©GeraldineBanksFebruary2025
Tedi sat in his chair in the grand living room, all his friends and sisters and brothers were spread across the room in various dog beds and baskets , some near the fire , some underneath tables. They’d all been fed, it had been a Mrs Graham’s leftover day, so they were all very happy, they had been treated to the leftovers from the café and from the staff meals and it had been delicious.
Lettie and Cross had gone out to dinner, they were an item now. The dogs had watched as boring old Cross had been smitten by Lettie, they had spent a lot of time working together and they got on so well that the dogs all knew that it was inevitable that there would be a boring “romance”. The dogs thought it was a very long drawn out process, and apparently Lettie and Cross were now engaged.
Lettie had suggested to Cross that Tedi write his memoirs, so now and then Cross would sit down with Tedi and they would write down all their adventures together. Tedi’s memory was very good , perhaps too good and they had arrived at a point in his story that was difficult for both Tedi and Cross and had stopped for the evening. It had been a relief for Tedi , when Cross told him that he had a “date” with Lettie.
So now Tedi found himself sitting in his chair with those around him he knew he could trust. There was a few missing and that was part of his story too. He couldn’t help but think back to what had happened.
It had all started with Arthur, he had really grown to hate Tedi and blamed him for losing his job with Lettie. But Lettie had decided enough was enough when after numerous warnings Arthur turned up one day drunk. It appeared he’d been spending a lot of time in the local pub and had got in with a bad crowd.
Things had gone from bad to worse for Arthur when he lost his job. He had sold all his camera gear and was a regular in the pub, so regular that he was well known and one night he was approached by a man , who wanted to know all about the “little dog “who lived in the Big House.
Of course , Arthur knew everything that the man needed to know. The layout of the house , Tedi’s routine, where he went during the day , who he went with. Despite Cross trying to make everything as secure as possible Tedi was a free spirit and liked to go out with his friends. Arthur had spent months following him around when he worked for Lettie and it wasn’t long before the stranger had a good idea where Tedi’s favourite places were.
Tedi remembered very clearly the day he was kidnapped , he’d been around to Fred’s and had stayed a while , Fred hadn’t been well and there was talk of getting a new puppy, which had worried Fred. When Tedi left him and was making his way along the high street in the village Tedi noticed the black car pull up beside him. At first he thought nothing of it , but it was when two men jumped out and tried to grab him that he realised something was terribly wrong.
Luckily , he was able to dodge out of their way and ran down the street, the two men chased him and unfortunately Tedi made a wrong turning and ended up in an alleyway which was blocked at one end. He tried to jump over the fence but it was too high and the next thing was he was bundled into a black bag and shoved into the back of a car.
” Got him” said one of the men.
” Careful, Jack, he’s worth a fortune, we’ve got to look after him.”
And so it was Tedi was brought to a secure house somewhere in London, he was left alone in a room , it was cold and he was given his food in a bowl once a day and fresh water every two or three days. The conditions were not very good. He was let out in the garden late at night and early morning , but other than that he didn’t get any fresh air or walks. The people who were in the house didn’t pay any attention to him and Tedi was very much left alone. It was a very sad time for Tedi, because there wasn’t a lot he could do.
Meanwhile back at the Palace, it wasn’t until later on that evening that Cross realised something was seriously wrong. Tedi was nowhere to be seen and none of the other dogs knew where he was. Trinnie was very upset as she worshipped Tedi, but she managed to point to Fred on one of the pictures of the “Big Show” on the wall to signal to Cross that Tedi had said he was going to visit Fred.
Cross rang Fred’s owner immediately who confirmed Tedi had been there, but had left ages ago. Cross drove over to Fred’s house and looked in the immediate area, there was no sign. However, three of the local dogs who lived near Fred came out of their houses , they had seen what happened through their windows, one of them had even managed by barking and making a fuss to get their owner to take the registration of the “suspicious car” they had seen the bad men throw the black bag in the back.
It took some time for Cross to understand what the three dogs were trying to tell him, one of them took him down the alleyway and showed where Tedi had been captured; the little dog did the actions of trying to jump over the fence , so that Cross would understand that Tedi was trying to escape and that something bad had happened to him.
The other two dogs , who both lived in the same house, got Cross to follow them home and once Cross had spoken to their owner, the realisation that Tedi had been kidnapped finally hit home . The two dogs were very excited and calmed down once the owner had passed the details of the Car registration to Cross and also there was an added benefit that the owner had seen the two men and were able to describe them. The two dogs licked the owners hand they were so happy that the owner was able to pass the information on.
The first person Cross rang was Lettie. He couldn’t handle this alone.
thenotsomightyom 