34. Puppies
Chapter 34
Puppies
‘ I f the boys haven’t come this way and they’re not sledging up the hill, maybe they’ve gone down towards the farm. I hope they’re not playing on Peter’s meadows,’ Matt said.
‘More likely some made-up Swallows and Amazons adventure. Most people have to worry about their kids playing on computers and copying violent video games. Ours get into mischief pretending to be kids from a book that’s about a hundred years old,’ Amy said.
‘At least if they were back at the cottage playing on Goat Gunge 2 , we’d know where they were, and they were safe,’ Matt agreed.
‘We’ll find them.’ She held out a hand, and he took it, as they started off on the path back down the valley.
‘Let’s go back to the cottage. Diane should be awake by now; she can stay there in case they come back. Perhaps they went down to the old campsite? The snow would be fresher there, as it’s getting thin around the cottage.’
‘That’s probably it,’ Amy said.
It was easier going back down the track than it had been when they climbed up to the tarn. Amy hoped they’d hear the boys’ voices on the air, but everything was quiet except for the odd bleating sheep. They went back in through the kitchen door. The cottage was silent too; no sign of Diane and her bedroom door was still firmly shut.
‘I think I’d better go and wake her up,’ said Matt, and Amy nodded, glad Matt hadn’t asked her to do it. She waited downstairs while he knocked on her bedroom door. There was no answer. Matt knocked again and waited again.
Amy picked up the note they’d left on the table and turned it over as she crossed the room to put it in the bin. It wasn’t the note from yesterday after all, it was a new one they’d missed in the panic when they left the house. It was on the same paper and written with the same pen, but this time the note read:
Good morning, Matt and Amy. As you were both fast asleep and the boys were not , I have taken them down to the farm. Peter Thompson came past on the quad bike early this morning and mentioned the puppies had arrived overnight and Oliver and Harry were keen to see them. He asked if one of us might go and sit with his mother while he was out tending to his flock. I thought I would offer myself as I do have some experience of dealing with the affairs of a deceased person. We will be back in time for lunch, if not before. Yours, Diane.
‘She’s not here,’ Matt shouted down from her bedroom.
‘There’s a note here. The puppies have come so she’s taken the boys to the farm to see them,’ Amy shouted back up. ‘And she’s keeping Mrs Thompson company.’
‘Of course, the puppies. Why didn’t we think of that before?’ He came down the stairs and into the kitchen. She held out the note to him and he scanned it quickly. ‘ Thank God for that,’ he said. ‘But how on earth did we both sleep through the boys getting up, Peter Thompson on a quad bike, and Diane taking them out of the house?’
‘I’ve no idea. We must have been really exhausted. Let’s go down to the farm and find them.’
‘You want to see the puppies don’t you?’ he teased.
‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘But I really want to make sure Mrs Thompson’s all right. She might want someone to talk to. That’s more important than puppies.’
‘You’re right. I wonder there’s anything I can do. Chop some wood, or … I dunno. Something.’
‘You’re lovely.’ She risked a quick kiss now there was no-one in the house but them. ‘Who needs a kissing bunch?’
‘Let’s get down to the farm.’
When they knocked on the farmhouse door, there was an excited scuffle and Oliver opened it.
‘Where have you been ? The puppies have arrived!’
‘We went looking for you two. We thought you’d gone up to the tarn.’ Matt said.
‘Up to the tarn? Why would we do that?’
‘We thought you might’ve wanted to skate on it.’
‘Skate on it?’ Oliver repeated. ‘We wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be safe!’
‘You’re right. It wouldn’t, would it?’ Amy grinned at Matt.
Inside the farmhouse kitchen, Harry sat beside a large crate next to the stove, where Jess the sheepdog was safely tucked up, guarding five tiny squirming black-and-white puppies.
‘There are five of them. There were six but one didn’t make it,’ Harry was quick to tell his mam and Matt. Diane and Mrs Thompson sat at the table with mugs of tea.
The Christmas decorations had been removed. They stood to one side, unwanted now. The old Christmas tree from the parlour had been packed away in a long cardboard box which featured a happy family in flares and striped sweaters, and the ceiling garlands were piled beside the sink. Without its festive trimmings, the kitchen seemed empty and worn, much like Mrs Thompson, who sat at the table and looked at the puppies, though her eyes were unfocused.
‘How are you?’ Amy inquired.
‘I’m as well as I might be. Eh, I don’t quite know what to do with myself,’ she said, her eyes on the puppies and her thoughts elsewhere altogether.
‘It was good of you to let the boys come and see the pups,’ Matt said.
‘They were so keen, and you’re not here much longer, are you?’
‘We’ll leave tomorrow. Got to get back for James and Laurie’s wedding on Saturday, haven’t we, Harry?’ said Amy.
‘Oh, the stupid wedding. If I wasn’t going to the wedding, could we stay another few days and play with the puppies?’
‘There’ll be another family coming to stay in our cottage for New Year. At least the puppies arrived before we had to leave, so you got to see them.’
‘They won’t be big enough to play with for a few weeks yet. Got to stay with their mam for a wee while,’ said Mrs Thompson. ‘You’ll have to come back in the spring and see them when they’re a bit older.’
‘Did you know they don’t know how to poo yet? The mummy dog has to lick their bottoms to make them poo!’ Harry announced gleefully.
‘And they don’t open their eyes for another ten days. That’s why they have to be in the crate, so they’re safe from the other dogs and we don’t stand on them,’ Oliver told them. ‘And they have to be near the stove so they can keep warm. Puppies don’t like getting cold.’
‘You two know a lot about puppies all of a sudden,’ Matt said.
‘Peter told us. He came back, but he’s gone off on the quad bike again with some hay for the ewes up in’t top field.’ Harry sounded like a small version of Peter.
‘It must be hard for him, after yesterday,’ Amy said.
‘Work on a farm never stops. He’s best kept busy; always has been like that, our Peter. Like his dad, he is.’ Mrs Thompson looked out of the window.
‘Is there anything I can help with? I mean, I don’t know anything about farming, but I can drive most things and I’m happy to provide a bit of muscle,’ said Matt.
‘Eh, no, don’t you worry. Peter’ll manage, and Sue Henshaw from Sunnyside has already been on the phone to offer her youngest, Alfie, to help out with the farm while Peter sorts out the … the funeral and all. Alfie’s back from agricultural college for the winter holidays. So, we’ll not be stuck.’
‘I said I wanted to help,’ Harry said. ‘But Peter said I wasn’t old enough. Not yet. When I am, I’m going to have a dog and be a shepherd like Peter. I can, can’t I, mam? Or if not, I’m going to be an explorer and live on a houseboat like in Winter Holiday. Or perhaps both. Explorers can have dogs too.’
‘If that’s what you want to do. It’s a long way off yet. Perhaps you could go to agricultural college like Alfie?’
‘Yeah. You and me could both go, Olly? To cultural college?’
‘I don’t want to look after sheep. I want to be a solicitor like your dad is. Tell people what to do and win things. That’s much better than stupid sheep.’
‘It is not ,’ Harry insisted vehemently. ‘You don’t have a dog if you’re a solicitor.’
‘You could. If you were blind and you were a solicitor you’d have a guide dog.’
‘But you’re not blind and –’
‘All of this is a long way in the future, isn’t it boys? No point in arguing about it now.’ Diane chimed in with confidence, like the queen of her surroundings. Matt and Amy looked at each other.
‘Come on, let’s get back to the puppies. Have you seen their funny big noses?’ Oliver said.
‘Big pink noses!’
‘Come and see, Dad.’ Oliver pulled Matt over to the cage to see the puppies, leaving the three women sitting together at the table.