My little dog had too big a drink of water before he went to bed as he woke up at 3.00am in the morning wanting to be let out.
Dutifully my partner in crime got up and put his jacket over his pyjamas and tried to put the harness and lead on the dog, who never stays still when you are trying to put these things on.
I got up to see them go out and they disappeared out the front door. It was ghostly quiet and there was frost on the ground. The LED street lights gave the street a strange glow and there were some lights on in the house opposite us.
I went into the the kitchen for a glass of water and as I came back out.
I heard the most horrible barking. I knew it was my dog and in the silence of the night it was awful.
I opened up the front curtains, I could see nothing, the barking had stopped and then it started again . I couldn’t see anything.
It stopped again and I thought was it two dogs, did they give each other a fright?
All I could do was wait to see when they got back what had happened.
They were at least ten minutes, which seemed like an eternity, but eventually I heard the click of the back door key.
They were back .
My little dog came running towards me and my partner was laughing.
“What happened ?” I asked him.
“He was in the middle of his wee and a fox ran by him at speed being chased by a cat, the fox nearly ran into him , the fox was inches away.
The fox and the cat disappeared down the alleyway ; but of course muggins here had to do a “pawtrol” and follow them slowly. They had long gone.”
My little dog was all hyped up after his experience and took a while to settle down, but eventually we all went back to bed and settled down in the warmth again.
Simon Paddlebuck was born in 1685 and died in 1762 at the splendid age of 77, he had lived a good and prosperous life, never married but had many relatives and friends who kindly arranged when the time came for him to have a lovely plot in the graveyard of St Bostsophine’s Church in the Parish of Winterstone and there he lay for many years undisturbed.
He had indeed not really lay there all his death, in truth he wondered around a lot. He never lost his zest for life and truthfully Heaven , where everyone actually ended up, was actually quite boring . Sometimes when he was required by the rules, to take a statutory break; for what seemed like an eternity; he went up to Heaven to have his soul MoT’d. This was a necessary part of being part of Heaven, some took longer to pass than others, but everyone passed eventually.
After the break and achieving the required certificate , Simon would return to his usual routine, listening in to everything that was going on around him where he used to live and sleeping at night in his favourite place, his grave.
Simon had been an industrious chap all his life and liked to stay busy , so he was quite happy to go back down and potter around his old town and see what was going on, visit old friends incognito, keep an eye on Council meetings and on a weekly basis watch the various competitive games of darts, cribbage and quoits that were played in the local pubs. He even liked watching television although he got frustrated that he couldn’t change a channel himself.
At night he’d slip into his grave and fall asleep, it was very comfortable and quite quiet, and to him it was warm as he didn’t feel the cold now at all. He also had no concept of darkness as he could see through everything. He would listen to everything around him, it was so much more interesting than boring ol’ Heaven.
It was in the 1970’s that Simon began to notice something rather unpleasant happening in the Church Yard.
People were walking their dogs, lots of them, some of the dogs were allowed to run around and weed and pooed wherever they wanted, some were on lead and the owners would follow them and let them do their business anywhere and although some of them cleared up the mess a lot of the people didn’t.
Unfortunately as dogs are pack creatures, once the pack leader had decided on a spot , all the dogs followed and the dogs had decided on the spot right beside Simon’s headstone.
Simon was not happy, he still had a strong sense of smell and he wasn’t able to sleep at night, not to mention the unsightly look of his grave. He was not going to allow this sacrilege to continue.
At first he’d thought he’d highlight it to the vicar. He decided a bit of telekinesis might help, he had permission to use telekinesis on his Heaven MoT Certificate so he began moving the offending article of poos to the entrance of the Church.
On a Saturday night he would move two or three particularly gross turds onto the pavement close to the door of the Church. Sunday would come and the congregation would be treading carefully up the path. The vicar couldn’t help but notice the waft of dog excrement as he started his sermon.
There was talk among the parishioners of how inconvenient it was and how they hated sitting at Church knowing that their shoe had dog poo on it. No matter how hard they tried to scrape it off on the grass outside before they entered the Church, it always seemed to stick and the smell never seemed to go away.
The Vicar heard the murmurings, but what could he do, he’d put polite notices up, but it was a Country Parish, most people had dogs. One of his parishoners had told him that
“It was perfectly natural and anyway her dog always did it in the bushes, not on the path.”
