Willis!
”
sa
id Kay.
“
And
better looking!
”

“
Hey
, you can
'
t say that – Bruce will
sue you!
”
giggled
Josie
.

“
How did you cope with these two on the way over?
”
David
asked
Ms Hill, who hadn
'
t said a word so far.

“
I
managed
!
”
she replied, and then gave David a
peck on the cheek
.
“
That
'
s a thank you from m
e. We couldn
'
t bring the dogs,
but they say thank you too – if they could talk
,
they would!
”

“
I think Glen would bite my balls off!
”
said David.
“
That dog hates me!
”

“
Only
'
cos you tried to turn him into a gigolo!
”
said Ben.
“
He
just
might have forgiven you now
after saving his life
!
”

“
Hope so.
I
'
m sorry about that. I
missed that dog when he went missing.
”

“
My magazine wants
to
interview
you,
”
said Josie.
“
W
hen you
'
re feeling better
, do you fancy that
? I can even interview
you here if you
'
re still in. It will relieve the boredom,
I guess!
”

“
Yeah, cool,
”
said David.
“
Fame at last! Can
you take
lots of photos?!
”

“
Same old David!
”
laughed Ben.
“
You
'
re probably gonna get bombarded with fan mail.
”

Josie nodded.
“
The
TV
news
and
big papers
have already run stories
'
cos the story went national. Everyone loves those dogs
a
nd you
'
re the hero
!
”

“
We might have to dye them
brown to give them a disguise,
”
said Ben.

“
I
'
ve had a lot of phone calls from dog magazines wanting to do stories on Mimi,
”
said Ms Hill.
“
I think she could be a model now!
”

“
It
'
s funny how the story spread,
”
said Kay.
“
They
'
re the most famous dogs in England!
”

“
Sure are,
”
said David.

“
So, how are you
really feeling?
”
asked Ben.

“
Alright,
”
he replied.
“
I
'
m
sore, but they
'
re blasting me with painkillers and anti
biotics. Like I said, I was really lucky
.
”

“
Phew,
”
s
aid Ben.
“
I
'
m glad
. We couldn
'
t bring the dogs
in here,
so
we bought two stand-ins!
”

With that,
he pulled out
a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded
it. It was a page from the national newspaper. There was a photo
of them all in the forest, with the
headline
:
'
David beats Goliath to save dogs
.
'

David took it and started laughing.
“
Brilliant. Maybe I
'
ll have a new career
... the old one sucked
!
”

“
Yeah
,
DogMan, the
half-canine, half-human
superhero
!
”
joked Ben.

“
Just so
long as I don
'
t have to wear my
underpants over
my jeans!
”

“
We
'
ll pay you for the interview, so that
'
s your start,
”
said Josie.
“
Don
'
t be surprised if you end up doing a TV interview. Ms Hil
l has already been asked, and Ben. P
eople want to see the dogs on TV!
”

“
Sounds fun,
”
said David.
“
Kind of crazy, but
I
'
m up for it.
”

“
I thought you might be!
”
said Ben.

“
I guess we should go now,
”
said Josie.
“
The nurse to
ld us that you
'
ve got to rest
.
”

David sighed.
“
Boring!
”

“
Sorry
,
mate,
”
said Ben.
“
But you
'
ll be up and about, and home soon. We
'
ll set up your stuff in the lounge if you want
,
so you do
n
'
t have to struggle upstairs.
”

“
Apart from
when I need to pee!
”

“
Well, yeah, we
'
re not putting a pot
in there
for that! S
tinky
!
”
said Josie.

“
If you c
an take some of my stuff down that would be great – and
my guitar!
”

“
Will do,
”
said Ben.

“
Hope you don
'
t get too bored
in here
,
”
said Kay, winking
.

“
No way
,
”
said David.
“
I
'
ve got that policewoman coming to visit me today. Do you remember her? She was damn hot and nice with it.
”

“
You old devil,
”
said Ben.
“
Even when you
'
re shot in the leg
,
you pull wome
n. What chance do the rest of us have?
”

“
I guess it
'
s a gift! T
he only one I
'
ve got
!
”

“
Well, if you ever wanna pass it on...
”
said Ben, grinning
.

Josie felt slightly embarrassed and looked at Kay, who had an unreadable expression on her face.
She
decided to fiddle with the flowers
to check they were still fresh. She woul
d ask the nurse to put them in
a vase. Over the past week she ha
d found herself lik
ing Ben more and more.
He was such a kind and warm person. He also l
ooked really
good in that blue T-shirt. Ah, Josie! S
he
mentally
kicked herself.

“
T
ime
'
s up
,
”
said Ms Hill, tapping her watch.

They all
said their goodbyes and turned to go
.

“
I
'
ve got something I need to
tell Ben
– guy talk
,
”
said David.
“
H
e
'
ll catch you up.
”

Josie
nodded
, and the girls left the ward to wait in the car.

“
W
hat
'
s up?
”
asked Ben.

“
Y
ou might
want to kill me when I tell you
,
”
said David,
“
but
I have to.
I
'
ve been thinking a lot
in here
. Funny what a
bullet
in the leg does to
your brain. Thing is,
I told you there was something going on between me and Josie, and it wasn
'
t quite...
”

“
I kne
w
there
was something going on,
”
said Ben.
“
It started that night w
hen we came back from the pub.
”

“
Well, not exactly.
”

Ben
, looking confused,
sat down on the chair.

“
I did like her and I took her for a coffee
o
ne day.
Then I kissed her
. Hey, don
'
t frown like that.
It was just once.
She
'
s a nice girl.
T
hat night after you guys went to the pub I sort of raised the
ante, standing there in just my
jeans –
I know, it was tacky. W
ell,
she was drunk and ended up in my bed...
”