me.
I said I was always wanting a job. I didn’t think he was serious, so there was no harm in going along with his plans. We all have dreams.
‘Right then,’ he said, getting up. ‘I’ll remember.’
I didn’t sleep very well that night. The sweetcorn was intent on reminding me why I usually avoided it. I don’t know why I chose it. No one but myself to blame, as usual. But then, cheese or baked beans can play havoc with the digestion as well. If you want a good night’s sleep, don’t eat at Reekie Jimmie’s.
I dozed off eventually, even so. Bonnie woke me in the early hours, as she’d done before, growling softly. She was standing near my head. I put out a hand and it touched her. The hair on her spine was rigid. She gave my fingers a quick lick, just to let me know I wasn’t the object of her growling, then rumbled threateningly again.
A car had turned into the blind driveway where the garages stood. Perhaps one of the other garage owners? The engine was switched off. But I heard no squeak of neighbouring garage doors opening. I listened hard. Someone was walking up and down outside. Not running as on the previous occasion I’d heard someone there. Just walking, pausing, walking on. At last, before my locked doors, the footsteps stopped.
I sat up, swung my legs to the floor, scooped up Bonnie and clamped a hand on her muzzle.
I was just in time. A faint tapping was heard at the door. Bonnie wriggled and uttered a muffled squeak. I whispered, ‘Shh . . .’ She froze.
The tapping sounded again, louder. I heard a voice, a man’s voice. It was muffled, but I could have sworn it called my name.
This was all wrong. Anyone who knew I lived in the garage probably knew I came and went through the back door into the yard. I never used the main garage doors. Besides, who’d want to talk to me now, at this time of the night, or early morning? Not having any windows, I couldn’t tell what time it was. I put hearing my name down to nerves. In the circumstances, I was ready to imagine anything. It was probably no more than one of those lost souls who’d taken the turning into the blind roadway and was wandering about, looking for a way out. I was getting fed up with this. Perhaps Gan and I could nail up a board reading Garages Only .
Then the door shivered as an unknown hand rattled at the catch. In my arms, Bonnie felt as though she was about to burst out of her skin with frustration. Neither of us had imagined that.
The footsteps moved away. I heard a car door slam. I waited for the engine to start up but it didn’t. I couldn’t work this out and I didn’t like it. For a long time I sat there, with Bonnie on my knees, listening and waiting. She, too, waited and listened. Then she stiffened. I couldn’t hear anything new, but she had. I strained my ears. Was that a footstep? Or just a piece of debris blown in by the wind and rattling its way past all the garages? There was another sound, sudden and unexpected, a kind of yelp. I wasn’t sure it was even human. It could have been a human voice, cut short. Or it might have come from some kind of animal, hunting out there in the gloom. There were several feral cats around the area. It could even have been Norman’s owl. Without warning, making me almost jump out of my skin, a car horn blared a brief, shocking fanfare, splitting the night air. It was followed by a scraping noise and a clunk. Someone, something, was panting. And then, whatever it was, or had been, was gone.
How I knew it had gone I couldn’t tell you, but I knew it had, and Bonnie knew it, too. I released her. She dropped to the ground and ran towards the closed double doors. But there she stopped, and barked a couple of times in an experimental way, before beginning to whine and scratch at them. I switched on the garage light. The fluorescent tube buzzed and flickered into white light. Bonnie, by the doors, turned to look at me
I said I was always wanting a job. I didn’t think he was serious, so there was no harm in going along with his plans. We all have dreams.
‘Right then,’ he said, getting up. ‘I’ll remember.’
I didn’t sleep very well that night. The sweetcorn was intent on reminding me why I usually avoided it. I don’t know why I chose it. No one but myself to blame, as usual. But then, cheese or baked beans can play havoc with the digestion as well. If you want a good night’s sleep, don’t eat at Reekie Jimmie’s.
I dozed off eventually, even so. Bonnie woke me in the early hours, as she’d done before, growling softly. She was standing near my head. I put out a hand and it touched her. The hair on her spine was rigid. She gave my fingers a quick lick, just to let me know I wasn’t the object of her growling, then rumbled threateningly again.
A car had turned into the blind driveway where the garages stood. Perhaps one of the other garage owners? The engine was switched off. But I heard no squeak of neighbouring garage doors opening. I listened hard. Someone was walking up and down outside. Not running as on the previous occasion I’d heard someone there. Just walking, pausing, walking on. At last, before my locked doors, the footsteps stopped.
I sat up, swung my legs to the floor, scooped up Bonnie and clamped a hand on her muzzle.
I was just in time. A faint tapping was heard at the door. Bonnie wriggled and uttered a muffled squeak. I whispered, ‘Shh . . .’ She froze.
The tapping sounded again, louder. I heard a voice, a man’s voice. It was muffled, but I could have sworn it called my name.
This was all wrong. Anyone who knew I lived in the garage probably knew I came and went through the back door into the yard. I never used the main garage doors. Besides, who’d want to talk to me now, at this time of the night, or early morning? Not having any windows, I couldn’t tell what time it was. I put hearing my name down to nerves. In the circumstances, I was ready to imagine anything. It was probably no more than one of those lost souls who’d taken the turning into the blind roadway and was wandering about, looking for a way out. I was getting fed up with this. Perhaps Gan and I could nail up a board reading Garages Only .
Then the door shivered as an unknown hand rattled at the catch. In my arms, Bonnie felt as though she was about to burst out of her skin with frustration. Neither of us had imagined that.
The footsteps moved away. I heard a car door slam. I waited for the engine to start up but it didn’t. I couldn’t work this out and I didn’t like it. For a long time I sat there, with Bonnie on my knees, listening and waiting. She, too, waited and listened. Then she stiffened. I couldn’t hear anything new, but she had. I strained my ears. Was that a footstep? Or just a piece of debris blown in by the wind and rattling its way past all the garages? There was another sound, sudden and unexpected, a kind of yelp. I wasn’t sure it was even human. It could have been a human voice, cut short. Or it might have come from some kind of animal, hunting out there in the gloom. There were several feral cats around the area. It could even have been Norman’s owl. Without warning, making me almost jump out of my skin, a car horn blared a brief, shocking fanfare, splitting the night air. It was followed by a scraping noise and a clunk. Someone, something, was panting. And then, whatever it was, or had been, was gone.
How I knew it had gone I couldn’t tell you, but I knew it had, and Bonnie knew it, too. I released her. She dropped to the ground and ran towards the closed double doors. But there she stopped, and barked a couple of times in an experimental way, before beginning to whine and scratch at them. I switched on the garage light. The fluorescent tube buzzed and flickered into white light. Bonnie, by the doors, turned to look at me
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