Chapter 8
‘Yes, Dad, it needs rewiring. I’ve got it covered.’ Molly shifted the phone to her other ear and wedged it into her shoulder. ‘He’s fussing,’ she mouthed at Jet, who was watching her solemnly as she swished the warm water around in the bathtub.
She hoped her shampoo would do in lieu of having any proper canine stuff. It was supposed to make her hair extra shiny, although she hadn’t noticed any difference, but surely it couldn’t do any harm to use it on the pooch just this once. She was too tired to go shopping for canine shampoo right now, and too dirty from all the DIY she had done today. Besides, it was too late to pay a visit to the pet shop. But the takeaways would still be open though, so she’d have a quick shower after the dog had his bath, then she would nip out and fetch some supper. Jet had a tin of succulent duck and vegetables which she would feed him while she ate her sweet and sour chicken with rice.
‘Are you still there?’ her dad asked.
‘Sorry, I was running a bath.’
‘Mind you don’t try to do too much in one go,’ he advised. ‘You can take your time. It’s not as though you’re in a hurry to move in.’
Too late, Molly thought guiltily. She had already moved in. She hadn’t told her mum and dad yet because she knew they would be dismayed to see the condition of the house. But with the boards off the windows downstairs, she didn’t want to leave the cottage unattended overnight, especially after seeing the kids hanging around the bandstand last night and her run-in with those teenagers this morning. She doubted they meant any real harm (they were just being kids) but she couldn’t help feeling unsettled.
‘Are you and Mum having a good time?’ Molly asked, eager to change the subject.
‘We’re having a great time,’ her dad confirmed. ‘We’re about to go down to dinner, so I thought I’d give you a ring while your mother is making herself beautiful. Not that she isn’t already beautiful,’ he added hastily, and Molly heard her mum say, ‘Flatterer’, and she smiled.
She was glad they were enjoying themselves. They had stressful jobs, and they deserved some time off. It would be soon enough to tell them she’d moved out and was living in squalor when they came back. There was no point in worrying them now. Anyway, they wouldn’t be home until the weekend, and that was four whole days away. She could achieve a lot in that time.
The electrician was coming back on Thursday to rewire the place (she couldn’t believe her luck that they were able to do it so quickly, but they’d had a cancelation apparently) so at least the electrics would be safe, and Molly had arranged for a plasterer to come on Monday to skim the ceilings and walls. She estimated it would probably take him at least a week to complete the whole house, but when it was done the improvement would be incredible. Whilst he was doing that, she planned on sanding the floorboards upstairs and preparing the skirting boards and doorframes for a new coat of paint. At some point she would need to replace the bathroom suite (it was a weird peach colour) and install a proper shower, and she still needed new kitchen cupboards, but that could wait for a while.
After wishing her parents bon appétit, Molly put her mobile carefully out of reach and called the dog to her.
Jet slunk into the bathroom, his tail between his legs, practically crawling across the floor, and he whined apprehensively as she splashed the water, trying to persuade him it wasn’t as bad as it looked. His dark brown eyes gazed up at her pleadingly, and she almost relented, fleetingly wondering whether she should change her mind about his bath after all. But as he had nowhere of his own to sleep and she didn’t like the idea of him flopping down on the bare floorboards upstairs, she fully intended to let him lie on the bottom of her bed. But if she was going to do that, she’d want him smelling considerably sweeter than he did now. Hopefully her coconut and vanilla shampoo should do the trick.
Tomorrow she would pay a visit to the pet shop and buy him a bed of his own, plus a collar and a leash, and some toys to play with. She would also buy him some treats, too, in the hope she could train him, although he did seem remarkably well behaved for a stray, and she couldn’t help wondering what his story was and what had happened to him. She didn’t know an awful lot about dogs, but from the way he behaved she didn’t think he had been badly treated, although he was rather nervous of strangers.
She had been delighted when he had let her know there was someone approaching the cottage earlier, and it had been a revelation when she realised how safe and secure the dog made her feel. He would soon inform her if there was anyone untoward around, and it was that which had given her the idea of adopting him. He seemed happy enough with her and he seemed to trust her and, provided he didn’t run off the first chance he got, she would assume she was now his new owner.
Jet stood placidly in the bath (she’d had to lift him into it and he was heavier than he looked), his tail tucked between his legs, ears down and head hanging as he gazed up at her with accusing eyes.
‘It’s for your own good,’ she told him. ‘You don’t want to sleep on a hard floor tonight, do you? Besides, I think you like cuddles, and I’d much prefer cuddling a sweet-smelling pooch than a stinky one. I’ll get you dried off, then I’ll have a quick shower and go in search of supper,’ she promised. Now that the electricity had been switched on, she vowed to cook herself a proper meal tomorrow, but for this evening a takeaway would have to do.
He also probably needed to go out for a wee too, unless he’d had an accident in the house, which she prayed he hadn’t. She hadn’t noticed any wet patches, but then she hadn’t been looking. With a sigh, she realised it was going to take her a while to get used to having an animal to care for.
With Jet duly bathed and rubbed down with one of the dustsheets, he was most concerned when she stood under the shower. He sat on his haunches a few feet away, looking at her worriedly, and she kept having to reassure him that she was OK and that she didn’t mind getting wet.