He had proposed to the Bishop putting a poo bin up in the Church Yard which The Vicar felt this might solve the problem . The Bishop, unfortunately , declined his request saying that it would cost too much money and anyway who would empty it?
So things continued as they were for a while. Simon felt he had no choice but to take things himself in hand the telekenisis had worked a treat, but perhaps he needed to up it a gear and do a little proper ghost work.
He would however, have to make a brief visit up to Heaven and to gain some extra permissions to do some extracurricular activities. He’d have to give his reasons why he needed these “extras” and there would be a lot of paperwork to fill in. Simon though was determined and his plans were becoming more concrete and it didn’t take too long getting the extra permissions to “speak” “appear” ” glow” and “limited poltergeistism”. Armed with his certificate of achievement and a pledge not to bring Heaven into disrepute he hurried back to the Church Yard and was dismayed to find the mess and smell around his headstone. He knew where he had to start.
The worst offending dogs were the ones that roamed around the Church Yard at night by themselves. They were a rough lot and often got into scrapes such as escaping from their gardens and stealing food and bringing it to the Church Yard to have a party. The leader Shane was most disrespectful, Simon hated the sound of Shane cocking his leg on Simon’s Headstone and overtime the Headstone was beginning to turn green.
Simon settled down for a nap, it wasn’t long before the village dogs arrived. They were their usual noisy, messy selves with Shane as their leader showing the worst example of all. Leaving food wrappers and dog excrement everywhere. Simon could stand it no longer.
He shot out of the grave in full glow. The dogs were stunned they couldn’t believe their eyes. Shane the bravest began to bark, but Simon leapt at him and though his hands went through Shane, the movement was enough to make him jump back in horror, he knocked over another smaller dog as he did so, who ended up in a heap .The other dogs looked on in disbelief and began to run away down the path. None of them were brave enough to hang around.
With Shane in front they ran down the path and to the front gate of the Churchyard, it was locked, they ran back , but they had to go by the ghostly figure again , who using his telekinesis began to pelt them with dog poo. They just kept running and didn’t stop until they had all made it home. Shane was shaken and when he got back ,his owner was very puzzled as he was trembling.
” What have you been up to my lad , you look like you’ve seen a ghost and my you stink, have you been rolling in fox poo, you smell terrible. Come on out to the shed and I’ll wash and shampoo you!” Shane was just grateful to get home, so dutifully followed his master out to the shed. Shane never went near the Church Yard by himself again, not even during the daytime with his owner. Shane would shiver and shake when he reached the gates of the Church Yard, so eventually his owner gave up and avoided the Church Yard.
Simon felt he had done a good nights work and after moving all the dog poo to the compost heap at the end of the Church Yard with his telekenisis, he settled down to have a sleep. He was very comfortable and he knew he’d have to wait until Saturday night for the next bit of his plan and it was only Wednesday. He ticked off his calendar and slept soundly.
Simon had just woken up and was ticking Friday off, when he had a sudden thought. The Bishop, maybe needed a bit of persuasion to help the Vicar. Perhaps a good ol’ haunting would do the trick. At 10′ o’clock that night Simon made his way to the Bishop’s Palace and when he arrived he found the Bishop in bed asleep, he set to work.
First he opened the windows, so the cold would wake the Bishop up. Then he started to wail and move things around in the room. The Bishop who was a sound sleeper , began to stir and when he opened his eyes, he saw a figure holding a piece of paper on which was written the following.
” I hereby allocate the necessary funds to provide two poo bins in the Churchyard of St Bostophine’s Church . One bin at the front entrance to the Church path and one at the back gate exit and to ensure that the bins are maintained and emptied on a regular basis. “
“Sign, Sign” Simon wailed and handed the Bishop a pen.
The Bishop signed the paper and then immediately fainted. Simon thought he had done enough and pulled the cord for the Bishop’s butler to come and revive the Bishop who in truth had turned quite pale. With a very rapid telekinesis, Simon tidied the room and closed the windows and disappeared the signed piece of paper in hand. When the butler arrived he found a very pale Bishop shivering in bed. He got him a hot drink and some medicine as he thought he might be coming down with the flu.
