Chapter 4
Waking this morning was quite a different story from yesterday. For one, I was not alone: Jo still slept on the sofa, propped up with pillows, large clawed feet resting on the coffee table. I was curled up beside her, my head still on her thigh. I was facing the other way though, into the sofa with my feet hanging over the arm rest. The soft warmth of her body soon welcomed me back to sleep's comforting embrace.
When I woke next I was curled against a surrogate of cushions. From the kitchen came the submerged clatter of washing up being done. The alert aroma of freshly brewed coffee needled at my tired head.
"Breakfast!"
I stirred again, rolling over to face the table. A steaming mug of coffee stood sentry to a large plate of food.
"My turn to feed you" she said, "Tuck in. You best eat it all, otherwise I'll be upset - I've spent ages putting this lot together."
I looked at the plate in front of me again. It was stacked with thickly buttered toast, bacon, sausages, fried eggs, and as a token sacrifice to a healthy meal half a grilled tomato. There was no way I would be able to do this justice. I made a start, shovelling bacon, egg and sausage onto my fork. As I looked up from this mouthful, ready to express my appreciation I saw that broad canine grin again.
"You don't really have to finish it all. I'll eat whatever you leave. I made enough for us both".
I sat back, smiling and chewing at the same time, reflecting on this amazing individual who had entered my life. I think I could really get used to her sense of humour, I wanted to reach over and give her a great big hug. Meanwhile she had produced a fork and was tucking into the sausages. I could see that I couldn't afford to hang around if I wanted some breakfast too.
"How about opening the curtains?" I asked after breakfast had been consumed. "It must be getting on for midday. I'm beginning to get a headache."
"I can't risk being seen." she replied, evidently anxious about the prospect.
"Well, this room will be alright. Its an extension of the original house, and sticks further into the garden than the surrounding houses. You can't be seen from the back either. There's a fence, an overgrown hedge and beyond that just fields. Sometimes I bring the mattress down from the spare room, open the doors wide and sunbathe just inside the house. Saves any comments from the neighbours.
She paced over to the heavy drapes and then dropped onto all fours before parting them with her muzzle. I couldn't help noticing how the bright shaft of light shone on her coat. Of course, I thought, if anyone was watching a nose like that would be very strange had it appeared at head height. A couple of feet from the ground and no one would give it a second thought. What a damn shame that she had to think that way; so that it had become second nature.
"Of course you'll have to be more careful at the front of the house, but I hardly ever use the front room, and the main bedroom has nets even when the curtains are open."
Satisfied that she could not be seen she stood and threw the curtains open wide. Through fingers held to protect my eyes against the bright sunlight I glimpsed her halo'd form: elegant and noble. Each strand of golden fur seeming to burn with its own inner fire. It was a cinematic moment that had a primitive foreboding of the dawn of a new era, right up till the casual scratching of an itch on her rounded right buttock. Real life isn't directed by Ridley Scott and oft places practical measures before narrative development.
Rummaging in the top drawer I fished out the key and went to unlock the doors. The silent suck of the double glazed units and the tearing of venerable cobwebs were displaced by the landscape of noise from outside.
It is hard to describe the intensity of her concentration on the world beyond the doorway. Ears erect and forward, her whole head, indeed her whole body was attuned to the space beyond the threshold. Something, possibly a bird, moving in the hedge was briefly the focus of her gaze, though I wonder if she actually saw it.
Minutes later, and satisfied it seemed with the harmless nature of my garden, she relaxed. Sprawled in the rectangle of light from the windows, she began to rub against the warm carpet. She stretched and arched her back, the tip of her tail nearly touching her nose.
"Its amazing, so wonderful."
"Its a mess, I know that much." Gardening wasn't a strong point of mine. I hadn't mown the grass in months, and it was distinctly overgrown. It had more in common with a summer meadow than a bowling green or cricket square. Opportunistic flowers (okay, call them weeds if you wish) grew amongst the grasses. The borders, or at least the bits that weren't supposed to be grass, were awash with plants that I'd never got around to buying, let alone planting.
"It smells so gorgeous!"
"It smells of grass, flowers, warm earth, and baking concrete to me." I replied.
"No, there's so much more than that. It is hard for you to understand, but I can make out so much more. Not just grass, but different kinds of grass, grass that is flowering, blades that are new this morning, and most importantly grass that has been disturbed, by a cat I think, an hour or so ago."
"So, there was a cat in the garden. How is that important?"
"Its not the cat that's important, its the broken grass blades, the smells of a fresh salad. A wonderful appetite stimulant." Her eyes half closed, it was clear she was thinking of food again. Salivating.
"I didn't think salad would be your thing. I thought meat was your favourite."
She looked at me blankly and then cocked her head to one side. "Your species - oh, never mind. You used to be hunters, like me. You can taste umami, animal proteins. That's why you lace snacks with MSG. Try to remember, or at least imagine, being a hunter again. Your prey has gone to ground. You can track it though, the plant stems it broke in its flight have a unique odour your body is adapted to recognise. The closer you get to your quarry the fresher the green odour. Now do you understand what salad means to me? Its the anticipation of fresh and bloody meat!"
She paused, taking in the garden again. "At home I keep myself hidden inside the house. Its only small, and there is no place like this where I can remain unobserved. Everything is so dull, comparatively, through the sense of the human form. I feel like I was blind, and now I can see."
A few minutes later she added "Please will you fetch that mattress."