Gail said looking at Doreen. ‘Can you help Simon mind Ben while I nip to the High Street and see if any of our missing men are there?’
Simon raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t need help, love, and surely it’s best if I go?’
Gail shook her head. ‘I’d rather you stayed here if that’s all right. He’s my dad, I feel responsible, as long as you and Mum don’t mind?’
Doreen nodded, her face lined with worry. ‘’Course, love, thanks. Keep your phone on you, won’t you? Then I can let you know if Jenny has any news or if they turn up.’
‘OK,’ she agreed. ‘Let me just nip to the loo and I’ll be off.’
As Gail went inside, I thought about what I could do. Perhaps the best thing would be to send out an alert on the dog telegraph appealing for help over Hugo’s disappearance. The dog telegraph was a brilliant way of communicating with dogs all over the country, if not the world, and most of us were happy to while away an evening exchanging news with loved ones.
Glancing around the garden, I looked for a suitable spot. Finding a large cherry tree in full bloom at the end I made my way over there and got ready to bark for all I was worth and sound the alert.
Only I had scarcely made one woof, when a sudden shout from Jenny made me jump.
‘Cooeee,’ she called at the top of her lungs. ‘Look who I found.’
Turning to look at my favourite little girl, wearing a smile a mile wide, joy washed over me. Because there, bold as brass, looking for all the world as if they had just been for a stroll in the park was Eric, walking side by side with Hugo. The two of them looked as if they were deep in conversation, never once giving a thought to us and how their disappearing acts had driven us around the bend with worry.
At the sight of them, Gail, Doreen and I flew at them, and wrapped our arms and paws around their necks.
‘Where have you been?’ I demanded, reluctantly breaking away from my son.
Hugo was just about to answer, when Eric beat us to it.
‘I only popped to the High Street. I told you that’s where I was going, love,’ he said to a worried Doreen.
‘Mum says you didn’t,’ Gail suggested gently, looking at her father with tenderness in her eyes.
A look of anger flashed across Eric’s features for just a moment. ‘Well, I did say. Your mother’s got selective deafness.’
‘Come on now, Eric, the girls are just worried about you, that’s all,’ Simon cautioned, holding Ben tightly against him.
Eric sighed in frustration and ran his hands through what was left of his hair. ‘There was no need. I told you where I was going, and this one just fancied a walk, didn’t you, boy?’
‘Yes! Walk!’ Hugo yapped happily, nuzzling his body against Eric’s legs.
Doreen looked at the pair of them, ready to say something, before clearly changing her mind. ‘Well, the good news is you’re here now.’ She smiled and turned to me and my son. ‘And little Hugo’s safe as well.’
I barked happily as Doreen, Gail, Jenny, Ben and Simon went inside. Hugo went to follow, but I stood in front of him blocking his path.
‘Not so fast,’ I barked quietly. ‘Are you all right, boy?’
Hugo nodded. ‘I just wanted to help, Dad. You said I needed to grow up. I thought rescuing Eric would make me a grown-up.’
‘It does,’ I yelped tenderly, rubbing my nose against Hugo’s. ‘But you can’t just go off like that. Didn’t you listen to a bark I had to say yesterday?’
Hugo looked contrite.
‘Anything could have happened, and your mother would have made mincemeat of me,’ I woofed, more gently now.
‘Sorry, Daddy,’ he replied softly.
I looked at Hugo and saw he did appear to be genuinely sorry he had caused us some worry and I didn’t want to punish him further. ‘Still it took a lot of guts to do what you did, Hugo. I’m proud of you.’
At the praise, Hugo beamed. It was true, I was proud of my boy. For once I felt he had been listening to the message I had been drumming into him. Humans first, dogs second.
‘So was it like Eric said?’ I asked gingerly. ‘Did you find him in the High Street buying stuff for the garden?’
Hugo thought for a moment before answering. ‘Yes. But he wasn’t in a shop, he was just wandering about muttering something about the ever-changing face of Barnstaple.’
‘That sounds strange,’ I replied.
‘It was a bit scary, Daddy,’ Hugo admitted. ‘Don’t you remember I told you yesterday he seemed to have trouble remembering where he lived? Well today, Eric kept saying the same thing over and over. I know you had told us that Barnstaple was where they used to live and I tried to bark at him to tell him that he lived in London, but he didn’t understand.’
I shook my head. I couldn’t remember Hugo telling me a thing about Eric’s forgetfulness but then it wasn’t surprising, I’d had a lot on my mind.
‘So then what did you do?’ I asked, returning my focus to my son.
‘Luckily he recognised me straightaway,’ Hugo continued. ‘And when I whined at him to follow me home, it was clear he didn’t know what I was trying to bark, but he did it anyway.’
I nodded. This was good news, but it still didn’t explain why Eric thought Perivale’s high street was Barnstaple’s.
I had no answers, but just for the moment I didn’t need any. Everything I needed was right in front of me. Feeling a rush of love, I wrapped my paws around Hugo’s neck once more and clung to him. There weren’t enough barks in the world to tell him how proud I was of him for looking out for his family, but one thing was for sure, I didn’t intend to let him out of my sight ever again.
*
I woke to a sharp citrus tang of what smelled suspiciously like oven cleaner and coughed, the noxious smell overpowering me. Opening my eyes, to my surprise, Jenny was standing with her head inside the oven and appeared to be furiously scrubbing the inside.
‘What are you doing?’ I whined, getting out of my basket and shaking the sleep from my eyes.
Jenny pulled her head from the oven, looked at me and smiled. ‘Shhh, Percy! Don’t wake everyone. I wanted to surprise Mum.’
At the sight of Jenny in her mother’s apron and her rubber gloves, I felt a rush of love for the youngster. She was always helpful, even when she had been poorly, and now, sensing Gail needed an extra pair of hands, she had risen to the challenge.
Padding across to the little girl I loved so much, I rubbed my head against her shins causing her to smile and bend down. As she nudged my forehead with her nose, just as she always had, a small part of me wished I could time travel back to the times when it was just me and Jenny in the kitchen