Simon posted the piece of paper into the Vicar’s letterbox and headed off for a rest. His plan for Saturday night would keep him busy, and he was sure that would be the end of it, Heaven would be happy if he didn’t need to extend his “extra powers”
The next morning the Vicar looked at the piece of paper that had came through the letter box, he was absolutely delighted and tried to ring the Bishop to thank him, but he was told the Bishop was indisposed and so he left a message.
The Vicar got everything underway with ordering the poo bins and he decided that he would employ a part-time gardener who would be responsible for the maintenance of the Church Yard, well the Bishop hadn’t been very specific with the budget and the old adage give an inch take a mile came into his mind. This would be good news to tell his congregation on Sunday.
Saturday night came and Simon was ready to follow through on the rest of his plan. He had a list of parishioners who were the worst offenders when it came to not picking up after their dogs. Between 7 O’clock and ten O’clock at night , they routinely walked their dogs, sometimes in the Church Yard and sometimes in town. He followed them all.
Each time any dog stopped and the owner didn’t clear up the mess. Simon would appear in front of the owner saying.
“Pick it up! “
If they didn’t have a poo bag , Simon would magically telekenise them one. The dog couldn’t see Simon, and each dog was pleasantly surprised when the owner turned and cleared up the mess as the dogs knew people weren’ t happy with them when they left a mess. This went on all night and amazingly the owners were not frightened out of their wits, because Simon was using his ghostly powers just to look like a normal human being, they didn’t register that he has appeared from nowhere , they didn’t argue as Simon used his special persuasive hypnotism to make them agree.
When Sunday arrived and the Vicar was standing at the door to greet his Parishoners, the Vicar was relieved not to see the usual dog mess. A lot of the Parishioners were talking about meeting a man the previous night who told them very nicely that they needed to clear up after their dogs mess and that actually it was a very good idea. They were doubly pleased when the Vicar told them that the Parish had been given the go ahead to order the poo bins and also employ a part- time Gardener. They all promised to each other to stock up on poo bags.
Simon could relax now, and when he was having a rest in his grave , he could smell the wildflowers again and he was happy. He sent all his paperwork back to Heaven as agreed and hoped he would never need to use his “extra” haunting skills again. Shane’s owner too was happy as Shane paid a lot more attention to him now and Shane didn’t go running off by himself. They had more fun together.
Thank you to Suzanne Leigh and BBC Online News for the Headline
I choose not to continue the media hype, it’s a case currently highlighted and does not need me to further publicize the complainant.
Frankly when the incidents occurred that caused this debacle, the lady concerned was 15 years old, so I cannot see how you can argue that she was capable of making a decision that would mean her Citizenship of the UK would be revoked. So personally I think the Government is trying to defend that which cannot be defended.
However, as the Media (probably the liberal media) has taken hold of this and has made two films about it, with a lot of discussion in newspapers and television about the case. The said young woman now is in a refugee camp in Syria with no nationality as her Bangladeshi parentage does not entitle her to live in Bangladesh either, the Bangladeshi’s have refused her entry to Bangladesh.
She was born in the UK and has up until she left the UK at 15 only ever lived in the UK. Went to school here. So refusing her reentry and encouraging her to go to Bangladesh, stinks of the worst drunken pub rascist saying ” go back to where you came from” to someone who is a second generation Britain , but who is not as white as said rascist.
This was our Government then and it seems our Government now wants to follow through on that line. Which absolutely seems incredible to me and strikes me as desperation for votes from the quiet majority of homespun supremacist’s who crawl out of the woodwork to vote in elections that matter to them. Anything to do with race or the death penalty.
I have no idea what the Security Forces know about this woman and if there are concerns about her motives. The reality is that if she does return to the UK then she should be closely monitored and it must be quite clear to her that if radicalisation is still part of her make up , then that is a criminal offence and will be treated as such. We are not powerless, and we need to be able to deal with that should it occur, using the Criminal Laws of this Country.
What I find unacceptable is the emphasis on her appearance and this hair, makeup and sunglasses idea , it shouldn’t matter what she looks like. She was born in the UK and she is our problem or if the Human Rights Lawyers and Her Media Supporters are right our solution , not anyone else’s.