When she caught herself holding a full-blown conversation with him, she laughed out loud. What was she doing? Anyone would think the dog could understand her. But from the look in his eyes, she thought perhaps he might.
She quickly dried herself off, changed into clean clothes, and went downstairs. The dog followed her, and she told him to stay as she slipped out through the front door and closed it behind her. She was worried about leaving him on his own in the house, hoping he wouldn’t feel abandoned, but she had no choice. She couldn’t risk taking him with her if she walked into town, because without a collar and lead she wasn’t convinced she would be able to keep him safe. She’d have to rely on him walking quietly by her side, and she wasn’t sure he was able to do that. But neither did she want to have him loose in her car if she drove. So that was something else she needed to get – a harness to keep him secure while she was driving. She debated whether to take the car, but she decided to jog to the Chinese takeaway and jog back, rather than have the hassle of opening and closing the main gates again.
She was breathless when she got back with a bag full of aromatic goodies, but she needn’t have worried. Jet was lying sphinx-like in the hall, his front paws stretched out in front of him, staring at the door with his ears pricked. She had suspected he hadn’t moved, which made her feel quite guilty, but at least she hadn’t been out for long. She would have to have a serious think about what she was going to do with him when she went to work next week, but at least she would be able to nip home on her lunch break to let him out and maybe even take him for a quick walk. And she could even pop in between property visits as well. Anyway, she reasoned, it had to be better than him living rough.
Before she dished up her own meal, she emptied a tin of dog food into Jet’s bowl and broke it up with a fork. As expected, he wolfed it down in a matter of seconds then sat and stared at her.
‘Was that nice?’
He uttered a small whuff.
‘Crumbs, I think you really do understand me,’ she said, but when he whuffed again she realised he wasn’t woofing at what she said, he was barking because he could smell something very nice coming from the bag.
‘Oh, you want some of this, do you? I’m not sure it’ll be any good for you,’ she said. ‘Maybe you could have one of the chicken balls, but only one: I don’t want you being sick.’
She wished she had a table and chairs she could sit at to eat her supper, but she didn’t, so she took the bag, a plate, and a knife and fork up to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the blow-up bed. Fully expecting Jet to try his best to get his nose on her plate, she was pleasantly surprised when he obediently sat and watched her.
However, after a while the watching made her feel guilty, as his gaze latched onto her plate and followed every forkful up to her mouth, then back to her plate again, until she eventually gave in and offered him one of the chicken balls.
It was gone in a trice.
‘I don’t think that touched the sides,’ she admonished. ‘You could at least pretend to chew it and not gulp it down.’ She gave him another, after making sure it wasn’t covered in sauce in case it gave him a bad tummy.
Food eaten, she decided to take a stroll around the park. She thought Jet could do with stretching his legs before bed and not only that, he probably needed to attend to some business.
Feeling nervous in case he ran off, she kept a close eye on him as he dashed over to the nearest tree and lifted his leg, the expression of bliss on his face making her giggle. She must remember to let him out at regular intervals, she remonstrated with herself. The poor thing must have been bursting but hadn’t known how to tell her.
Apprehensively she began walking along the path that took her onto the field, praying he wouldn’t decide to take off, but apart from scampering here and there, sniffing frantically, his whiplash tail wagging from side to side, he didn’t go far. Laughing as he bounded around her in big circles, Molly carried on walking, following the treeline, taking the same route as this morning, and headed towards the meadow and the pond.
But before she got there, she had a change of heart.
What if Jet decided he wanted to go for a swim? She had just got him clean and sweet-smelling – the last thing she wanted was for him to stink of dirty pond and to be covered in mud. She would wait until she had bought him a collar and lead before venturing that way again, so she swerved to the right and carried on across the field, wishing she had a ball for him to chase. She had a feeling he was a ball-chasing kind of dog.
After circumnavigating the field a couple of times it was starting to get quite dark, so she made her way home via the boarded-up cafe and the derelict bandstand. Disappointed to see there was yet more litter scattered along the path and in the grass and the bushes, she kept having to call Jet to her when he showed too much interest in the rubbish lying around. She had bought an extendable litter-picker from the DIY shop this morning, but in all the excitement of today she’d forgotten to bring it out with her, but vowed to try to remember it tomorrow. She would take a rubbish bag with her as well and collect as much as she could, not only to try to make the park look more respectable, but also to prevent Jet from eating something he shouldn’t or cutting himself on a shard of glass or a sharp can.
Tonight, like last night, there was a crowd of youngsters hanging around the bandstand, but this evening Molly didn’t feel anxious. Even though Jet hadn’t shown the slightest hint of aggression (apart from the warning growls at the electrician’s arrival), he made her feel safe and secure, as though he was protecting her, and she noticed with interest how his gait became stiffer as they grew closer to the bandstand, and he didn’t move from her side until they were well clear of it.
When he bounded ahead of her as they reached the edge of her property and scampered up to the front door where he waited for her, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, Molly felt tears prick the back of her eyes.
‘It looks like we’ve both got a new home, doesn’t it?’ she said to the dog, and the tears broke free to trickle down her cheeks at his answering lick.