A short story...

Barking Mad!

“Oh no, not again!” Kate covered her head with the pillow in an effort to drown out the sound of furious barking. But even through the padded softness she could still hear next door’s dog howling.

“I don’t believe it!” she shouted and flung the covers back, jumping out of bed to try and glimpse the offending animal from her bedroom window. For a week now she had been woken every morning before dawn by the terrible din and she was exhausted and frustrated.

Seeing nothing but inky blackness she crawled back into bed but the howling started again. Why had she bought this house, she wondered? It had been such a good idea at the time: a sweet “pretty as a postcard” cottage on the edge of an idyllic village where she could retreat from the stresses of her working day. She imagined nothing but the sound of birdsong disturbing her relaxation, but now she seriously contemplated selling up and moving on.

Sighing with annoyance, she padded downstairs to put the kettle on. A cup of tea would soothe her nerves and if she moved about in the kitchen she might be able to catch her neighbour. This had gone on for too long now and although Kate normally shied away from confrontation, she had no choice but to say something about the noise. Waiting for the kettle to boil she realised that she’d never seen her neighbour and despite her preconceived ideas of country folk being friendly, nobody had popped over to welcome her to the village.

She could see a window of the next door house - a large rambling cottage that was roomy enough for a big family, but she hadn’t seen any children and there was only one, very smart, sports car in the drive.

The howling started again and Kate peered out of the kitchen window into the darkness of the early morning. How could anyone ignore that noise? The dog sounded like a lonely wolf, its long drawn out cry making Kate groan in frustration. Stirring her tea she opened the back door and listened, but no sound came from the neighbouring house. Suddenly a terrible thought struck her…what if her new neighbour was ill and the dog had been left on its own all this time?

Kate’s mind whirled with possibilities. Her neighbour had fallen and was lying at the bottom of the stairs, or even worse, someone had broken in and hit them over the head…

Tying her dressing gown tightly, Kate crept next door, her hearing alert to anyone moving about. All was silent except for the dog who continued to howl in desperation and despair, his cries accompanied by the occasional whine and the sounds of scratching. She made her way along the dividing fence to see if she could talk to the animal but at the sound of her voice it became frantic, yelping and barking like a wild thing. Standing on tiptoes she tried to see over the fence but the hand on her shoulder made her cry out in panicked alarm.

“Can I ask why you’re looking into my garden?”

Kate almost fainted with shock, her head spinning as she turned around to confront a tall man, dressed like her in a navy blue dressing gown. “I…I was…the dog!” she spluttered, feeling herself going red. “The noise he’s making! You must be able to hear it!”

Her neighbour had the grace to appear sheepish at her words. “Ah sorry…I…er…didn’t think you’d be able to hear it next door.”

Kate’s anger and frustration returned. “He’s been barking like that all week! You’re lucky I didn’t report you to the council!”

It was then that she looked down and noticed the thick plaster-cast on the man’s left leg. He was leaning heavily on a walking stick and his handsome face was pale and drawn.

“Your leg? What happened?”

“Well, that’s the problem, you see,” he grimaced and leaned forward to open the gate, allowing a huge Golden Labrador to whirl past them in a frenzy of yellow fur. The dog went crazy, trying its hardest to lick both Kate and her neighbour, its tail wagging madly as he bounded about, nearly knocking his master down in the process.

“Steady on, you mad thing.” He ruffled the dog’s silky ears, a genuine look of affection on his face. “Look, we seem to have got off to a bad start. I’m sorry. I’m Luke and this beast is Bertie. And this…” he tapped his leg, “was a silly accident when I thought it was a good idea to go ice-skating for the first time.”

Kate couldn’t help smiling, her feelings of anger disappearing as she watched the two of them together. “But why’s he been barking? I was beginning to think that something terrible had happened.”

“I normally take him out for his walk every morning,” Luke explained. “It’s a ritual we have before I go off to work and Bertie can’t understand why we’re not going. It takes me ages to hobble down and let him back in after his run in the garden and I just didn’t realise how much noise he was making.”

Kate suddenly felt guilty about all the moaning she’d been doing over the past week. Luke was obviously doing his best to look after his dog and it wasn’t his fault that the dog was frustrated by his lack of exercise.

Luke ran his hands through his thick dark hair and smiled ruefully. “Look, why don’t I make us a cup of coffee to say sorry about all this?”

“I’d love to if you don’t mind me dressed like this!” She laughed and followed her neighbour as he hobbled painfully back down the path to his front door. Bertie scampered about, sniffing the bushes and looking eagerly up at his master as if expecting a walk. His handsome canine face fell when Luke reluctantly called him into the house.

Five minutes later, sipping a frothy coffee from Luke’s amazing cappuccino machine, Kate had a sudden thought. “Why don’t I walk him for you? I can spare an hour before work and maybe another hour in the evening now it’s getting lighter.”

Luke stared at her in astonishment. “Do you mean it? I’ve got nobody else to ask as I’ve only just moved in here myself.”

They looked at each other and Kate grinned. “If you carry on making me coffee like this, I’ll definitely walk him for you!”

Reaching down to pat the sleeping dog, Luke smiled back at her. “It’s a deal, but don’t ever let me suggest taking you ice-skating, OK?”