Yes she may need financial support when she comes back, let’s face it with youth unemployment in the UK as bad as it is , she may have needed that anyway if she stayed. What is everyone so scared of , do we not think we have the resource to deal with her. I actually think if we continue to disown her and leave her in what is the maelstrom of the Middle East that we may turn her completely against any chance of leading a humane life. She was misguided at 15, I’m sure lots of people have made mistakes at 15 , and wouldn’t expect to pay for that mistake for a lifetime. If she has committed international crimes try her, but to continue denying her rights that she was born with , is basically wrong and makes the Government look foolish.
This is an AI generated image which represents the fear of the unknown.
Sad to say we have moved on from mud ridden Santa’s Grottos and overly thin reindeers needing a good worming treatment wandering around waiting to be petted with no hand washing facilities and the risk of e-coli infections ever present.
Ah yes, Commercial Christmas’s answer to making a quick buck has moved on. We now have what could be , if well orchestrated a wonderful show that would make everyone’s eyes light up in the glow of LED’s . Ginormous reindeers filling the sky with red noses , followed by Giant Snowman floating across the stratosphere and a soundtrack bellowing out the story to bring it all together. How wondrous, what could go wrong in a field in Sussex?
Well quite a lot actually, basically a lot of the drones failed to work, so the light display looked like few LED’s randomly moving through the sky; the display was like nothing really ;and so detached from the deep masculine voice generating the obviously digitised soundtrack, as to make no sense at all to the parents , never mind the poor freezing children standing in the mud and wondering why they hadn’t stayed at home and watched “Frozen” on their bedroom television.
Guilt ridden parents headed for the food outlets , only to find that they were vastly over priced and of inferior quality to what they could make at home.
Anyway by that time the children were demonstrating their lack of faith in their parents choices and screaming to go home.
Even the promised visit to Santa at his Grotto was a disappointment. Santa didn’t seem very enthusiastic to be associated with this bunch of amateurs and actually seemed quite curt. The presents he gave out, for the £20 cost of the ticket , were left unopened and given to their mothers to carry. Santa had said it couldn’t be opened until Christmas Day.
Understandably the parents were suspicious and sneakily checked what it was, a £5 bit of cheap plastic in the guise of a tractor, made in China .It would be best thrown out as the paint(probably lead) was peeling off and those bolts were a choking hazard. The parents thought about which rubbish bin it would go in, plastics or metals and if disposing of lead paint was allowed. Perhaps they would have to ring the Council.
The promised Christmas Market had been cancelled and for that the Parents were incredibly grateful, but the children kicked off as they had been given “pennies” to spend by their Grandparents and there was nowhere to spend them and they were never doing this again and what a waste of time it was. The Parents had to agree, but were very hurt when they said that “Johnny and Maggie’s parents had taken them on a trip to Lapland to see the real Santa, ride on a horse and play in the snow”. Thanks Mum and Dad.
And so everyone went home and hoped they could claim a refund for the” Christmas Disaster.” The older children retreated to their bedrooms, and the younger ones did the usual of getting their nappies changed or sitting on their potties and once ready for bed having a story read to them. Tomorrow the baby would have a slight cough which would turn into a full blown cold which would last a week and would make preparing for Christmas relatives “difficult”. The thought of chasing a refund for the “Disaster ” was paling into insignificance.
Such is the expectations and disappointments of Christmas. Still it is the make or break time for “Seasonal Business”, don’t worry it will soon be January.
Namaste and Thank You for reading. 🙏
NB If you haven’t guessed already I use the images generated by AI, and I must admit this one is a little bit scary , but obviously a poorly lit drone show is not yet in AI’s digital memory bank.
Loved this book and really admire the writing, flair and spirit in it.My thoughts are my own.
Poetry is not my passion, so I’ve never read much or studied poets and their output. However, Sylvia describes incidents in a way that captured my interest. She uses the word “ptomaine poisoning” to describe an outbreak of shellfish poisoning which happened to her and ten of the girls on her secondment as an assistant editor to a prestigious New York Magazine. Ptomaine is now an outdated term , but so powerful, I can almost taste the crab.
As “The Bell Jar” is Plath’s only published prose book and is regarded as semi autobiographical, I came to it with a freshness and curiosity, with my ears ready to listen to a story and I was not disappointed.
I found myself fact checking some of the details in the book . Sylvia Plath was indeed a straight A student and I believe had the potential to have been a top academic if she had wanted. The Physics class she took reluctantly and excelled in then used her success to persuade her college that while she would attend Chemistry classes(which she hated) there was no need to sit an exam. Only someone who knew how to play the academic system could have done that so successfully and with such aplomb.
