kept contained. How much pain he must have been feeling. How much guilt.
But at the time I loved and respected this wise old Labrador unconditionally. His complete devotion to the cause appeared nothing short of heroic. I would look up at him, follow his ponderous jawline as it pointed skyward, and yearn for his respect.
‘I pity him,’ Henry said, gesturing towards the Springer’s owner. ‘What hope does he have, living with him? He might as well just have a cat. And I need not remind you that that is why the humans are in turmoil. Most no longer have dogs, and the ones that do rarely opt for Labradors.’
I remembered something he had told me on a previous occasion. ‘But I thought that, providing Labradors follow their duty, every Family has a chance. Even the dogless.’
Henry hesitated, stepped backwards into the flowerbed, and cocked his leg. ‘In theory, yes, Prince. That is true. As the Pact says, “Protect one Family, protect all”. But our influence is waning. We cannot ignore the fact that the Springer Uprising has had a very real impact. When every dog followed their duty, almost every Family in England was safe, regardless of the pet they chose. Even those without any pet at all could often be saved, such was our species’ influence on human society. Now though, Families are falling apart everywhere. We must no longer worry too much about the fate of other humans, we must concentrate on those in our immediate care.’
‘But you care about my Family.’
‘That is true, Prince. That is true. But that is because your Family can be saved. You are a Labrador and you understand what that means.’ He looked over at his own master, Mick, who was busy talking to Adam on a park bench. As always, Adam didn’t really seem to be listening to what he was saying, concentrating instead on the massive newly built house which shadowed them.
I didn’t know much about Mick as Henry disclosed little concerning his own mission. Henry was older than me, much older, as old as the park itself. It was his right to remain quiet. You didn’t question your elders, not if you were a Labrador. But I didn’t need to question. The fact was: Mick had Henry. Therefore if Mick had a Family he had a happy one. Henry knew the Pact, its history, and its implications, better than anyone I’d ever met. Furthermore, he was an expert teacher, drawing (I assumed) on his own personal experience. So I didn’t need Henry to tell me everything about Mick. I had faith.
And anyway, I knew some things. I knew Mick used to be in the police force, with Henry by his side, but now was too old. I knew, as Adam had told Kate, that ‘he could talk for England’. I knew that he lived with Henry in one of the small, old houses across the street from the park. I knew, and the wind knew too, that the strands of hair which stretched across the top of his head didn’t really belong there. But that was about it.
I saw a woman once, leaving Henry’s house. A woman with a sad face and even sadder scent. She smelt too unhappy to be part of any Family Henry looked after, but then, I thought, she could have been having a bad day.
Henry continued, still looking over at the park bench: ‘You must, at any time of change, be careful. But you needn’t panic. I know this is the first time you have faced such a situation, but hopefully I have prepared you well. You must stay strong at all times. No matter how bad things become, no matter how many Family arguments there are, or how many times you are completely ignored, never forget that you are in control. That you have the power to make everything all right. Do you understand? Will you be strong?’
‘I do,’ I told him, with fresh confidence. ‘I will.’
‘Oh dear,’ he said, observing Mick and Adam stand up and start to walk over. ‘It looks like we won’t have time for this morning’s lesson – Advanced Wag Control. We will have to save it for tomorrow.’
As they walked over towards us, I noticed that Mick was more animated than usual, and even more eager to carry on talking. I could hear his voice: ‘I tell you, these youngsters you get nowadays, they don’t even know they’re born half the time. They take everything for granted then throw it all away. I mean look, look at that –’ (he gestured with his foot towards a broken bottle on the ground). ‘It’s disgraceful. They come in here on weekends, get drunk out of their faces, take drugs and get up to God knows what else. Mind you, I don’t need to tell you.’
Adam was surprised by this comment, probably unable to decide whether Mick was referring to his status as a parent or a teacher. ‘Well, I do see quite a few cases at school,’ he said. ‘But a lot of these kids have big problems, you know, at home. Parents on heroin, that sort of thing. Lots of really sad abuse cases as well. Given all the problems they’ve got to cope with, no wonder they struggle with their GCSEs. They just feel there’s no hope to begin with. It sounds weird, with me being a teacher there, but I’d never have sent my two to Rosewood.’
Henry suddenly seemed uncomfortable, and jumped up at Mick in a bid to get him to go home. But Mick was too absorbed in the conversation to pay much attention.
‘Well that’s the liberal perspective, I suppose,’ he said, as red blotches emerged around his neck and anger-smells floated across the air. ‘Blame everything on the wider “issues”. I’m more of a traditionalist myself, mind. These problems didn’t exist when we were young, that’s all I know. I just think we’ve chickened out, gone soft. Scared to treat kids like kids. The teachers and police and everyone are just powerless to do anything –’ Henry jumped higher, licking his master’s face. ‘OK, come on. I’ll take you home.’
Mick and Adam clipped on our leads, both smelling equally worked up.
‘Remember: be strong,’ Henry reminded me, pulling his master home.
‘Yes, Henry. I’ll remember.’
cleaning
Kate, who had taken the week off work, was on her hands and knees cleaning out one of the kitchen cupboards. She had cleaned every room since she came back from Grandma Margaret’s, and now she was starting again.
‘This house is so messy,’ she kept on telling me.
I had followed her around, trying to cheer her up, or at least offer support. But no matter how hard I wagged, the sad-smells weren’t lifting. They just lay in the air mingling with the sharp scent of detergent.
Every now and again Kate would stop, sit back on her heels, and bring her hand – the one which wasn’t holding the blue cloth – up towards her face. Each time, I thought she was going to cry but she didn’t. Instead, she took deep breaths and then resumed cleaning, even more vigorously than before.
When I heard the key in the door my heart lifted.
‘Mum, what are you doing?’ It was Hal.
‘I’m trying to sort everything out. This house is so messy.’
‘It looks cleaner and tidier than ever.’
Again she sat back, and again she raised her hand. This time, the tears broke through. ‘I just want . . . I just want to be doing something . . . I just . . .’
Hal placed his schoolbag down on the kitchen table and went slowly over to hold the raised hand. ‘I know, Mum. I know. It’s going to be OK.’
A little later and Adam came home. He went up to Kate from behind and put his arm around her stomach. ‘You smell gorgeous,’ he said, before kissing the back of her neck.
Kate
