Circle of Summer

by Lynne Roberts

  Chapter 4. Caleb’s Story

  ‘I was the youngest of seven pups,’ began Caleb. ‘We lived with our mother in an old deserted barn in the country. We were very happy and had plenty to eat. There were paddocks of soft grass for us to run around on and hills to climb and tumble down. We had a clear sparkling stream to drink from and the sun shone warmly all day long.

  One day our mother called us all together.

  ‘I have some bad news,’ she informed us. ‘I have heard that the farmer who owns this place has sold it to someone else. He is going to pull down the old farm buildings to make way for a new road that will lead to the town, so we will not be able to live here any longer. The farmer has said I can go with him to his new cottage but there will not be room for my family. You will all have to go out into the world to seek your fortunes.’

  Caleb sniffed as he remembered it.

  ‘My brothers and sisters and I set out that same day,’ he continued. ‘We all went in different directions, as we knew it would be impossible to find a place to take in all seven of us. I headed off following the stream and soon I came to a small village. There was a young boy playing by himself by one of the houses and I thought he looked lonely. I went up to him and wagged my tail and soon we became good friends. I decided to live with him and his family.

  I was very happy at first as I had lots of bones to chew and a special basket and blanket of my own. But soon life took a turn for the worse as the boy began teasing me. He tickled my whiskers.’ Here Caleb looked sternly at Paul who wriggled uncomfortably.

  ‘He once tied a tin can to my tail so that everywhere I went I was followed by a terrible rattling noise. I decided I couldn’t stay there any longer.

  I ran away from the village and several days later I arrived in a large town. I wandered around not knowing what to do. I was very hungry but I did not want to steal food so I ate only the few scraps I could find. I sat begging outside a butcher’s shop but he shooed me away with a broom. I tried the baker’s shop next but the baker’s wife threw a bucket of cold water at me. I grew more and more unhappy.

  When I was nearly faint from hunger I smelt the most beautiful smell. A man was standing in a doorway of a neat and tidy house. He was eating a meat pie and the sight of it made my mouth water.

  The man saw me and held out a piece of the pie. I couldn’t believe it was for me but he kept giving me bits of the pie as he walked slowly into the house. When the last piece of pie had gone the man shut the door and said,

  ‘Got you.’

  I was very frightened’

  ‘What did you do?’ asked Mark.

  ‘Well,’ replied Caleb, ‘there really wasn’t much I could do’

  ‘You could have bitten him,’ suggested Paul hopefully. Caleb looked shocked.

  ‘Oh no, I would never bite a human,’ he said. ‘Only bad dogs would do that.’

  ‘So what happened next?’ asked Paul. He was walking happily beside Caleb and even Mark and Sharon found that Caleb’s story was taking their minds off their sore feet and aching legs.

  ‘I had to stay with the man,’ continued Caleb. ‘He wasn’t particularly unkind to me. He made sure I was well fed but he always kept me shut up. I yearned for the freedom to run around on the grass and I missed the companionship of other dogs.

  One day the man started to teach me some tricks; table manners he called them. I had to sit up and beg for food then lie down and play dead when he told me to. I was rather puzzled by this, but it wasn’t very hard so I didn’t mind too much.

  Every day I learned new things. Soon I could do a handstand, or pawstand, as I called it. I learned to leap through a large paper hoop and walk around on my hind legs. I could even do a little dance to a piece of music.

  But one day I had a nasty shock. I heard my master speaking to someone, outside the door of the room where I was kept. He was telling the other man that I was now ready to be sold as I was fully trained. He and the other man talked about how I could be doing tricks for large crowds of people in the towns. While they were busy watching me, the man could go around and steal money from handbags and take wallets from people’s pockets. Then we would travel to the next town to do the same thing.

  I didn’t like the sound of that. I knew I must escape. I waited until my master brought me out and played the music for me to dance. I began to dance then leaped for the open door and ran down the road as fast as my legs would carry me. Much to my dismay, my master’s friend jumped into a car and chased me, finally catching up with me at the bend in the road. He threw me into the back of the car and tied me to the door handle. He didn’t feed me for three days as a punishment.

  At last the terrible day of my first performance arrived. We went to a small park in a large town and there I had to do my tricks and perform my dance. Much to my humiliation a lot of people came to watch. They said things like,

  'What a clever doggie.’

  I knew that all the time, even as they watched me, my new master was stealing from them. I ran off again and this time all the people in the park chased after me. I ran as fast as I could, as I knew that if I was caught I might never have had the chance to escape again. I ran out of the town and instead of following the road I headed across the fields. The grass was soft and cool to my aching feet but I dared not stop.

  I came to the bank of a large river and there I stopped. I had never been in such deep water and I wasn’t at all sure that I would be able to swim it. As I stood on the bank I heard a shout and there was my master, only a few paces behind me. I had no choice but to swim. Gathering my courage I jumped into the river. How cold it was. I found myself sinking down into the water. When I thought my breath would not last a second longer, I paddled to the surface and climbed back onto the bank.

  But what a shock I had. Instead of my master there was a large tree that had not been there before. I looked around and saw that I was in a completely different land. I knew my arrival must have been caused by magic. I walked through valleys of lovely flowers and everywhere there was sunshine and happiness.’

  ‘Amaranthi,’ exclaimed Sharon.

  ‘Yes, you have guessed it,’ said Caleb.

  ‘But when did you meet Aylwin?’ asked Paul.

  ‘Much later,’ said Caleb. ‘He was very kind to me. He said I could be his companion and help to keep happiness in the land. That’s when he put a spell on me so that we could talk to each other.

  And that,’ said Caleb, ‘is why I am here today.’