I suppose it was the era that she was born in that defined her view on relationships with the opposite sex. A ” woman’s role” to keep house, have children and worship her husband (the main bread winner) seems like something that she would grow to hate. Perhaps she did or perhaps she didn’t. The scene in the bell jar where the the diamond pin man tries to rape her and she sticks her stiletto heel in his thigh and leaves him to search around in the grounds for the diamond pin that he gave her and then insisted she gave him back was classic sassy woman. Sylvia could give as good as she got when she needed to .
I love the descriptions of her mother, whom with such a talented daughter , verging on genius as a writer had to support her both emotionally and financially taking into account Sylvia’s sensitivities. I appreciate Sylvia’s honesty in describing how her mother made her feel, but my overall impression was that she knew she was loved and also that she had many people around her that cared for her too.
What strikes me as sad, is it was all based on competitive writing, she wanted to win competitions , earn money for short stories from Publishers of Magazines , win , win , win. She could do it to, really she was invincible and curious and had a lot to offer the World. Did she stop winning, or did she stop believing she could win.
I don’t think those times were easy, there was not much money floating about. I love her frankness in saying that her family would run out of financial sympathy for her and she would be moved from expensive private psychiatric hospitals to public facilities where her treatments would be inferior. She wanted to get better before that happened. Which indeed she did,as at the end of the book she does return to college and eventually goes to Europe, the rest is history.
I will return to the Bell Jar again and again, because it’s language, it’s descriptions and it’s story are absolutely fascinating, so much better than J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” which as a coming of age novel left me slightly doubtful of it’s characters. Plath’s writing was heartfelt and visceral and frank. There was nothing phoney about her.
Thanks to BBC Online News for the inspiration from their slightly modified Headline.
Here we are, so close to the 5th of November so this Headline about the danger of handmade fireworks is very poignant. There is however a much bigger picture and that is about caring about the Health and Safety of people in populous countries like India and also the ever present danger of using cheap labour , in this instance Child Labour.
The story is about a young 14 year old boy who has suffered serious eye injuries from a home made, rudimentary device . Unfortunately during the Diwali celebrations the young lad was injured as the device did not go off as expected. He is waiting to hear how much his eyesight has been damaged.
He is worried as his parents depend on the income he brings into the household from his job repairing televisions. The young man sounds a budding electronic engineer, but he no longer goes to school and the Law now in India states that as long as the work is non-hazardous, he can work and does not need to attend school.
I wonder if the Law was the same in the UK , how many 14 year olds would elect to do non-hazardous jobs. Our Health and Safety Laws would definitely say that doing any form of work is potentially hazardous. Some would say it is overkill. I do hope that we never arrive at a position that 14 year olds are allowed to work, no matter what the Law says.
Meanwhile, like any 14 year old he wanted to have some fun and was out and about enjoying Diwali. I hope he recovers and I hope he gets a chance to learn as a young 14 year old should. Sounds as if he could be very good at Electronics.
AI Generated Image of young boy from India repairing Television
Headlines or articles aren’t always read as the writer intended. On this particular ocassion I have used device as it was more appropriate to do so . What I was left thinking about from this headline was just hoping the boy’s eyesight would recover and also that he got a chance to learn. I wasn’t interested in the actual device itself or the descriptions of how to make it or why it was impressive or dangerous. Yes it may be a Social Media Craze, but given the dangers it’s probably better not to disseminate it , again through any Media. No I don’t not need to know the ingredients or how to make it and I hope no silly idiots start throwing them around on the 5th November.
You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for? A young boy, called Rab, many years ago, lived on a croft, that his family worked; way up in a remote mountainous region of Scotland called the Highlands. The family did not have much money and if any of the sheep they farmed were ill or died then they would very often have to do without. Rab worked hard looking after the sheep and in winter,would sleep in the small barn with them to protect them from the cold and the wolves and bears that would eat them given a chance. One night,while laying out some dried moss to sleep on.Rab noticed something shiny underneath the fresh moss that he had recently gathered from outside. Earlier on, while taking in the moss and drying it he had mumbled to himself wishing that his family could have a bit of luck,instead of facing hardship all the time. He dug his hands deeper into the moss and picked up the object.It was a tin lamp. “Not much value in that he thought,it’s a pretty object.My mum might find it of use or we could sell it to one of our neighbours.I wish it was gold.” The Lamp changed into gold,but Rab couldn’t tell the difference,to him it was just a dirty old lamp.He laid it to one side and completed his chores which meant feeding and watering the sheep in the barn. The carrots and turnips that he had for feed,were well passed their best and he felt sorry for the sheep. “Oh if only I had some decent food,not these rotten carrots and turnips”. Rab said to himself. It was then he noticed a bag in the corner of the barn,it was full of corn that the sheep loved.Rab was puzzled,but thought his dad must have bought it at the market for winter feed and forgot to tell him. He supplemented the meagre carrots and turnips with the corn. After,the sheep were fed and watered Rab settled down for the night on his bed of dried moss and slept soundly. Unbeknown to Rab,the lamp contained the Laird of The Lamp,who by now had granted three wishes to the boy and could now escape from the lamp in which he had been trapped by a spirit for being an evil and greedy Laird of his people. The Laird looked down at the boy as he slept and was very grateful to Rab.The Laird had needed to grant three simple wishes to someone who was near the lamp and true of heart and not greedy. Rab had done so and the Laird was free. From that day, Rab’s family had better luck and they began to make their way in the world.They sold the gold lamp and eventually were able to buy their own land and live on it happily for many generations. The family knew of the Laird nearby who had returned weary from battle and had settled in the area. He had been a great help to many people and things had improved since his arrival.He was fair and intelligent and offered good advice with everyday problems No one knew his real story,not even Rab, only the Laird knew what turned him from being a Bad Laird to a Good one.
What do you mean if? Well I have my own little dinosaur I hatched from an egg I found in the garden. It was a large egg and I’ve no idea how it landed there. It was still warm, so I thought it best to keep it warm and put it in the shed wrapped up in a fleecy blanket.
A few months later the egg hatched and here is a picture of Rupert. I’m not sure what type of dinosaur he is but we are both very used to each other. It’s been trial and error looking after him, but so far so good.
Yes, he does eat meat and it tends to be raw from the butcher. I discourage him from hunting, but I have noticed that the cats that used to frequent my garden are no longer there, either through fear, or perhaps Rupert’s natural instincts.
Rupert is not trainable , but he is actually very timid and won’t leave the garden. Which makes my life so much easier, he has his toys and he doesn’t need walked like a dog. It’s a long garden , so he has plenty of room to run around when he takes the notion, he likes to chase the birds but never catches them. His hopping motion is really funny to watch. I don’t think he’d survive by himself.
He’s three years old now, and the neighbours have got used to his occasional roaring. I’ve had advice from the local zoo, who say he really isn’t that dissimilar to a bearded dragon or a gecko, just bigger. I’ve filled in all the necessary forms for DEFRA, who are totally stumped with classifying him , so don’t bother. As far as there concerned if he stays in my garden then that’s fine.
I’ve ignored the media frenzy and despite being offered pot loads of money, I won’t subject Rupert to all that nonsense, he’s a sensitive soul and I just want him to enjoy his garden, his toys and his food.
The one drawback is dinosaur poo. You don’t want to be near a dinosaur with an upset stomach. Cow’s milk does not agree with him and although when he was a baby I fed him on it and he thrived . Now , he still likes the taste of it , and it’s a disaster when he raids the fridge in the house and drinks his fill. Projectile poo covering twenty metres of lawn and you better hope you’re not standing nearby when that happens. The smell is unbelievable.
Otherwise, on the right diet of raw meat and leafy vegetables, he’s fine and in truth his poos are no problem to clear up with a wheelbarrow and spade. Great for the plants as manure.
Anyway so I’m sure I’m not the only one who has hatched a dinosaur egg, maybe one day I’ll find a mate for my Rupert. I hope so.
Namaste and thank you for reading, may your omnipotent being go with you.
Tedi woke up from his dream, the day he arrived safely back at the House after the kidnapping was one of the best days of his life. He lay on his sofa in the drawing room enjoying the moment . Trinnie was beside him and only stirred when she sensed he was about to open his eyes.
Once she knew he was awake, Trinny leapt down from the sofa and went and got a drink from the bowl of water, some of the other dogs stirred and they all decided to go downstairs and see what was going on. Tedi rolled over on the sofa , he would rest a little longer. There was no rush.
Tedi heard a bit of commotion downstairs, the dogs were obviously very excited about something. Probably Mrs Graham had put out some leftovers , or perhaps James had appeared to bring them out for a walk. Tedi rolled over on his back and thought.
“All in good time”.
He stretched his paws and yawned. As he did so , a young boy about sixteen years old appeared at the door and walked towards the sofa. It was Tommy , he was back to visit from boarding school. Tedi immediately jumped down from the sofa and ran over to Tommy. Tommy picked Tedi up and gave him a big hug.
” Hello, my boy, how are you?”
Tedi licked his face. He was very pleased to see Tommy, the school term seemed so long but now they could be together for at least a little while. Tommy put Tedi back down on the floor.
” A bit stiff I see, oh well, a gentle walk will do you good. I need a bit of fresh air.”
Tommy carried Tedi downstairs and put him gently on the floor.
Cross and Lettie appeared, they were married now and had two children, they lived on the Gatehouse at the entrance to the estate. They were both just starting work and were delighted to see Tommy.
Cross , Lettie and Tommy all hugged each other and Tedi was very excited and pleased. Meanwhile James arrived to take some of the other dogs out.
” I’ll take one of the buggies , don’t think Tedi will make it all the way around.” Tommy said to James as he gathered up all the other dogs.
” No, you’re right, I’m just taking this lot for a good run around the fields, catch up later.” James smiled.
Tedi followed Tommy out the door , his days of running around in the fields had long passed and he loved going out in the electric golf buggie with Tommy.
On Tommy’s first day back from school, Tommy and Tedi had the same routine , they would go and visit the place on the estate where Bruno, their friend was buried.
Bruno had lived a year on the estate , he had to have a lot of treatments from the vet during that time, but he was very happy and Tedi had showed him lots of the places that he knew, but even Tedi could see that Bruno had slowed down a lot. Bruno treatments sometimes made him very tired, but he was never grumpy and would always make the effort to go out on their walks.
However as time moved on Tommy realised that Bruno needed help to get around and that is how they started using the Buggie. As Bruno was quite big , they got a special trailer and Tedi and Bruno would sit on it and gaze out at the countryside.
Eventually though they had to say their goodbyes to Bruno, and he was laid to rest in one of Tedi and Bruno’s favourite places, which had a view of the House and the Lake.
Today the buggie without the trailer trundled up a steep incline towards the spot where there was a bench to sit on and a small headstone for Bruno. They had left the driveway and were on the grass. Tedi sat on the seat beside Tommy , it was a bit uncomfortable and he was thrown a lot from side to side , he loved it and he occasionally gazed at Tommy.
” You alright” Tommy would say and Tedi would look up at him with his big puppy dog eyes.
” Not long now”
As soon as they arrived at the top of the hill, Tedi hopped out, he could sense Bruno’s presence and he was excited to be in their special place. Tommy walked over to the bench , which had a little plaque on it .
” Bruno’s Bench”
Tommy sat down and stretched his legs as he was getting quite tall. He gazed at the view, it was magnificent , the sun had nearly risen completely and the lake glistened.
Tedi scurried around and sniffed and licked, while Tommy sat and relaxed.
The estate would be Tommy’s when Tedi passed, a Trust had been set up and Tommy would inherit the Palace and the Estate. Cross knew that he could trust Tommy, especially after what Tommy and Tedi had been through together. The estate would be in good hands. Cross realised that Tommy saw the beauty of what he would inherit, it wasn’t about the land or the money. It was a special place to all of them and Tommy would ensure it was looked after.
Cross held the phone and talked , as Lettie looked on.
“Yes a small boy with four or five dogs, including a small terrier. Where? Where are they now? They escaped? You managed to capture one of the dogs. Look give me your address and we’ll come and meet you at the barn. ” He glanced at Lettie, and signalled that they would go over there in the car together.
The farmer whose barn Tommy and the dogs had taken shelter in had seen the story on the News that morning about the dog who had been kidnapped and escaped from it’s kidnappers and seemed to be making his way home cross country from London with some other dogs and a small boy.
So when he went into his barn to get some rusty old equipment that he was planning to clean up and sell, he was surprised when he heard a dog bark and looked up to see a little boy running towards him holding a rucksack, followed by three other dogs and a small terrier. They ran by the farmer and out the barn door.
The dog that had barked and had warned the others stood his ground as there was no room to get by, so the farmer thought quickly and ran out of the barn and closed the door behind him. The farmer just had time to see a white tail and the head of the little boy disappear around the corner of the stone wall surrounding the farm and run onto the road. The farmer thought about following them in his car ,but he decided it was useless. The feature on the News had said to ring a number if you had any information, so that is what he did.
When Cross and Lettie arrived and talked to the farmer , they were very happy to hear some good news, and they arranged to take the dog that was in the barn. They told the farmer that James would collect him later that day. They also had a look at where the dogs had ran around the stone wall. They could see paw prints and the footprints of a small boy. After following the prints for a short while , they realised that the little group were long gone. Cross found the spot where they had crossed the road and ran into the undergrowth, Cross couldn’t follow, but he checked his GPS on his phone and he reckoned that they were heading in the right direction to get back home. He just hoped they would be safe on their journey.
Tommy, Tedi and Bruno along with the other dogs had kept going until they were well away from the farmer. They were now in fields and countryside and they were making their way through open fields which had crops in them. Tedi was sure of his navigation now and there wasn’t any need to follow roads, the terrain was flatter and easier and there were lots of small brooks and rivers that the dogs could get a drink out of.
Tommy was very tired ,he wasn’t too sure where they were going , but he did his best to keep up and knew if they needed anything that there were built up areas in the distance, which were sure to have shops or petrol stations. As it was after their experience at the barn , for the moment they all wanted to stay clear of anyone. They missed their friend , but what could they do? Tedi thought that if he could get home , then they could search for him then, Bruno agreed. They couldn’t go back now.
They made good progress , they had been travelling by daylight and it was about three o’clock in the afternoon. They had came to a stile and they all crossed over it but they were so tired they decided to rest up, and found a sheltered area under some trees and lay down together. It was a beautiful day and the sun was warm. They all fell soundly asleep.
They were rudely awoken by the sound of dogs barking and the horses and people running from the other side of the field. They watched in amazement at they saw the red coats of the people on the horses and the hounds running in all directions barking , not knowing quite in what direction to go. One lady went to jump a fence and fell out of her saddle with a thump on the ground. This stopped the progress of the hunt somewhat as some of the riders stopped to see if the lady who had fallen was alright, others jumped off their horses to catch the stray horse, who had kept going for a short distance after losing it’s rider but was now standing around not too sure what had happened. It was easy to catch.
Tommy then noticed the fox, it was moving slowly along the edge of the field , obviously looking for somewhere to hide and keeping an eye on the people in the red coats on horses. The hounds had lost the scent and that is why they were confused.
The fox clung to the hedgerow and almost seemed to be crawling on all fours. Bruno thought about distracting the hounds, but Tedi said it would be too dangerous, that the hounds as a pack could be very vicious and they might attack Bruno. Luckily the fox had made it to the other side of the field and was hunkering down in a hedgerow.
Tedi , Bruno and Tommy looked on as they watched the lady who fell off her horse remount and the hunters and their pack began to regroup.
They hoped that the fox would stay where it was and not move and indeed , the hunt changed course and went off in the opposite direction with the hounds braying and running around trying to find another scent.
” Stay where you are little one, you’re safe.” Tommy said out loud, but speaking to himself. The dogs had lost interest in the fox and wanted to go back to sleep.
After the hunt had disappeared, Tommy decided to check out the area where the fox was. It was still light and the dogs were fast asleep. Tommy walked over to the hedgerow and once he had cleared away some undergrowth he saw the fox laying low on the ground, it was injured , there was dried blood on it’s back leg, and it looked in pain. Tommy didn’t want to leave it there , so he gave it some water and the last bit of food that he had left in his rucksack. The fox was very thin, so Tommy decided that it would fit in his rucksack, he would take it to safety and see if he could make it better.
That evening , they set out on what Tedi knew would be the final leg of their journey home. Tedi could almost smell home. It took a few hours and it was dark when they arrived at the outskirts of the estate. Tedi was relieved, but the estate was quite big and it would still take some time to reach the House.
Meanwhile , Cross and Lettie were back a the House awaiting any news. James had picked up the stray dog and had settled it in one of the kennels. All they could do was wait and hopefully hear some good news soon.
thenotsomightyom 